Recent posts by Public Intellectuals on Bluesky

Hey, is Plibersek’s office the first one in the entire government to admit there were 57 recommendations?

Out of 535 members of the US Congress (both the House and the Senate), only 3 have NOT taken donations from the Israel lobby. I'd love to know which political parties and MPs in our AUS Federal Parliament have taken donations from individuals or groups who support Zionist Israel #USPolitics #auspol

Talented artist @nordacious.bsky.social nails-it with this critique of Albanese. It seems our AUS Govt's idea of "social cohesion" is preventing any criticism of Israel's #GazaGenocide. #auspol #IsraeliWarCrimes 🎨

SafeWork NSW report labels 'Arabic writing' and Palestinian flags 'antisemitic'. Maybe we need to ban Hindu-Arabic numerals. Like 60,034. The number of Palestinians murdered by Israel in Gaza. Surely defending a genocide would make people feel unsafe. #auspol #nswpol #IsraeliWarCrimes #GazaGenocide

Trumps MAGA America... Welcome to the Twilight Zone... #Trumpisatraitor #TrumpisaFascist #TrumpisaFelon #TrumptheDictator

Hmm. This arrived in the mail today. Looks a bit suss…. @cameronwilson.bsky.social @arielbogle.bsky.social

This exchange - one for the ages. Riveting. www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5kX...

"Why did the rope go to the Doctor?" "It had a knot in its stomach."

"What do you call a doctor who fixes Websites." "A URLologist."

Not all fearless Hero's who stand up against Lawless tyranny, wear a cape!🙏💖 🍊💩😈🇱🇷 #Trumpisatraitor #TrumptheDictator #TrumpthePedo #TrumpisaFelon #TrumpisaFascist #FuckTrump

Only 255 words added to my #WIP today, but in my defence it was my wife’s birthday, and we went out for lunch with friends. I’m home now, and ready to settle to an afternoon of light reading - in this case, @scalzi.com’s “When The Moon Hits Your Eye.” #BookSky

"How did the doctor cure the Invisible Man?" "He took him to the ICU."

A man whose life (or at least his Mar-a Lago club) was ruined (or at least moderately inconvenienced) by human trafficking has spoken out, saying the fact that young women were stolen by a paedophile from his organisation was devastating. For him.

"Who is the 'coolest' doctor in a hospital?" "The hip doctor."

This sort of eternal character arc does mean this system is irredeemable

The US rapidly turning itself into one of those ‘shithole’ countries Trump so despised. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Results show a 2.04% decline in riting skills. Reading has declined too, with many children now unable to maintain the necessary concentration to read to the end of a theshovel.com.au/2023/08/23/n...

Oh wow. This is some seriously murky shit.

"Why did the bucket go to the Doctor?" "He had a pail face."

Palestinians die in Gaza & the West Bank, Leonardo DiCaprio, investor & branding partner in a luxury hotel development at Herzliya Marina, in the occupation state, 20km north of Tel Aviv, On July 27, 2025, has project approval. Not only has he been silent, he’s building on stolen Palestinian land.

Microsoft teams messes with my head.

I am throwing in a few graphs and fact checks on some of the claims about inflation during QT on the live blog live.australiainstitute.org.au

Weirdly the RBA actually predicted 2.1% inflation and they still decided, nah we can't risk a rate cut. smdh

Albanese's commentary on "the Middle East" is shallow & flawed. "Hamas terrorists" criticised. "Israeli lives" are mentioned. Discussing Australia, the safety of "Jewish children going to school" is mentioned first, then "Arab Australians". Anti-Semitism condemned first, then Islamophobia. #auspol

"We are paying high prices for gas and electricity because of decades of policy failure by governments, and because of gouging by the gas industry." - Dr Monique Ryan MP, Independent Member for Kooyong @mon4kooyong.bsky.social #auspol

#Boycott #BoycottIsraeliProducts #IsraelisaTerroristState #IsraelisaGenocidialState #IsraeliWarCrimes

ICYMI- yesterday's not-at-all-taxing cartoon for @australia.theguardian.com

Very weird speech by Sussan Ley on the Moscow Games acknowledgment Basically praising the boycott

The Moscow Games was the first I remember watching on TV, and the men's medley relay win was very was a big moment. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07...

"How do you fix a broken tomato?" "With tomato paste."

Question Time is about to begin, which means @amyremeikis.bsky.social is about to shout across the room at how bad things are.. but you don't need to shout, just read her coverage live.australiainstitute.org.au

It isn't a natural famine in Gaza. Israel is DELIBERATELY STARVING men, women and children in Gaza. Israel has been bombing Gaza for months. Israel has destroyed homes, schools, hospitals, universities, mosques, churches. Israel has bombed displaced Gazans in tents. #IsraeliWarCrimes #GazaGenocide

On Monday, Ted O'Brien told parliament that "inflation remains too high" It was then 2.4% and is now 2.1%. Oops live.australiainstitute.org.au/2025/07/aust...

I just want to live long enough to see them all meet the end they so richly have earned: Netanyahu, Trump, Putin, the terrorists, the theocrats… the days when the world is relentless with its bleakness, the motivation to stay alive is entirely rooted in a desire to witness justice.

“The earth is flat, Pigs might fly, and nuclear power is safe.”

It really is a coke moobs kind of epoch.

After nearly three decades as a film critic, I might have finally written my masterpiece

open.substack.com/pub/fresheco... Pensioners versus other payment types for the struggling. Some excellent questions, and awful disparity. 🤨 #RaiseTheRate #auspol Thanks Cameron Murray for this one.

Can’t help thinking Starmer’s ultimatum threatens the wrong people. “If you stop killing these people, we will refrain from recognising them.”

They're literally trying to kill 2 million people and @senatorwong.bsky.social is breaking down the parts of a death plane into lethal and non-lethal. That's the West in a nutshell. Silo everything. No accountability. Nothing is connected to anything else. Detachment to exist with barbarism.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

"I visited my mate who was in hospital after falling through a window." I asked, "how bad are you hurt?" He said, "don't worry, I already went through the pane."

I feel better when I’m busier.

Though the Presidential McFeast was mostly appreciated, not all recipients were grateful: “If I had to choose between genocide and eating a Filet-O-Fish, I’d tell you send me back to the Gaza Strip.” theshovel.com.au/2025/07/30/t...

Please share and join the MARCH FOR HUMANITY SAVE GAZA March across the Sydney Harbour Bridge Sunday 3 August 2025 Meeting at Lang Park 1pm Called for by the Palestine Action Group Sydney #MarchForHumanity #SaveGaza #FreePalestine

Good afternoon from Seven Hills, NSW, Australia where at Midday on Wednesday, July 30, it is a damp, cold and miserable 12°C. I've been trying to cheer the weather up with some of my jokes, but to no avail. Keep smiling, talk later this arvo. I'm going grocery shopping. 😀

CPI at 2.1%. The sound you heard is the RBA being very wrong and very stupid.

Cartoon about starvation in lieu of of doing something about starvation. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Before Australia gets any AUKUS submarines, the US President has to say the US navy doesn't need them first. But when the US already has fewer submarines than they want? And US/China rivalry is on the rise? It doesn't look like Australia is getting any submarines. #auspol

Also, remember back when the lifetime health cover was introduced only around half of health insurance had excess or co-payments. Now it is nearly 90%. Private health insurance is a dud, the benefits the rich and by being GST-free diverts revenue away from the public health system

Please share and join the MARCH FOR HUMANITY SAVE GAZA March across the Sydney Harbour Bridge Sunday 3 August 2025 Meeting at Lang Park 1pm Called for by the Palestine Action Group Sydney #MarchForHumanity #SaveGaza #FreePalestine

When I joined the Public Service as a graduate in 2006 in the Dept of Communications, one of the poor grads had to work in the "Protecting Australian Families Online" section. His stories about how badly designed it all was were a great source of lunchtime chat.

That the age assurance stakeholder advisory board has Malinda Tankhard Reist on it, does not bode well for Australia coming up with a system that is not terrible ageassurance.com.au/stakeholder-...

Going to be rather enjoyable seeing the reactions of those parents supporting the ban of social media for under 16s, discovering that means they now have to prove to YouTube, FB, etc that they are over 16. "I thought this was just about the kids, I'm over 16, why do I need to provide ID???!!!!!"

As @amyremeikis.bsky.social notes, hilariously buried in an AFR article about the need to cut IR regulation is a line noting "Almost two-thirds of voters would support income tax cuts funded by higher taxes on wealth" live.australiainstitute.org.au/2025/07/aust...

I would like to thank the head of PrivateHealth Australia for using ATO data in her column on the AFR today. She accidentally helped make the case for GST being put on private health insurance. :-)

“Sixteen is too young for the cutoff. I don’t think people should be seeing Palmer United Party ads until they’re at least an octogenarian,” shared a concerned parent. theshovel.com.au/2025/07/30/g...

New analysis of ATO figures shows private health insurance is the domain of the rich, and it should be subject to GST #OffTheCharts @grogsgamut.bsky.social australiainstitute.org.au/post/private...

Dear PM @albomp.bsky.social cc @senatorwong.bsky.social I strongly urge the Australian Govt to heed the words in the piece by Labor MP Ed Husic, and move to immediately recognise and support the state of Palestine. #auspol #RecognisePalestine #FreePalestine www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

How's this for breaking centrist political compasses... Marjorie Taylor Greene, as ghoulish a right-wing clown as there is, has admitted Gaza is a genocide. Anthony "loves to fight Tories" Albanese has not.

Please share and join the MARCH FOR HUMANITY SAVE GAZA March across the Sydney Harbour Bridge Sunday 3 August 2025 Meeting at Lang Park 1pm Called for by the Palestine Action Group Sydney #MarchForHumanity #SaveGaza #FreePalestine

👀👀👀 Guardian Essential polling finds 60% of Australians think it's unlikely the US will deliver the AUKUS submarines to Australia Makes sense that Australia Institute polling found 66% of Australians support a Parliamentary Inquiry into AUKUS! #auspol

Disappointing move from the coalition seeking to unwind a measure that will not only add 80,000 new homes in a housing crisis but for the first time put some conditions on commonwealth housing money - like 5 year leases for renters and banning no cause evictions. www.theage.com.au/politics/fed...

We should re-conceptualise what "bipartisan support" means in Australia. It does not mean "sensible compromise reaching across the political aisle", if it ever did. Today, it typically means "the establishment has united to fuck the rest of us".

Crossing that bridge. My @smh cartoon.

Holy shit. The names. Roy Spencer- Andrew Bolt’s favourite scientist!

Lots happened overnight and @amyremeikis.bsky.social is awake, caffeinated and blogging live.australiainstitute.org.au/2025/07/aust...

This is what happens when you build an education system segregated by class, which is the only possible result of ‘parental choice’. Parental choice can only deliver the entrenchment of generational privilege & underprivilege, as it has done. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...