Working for a thriving Australia, through politics, policy and strategic design. Director @ Meld Studios; Conference Director @UXAustralia. Author; he/him
Nov 11, 2022 • 29 tweets • 5 min read
Let's cut right to the chase: this week of hearings into Robodebt was difficult to watch; and would have been awful for anyone on the receiving end of these illegal debts.
thesaturdaypaper.com.au/share/14997/2x…@SquigglyRick@SatPaper [It is one thing to know that an automated scheme of debt recovery was flawed. Quite another to listen to testimony from those responsible that amounts to some combination of ambition, callous indifference, and cruelty.]
Nov 4, 2022 • 42 tweets • 8 min read
Perhaps one of the most important investigations into the previous government's dealing - short of the establishment of the NACC - is the Robodebt RC. @SquigglyRick has been covering the hearings. We begin the @SatPaper with his report of week 1
thesaturdaypaper.com.au/share/14945/qm…@SquigglyRick@SatPaper "David Mason was the first person to give advice about a thought bubble program that would become robo-debt. In an email, he called it for what it was: a program with no legal basis that would result in serious reputational harm if it was allowed to go ahead."
Sep 3, 2022 • 39 tweets • 6 min read
Good morning and welcome to today's reading of @SatPaper! Apologies for the late start: it's been quite a week, but more on that when I can say more...
@SatPaper I want to begin today with this piece by @secco "How Labor is jeopardising its own climate target".
[Labor's emissions reduction target of 43% on 2005 levels was met with some criticism and disappointment]
Aug 12, 2022 • 27 tweets • 6 min read
Good morning and welcome to this reading of the @SatPaper
I want to begin today with Chris Wallace' look at income & wealth inequality in Australia: How 'tax bludgers' are ripping off their fellow Australians.
[Unlocked] thesaturdaypaper.com.au/share/14430/2y…
"The @ ethicsinbricks Twitter account declared this week: “Philanthropy is fine. Paying taxes is better.” The latest ATO statistics on tax paid by individual wage and salary earners in 2019-20 brings home how optional that obligation is for some in contemporary Australia..."
Apr 26, 2022 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Matt Canavan’s position on climate is a closer indicator for how the Nationals will vote than whatever Joyce happens to be saying today. And it’s *that* position that drives the Coalition’s lack of ambition on the issue.
We simply can’t afford any further delays on emissions reduction. We’ve barely moved the dial in the past 9 years; and we’ve used our diplomatic power to slow the world down with us. Hopefully the Nationals’ voter base realise they’re being sacrificed for the sake of coal profits
Apr 25, 2022 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Welcome to week three of the Federal Election campaign, and a quick shoutout to all those workers who backed up for a third holiday weekend in a row!
The ABS are releasing two sets of data this week that will play into the Coalition’s economic management credentials:
* Taxation revenue for the 2021 financial year (today at 11:30 AEST); and
* CPI for March 2022 (Wed at 11:30 AEST)
#satpaper@secco "The Coalition’s latest scare campaign over Labor’s climate policy highlights the real mess surrounding adequate planning for a shift towards renewables. Half of the experts cited say they were misquoted.”
[It should not be the case that this is allowed to be normal.]
Apr 22, 2022 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
I want to begin today’s reading of the @SatPaper with this piece from @SquigglyRick - thesaturdaypaper.com.au/share/13754/9H… (unlocked). It highlights the gaping hole in our election rules that allows seats in Parliament to be effectively bought.
#SatPaper
I want to be crystal clear: Clive Palmer is playing within the rules when it comes to advertising. They appear everywhere; are questionable in their content; and perfectly legal.
It’s why we (@austdems) think the rules need to change.
As we head into the formal election campaign, please remember, the status quo:
* has failed to act on climate change and has accelerated our use of fossil fuels;
* has failed to implement the findings of the Royal Commission into Natural Disaster Preparedness...
* sat on the Respect@work report until it became too difficult politically to ignore;
* failed to implement the findings from the Royal Commission into Aged Care;
* failed to implement the findings from the Hayne Royal Commission into the banking sector
Apr 10, 2022 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
Now is the time to step up our efforts to win the kind of government we believe we all deserve. One based on evidence, compassion, accountability and collaboration. I think that’s important, and I think we deserve better than we’ve seen these past nine years. #auspol
I want our government to be one that looks after our most vulnerable, & works with them to improve their standard of living, instead of one that ignores them, uses them as a political football, or squeezes them dry for more dollars in the pockets of the richest few #auspol
Apr 8, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
I’m not going to go into too much detail today on any of the various politics articles in the @satpaper today, but wanted to comment on this opinion piece by @JohnRHewson (thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/topic/…)
"Morrison was shoehorned in as candidate for the seat, having lost the original preselection ballot to Towke, 82-8.”
This makes it sound like a head-to-head contest, but it wasn’t. There were a number of other candidates - they all beat Morrison: he came last.
Apr 8, 2022 • 32 tweets • 11 min read
Next up in the @satpaper we’ll take a look at @secco’s "Fact check: Frydenberg’s record employment figures”
thesaturdaypaper.com.au/share/13666/2S… [Unlocked]
"Josh Frydenberg’s budget speech last week tried to paint a picture of adversity overcome. Despite drought, fire and floods, despite war in Europe and the ravages of Covid-19, he said, the Australian economy had proved resilient.”
#satpaper
[Integrity in government is not all about a Federal ICAC, and this story shows just one of the ways non-corrupt conduct eats away at the fabric of our democracy. We’ll talk about this at the National Integrity Policy Forum next week.]
It is with a great deal of excitement, pride, humility, and sense of responsibility that I announce my pre-selection as the lead candidate for the Senate in NSW for the @AustDems
The core values of the @austdems - accountability, integrity, evidence-based policy and collaboration - are sorely needed in our government. We have seen the past decade wasted through ideology and intellectual dishonesty, with Australia's interests put behind politics.
Mar 29, 2022 • 7 tweets • 1 min read
We can be sure tonight we’ll see an ‘Election Budget’ - which is a euphemism for buying votes and trying not to greatly annoy anyone. But what are some of the budgets we might like to see, but won’t...
How about a ‘Climate Budget’? One in which the signature expenditures are all aligned around the single goal of cutting Australia’s carbon emissions by 2/3 or so by 2030. Investment in AEMO’s integrated system plan; investment in EVs; investment in electrifying our homes...
Mar 27, 2022 • 16 tweets • 3 min read
Welcome to another week and this one is all about the Federal Budget, which will be handed down tomorrow night. Let’s have a quick look at what we can expect from the Coalition government in this one...
1. Self-congratulation: expect the Coalition to take credit for just about every good piece of data the economy has to offer. (They can’t, and shouldn’t, but they will anyway.)
Mar 25, 2022 • 14 tweets • 3 min read
Before I get onto the next article, I want to take a moment to talk about Tuesday’s Federal Budget. It is almost certainly going to be a big spending budget. Leaked snippets indicate that it’ll also include some rather useful forward estimates for GDP growth, wages & inflation...
The Coalition’s Budgets since 2013 have included the following three forecasts every time:
* strong GDP growth
* stronger wages growth
* stable inflation.
In other words, a growing economy, rising real wages, and rising standards of living...
Taylor’s office spent $1 billion on ‘sham’ carbon projects
[The reason I’m going to harp on about this is because next week’s Budget will contain more money for shit projects.]
"Analysis by a former chair of the government’s carbon pricing integrity committee shows almost all the money spent on emissions reduction has gone to projects that did not contribute to reductions."
Mar 4, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
One of the things that should be obvious is that action on climate change is a mainstream, central issue - the need for action, and the nature of that action, and the speed of that action - should be a discussion that brings us together in common cause...
Instead, it used by the political parties - primarily the Coalition and the Greens - as a political tool to create division. You can see the centrist forces backing climate action within the many Voices of independent candidates. Life-long, small l liberals who want action.
#SatPaper
"Following revelations the Morrison government pressured AGL to sack its last chief executive, energy companies have increasingly isolated Angus Taylor.”
Mar 2, 2022 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
We’ve had a few important pieces of economic data released recently and it’s worth just walking through them:
* GDP growth is up, with economic activity increasing by 3.4% in the Dec quarter;
* CPI increased by 1.3% in the Dec Quarter;
* Wages grew by 0.7% in the Dec quarter
* Company profits rose 2% (nearly triple the growth in wages)
* Property prices grew 22% nationally in 2021
* The ASX increased in value 13.6%
* The average rent in Australia increased 7.6%
