Solidarity with Crown Casino staff who are taking industrial action tonight. Fun fact, Crown is one of the most unionised work places in Australia. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Watching Pluribus and I can't help but feel that this show would be Kant's worst nightmare. All autonomy gone. But worst of all, the hivemind is a slave to its "biological imperative". It is incapable of acting upon reasons. At least it can't lie tho 🤷

Why, in 2025, does Australia still have release dates for books several months after they've been released in the US and UK? Are they being translated into Australian? What gives?

Also: the NSW Police authorised a nazi rally (“Abolish The Jewish Lobby” etc) in front of NSW parliament 6 weeks ago. But it’s the bridge protesters calling for a ceasefire that are the problem? Srsly

Trump Third Term (I wasn't going to pass the social media check anyway)

A new policy idea for @victorianlabor.bsky.social to take up

Cool www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Had a fascinating conversation with @pjthinker.bsky.social about his latest book, Against Post-Liberalism. A timely defence of liberal egalitarianism against a reactionary agenda which seeks to undermine democracy. No country, including Australia is immune. open.spotify.com/episode/2qfs...

Barnaby had already effectively quit the Nats by not attending party room meetings. We have learnt nothing new from today's announcement. Barnaby, who is suffering from relevance deprivation, is simply trying to keep himself in the headlines. #auspol

The pressure mounting regarding gambling reform is very interesting. It shows that Albanese, on this and so many other issues, is the handbreak on genunine reform. What is the point of a Labor 'left' prime minister if he is so timid?

Latest #newspoll - can Sussan Ley make it through this week as leader? #auspol

If Labor does a deal with the Coalition rather than the Greens, that is absolutely the final straw for me on their environmental credibility. Maybe I'm the fool for hanging on this long...we will see. #auspol www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Albo is convinced that he is some master political strategist, when in reality he is the Steven Bradbury of Australian politics - the Opposition falling down while he remains standing. Unless Labor does something major on housing, Aus is not immune to a populist backlash against immigration #auspol

Why is that whenever there is a policy backflip or turn away from ambition, Albanese is behind it?

After losing the 2025 election for not having a credible energy policy, copying Trumpism, and being weak on female representation, the Liberal Party have decided to: - dump net zero - constantly talk about immigration - most likely roll their first ever female leader Nice. #auspol

This mug, much like the Liberal Party itself, has seen better days. Appropriately discovered at an op-shop.

This is rather shocking. Good news for the ALP, but Hanson with 32% favourability and One Nation polling twice as high as the Greens? Bad news for the country.

First as tragedy, then as farce.

If you're rich and you vote Liberal, at least you get your tax cuts. But if you're a farmer and you vote National, you get screwed. No one will be more affected by climate change. And yet it's affluent voters deserting the Libs, not rural voters deserting the Nats. Odd. #auspol

aw that's so nice

The Liberals abandoning net zero is bad news for everyone. It's tempting to see this decision as good, because it ensures they will stay out of power. But this will weaken investor confidence in renewables and take pressure off Labor, who will now look amazing with even lacklustre effort. #auspol

R.I.P. Graham Richardson (1949 - 2025), a factional heavyweight and history-defining Environment Minister. But most importantly, author of one the best openers to a book on #auspol 👇🏻

I revisited Raymond Geuss' short work, Philosophy and Real Politics. This is still one of my favourite works of recent political theory, but I am less of a realist than I once thought. A sympathetic yet critical review: open.substack.com/pub/ideasmat...

An excellent article from my colleague and friend, Cory Alpert @tst-news.bsky.social www.straitstimes.com/opinion/how-...

i love elections

Melbourne weather vibes

I just wrote a post about why polling taken at this point in the electoral cycle is meaningless... but still LOL

Why do environmental reforms have to deliver for nature AND *business*?? Why does this never go challenged by the media? Nature laws should be about nature. #auspol #insiders

One Nation hitting 15% in the polls? She'll be right mate... Fingers crossed that this one ages well. #auspol open.substack.com/pub/louisdev...

Picked up a copy of Troy Bramston's new Whitlam biography today. I think it found a good home! 50 years since the Dismissal this Nov. 11 #auspol

I would be ok with this if projects deemed "in the national interest" were confined to renewable energy developments. But history suggests this won't the case

I will never stop beating the anti AUKUS drum

"The most egregious aspect of this reform process has been the contemptuous manner in which the Albanese Government treats the Senate." I've written a piece outlining what we know so far about Labor's environmental reforms. My verdict? Kinda cringe. #auspol open.substack.com/pub/louisdev...

This is such a facile approach to policy making. It enables Labor to keep proposing bad legislation on important topics, get nothing done, and then blame everyone else. #auspol

Can't believe that the media is still trying to read the tea leaves and find meaning in Trump's brain farts. If Trump says he doesn't believe that Xi will invade Taiwan, this isn't a shift in US policy, it's the ramblings of a man who has no idea what he is talking about. #auspol

Torn between admiration at how well Albanese's meeting with Trump went, and revulsion at our strategic obsequiousness. No matter how much Trump praises AUKUS, it's still a rotten deal. #auspol #trumpalbanese

"if elected" is the operative phrase here ab.co/42D3nTK?fbcl...

Racism, colonialism and slavery — these are not accidents of history, they are the result of a metaphysical worldview peculiar to the Western world. That is the bold claim made by Prof. Shuchen Xiang, who joined me to discuss her new book, Chinese Cosmopolitanism. open.spotify.com/episode/1AIS...

📵Aussie workers now have the right to ignore after-hours calls & emails. Your time is your time. Work stops when the shift ends. 💪

Very interesting. You don't need to tell me this after I experienced working in a bakery.

It's me!

As I find myself in China at the same time as PM Albanese, I decided to write a little primer on the geopolitical context behind his visit. This was written on my phone, so please excuse any typos. #auspol #auschina open.substack.com/pub/louisdev...

Enjoyed this piece by @mattpolprof.bsky.social for @liberalcurrents.com Rawls offers a "...political project centered around the quintessentially liberal principle that all life is equally sacred and deserves to be experienced with dignity." www.liberalcurrents.com/rawls-in-the...

Absolute scenes today in Dengfeng, China. The Song Mountains.

I'm dismayed that it's a Liberal (Andrew Hastie) rightly calling for greater transparency about the US alliance, while Labor is enmeshing us further with the US. Some interesting notes in this article, esp. that conflict over Taiwan could spark a regional war. #auspol www.afr.com//policy/fore...

Lovely to chat union history and my new book, "No Power Greater", with @louissdevine.bsky.social on his Ideas Matter pod

The Australian MP making the most sense on Trump and Iran right now is Jacqui Lambie. Calling him a "bully" and a "sociopath" who treats war like a game to be announced over social media. #auspol youtu.be/EshaIp4_IVI?...

Trump's biggest con was convincing people that he represented a break from establishment US foreign policy.

Marking exams on a Sunday night

Are you interested in: • the early formation of working-class parties • the meaning and history of unionism • how labour responded to the neoliberalism of the 1980s? Then my interview with Liam Byrne is for you! @liamj47.bsky.social #auspol open.spotify.com/episode/19bd...