Mark Riboldi

A Simple Equation (Schrödinger’s Class) Students sometimes ask me how to do well in a subject. My TL;DR response is “make sure you’re clear about what the assessment expectations are”. I tell everyone this, so it’s not a secret.

I ran an experiment this semester, to see what impact listening to the subject coordinator and engaging with subject materials had on students' grades.

tl;dr - students can excel without doing either, but if they want to pass they should do both.

www.markriboldi.com.au/teaching-edu...

Union Triumphs: ANU Halts Forced Redundancies The Australian National University (ANU) has announced that there will be no forced redundancies.Quotes attributable to NTEU ACT Division Secretary Dr

🚨 🚨 Some inspiration for those opposing job cuts and the general corporatisation of public universities around Australia - the staff/union led campaign at ANU has resulted in the halting of forced redundancies.

Join your union ✊

www.miragenews.com/union-triump...

Australian Philanthropic Organisations – Organisation, Accountability and Action While the responsibility for solving complex social problems ultimately falls on governments, organisations across civil society and industry also play important roles.

Some ramblings on my blog about philanthropic organisations, accountability, etc., if that's your thing.

www.markriboldi.com.au/democracy-ci...

The NT’s wilful ignorance over Black deaths in custody When Tim Fischer called High Court judges “pissants” in the ’90s, after they recognised native title and overturned terra nullius, he created the rare spectacle of a government minister excoriating a ...

“Justice here is set up to favour the wealthy and well connected; the poor just get processed.”

Marcia Langton outlines a damning story of institutional racism in @thesaturdaypaper.com.au

www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/comment/topi...

Gripped by an 'Abundance fever' that makes us see only red Canberra is in the grip of Abundance fever, a virus that threatens to overwhelm public policy with a diagnosis of overregulation.

V good piece by the legend that is @amyremeikis.bsky.social www.thenewdaily.com.au/opinion/2025...

Thanks Marija. I mostly good :)

Thankfully not. But yeah, really awful.

Uni staff told to 'wash delicates' for stress management as 146 courses suspended The University of Technology Sydney is suspending more than 100 courses as it prepares for a controversial redundancy program to save $100 million.

Worried about losing your job? Just wash your undies and brush your teeth twice a day... 😡🤬

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08...?

Senator @mehreenfaruqi.bsky.social: ‘Is ANU being trashed by the Bell and Bishop leadership?’

ACT Division Secretary @lachlanclohesy.bsky.social: ‘Absolutely. We need a new leadership approach or we need a new leadership.’

The Senate Inquiry into university governance continues…

The rich must be incentivised; the poor must be disciplined.

The political economy of the super-elite in one headline.

Democracy Sausage Episode: Safety nets below and a roof above Political scientists Mark Riboldi and Pandanus Petter join Democracy Sausage to discuss housing policy, safety nets and the fair go. How do politicians talk about housing, and does it impact policy? W...

How do politicians talk about housing, and does it impact policy?

#ICYMI Political scientists @markriboldi.bsky.social & @pandanuspetter.bsky.social join @marijataflaga.bsky.social to discuss housing policy, safety nets and the fair go.

#AUListen 🎧 #DemocracySausage ausi.anu.edu.au/news/democra...

I had a listen before posting, you did great!

In which I sneak in a gag about an AI-generated Presidential penis.

Paramount Announce Barron Trump As New Late Show Host, “For Purely Financial Reasons” — The Shovel After the network was accused of having political motivations for axing Stephen Colbert, CBS and Paramount put an end to suspicions by announcing Barron Trump as the new host of The Late Show.

The 19-year-old has also been cast in The Price Is Not Inflating, and The Bold And The Big Beautiful Bill.

theshovel.com.au/2025/07/23/p...

From a supporter email Climate 200 sent today - a good example of how the organisation exhibits 'party-like' behaviour, as @phoebehayman.bsky.social, @bspiesbutcher.bsky.social and I wrote about @ausjpolsci.bsky.social in 2024: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

A New Australian Politics: Rupture or Realignment Please join us on at the University of Technology Sydney on Tuesday 23 September 2025, for a public event on the future of Australian democracy. Is Australia entering a new political era? With a record majority off a near record low primary vote, the new parliament continues the rise of new electoral coalitions, unsettling our assumptions about class, gender, race, and power. Our stellar panellists George Megalogenis, Frank Bongiorno, Elizabeth Humphrys, Ben Spies-Butcher, and Emily Foley will be engaged in a wide-ranging discussion exploring whether we’re witnessing a rupture or a realignment in Australian politics, and what it means for political life today. The conversation will explore how the traditional party duopoly is being eroded under pressure from shifting demographics, growing economic inequality, and increasing political disillusionment. What happens when the working class no longer feels represented, and when younger, more diverse voters no longer see themselves in the major parties? Tuesday 23 September — UTS Green Lecture Theatre Building 7 — Room 025 (full location details below) Register here: https://events.humanitix.com/a-new-australian-politics-rupture-or-realignment Speakers George Megalogenis is an author and journalist with over thirty years’ experience in the media, including over a decade in the federal parliamentary press gallery. His latest Quarterly Essay, Minority Report, explores the strategies and secret understandings of a political culture under pressure. Frank Bongiorno is based at the Australian National University and author of several works of Australian history, including The Eighties: The Decade That Transformed Australia (2015) and Dreamers and Schemers: A Political History of Australia (2022). He is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and the Australian Academy of Humanities. Elizabeth Humphrys is the Head of Discipline of Social and Political Scie…

Hello Sydneysiders! On Tuesday 23rd Sep join Frank Bongiorno, George Megalogenis, @bspiesbutcher.bsky.social, @lizhumphrys.bsky.social & me for our public event A New Australian Politics: Rupture or Realignment. Registration is free & we'd love to see you there! events.humanitix.com/a-new-austra...

Right-wing political group Advance is in the headlines. What is it and what does it stand for? The husband of antisemitism special envoy Jillian Segal has donated to Advance. Here’s what the group’s all about.

"Part of a worldwide trend towards right-wing populism, Advance will likely continue to be at the centre of conservative politics in Australia."

Me writing for @theconversation.com on conservative campaign group Advance.

theconversation.com/right-wing-p...

UTS staff member risks sack to speak out against 'devastating' plan for mass redundancies The University of Technology Sydney is being investigated by SafeWork over "psychological hazards" arising from a restructure with other universities also wielding the axe.

"Universities are public institutions, not corporate machines. The way this process is unfolding [at UTS] raises serious concerns about governance," (Labor Senator Tony) Sheldon said.

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07...

SAVE SOCIOLOGY AT MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY We urge Macquarie University management to reverse this decision and preserve the vital disciplines of Sociology and Politics. Sociology has a key place in the social sciences as the broadest and mos...

The corporatisation of universities races for the zenith, with Macquarie University proposing to cut completely sociology, politics, and more.

Sign the petition to support those in line to lose their jobs, and current and future students.

www.megaphone.org.au/petitions/sa...

The ACNC report released a few weeks ago: www.acnc.gov.au/tools/report...

Looking at the latest ACNC data on registered charities (including universities) and spotted this ridiculous rate of casualisation at QUT, the ninth biggest employer in the sector.

This is 2023 data reported to the ACNC. Almost twice as many casuals as full-time staff.

@nteunion.bsky.social

APSA is deeply concerned about the proposed cuts to Politics and International Relations at Macquarie University. Our letter to university leadership outlines the discipline’s outstanding research, strong teaching record, and impact.
📄 Read the full letter here:
auspsa.org.au/job-alert/ap....

What British Parties Could Learn From Australia’s Election - Emily Foley, Zareh Ghazarian, Rob Manwaring, Ben Wellings, 2025

We're in @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social's Political Insight this week unpacking a bit about what British parties could learn from Australia’s election journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

there's a lot of suggestions for how this prof could do alternate assessment... but p much all of them are significantly more time consuming.

chatgpt is just revealing and exacerbating a problem with our higher education system

Australian Christian Lobby sends a 'Reconciliation Week' supporter email, soliciting donations, and not mentioning Australia's First Nations peoples - i.e. THE PURPOSE OF THE WEEK - at all.

Not surprising but also pretty damn audacious.

Can't wait to kick off this new project on Australia's Climate Economy with some very cool people.

This post-doc will be based at Sydney Uni, and there will be a funded PhD scholarship based at Macquarie coming soon...

Australia has a proud history of standing up against human catastrophe. Gaza should be no exception | Ed Husic We can and should be doing more to help the two million Palestinians struggling to survive

Australia has a proud history of standing up against human catastrophe. Gaza should be no exception | Ed Husic www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

We are here! Welcome to the new Bluesky account of the Australian Journal of Political Science (AJPS), the official journal of the Australian Political Studies Association (‪@auspsa.bsky.social‬)! 1/1

Recalibrating labour-capital relations: a typology of consensus politics under the Albanese Labor Government This article examines the Albanese Labor Government's adoption of ‘consensus politics’ as a governing strategy, drawing comparisons with the corporatist approaches of previous Australian Labor gove...

We're in @ausjpolsci.bsky.social, examining the ALP's first term in government and exploring the resurgence of 'consensus' politics. This one is also open access!