Violet Green

I am a robodebt whistleblower. I know what it’s like to be punished for speaking out and why protection is urgent | Jeannie-Marie Blake I immediately saw robodebt for what the royal commission eventually concluded it to be: unlawful and deeply unethical

Today’s Senate inquiry into a crossbench bill for a Whistleblower Protection Authority heard from Jeannie-Marie Blake - a Robodebt whistleblower who could have prevented huge harm.

Whistleblowers protect us. We should protect them.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Robodebt Whistleblower Jeannie-Marie Blake says if she & her colleagues had access to Whistleblower Protection “maybe we could have avoided Robodebt altogether”
At that time, it was “shut up or leave”
“Code of conduct breaches were used to suppress dissent.”💥😔 #SenateEstimates 13-Aug-25

I'm a broken record, but Parliament/arians is/are a lag indicator of public sentiment on almost every 'vexed' issue.

No mention of what they did to housing affordability?

Unexpectedly excellent.

Ross Gittins:”In truth, what we’re saying is “I want to pay less, so find someone else to pay more”. Those who fondly imagine government spending involves huge waste and could easily be slashed with no harm to anyone are deluded. And they never come up with specifics on what spending could be cut.”

Ross Gittins: “Trouble is, when you boil it down, the (big) Business Council Aust exists to protect interests of big foreign businesses, which make profits in Oz, pay negligible tax. Business Council persuaded Canberra’s 23 other business lobby groups to join it in rejecting company tax changes.”

Pauline Hanson has claimed Labor does not have a mandate for net zero because only "35 per cent" voted 1 for them. This is nonsense. Once you include Greens, teals and others who are more pro climate action than Labor the combined primary is over 50%.

The post itself is a cracker. Hard to believe how completely they’ve misunderstood what they’re seeing.

The Productivity Commission is floating AI copyright exemptions – with worrying implications for Australian authors and publishers Exemptions to copyright legislation for AI would disadvantage Australian writers – and set a bad precedent.

The Productivity Commission has floated an idea to expand the fair use provision, which would make the kind of scraping AI companies do to train ChatGPT et al legal.

Authors and other creatives are rightly outraged.

NB: this isn't the first time the PC has come for book publishing.

Australia’s potential surrender of creative content to tech giants for free is shocking. Labor must decide where it stands | Josh Taylor The Productivity Commission appears to have bought into tech companies’ brazen arguments – and caught the Australian government off-guard

“Tech companies have devalued the work of creative industries for years. The latest iteration of this is their insistence the AI models they plan to make lots of money from need the labour of all of human creation for free in perpetuity.”

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Pretty sure it was Howard - after the CGT discount which would go on to end housing affordability in Australia… but before the children overboard claims and the wage suppressing IR laws.

It has the vibe.

And money.

Would have thought we had already hit some sort of ceiling (floor?) for that. Apparently not.

Headline in the AFR: Blow to Chalmers’ hopes for summit unity as BHP clashes with PC over tax

Oh no, one of Australia's biggest companies doesn't like a proposal that would see Australia's biggest companies pay more tax. What a blow.

“We know how to fix the problems. We know what the science says. Centrism is restricting solutions.”

Richard Denniss digs into the issue with the so-called ‘sensible centre’ in his Vantage Point Essay, Dead Centre: How political pragmatism is killing us.

@richarddenniss.bsky.social #auspol

Union boss calls for one property limit on negative gearing tax breaks ACTU Secretary Sally McManus says it's time to "bite the bullet" and reform negative gearing and the capital gains tax to make it easier for young people to enter the housing market.

ACTU Secretary Sally McManus says it's time to "bite the bullet" and reform negative gearing and the capital gains tax to make it easier for young people to enter the housing market.

Why the housing crisis is becoming a business problem UNSW Sydney Media Release Lack of affordable housing in Australia is hurting productivity, costing billions, and making it harder for employers to attract and retain workers. The housing crisis is oft...

theaimn.net/why-the-hous...

Exactly. FFS.

Assuming other type of gaming.

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

I’m astounded by how many Australians are up for accepting lower standards of living because the people they elected and pay tell them it’s required.

#AusPol

Despite $22bn promise, Adani has paid zero corporate tax in Australia and experts think it won’t ever pay a cent Adani’s Australian assets regularly report annual losses despite strong revenue, in part due to big related-party payments

Why on earth do successive 🇦🇺 govts keep allowing giant multinational companies to reap super profits from the sale of our resources without paying tax?? 🤯

This $$ should be supporting Australians in health, housing, education etc.
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

New Australia Institute research shows there’s little evidence of a productivity crisis.

“Australia’s so-called ‘productivity crisis’ is massively exaggerated. Low productivity is not to blame for the problems facing households today, like low wage growth.”

@grogsgamut.bsky.social #auspol

I don’t mind doing self check out - I do mind that everything is at knee height so we are expected to scan and pack a full shop bent in half.

Australia is a low-taxing nation Also: the country is not too reliant on income tax.

The latest Dollars & Sense is up and I am back!!!

Talkin' with @elinorjohnstonleek.bsky.social about tax and beef and all manner of stuff
australiainstitute.org.au/post/austral...

Surely is a nasal spray for that.

“The ABC says it’s focused on impartiality.
They need to prioritise the truth.”

Doug Cameron on #SundayShot

Graph of median super balances by age: Age Median account balance $ 18-24 $5,170 25-29 $19,187 30-34 $38,525 35-39 $65,491 40-44 $93,351 45-49 $121,924 50-54 $147,857 55-59 $169,146 60-64 $189,618 65-69 $208,143

The 2022-23 tax stats released today show that $3m is more than 15 times higher than the median amount of super people in their early 60s have