"Affordable" housing isn't even for poor people, it's for people whose wages haven't kept pace with Australia's property investment as passive income fetish. Way to reinforce that society values hedge fund managers more than it values nurses 👍 #AusPol www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

The bill establishes a redress scheme for those identified to have received unlawful debts. The government were also seeking to retrospectively validate apportionment debts—why would they do that if they'd agreed to repay them? To cover off Chaplin's expected High Court appeal.

You've been asking me why they introduced these amendments—I cannot tell you. This bill was central to the government's legal strategy re: unlawful apportionment debts and a recent Federal Court decision affirming DSS' preferred method of recalculating them. www.legalaid.nsw.gov.au/about-us/new...

The Commonwealth argued in this hearing that the High Court appeal should not proceed, as the retrospective measures in the bill resolve any legal questions. They may have had a point, had the bill been passed. I'm not sure it would have been a good one. In any event, the appeal will now be heard 🙂

The Albanese Government had everything they needed to get this bill passed last week and that was the outcome we'd all prepared ourselves for. Last Thursday, when I learned of the proposed police amendments—the entire pro bono law sector was attending their annual conference in Melbourne.

By creating some Parliamentary and media opposition to the amendments and by the sum of all sorts of manoeuvrings and spectacle on transparency etc in the Senate, the bill did not make it to a vote by yesterday's adjournment. The day of Mr. Chaplin's special leave hearing. bsky.app/profile/mkla...

The Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Technical Changes No. 2) Bill 2025 failed to pass the Senate this session following a healthy dose of luck and community opposition to last-minute Labor amendments to legislate an extraordinary expansion of police powers. 👇

I obviously will never shut up about anything and neither should you but it's entirely possible they won't want to bring it back now the appeal is going ahead. And the Minister's tantrum yesterday was utterly poisonous for the perception of this thing. Those amendments WILL be scrutinised now.

I've long criticised the dehumanising and patriarchal partner income test embedded everywhere in the Australian welfare state. The tax on love really does hurt families, and has a real impact on relationship formation or termination. www.reddit.com/r/Centrelink...

"“The Government is trying to pass legislation that would allow police to cancel Centrelink payments for people who have not been found guilty of any offence." Holy moly. This is unbelievable stuff. What does Labor even stand for any more?

Many of the groups calling on @tanyaplibersekmp.bsky.social to abandon her plan to involve police & ministers in cancelling Centrelink payments for someone accused of a serious offence work directly with people affected by family violence. To suggest they don’t take it seriously is vile. Apologise.

broke: food vouchers woke: liveable welfare payments for all who need them including those in low paid jobs bespoke: pay your fucking employees enough for them to live comfortably

what is wrong with the social services minister and why is she in charge of policies that are supposed to be about supporting and caring for people

AI-tainted Deloitte report was worse than previously thought: "Department of Employment and Workplace Relations staff identified 59 potential errors in a 'quick review' of the report" after The AFR first reported claims that it included AI-induced flaws. www.afr.com/politics/ai-...

A new FOI into the Deloitte nonsense has revealed: -there were MORE AI errors in the Deloitte report than previously admitted -DEWR knew about this for weeks & did nothing -DEWR's Secretary lied in Estimates, when saying Deloitte never apologised to her archive.is/F8qtG#select...

Can't afford to be in a relationship with a person who is unemployed or disabled... seems bad! Placing the person who is unemployed or disabled in a position of absolute dependency on a partner, without any financial autonomy... seems bad!

"This move by the Federal Government demonstrates its investment in punitive measures above the social determinants, including social security, for safety such as strong families and communities." – Thalia Anthony Read the full article 👇 (if you can't access the link, send us a DM)

Asking again whether the minister doesn’t UNDERSTAND these changes, or is intentionally misleading the public… "It's going to have a disproportionate impact on Aboriginal people who are already overpoliced and are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system," – Hannah McGlade

Ty @jennaprice.bsky.social for this article (🔗 below), particularly for sharing a quote that exposes the minister actively lying about what her proposal does. It will not at all work like a payment suspension for someone on remand – it is a payment cancellation and there is no access to ART review.

Doing Advocacy work for the AUWU shows me the shit people in need have to put up with because the government doesn't care. It's hard reading these stories. It should be affecting them equally. They're too important to worry about the cares of the little people who don't donate to them.

It is a peculiar quirk of the Australian social security system that when given the option to either engage with Centrelink for the disability support pension, or work to death for slightly better yet still poverty level wages, many women will choose the non-centrelink option, and try to hug it

And oh look, a couple posts down my feed and here's part of why: bsky.app/profile/davi...

Minister Plibersek must apologise for Sky News comments about advocacy groups open.substack.com/pub/apcentre...

The government through DEWR considers 15% to be an acceptable target. The implications are astonishing. They would rather keep an ineffective system than fix it.

The importance this country places on 'The Economy' in all things, not to mention 'the Unemployment Rate' etc, you'd think this'd be bigger news. No SMH front page? Talking heads on ABC tv? But then half of JobSeekers being disabled would prob be better known, too, if it wasn't actively kept quiet.

Why the anger with Billie Eilish? Because it’s against the rules to say what we all know about billionaires www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Weeks before sitting her final exams, she had to travel nearly three hours each way to get from her new home to her school At the same time, she had to take on the household chores and was working part-time to support her mother, who was blind. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...

Weeks before sitting her final exams, she had to travel nearly three hours each way to get from her new home to her school At the same time, she had to take on the household chores and was working part-time to support her mother, who was blind. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...

White male in a metro is like “what’s the issue, all seems pretty good to me”. Wanker

The mothers of Rhys Cauzzo and Jarrad Madgwick, who each took their own lives after receiving an illegal and inaccurate Robodebt notice, are in Canberra today to again call for accountability for Robodebt live.thepoint.com.au/2025/11/the-...

Kath Madwick and Jenny Miller were at Parliament House today as @pennyallmanpayne.com tabled their petition to see those responsible for Robodebt and the deaths of their sons face justice Instead Labor bring in a bill to rewrite history and treat welfare recipients unfairly

Voting on the bill has been deferred until tomorrow. But there is little chance of an outcome that protects fundamental rights and maintains equality between welfare recipients and others under the law.

Now Labor senator Nita Green is claiming this will protect victims of violence. When many groups that represent and support victims of violence have said the exact opposite.

“I’m most disappointed not because of the sneakiness, but because this is another example of the government treating people on social security like criminals… guilty before innocent.”

“… the government then went and did something that I think makes it really difficult to support this bill. To look at the evidence, what stakeholders are saying…. At the 11th hour new clauses giving the minister to cancel powers to cancel social security payments.”

Robodebt was a mass deception based on a cruel bet: that people on income support would simply give up and pay debts they didn't owe. Today I tabled a petition from Kath Madgwick and Jenny Miller calling for those responsible to finally be held accountable.

She is literally saying “nobody left behind”. This is insane. And evil. Burn it all down.

She name checks both ACOSS and Economic Justice Australia in her remarks. The failure to staunchly oppose the raft of harmful provisions in this bill only gives cover to a government that wilfully harms poor people.

Senator Brown saying the removal of due process is about helping people … if so, why has the government ignored every single stakeholder who has raised the alarm about this after we found out about it less than a week ago?

Random government MP now invoking robodebt, saying this bill that strips due process from welfare recipients and retrospectively legalises unlawful debts rebuilds trust. How fucking dare they. @kathmadgwick.bsky.social @chexabonus.bsky.social

The government says ACOSS welcomes the bill. Shame.

We’re sick of the way this government weaponises people experiencing violence or those distressed by their encounters with Services Australia. They claim paying people who had thousands of dollars stolen from them by the government will be grateful for $600 because, distress.

“The government will tell you this bill is a win. They’ll claim it delivers justice. But it’s not … it certainly doesn’t address the harm caused.” – @pennyallmanpayne.com

“Every few weeks there’s another crisis. Just last month, another 44,000 people were shown to have overpaid their debts. These are not small mistakes.”

The government is endlessly forgiving of its own lawmaking. When the government breaks the law they legislate. But when welfare recipients get it wrong, the law comes down on them with full force.

“These overdue [small positive] changes have been bundled into legislation that potentially harms women and children in unintended ways” The Greens will not support the bill unamended.

“Our government accepted all 56 of the Robodebt Royal Commission recommendations …” Senator Carol Brown. And yet Labor’s choice to remove due process for welfare recipients flies in the face of Commissioner Holmes’ recommendations. They are invoking “never again”. Revolting.

"This reform has the potential to transform the food relief sector to increase reliable supply chains that deliver real social and environmental benefits." OR, give people enough money to buy their own food, rather than expanding the charity sector.

How much are my taxes putting in Sarina Russo’s pockets for an 11.7% success rate?

They publish this shit but don't mention the govt is looking for ways to literally kill us 🤪👍👍