Andrew Whalan

next valentine's day #poetry #valentinesday open.substack.com/pub/andrewwh...

The cop riot So, first things first, a big congrats to Angus Taylor.

Because I grew up in QLD in the ‘80s, I’m more often surprised when police *don’t* attack demonstrators. So I’ve had that familiar feeling this week of watching people come to a difficult truth: when you see a demo turn ugly, it’s almost always because the cops decided that’s how it was gonna go.

How long till he makes his first gaffe?

How the hell is Angus Taylor still a thing? - The Shot Angus Taylor a walking Venn Diagram intersection of fossil fuel fervour and cash for the boys.

As it appears enough of the Liberals will sufficiently succumb to madness to endorse him as their next hapless leader, here's a piece I wrote way back in 2021 about the many and varied and still unexplained controversies that have swirled around Angus Taylor.

theshot.net.au/news/opinion...

Worth a shot - but you’d need a safe Liberal seat (Cook) to be sure😏.

Some of the names are familiar from the announcement of the front bench post election.

But nary a peep from anyone since then - even the golden Angus.

Maybe they think that anonymity will get them elected.

Expand Commonwealth prac payments to allied health and medical students Unpaid placements are pushing future health workers into placement poverty. Petition by: Allied Health Professionals Australia Sponsored by: Helen Haines MP and Senator David Pocock

Sign to help our health professional get the support they need when on placements instead of seeing them live in poverty and/or walk away from their dedicated vocation. actionnetwork.org/petitions/ex...

My all time favorite Angus Taylor Swift! #auspol

The Liberal Party leadership contender from central casting: Who is Angus Taylor? The 59-year-old son of a fourth-generation NSW sheep farmer has been in parliament for 13 years – and is closer than ever to a prize he has long sought.

It’s such a gushing backgrounder which desperately tries to paper the many incompetencies of Taylor so far. www.smh.com.au/politics/fed...

Already a fawning profile of Angus Taylor from James Massola in The Age.

Angus Taylor is the right person at the right time for the Liberal - the perfect choice to lead them into oblivion. #spill #libspill

open.substack.com/pub/andrewwh... #poetry

Alex Dawson (@alexdawcreates) I thought all of you who resonated with my poem about ChatGPT might also appreciate this beautiful sentiment from @Joseph Fasano 🙌🏻

substack.com/@alexdawcrea...

As beautiful as they were powerful: Jon Kudelka’s political cartoons were made with true conviction The award-winning cartoonist Jon Kudelka died in Hobart on Sunday, aged 53. Over 30 years, his work resisted the polarisation of the contemporary Australian media.

This is lovely
theconversation.com/as-beautiful...

Social cohesion (which it isn’t) #politics #auspol

Why haven't you smiled these last ten years? open.substack.com/pub/andrewwh...
#KaitlinCollins #politics #misogyny

We all live in Jeffrey Epstein's world The most disturbing revelation so far

Not about the money, not about the billionaires, but about how Epstein’s victims are seen as part of a normal world.
open.substack.com/pub/broligar...

Queensland moves to ban pro-Palestine slogan ‘from the river to the sea’ under sweeping new hate speech laws Laws to be introduced this week include up to two years in prison for distributing, displaying or reciting prohibited phrases to harass or offend

Under their new hate speech laws Queensland will also be banning John Farnham’s Two Strong Hearts.

Scene is Julia Gillard and Chris Bowen (then Min for Immigration) in a lighthouse with "Light on the Hill: written under the bulb. Gillard is turning the light off, saying 'It was attracting the boats"

I have many, many favourite Kudelka cartoons but this, from 2011, is possibly one of the best Aus pol cartoons ever drawn.

red carpet..

I’m Jewish. I live in Bondi. But I take no comfort from Herzog’s visit Not all Jews welcome the arrival of Israel’s president in Australia. I am one who believes he will divide us at a time we need cohesion. It is the type of position that has cost me friends.

A divisive guest www.theage.com.au/national/i-m...

Once these fools outlaw
this phrase or that phrase, people will find a different phrase to say the same things.

Social Cohesion #poetry #censorship #freespeech open.substack.com/pub/andrewwh...

Or way back when spending afternoons at Accident & Emergency with sick children watching Jerry Springer and his kind back to back.

Questions about Randa Abdel-Fattah inclusion in NSW writers festival The NSW government makes contact with the board of next month's Newcastle Writers Festival about the inclusion of Palestinian author Randa Abdel-Fattah, the ABC understands.

Clearly it’s time to appoint a permanent officer in the government to look over all the festival programs. Some fellow in a centralised office where all the art can be submitted beforehand, to make sure it’s socially cohesive. Some kind of Chief Approver, if you like www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02...

I’ve a blacklist of companies/organisations/institutions that I won’t ever apply to either because of previous experiences or their ethics/values including a previous role that was re-advertised.

Into the corporate black #poetry #work #burnout open.substack.com/pub/andrewwh...

To the grief keepers and compassionistas (for Renee Good and Alex Pretti) #poetry open.substack.com/pub/andrewwh...

Sign the Petition Royal Commission into the Killing of Australian Women and Girls

c.org/p2mg9KBz5d

The Rupture. When I was a much younger writer, long before I’d been paid for my first ‘professional’ piece—thirty bucks for a review of all the late-night greasy eating joints in Brisbane, of which there were thre...

The Rupture. John Birmingham calling it.
open.substack.com/pub/aliensid...