@roycerk2.bsky.social
Journalist. Author of The Death of Holden (2016), Just Money (2020) and others. Buy Slick: Australia's Toxic Relationship with Big Oil (2024) now: https://www.slickthebook.com.au/ For more me: https://www.roycekurmelovs.com/ Get me on Signal: RoyceK.11
5/ And on the Strait of Hormuz, they had NO PLAN. I can't go into more detail about how Iran gums up the Strait, but suffice it say, right now, they don't know how to get it safely back open.
Which is unforgiveable, because this part of the disaster was 100% foreseeable.
Mockler: The neocon boomers surrounding Trump are mortgaging my generation's future for another very expensive Middle Eastern war. We tried this with Iraq. We tried this with Afghanistan. It left us in trillions and trillions of dollars in debt.
I should also be clear that you just need to *present* as sufficiently clueless. The idea that Robodebt was generated whole cloth with no way to know the consequences is false. As I previously reported, the MiDAS system operated in Michigan and ended the same way—just as Robodebt got going.
If you're a small cog, too bad. Work in a critically underfunded department? Bullied? Harassed? At risk of being fired for ideological reasons? The boss doesn't want to know, but it's on you to get it right because you'll hang in their place, either way.
Essentially, anyone in a decision making position has just been sent a signal that if they are sufficiently clueless, they'll ultimately be fine, even if it kills someone. This creates an incentive to build institutions that stop decision makers from knowing anything or looking into something.
The message that has been sent is that if you are important enough, busy enough and have had a long enough career, you're not really expected to actually know things or grapple with the world you move through. That responsibility is entirely on the people who actually do work.
Jeremy's reaction is a good measure of how this failure will be received among the wider public, not only as it concerns the NACC, but what it suggests about the broader ability of Australian institutions to hold anyone of significant power or influence to account for anything in future.
NACC decided it wasn't in the public interest to make its corruption hearings with Morrison, Campbell, Mussolino etc public
I would conservatively estimate that 90% of Australians would disagree
The government is still persisting with the claim that there were only 56 recommendations out of the robodebt royal commission, when there were 57 and they just didn't like that last one.
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
MrBeast competition to see who can make it through the Strait of Hormuz
With Abbott behind the scenes, Taylor in the leader's chair, Canavan heading up the Nats and his mentor Barnaby wrangling One Nation preference flows with Gina's financial backing, the gang's back together.
NACC publishes investigation report into Robodebt referrals #auspol
Feel like this belongs here:
Whoa. This is big. "The U.S. Navy has refused near-daily requests from the shipping industry for military escorts through the Strait of Hormuz since the start of the war on Iran, saying the risk of attacks is too high for now." www.reuters.com/world/middle...
I don't believe there is confirmation they have, but per the Reuters story the US government appears to be exploring that possibility as a way to control prices.
As someone who once co-authored two books in support of nuclear energy: this is likely the kiss of death to nuclear power.
It is a risky long term investment that is uniquely dependent on social acceptance. An incompetent, very unpopular government slashing safety rules leads to a reaction.
Hey, listen, Stalin had cowboy movies.
Investors rattled by the war in Iran have sent oil prices skyrocketing – and global governments have noticed. The world’s biggest economy are reportedly considering emergency releases of millions of barrels of oil into the market. https://cnn.it/4bbNjx7
Chris Wright announcing and then retracting the claim US navy had already escorted an oil tanker through the Strait is another bizarre feature of the US war: financial manipulation. It's like they're saying whatever to bring markets into line, even as they short traders who step out of line.
Iran has begun laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important energy chokepoint that carries about one-fifth of all crude oil, according to two people familiar with US intelligence reporting on the issue. https://cnn.it/4ljpiay
ICYMI oil and gas companies in Australia used this very odd ruling in a greenwashing case to push for stripping all climate orgs of the right to sue 🤯 @roycerk2.bsky.social reports drilled.media/news/santos-...
A boiled water alert has been issued for Darwin, in addition to Katherine, Beswick and Tindal. The alert comes after issues with the pump station at Darwin's main dam. Here's what you need to know about your water.
Bundaberg residents told to evacuate immediately as Queensland braces for major flooding
I know there's a bit going on, but over at my newsletter I offered a few thoughts about how climate change is killing the Liberal Party and what its recent election autopsy reveals about how it is grappling this dilemma.
Spoiler: it's not.
As an IR professor, it's depressing that this is outperforming all others as the best theory of US foreign policy
"Every option now carries political costs and risks; the initial strike may have solved a tactical problem, but it created a strategic one. Given these realities, the wisest choice may well be for the United States to accept a limited loss now rather than risk compounding losses later."
⛏️ Miner donations to minor parties
The Minerals Council of Australia broke with its practice of funding only major political parties in the 2025 federal election, donating $125,000 to the Jacqui Lambie Network and $6,000 to One Nation. #politas #auspol
▶️ tasmanianinquirer.com.au/news/expandi...
We loaded Pacific Institute data on water conflict onto our Water Security map, so you can explore incidents of water-related violence around the world:
share.google/81jYfWd7n1zu...
BREAKING A strike targeting Bahrain's sprawling Al Ma'ameer oil facility has caused a fire at the complex along with material damage, state media reports.
Bahrain's state-owned energy company Bapco declares force majeure after waves of Iranian strikes targeted the country's energy installations
