Sarah Steel

A phone app news alert from ABC that says: “AI is creeping into every part of life and Australians are divided between fascination and fear”

You forgot about disgust

Understanding the coercive practices of high-control groups - Parliament of Victoria

Update on the inquiry posted on the Victorian Parliamentary website. So good to hear survivor voices are being heard.

www.parliament.vic.gov.au/news/society...

‘The title sounds benign: “The ‘vibe shift’ in middle England”. This set of activists is not benign: they code switch to suit an audience. They intend to radicalise those audiences, one step at a time.’

PM Albanese’s culture of secrecy, in three charts If he doesn’t change course, the Prime Minister may end up leading exactly the kind of 'shadow government' that he derided his predecessor for.

"PM Albanese’s culture of secrecy, in three charts"

Damning work by @skyelark.bsky.social on this govt's secrecy
#OffTheCharts #ThePoint
thepoint.com.au/off-the-char...

Why interest rates will not fall again until someone pays the price And until someone — redundant workers, big business, the RBA or government — foots the bill, interest rates are unlikely to budge from here.

This clinical narrative that unemployment needs to be higher in order to cut inflation is so offensive when the government so persistently abuses the unemployed www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...

As the Trump Administration slides further and further into authoritarianism, it becomes increasingly clear Australia needs to escape the disastrous AUKUS deal.

Two-thirds of Australians support a Parliamentary Inquiry into AUKUS.

Add your name to the call. ✍️⤵️ #auspol

Artists rejoice as Labor rules out copyright carve-out for AI Labor has ruled out changing copyright laws to give tech giants free rein to train artificial intelligence models on creative works, after the proposition was met with widespread backlash from artists...

Australian artists, journalists, authors and researchers create the stories and knowledge that shapes who we are as a nation.

If AI companies want access to their work, they should have to negotiate with copyright holders like anyone else.
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...

All of this and also worth noting the incredible feat of editing in creating something so compelling with basically terrible video and audio (body worn camera footage). Devastating doco, very worth watching.

Governments can stop this. They can legislate identity and reputational protection and against hate content, but they won’t without intense public pressure.

CEO-to-worker pay ratio in 1965: 20-1

CEO-to-worker pay ratio in 1990: 75-1

CEO-to-worker pay ratio today: 280-to-1

Trickle-down economics was always a sham.

Nothing has ever trickled down.

Yes … er, no: The Australian backflips after signing on to Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon reporting rules | Weekly Beast News Corp’s broadsheet was one of very few publications to agree to restrict reporting to authorised material before it changed its mind. Plus: a super blooper

Missed the update: www.theguardian.com/media/commen...

Oh yes!

In great company with cult-run Epoch Times there too

Anti-racist rallies all over on October 19, in response to the next round of these 'Marches for Australia'. Get to your one. It's your opportunity not only to stand up, but to start meeting and making plans with other anti-racists. Your presence matters. Share it around.

Chris Minns exaggerated the scale of antisemitism in NSW – and won't apologise The NSW premier had Australia believe antisemitic hate was running rampant. Police data has shown that to be false.

NSW premier Chris Minns had Australia believe antisemitic hate was running rampant. Police data has shown that claim to be grossly exaggerated.

www.deepcutnews.com/p/chris-minn...

So glad to see the future of relationships is wanking alone to prompts from a chatbot that will raise your electricity and water prices send all your private responses to Sam Altman for unsafekeeping

Hmmmmm

Cool, cool

Amazing how each of the major parties does a complete about-face on FOI when they enter and exit power

“We will know they [network of operatives working to engineer a Trump-like takeover of Australian politics] are getting somewhere when One Nation and the Coalition merge.”

tdunlop.substack.com/p/i-suppose-...

Imagine kicking the former national rugby captain out of your sports club instead of the gambling lobby.

To paraphrase Groucho Marx, who'd want to belong to a club that would accept Responsible Wagering Australia as one of its sponsors?

@albomp.bsky.social says #FOI costs the Govt too much. When I FOI’ed Treasury in 2023 for briefs it had provided Jim Chalmers on stage 3 tax cuts, the Govt spent $53K resisting public disclosure. They lost! The taxpayers lost! FOI is not costing too much - Govt secrecy is. #auspol

Let's Talk About Sects - Exclusive Brethren Special Guest: Lindy Jacomb Lindy Jacomb loves questions of faith, truth and meaning. She was raised in the Exclusive Brethren (now rebranded as the PBCC) and was excommunicated alone at age 20. She l...

Just a reminder with the Exclusive Brethren (now known as the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church) in the news again in Australia (inviting Murdoch journos to services that I doubt resemble their usual ones much), if anyone wants some background I did a deep dive ep back in 2021 www.ltaspod.com/29

So telling

Lifestyles of the rich and heinous 2025 – Serge Benhayon’s incurable fickleness Universal Medicine cult leader, Serge Benhayon, is on the move again. No, not between the fifth and sixth dimensions, but from one luxury Gold Coast bunker to another.

Some very interesting updates from @estherrockett.bsky.social on Serge Benhayon (now going by Serge Isaac!) and Universal Medicine (including a couple of Gold Coast eateries now worth avoiding) factsaboutuniversalmedicine.wordpress.com/2025/09/30/l...

The 9 Most Common Personality Traits In Cult Leaders Cult and mental health experts reveal the characteristics often found in those who seek to control and manipulate others.

“When you take a closer look, a cult leader often exhibits a classic set of traits and behaviors. Although there is variety in how these traits present, certain themes tend to ring true.” – Ashlen Hilliard, founder of People Leave Cults

www.huffpost.com/entry/the-9-...

chasing "balance" in news can sound like it's noble but it's not. treating all possible sources as comparably expert, rational, experienced, insightful, relevant, disadvantaged or empowered does not result in objective, accurate reporting. it results in false equivalency.

I suppose we have to think about Andrew Hastie now, sigh Okay, but let's be clear on what the real problem is

“… it no longer makes sense to think of the Liberal Party—or even the Coalition—as a standalone entity. They have become part of broader network of operatives that are working to engineer a Trump-like takeover of Australian politics.” tdunlop.substack.com/p/i-suppose-...

bring on the wider turn against US tech and social media

Grand Theft Accounting I am shocked—shocked, I tell you—to discover in this year’s corporate tax report that Optus paid no tax on $8.2 billion of income.

Brilliant piece by @birmo.bsky.social on corporations not paying tax and how the people in charge want you to blame baristas, foreigners and single mums for the fact your hospitals are busted.

He's talking about Australia, but it's true for everyone, everywhere.

open.substack.com/pub/aliensid...