What’s the Budget *really* about? For the quick answer:

Asset prices have been racing ahead of wages, while taxes often hit wages harder than capital gains. Tax changes begin to respond to the frustration felt by workers and renters, but spending priorities leave many behind. Great to speak with Stephen Long about #Budget2026

Last night's Budget begins to tackle decades of rising inequality, as asset prices have outpaced wages and tax settings have favoured asset owners over workers. The spending side is less compelling. Great to be working with the team at @futurework.bsky.social

Exciting news! Next week I join the amazing team at the Centre for Future Work! futurework.org.au/news/new-ceo...

Last week Bill Shorten proposed a new federal fund to reinvigorate the #HigherEd sector. Will Brehm, the brilliant host of Fresh Ed, reached out to talk through exactly how a #university fund might work. This is our piece in Pearls and Irritations @johnmenadue.com johnmenadue.com/post/2026/03...

Great piece by @squigglyrick.bsky.social on #BasicIncome as an antidote to the austerity of our brutal conditionality thepoint.com.au/opinions/260...

Melbourne: British inequality scholar Matthew Johnson joins me in conversation this Monday 3pm at Monash Uni Caulfield campus, to discuss his work fighting inequality and rebuilding social democracy. FREE PUBLIC TALK Monday 16/3 3pm Caulfield campus bit.ly/common-sense...

2026: how i learnt my masala dosa depends on the strait of hormuz x.com/pHequals7/st...

In 1988 an innocuous Australian government agency was tasked with gathering statistics for industry. Its work made it a flashpoint for critics who charged that it helped rationalise climate denial. With ABARE's internal records now open access, I took or look for @drilledmedia.bsky.social. /1

Clearly it’s time to appoint a permanent officer in the government to look over all the festival programs. Some fellow in a centralised office where all the art can be submitted beforehand, to make sure it’s socially cohesive. Some kind of Chief Approver, if you like www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02...

McIntosh’s complaint said the knowledge that the child actors depict such scenes was "grotesque and a clear contravention of the ABC’s Code of Practice". If only she was as concerned about the grotesque actual treatment of First Nations children by LNP govts. www.theguardian.com/media/2026/j...

The US Holocaust Museum being more outraged by Tim Walz saying that, like Anne Frank, children today are in hiding from armed agents of the state, than they are about the fact that children are in hiding from armed agents of the state, is why Holocaust remembrance culture is in crisis.

Feel like a man throwing a homemade IED into a large crowd at an invasion day rally should be bigger news

Great to see Bristol's Green councillors making case for a trial Universal Basic Income - a guaranteed payment that would have huge benefits for groups like care leavers, and give a massive boost to culture and the arts. bristolgreenparty.org.uk/greens-call-...

"Superannuation is supposed to be for retirement. Unfortunately, it has become like Australia’s own internal tax haven and inheritance scheme for wealthy people." @taxjustice.net's Mark Zirsnak #ThePoint thepoint.com.au/opinions/260...

If the Palestine Action hunger strikers die - which they could do at any moment, as they are now very close to the end - it will be the government that killed them. Today’s column explains why. Please share, and write urgently to your MP. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Also while I was madly packing up my house, a new paper came out where we consider how housing ties together the Australian public and the Reserve Bank of Australia - adding a new layer of complexity to monetary policy making. www.ppesydney.net/content/uplo...

"Treasury figures reveal $18 billion capital gains windfall for Australia’s richest 10 per cent" Form me in @thepointau.bsky.social thepoint.com.au/off-the-char...

How about business leaders first institute all the recommendations from the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry?

"How else is New York’s City Hall booby-trapped to prevent progress on housing? What forces barricade the staircase, and what snipers lie in wait for a mayor who dares challenge the real estate state?" Spectacular essay on the real deep state of FIRE sector jewishcurrents.org/zohran-mamda...

Shockwaves in Europe & in Asia. As Policytensor puts it "We have the W Hemisphere, Europe & the Middle East but no Asia. The only core, vital US interest in the Indo-Pacific is described as the security of sea-lanes,supply chains,&critical minerals. No mention of Japanese, Korean,Taiwanese security"

Listen to George Megalogenis, @frankbongiorno.bsky.social @bspiesbutcher.bsky.social @emilyrosefoley.bsky.social and I discuss if Australia is entering a new political era. With record electoral shifts reshaping class, gender, race, and power dynamics, what does the future hold for our democracy?

Great to see this event we organised, with funds from @auspsa.bsky.social and featuring George Megalogenis, @frankbongiorno.bsky.social @bspiesbutcher.bsky.social @lizhumphrys.bsky.social & @emilyrosefoley.bsky.social has been made into a podcast by UTS Impact Studios. pod.link/1760672339/e...

“America’s Polarization Has Become the World's Side Hustle” too many people just focus on supply side of foreigners using tech for disinformation. Its the demand side - American society is broken yet wealthy - that makes it a business model www.404media.co/americas-pol...

The latest corrective services data is out today, and it points a horrific picture of the systemic racism in our judicial system #PointLive live.thepoint.com.au

"Poverty is not evidence, the presumption of innocence must apply to everyone" Smashing column by @kristin8x.antipovertycentre.org & @maiyazize.bsky.social #ThePoint thepoint.com.au/opinions/251...

Macclesfield Central (Cheshire East) Council By-Election Result: 🌍 GRN: 41.8% (+19.7) 🌹 LAB: 28.6% (-25.7) ➡️ RFM: 15.8% (New) 🌳 CON: 9.1% (-4.5) ⚖️ EQU: 2.5% (New) 🔶 LDM: 2.2% (-7.7) Green GAIN from Labour. Changes w/ 2023.

The Young Greens of England and Wales is officially the largest youth and student wing of any British political party. Greens: "With overall Green Party membership now at over 150,000, the Young Greens have over 40,000 members – making them larger than Young Labour."

Our co-director @bspiesbutcher.bsky.social will be speaking to the Economic Society of Australia tomorrow in Sydney (and online). He'll be discussing AI, #BasicIncome and much more. Registration details below.

I'm speaking to the Economic Society of Australia (Central) in Sydney (and Webinar) on Wednesday about the future of jobs, money and the economy after AI, discussing hashtag #BasicIncome, Fully Automated Luxury Communism, Techno-feudalism and more. esansw.org.au/event/64812/...

The Australian Basic Income Lab is proud to endorse Basic Income for a Just Transition, a bold proposal from @equalrightorg.bsky.social @give-directly.bsky.social BIEN and Project Deep. bsky.app/profile/did:...

Great piece from my colleague @alistairsisson.bsky.social exploring the implications of our voter data on the ##HousingCrisis johnmenadue.com/post/2025/10...

The 1st publication from the 2025 Cooperative Election survey was launched yesterday prepared by the Macquarie Housing & Urban Research Centre, this report explores perceptions of housing affordability and perceived solutions (thread)

Fascinating stuff from @bspiesbutcher.bsky.social and the gang - check it out!

What do voters think about the housing crisis? Just out in @aunz.theconversation.com our piece (w @shaunwilson.bsky.social @alistairsisson.bsky.social Kristian Ruming and Adam Stebbing) for MQ's Housing and Urban Research Centre exploring #Housing attitudes theconversation.com/most-austral...

Join us for a free webinar hosted by Macquarie University where researchers will present the fascinating insights they have drawn from data collected by Accent Research at the 2025 federal election showing how voters' demographics, backgrounds and economic interests shape housing politics

Palestinian bodies returned by Israel show signs of torture and execution, say doctors www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Now out with New Political Economy: What's going on in the legal back-end of 'innovative' climate finance constructs? I provide some additional clues to why it's so hard to de-risk private climate finance by public means. Open access, too! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

How did #Housing shape the 2025 #auspol Election? Come to our free webinar. We analyse new data to see how generation, tenure and voting shape housing politics With @emmabaker.bsky.social @shaunratcliff.bsky.social and @everybodyshome.bsky.social Maiy Azize events.humanitix.com/webinar-on-h...

Our submission on Help to Buy is in. Biggest concerns? *Inflated prices *Hidden fiscal costs *No perpetual affordability 💡 Shared equity could work better. Tie it to Community Land Trusts → permanent affordability, real public benefit: sbee.link/6phagtynb8 #HousingCrisis #HelpToBuy

This event is going to be wonderful! A chance to discuss the past and future of political economy in Sydney 👏💖🎈

I hadn't seen George Brandis' op ed about expanding parliament but it is indeed completely false and @benraue.com has kindly saved me the trouble of debunking it www.tallyroom.com.au/62130

I suppose they've given up on abundance...? "We think the WTO needs to focus on oversupply issues … There’s plenty of products that I think people would say there’s an oversupply." www.smh.com.au/politics/fed...

JOB! Permanent Lecturer / Senior Lecturer position (education focused) in Political Economy at the University of Sydney.

How did #housing shape the #auspol election? Come and hear new data and analysis from our MQ Housing and Urban Research Centre unpacking how generation, tenure and partisanship shape how we see the problem and the solutions. Zoom event, Oct 22, 12pm events.humanitix.com/webinar-on-h...

What did i just read. Cass Sunstein on Henry Kissinger the great Star Wars admirer

Join us on Tuesday night at UTS to discuss: A New Australian Politics? George Megalogenis @frankbongiorno.bsky.social @lizhumphrys.bsky.social Emily Foley and I discuss how the last two elections have changed Australian politics and what it means for the future events.humanitix.com/a-new-austra...

Really interesting article on the history of engagement with women and gender norms in the Liberal Party. Thanks @blairwilliams26.bsky.social for your research!

"In Australia we tax wealth really badly. "And because we tax wealth really badly, we need to have higher taxes on, for example, income." - Senior Economist Matt Grudnoff on 3AW Radio Mornings #auspol @mattgrudnoff.bsky.social

Check out our co-director @bspiesbutcher.bsky.social discussing #BasicIncome #AI and #Inequality in The Conversation this morning.