Tim Watts MP Profile picture
Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs, Australia; Member for Gellibrand. Authorised: Tim Watts, 455 Melbourne Rd Newport.
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Jul 5, 2023 6 tweets 2 min read
For @naidocweek, @dfat has curated the stunning "A Journey Through Country" exhibition, showcasing the artwork within Australia’s new ‘R Series’ passport. The R Series passport continues a tradition of integrating artwork from our First Nations people into Australia’s passports, and includes 17 iconic Australian landmarks.
Nov 8, 2021 5 tweets 2 min read
Scott Morrison's short-term political interests have changed, so now he's claiming to have changed his position on electric vehicles.

He's visiting Toyota Altona in my electorate today to whitewash his record of lies & scaremongering on EVs

Here's the inconvenient history: While he denies it now, in the last election Scott Morrison did say that electric vehicles would be the end of the weekend:
Nov 8, 2021 4 tweets 1 min read
Today Scott Morrison is visiting Victoria for the first time in 173 days.

Extraordinarily he’s chosen to come to Toyota Altona in my electorate for a media event to do a backflip on his scaremongering about electric vehicles being the ‘end of the weekend’ in Australia. It's the same Toyota Altona site where the policies of the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Govt cost 2500 jobs.

It’s just across the road from the Altona refinery where over 300 jobs were lost this year.

It’s just up the road from the Willy Shipyards, where 1500 jobs were lost.
Aug 27, 2021 12 tweets 5 min read
In a cracking story, The @canberratimes has obtained a damning report on Scott Morrison’s bungled CovidSAFE App.

The Doherty model, & the PM’s reopening plan, relies heavily on ‘optimal testing, tracing, isolation & quarantine’.

Given that, this report is a must read 🧵👇 Some highlights of the report’s findings.

The report was finalised in March 2021, so doesn’t include the Delta out breaks.

But it’s clear that the CovidSAFE app was completely useless to contact tracers in the Victorian second wave.

It didn’t find a single close contact.
Mar 27, 2021 11 tweets 3 min read
Things that Scott Morrison HASN’T sacked MPs for - a thread: abc.net.au/4corners/insid…
Mar 27, 2021 9 tweets 3 min read
After 8 long years of Coalition government has decimated their front bench, this is what we are left with - Stuart Robert as the Minister with responsibility or cyber security.

A thread of the Master of Disaster’s tech policy highlights 🧵👇 That’s A LOT Of Internet

theguardian.com/australia-news…
Mar 26, 2021 7 tweets 2 min read
What is going on inside the Morrison Government on cyber security policy? The short answer is after eight years it’s a complete mess. The long answer is too long for a tweet, but I spoke on it in Parliament this week 👇🧵
parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/genpd… The Morrison Govt has been so engulfed by its own sleaze and scandals it’s been distracted from this important national security issue in the face of the Hafnium and SolarWinds campaigns.
Mar 25, 2021 4 tweets 1 min read
An impressive effort from Sussan Ley in her #qt Dorothy Dixer just then, telling the Parliament that the Morrison Govt would ‘soon’ be introducing an Online Safety Bill.

That would be the Bill that was debated and passed through the House of Representatives last Sitting Week. It shows really commitment to the Morrison Government’s “always be announcing” ethos.

Continuing to do forward sizzle announcements for things that have already occurred really is impressive.
Jul 13, 2020 18 tweets 6 min read
What do Ministers and Commonwealth entities do when the Prime Minister gives a press conference telling the nation to lift its game on cyber security?

Nothing apparently.

@KKeneally has written to Peter Dutton to ask why.

A thread 🧵👇

theaustralian.com.au/nation/politic… Last month, the PM held a dramatic press conference to warn that a “sophisticated state-based cyber actor” was targeting organisations across Australia.

pm.gov.au/media/statemen…
May 19, 2020 24 tweets 6 min read
This morning, the Joint Committee on Public Accounts and Audit held hearings for its Cyber Resilience Inquiry.

It was important and more interesting than it sounds.

I promise.

aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_… The evidence we heard highlights serious and on-going issues with Commonwealth entities’ compliance with mandatory cyber security measures and the lack of accountability and transparency that enables it.
Mar 22, 2019 5 tweets 5 min read
Health experts argue that getting more kids to ride or walk to school each day is the single best thing we can do to fight chronic disease in Australia.

It’s great fun for the family too! #ride2school #melbswest That’s why I sponsored healthy breakfasts and prize packs for kids who participated in @bicycle_network’s #Ride2School​ Day today!
Mar 5, 2019 7 tweets 3 min read
Last night @Katie_Footscray, @VotedDarling, and I co-hosted a forum for parents and school communities to discuss how we can get more children to ride to school in Melbourne’s West. I want to thank last night’s speakers Prof Rosemary Calder from the Australian Health Policy Collaboration, Dr Jan Garrard from Deakin Uni, Harry Barber, the former CEO of @bicycle_network &Dr John Symons, President of BikeWest, for sharing their knowledge and expertise with us.
Dec 6, 2018 25 tweets 5 min read
Ok. A third thread updating where things are at on the #aabill... Since my last thread, the government came back to the negotiating table in the PJCIS and agreed to a series of amendments to the bill designed to prevent the issuance of Technical Capability Notices that could undermine strong encryption.
Dec 3, 2018 21 tweets 6 min read
Continuing this #AABill thread - Why is it so problematic that the Morrison Govt is trying to ram through this bill in order to start a fight to distract from its political woes?

Let's look at what have we learnt about the Bill in the PJCIS process so far
As a pair technical experts from GCHQ rightly pointed out recently, “In any discussion of cyber security, details matter.”

lawfareblog.com/principles-mor…
Dec 2, 2018 20 tweets 5 min read
I’ve refrained from commenting too much on the Government’s encryption proposals while the PJCIS did its work. But now that Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton have blown up the committee’s work on this Bill, it’s time for a 'thread'... The Turnbull/Morrison government have managed this encryption bill with the same ineptitude that they managed their leadership spills. And now that they face a political crisis in the wake of the Victorian election catastrophe, they are piling desperation on top of incompetence.
Aug 12, 2018 34 tweets 7 min read
The media tour promises me this is a ‘policy’ book.

Given I’ve taken issue with Barnaby’s policy stands in the past (particularly his claimed powers to control commodity prices) I thought I’d give this a read & try to engage with the content.

Will thread observations here👇 First observation is that this is the first policy tome I’ve read that’s plastic sealed.