Services Australia CEO David Hazlehurst pulls in a $828K salary (more than @albomp.bsky.social). In the wake of #Robodebt he’s ‘ambitious’  about using AI to deal with welfare recipients. What could possibly go wrong? #auspol

Tomorrow 5/2 @BarbaraPocock will be making a speech in Parliament on behalf of #Robodebt victims & the failure of #NACC, thank you @BarbaraPocock for your continued support, we need more of you 💔♥️💔

Rhys took his life over #Robodebt, 26/01/17, he received a final letter of demand, for $18000 on 23/01/17, went to his doctor in distress on 25/1/17, they did nothing, he then took his life 26/01/17 #Robodebt #NACC 🤬💔💔🤬

Finally received a reply from @MarkDreyfusKCMP re my 12500 signature petition re #NACC & the failure of the investigation into #Robodebt, lots of blubber & platitudes, inc “so sorry about your loss”, they don’t give a shit 💩

From the RBA's statement the only real conclusion is they want more people to be unemployed.

Would have been good to have just a little more attention given to @sharanjit.bsky.social's heroic efforts to point to climate change as a threat to Australia's heady mix of natural disasters, insurance costs, climate-change linked inflation and the mountain of debt on which the country rests.

Paul Fletcher didn’t want to lose his seat lol

Fletcher leaves rather than loses at the election

A few things this post did do is help me discover new people, follow some great accounts back - and happily weed out some insufferable arseholes 😎

Thanks for all your suggestions on how you'd like to see politics covered. I am going to take some time to go through it and have a think about what can be done x

Jesus wept. Life sentences for 10 year olds who are so vulnerable they won’t even be allowed on social media for another six years. Seriously FMD.

“Really simply: if the renewable energy projects that should have been built by now had been built, we wouldn’t have been in this situation.” Australian manufacturer calls for government to build new renewable power. My latest in @reneweconomy.com.au

Unbelievable what the #NACC has devolved into and how badly it has botched the investigation into #Robodebt - thank god for @squigglyrick.bsky.social shedding light on these issues. This morning’s @7ampodcast.bsky.social is well worth a listen… #auspol podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/7...

The sense of RELIEF I feel

Continuing a great tradition

a cheery bunch!

I paid $US300 for that Heller quote and I would do it again

Good Lord. At least the jaw-droppingly inept performance of Brereton at Senate Estimates should hasten his resignation but the self-righteousness of the man is astonishing.

Interesting. In every article I have read about the fall of Alan Jones, no mention of the thousands & thousands of women on social media who responded to his sexist remarks about women ‘destroying the joint’ one memorable weekend, causing the exit of many advertisers. www.smh.com.au/national/for...

And *finally* if you enjoyed this series, and want more of my work or are interested more in what the oil and gas industry was up to in Australia, check out my book, Slick, which is available now:

And here's the second looking how the oil and gas industry, through Ipieca, coordinated with people like Fisher to help shape economic thought and language to further its interests:

Exactly. A politically switched-on PM would be out there angrily demanding his (metaphorical) head on a pike, and gaining a boost in popularity as a result. It’s just incredible political malpractice. #NACC #RoboDebt

This guy. Wow.

The NACC oversight committee was in the stadium, then @squigglyrick.bsky.social hit it and now it’s out of the stadium. If you want to follow the details of anything to do with the NACC this account is the easy option. #AusPol #AusNews

Delusional "The Nacc commissioner, Paul Brereton, does not accept there is “widespread” disquiet about the federal integrity body after the fallout of its decision not to investigate robodebt referrals." www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

If we can send a poo kit to every Australian when they turn 45 to protect them from bowel cancer let's send a media education pack to every home when a kid turns 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, and 15 with useful guides for kids and parents on engaging with platforms as they grow.

It would be good for Australians if Paul Brereton, the head of the #NACC, bothered reading his own legislation. That would be helpful and oooh I dunno, might be something the public expected from him in his ~$758,000 a year position

Brereton says their best efforts are in exposing corrupt conduct where it hasn't already been exposed. Totally fair, in a general sense, but none of the conduct in Robodebt HAS been labelled as corrupt conduct when it probably should be, because the NACC decided not to do so.

It *hasn’t been exposed* because the sealed section of the Robodebt Royal Commission has not been released. So that individuals named in it could be referred to the NACC

The head of the NACC, Paul Brereton, may be a decent man, but he is desperately out of his depth as the head of this large, multi-faceted, public-facing, modern, public service organisation. His disastrous performance this afternoon in the Senate hearing underlines that in very clear detail. #NACC

Brereton’s position is untenable. He is unaware of the NACC legislation, he has acted with officer misconduct, and the performance of the #NACC under his leadership has been extremely disappointing & concerning. The Double House reqs to remove him are not appropriate & must be changed.

Paul Brereton in today's #NACC public hearing: "Adding a stamp of corrupt conduct ... to conduct already exposed by the Royal Commission would add no public value. That was our thinking, or my thinking" Then how could he put out a public statement saying he wasn't involved in any decision making?

Have another piece on the NACC in @satpaper.bsky.social tomorrow which dives into some of this.

Brereton is doing a great job of filibustering this NACC oversight committee hearing which has just 90 minutes for questions from senators. Almost half an hour gone now and he's still in his opening statement. Mostly rehash of his speech from last week so far.

Here are the four broad categories. Former judge Maragret White says the breach of public trust one was "lit up in neon" on the Robodebt referrals.

Not required by law. Not required to accept edits. Not required to do anything at all. Instead, Commissioner Brereton does all three with the person about whom he declared a conflict of interest.

Brereton says: "It wouldn't be deeply embarrassing to me since I didn't make the decision in the first place." No, you were just comprehensively involved in it "before, during and after" the 19 October 2023 meeting when the decision was made.

Shoebridge asks if he does not accept there is "widespread disquiet." Brereton: Senator, I accept there is disquiet in some quarters. I am not prepared to accept it is widespread.

I really don't understand how "it seemed very hard" is a good excuse for a national anti-corruption commission to use when deciding not to investigate something.