Rex Patrick

It’s my last day of hearing from Govt on why you’re not allowed to see anything about where Govt intends to put #AUKUS ☢️ waste. The 👇list of excuses👇 is long. It’s politically sensitive, you’re illiterate, and the remedy to illiteracy is to keep you illiterate 🤦‍♂️. #FOI #auspol

Good morning from Port Macquarie, Mid North Coast, New South Wales. #WorkFromRoam

The red text is argument the Govt did not want me and you to see - but the Tribunal ruled that they had to release it.

Proceedings continue today the with cross examination of the Australian Submarine Agency. 2/2 #FOI #AUKUS

I can now 👇reveal👇 why the Govt is resisting the release of information about its process for selecting a site for an #AUKUS ☢️ waste dump. The Albanese Govt are desperate to control the narrative. The public is to be managed! 1/2 #auspol

This morning I’m hoping sunlight will shine upon the Govt’s plans for #AUKUS nuclear waste. I’ll be (remotely) cross-examining the head of our ☢️ Waste Management Agency on why, when social licence is essential, secrecy is the order of the day 🤷‍♂️. #FOI #auspol Pt Macquarie, NSW. #WorkFromRoam

Work-from-roam. Transparency warrior Rex Patrick hits the road. - Michael West Indefatigable transparency warrior is continuing his crusade for truth and fairness from an outback office, roaming this wide brown land.

108 days without a State.

Fighting a rigged political system This week, the full bench of the High Court heard a challenge to Victoria’s changes to its campaign financing laws, brought by a pair of independent candidates. It is not the only case in the works. F...

Last year Labor, Libs & Nats pushed through laws to make it impossible for independents/small parties to run competitive election campaigns. The laws are unconstitutional. We’re asking the High Court to ‘tell em they’re dreamin’. #auspol

Gambling advertising ban. Labor odds-on to do nothing - Michael West Doing nothing on gambling advertising isn’t enough for the Albanese Government; they want to ensure nobody does.

@albomp.bsky.social’s done NOTHING on banning gambling advertising, as recommended by a Labor led House Committee in 2023. To make things even worse, yesterday in the Senate Labor actively stood in the way of the Greens doing something. #shame #auspol michaelwest.com.au/gambling-adv...

And the biggest compo payout for Robodebt victims is ... Scott Morrison! - Michael West Compare Robodebt victims' compo to the quantum of Scott Morrison's publicly funded legal fees. It's shameful, reports Rex Patrick.

ICYMI

#FOI is slowly lifting the secrecy curtain over Scott Morrison’s ongoing free ride in relation to the #Robodebt Royal Commission. Here’s his 20 August 2024 ask of the taxpayer. #auspol

Treasurer says it's the Feds' problem if Whyalla Steelworks sale falters - News | InDaily, Inside South Australia SA Treasurer claims if Whyalla Steelworks is not sold it’s Canberra’s problem and refused to say whether more taxpayers dollars are needed.

In circumstances where we’re gifting $10B to the US and UK to prop up their submarine shipyards, it would be treachery to not properly support Australia’s sole structural steel and rail manufacturing capability. #NationalResilience #auspol #saparli

Government to sell historic defence properties The Albanese government has identified 67 defence sites for potential sale, aiming to unlock up to $1.8 billion.

In the context of $billions being splurged on #AUKUS, this is Defence scratching about to find loose change down the back of the sofa.👇 🛋️ 💵 #auspol

A UK climate security report backed by the intelligence services was quietly buried – a pattern we’ve seen many times before Governments have been warned about climate change for 70 years. They’re still suppressing the worst news.

@albomp.bsky.social has doggedly refused to release the Office of National Intelligence #climate risk assessment his govt commissioned. Wonder why? Probably because its conclusions are similar to this UK report👇 and he wouldn’t want to upset big coal & gas. #auspol

Political divorce is rarely pretty - as seen in this brief but interesting exchange in the Senate yesterday as the Liberal Party removed National Party senators from Senate Committees. Labor Senator Tim Ayres seemed to enjoy being the bearer of bad news. #auspol

The latest Congressional Research Service Virginia Class submarine advisory to Congress paints a troubling picture for Australia’s future nuclear submarine ambitions. Luckily Richard Marles chooses to ignore bad news in his own Defence procurement planning. #AUKUS #auspol

Despite Sussan Ley writing a strong opinion piece opposing the Bill and despite Liberal senators writing a strong Senate dissenting report against the Bill, the Libs voted with Labor to keep the #FOI Amendment Bill alive 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️. The Nationals walked from the Senate chamber (abstained). #auspol

Shouted down by common sense. The end of Albo's secrecy bill? - Michael West It entrenches and broadens government secrecy, contradicting Albanese's own transparency pledge, but the FOI Amendment Bill is dead.

@albomp.bsky.social’s #FOI Amendment Bill is to ‘right to know’ as ICE is to ‘right to protest’. Will this secrecy bill be banished from the Parliament today in response to a motion to be moved by @fatima-payman.bsky.social at 3:30 PM? Watch this space! #auspol

And the synopsis just keeps getting worse. #AUKUS #auspol

Could One Nation be a genuine threat to Australia’s conservative parties? After years on the extreme fringes of politics, Pauline Hanson’s party is on the rise

I suggest the shift in support to One Nation is not a signal of love for that minor party, but of serious disappointment with the major parties (especially the mess that is the Coalition). #auspol

"Someone got to the Minister". How fossil politics buried emissions data - Michael West Why did the Albanese Government eliminate billions of tonnes of fossil fuel carbon emissions from public view. Rex Patrick investigates.

@albomp.bsky.social’s Govt is behaving like an unfaithful partner – engaging in a net-zero loving relationship with the community from wake-up to brekkie but then leaving the house for work to engage in an evil emissions affair with the fossil fuel industry. #auspol

There is no rest for a Transparency Warrior. An #FOI a day stops democracy decay. #Gina #influence #auspol

The Navy's New $348 Billion Columbia-Class Nuclear Missile Submarine Is In Trouble The Columbia-class ballistic-missile sub program is slipping and getting pricier, but contracts, facilities, and modules show progress toward 2029 delivery.

The US’ priority #1 submarine program is in trouble. Our $368B #AUKUS future sub program is hitched to the US’ troubled priority #2 sub program. But our bathtub admiral, Defence Minister Richard Marles, says there’s no need for concern. 🤦‍♂️ #auspol

Kitchen v Quinlivan (No 3) [2025] QSC 351 (19 December 2025) 2/2

Exclusive: Misfeasance case paves way for robodebt action A damning judgement of ‘highhandedness or cynical disregard’ by the Medicare watchdog has established a new front for civil litigation of public servants named in the robodebt royal commission.

#Robodebt is undoubtably proof that public servants, including and especially those in the $1M secretaries club, will NOT be held to account by Govt for wrongdoing. Does a Queensland misfeasance case open the door to citizen led accountability? 1/2 #auspol

Addendum: But a very modest gain while billions are flushed down the #AUKUS sinkhole. #auspol

Our Govt should support Australian industry, but avoid just gifting public money to companies. Equity stakes are the way to go, not grants. Well done @albomp.bsky.social in this instance. #auspol

The UK’s submarine construction program is one big cluster fiasco. On top of concerns it doesn’t have the capability/capacity to deliver #AUKUS subs on time, if at all, is an emerging concern that the UK Govt can’t afford to buy them even if it could build them. #fantasy #auspol

A gas betrayal. King plan favours foreign buyers, gas cartel over mums and dads - Michael West The Government’s Gas Reservation Policy is nothing short of a betrayal. They claim it will put downward pressure on gas and electricity prices. It won’t.

A 0% domestic reserve on massive amounts of existing gas and a 25% reserve on tiny amounts of new gas was never going to do anything for local supplies or electricity prices. Dumb @albomp.bsky.social, just dumb! 2/2 #fail #auspol

A month after @albomp.bsky.social announced his PROspective gas reservation policy, there’s more talk of east coast gas shortages. That’s because it was a dud policy from day 1 (see post 2/2 and my analysis of the policy). We need a RETROspective gas reservation policy. 1/2 #fail #auspol

Rubio links AUKUS to rules-based order mocked by Pentagon The US Secretary of State cited ‘AUKUS and broader alliance activities’ as helping both nations advance a rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific just two days after the notion was mocked by the Pentago...

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has championed the role of #AUKUS in advancing a “rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific” just 2 days after the Pentagon blasted “cloud-castle abstractions like the rules-based international order.” Our billions talks! #auspol