www.qut.edu.au/news?id=203300 Well done QUT & Meanjin

gambling education not needed at all if gambling interests stopped lobbying right now. #PetaMurphy www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

theconversation.com/victorias-mo... Chain-saw enthusiasts are not the best managers of Victoria's iconic forests. Fire is a big problem and must not be exacerbated. @anufennerschool.bsky.social

“Urgent actions are needed to limit the impact of climate change on biodiversity. We must quickly minimise fossil fuel usage and move to cleaner sources of energy”, writes Dr Hannah Thomas, Early Career Leader at the Biodiversity Council. Read the full piece on The Point: https://theaus.in/4rbbwsS

Ban from Australian ports if their business model includes slavery. Ban from everywhere if possible - even better for 🌏. The Carnival is Over ...

www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02... The fire flume... gusty winds plus tall forests of oil ...now add climate change drought & global warming. This year grassland & woodland fires dominate the summer. @sjpyne.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne... Note the common denominator in unis axing creative courses: Nous Consulting (and the like). This is punishing culture because it is important for critical thinking, & they don't want to be found out. No more BigCons in Aust unis, pls.

www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02... Why is this news? Sorry 1953 sensations are not "local news" If it is #AustralianStory fine ... but "news"??? Use the news app for news pls.

inside.org.au/anywhere-but... Here we see the value of moving beyond the Sydney-centric gaze of most of the 🇦🇺 financial media. Houses are where real people live (own or rent). Politicians with multiple investment properties hear the financial lobby not the citizens. #InsideStory knows the residents!

Australia makes landmark decision that ‘prediction markets’ like Polymarket are gambling www.crikey.com.au/2026/02/06/p...

The reasoning here is interesting (and I think correct) that the distinction between this and financial derivatives are that there's no real products no risk management involved. Whilst you /can/ gamble with, say, wheat futures, that contract both involves actual wheat (if not ever delivered) and

Magic Beach by Alison Lester named Australia’s best children’s picture book www.theguardian.com/books/2026/f... Generations of readers like this "slow burner" and Lester's Magic Place.

theconversation.com/can-a-bird-b... Lively piece about alien-anxiety here @austhistassoc.bsky.social #BirdsandPeople #organismsandus

More updates and stats on Reykjavík's unwinter: last snow day was Dec 16. Zero snow in Jan, and last time that happened was in 1940. Attached photo from mountain pass toward Þingvellirvatn; snow doesn't even cover full topography. Ski places closed nearby. #northernlights #aurora #iceland #weather

Who would have thought? www.theguardian.com/australia-ne... @knitnannassyd.bsky.social

Never give away public ownership in one go in a fire sale to unscrupulous developers. Keep a gov eye on housing outcomes as they develop thro' partnerships. Grattan report (Nov 2025) has excellent practical suggestions. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne... @grattaninstitute.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne... Please think about holding on to some public ownership, and offering partnerships for new home builds that include heritage buildings in prominent places. Partnerships with heritage builders rather than huge vacant sites will maintain community cohesion better.

www.crikey.com.au/2026/02/03/w... 8/10 of "most risk" are QLD. How about elsewhere? One Nation is look-at-me but a very uneven problem. Pol media always talks up Q/NSW (following Murdoch lead). What about a "3CP" 🇦🇺 analysis of Greens, Teals and Orange Independents? #ClimateActionNow

Again.

The gambling industry is destroying our democracy. Could even destroy Big Parties. Voters want the Murphy report implemented. Now. Not "after the next election". Public money shd never be spent on crypto currencies that are all about avoiding public scrutiny www.crikey.com.au/2026/02/04/g...

www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02... 70% risk increase but still we can't stop digging a big (hot) hole. No more excuses. No more energy demands (esp AI data centres) All support for the people of Gellibrand with their rebuilding projects.

@squigglyrick.bsky.social This is the best piece yet I have read on why 🇦🇺 can't afford not to fix NDIS and support for carers. Condolences to the Ilic brothers. He was Some Dad!

www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02... Wow. What a swim. Cool heads all round saved 4 lives

www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02... Ask the locals first. This plan has just flown in from London. Energy for faraway data centres elsewhere is not a good use of the planet. Smaller local renewable generation makes sense. Not wasting it on AI does too.

Nannas will not stop working for an end to fossil fuel exports, and that means no new coal and gas. knittingnannas.org/2026/02/03/n...

950 days after the Murphy Report into gambling reform was released, the Albanese government hasn’t responded to a single one of its recommendations. Meanwhile, Australians lose almost $90 million every day to online gambling and pokies. It’s time to ban the advertising of online gambling.

Join us online for Chris Jones discussing his book The Invention of Infinite Growth: How Economists Came to Believe a Dangerous Delusion (Univ of Chicago Press, 2025) in the Greenhouse #envhum #book talk series tomorrow (Monday, 2 February 2026), 16:00 CET / 10:00 EST.

Join us in ADELAIDE for An Afternoon with Yanis Varoufakis and Friends! Featuring @yanisvaroufakis.bsky.social, Dr Bob Brown, Professor Clare Wright, Hannah Ferguson and Dominic Guerrera. Tickets selling fast, get in quick! 🎟️🎟️🎟️ #auspol

Misfeance is important in the difficult battle to get execs to actually take responsibility for their decisions. Especially where the client can't withdraw from the system (eg ATO #Robodebt, NDIS) Thank you @squigglyrick.bsky.social

Criminalisation is no solution to hate. Let's go for a bill of rights suggests Juliana Schultz www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... @humanitiesau.bsky.social

#ZombieZoology for #ZebraDay

Tools for fighting fire at a distance always good add-ons, but local knowledge and functional gear onsite is FIRST priority. Local fire brigades (volunteers) left to fight wildfires in 🇦🇺 this month with old trucks and no water or wi fi/ phone tower access. Fancy digital "solutions" irrelevant.

www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01... Interesting question. Note that many Teals and Indi-style independents hold conservative values, and also care about environment & society. Liberals unburdened by Nats (the Mining Party) could work here esp if they were liberal not "neo".

Pub billionaires. First they take beer out of microbreweries & replace with rubbish, then replace conviviality w poker machines & sports bet screens. Now radio for self-promotion & hate. How to make 🇦🇺 toxic, accelerate DV, & sow discontent. @australia.theguardian.com Boycott these pubs.

@mon4kooyong.bsky.social will like this weather report. Naming heatwaves, calling out climate emergencies, we gotta stop pretending it isn't happening. #ClimateActionNow

Quarterly reminder that if you'd like to pitch an "Off the Page" review for @historyaustralia.bsky.social (e.g. a review of an exhibition, podcast, series or movie), I'm your guy*! *gender-neutral

I'll be in London talking about encountering #extinction at the Grant Museum @uclgrantmuseum.bsky.social on Wednesday, 11 March 2026, 5:30-7:30pm. Sign up to attend for free.

www.404media.co/declassified... Declassified in 2008, this declassified doc seems to have offered a job description for few BigCons who want to run government for profit (not hospitals, universities, NDIS etc ... ) but now it's found its viral moment. @squigglyrick.bsky.social

"The Stranger in Our Midst" thank you Bruce

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free

Alas Big Government is organised by Consultants. It is a Trojan Horse for neoliberalism. www.crikey.com.au/2026/01/28/b...

Starting with Scott Morrison, Australia’s politicians are addicted to big government, and big spending www.crikey.com.au/2026/01/28/b... Alas Big Government is organised by Consultants. It is a Trojan Horse neoliberalism.

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j... A planet on the edge...

www.theguardian.com/environment/... These guys used to come into Swan River in Perth (near Matilda Bay) when we had an easterly many years ago. White vinegar applied immediately helps stings.

Fear of science is curtailing data collection and helping vested interests ruin the planet faster. www.lyrebirddreaming.com/post/science... Thanks @susbites.bsky.social for this one

How is environmental history doing in Asia? It's thriving! Read Mu Cao's beautiful account of the Asian Association for Environmental History (AAEH) conference in Japan last year. AAEH is a biennial conference, so keep an eye out for the next one in 2027! #envhist #envhum #history

www.iceho.org/news/2026/1/... A great story about a lovely conference. Thank you Mu Cao. Congrats to new Pres Shen Hou @carsoncenter.bsky.social

www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01... Was this a public servant? Or a consultant who designed an automated system that no one checked? #Robodebt Malice or laziness here - for 7 years - all of a child's school years and more... The parent with the child was impoverished by this. Outrageous.