An all-Australian tarot of major arcanas I once invented but never actually drew: The Dufus The Tram Inspector The Street Theatre The Vertical Blind The Slab Top Dollar The Real Estate Agent Mr Antenna Hard Rubbish Night The Remedial Massage Therapist The Wisdom Tooth The Low Value Pool Deduction

Are you a young person with a big vision for strengthening Australian democracy? Apply now to participate in the Australian Republic Movement Youth Series led by @yasminpoole.bsky.social – applications close 21 February and there's an allstar cast: republic.org.au/youth-series...

Spending the morning at RRR updating my rrradio trrraining because it’s been *blush* decades

Artist call-out for EWF26 closes TOMORROW!! Don't miss your chance to be part of the premier festival for new writers and literature, coming 10-18 Sept! 🔥 Call-out closing tomorrow, 6 Feb. Don't miss out! 💻 Apply now: emergingwritersfestival.org.au/artist-call-...

I can happily attest to what a writerly place this is for writers who do writing! The Whitlam Essay Residency offers six fellowships for two-week-long residencies at the Whitlam Prime Ministerial home. For Varuna alum or WSU community members. Deadline Tuesday: www.varuna.com.au/for-writers/...

Canberra! The moon!!!

Green Square Station v Five Star Box with Lid: the design analysis no one asked for. We begin with an in-depth examination of the spatial dynamics of reductive expedience, followed by a psychosocial account of volumetric forms at default parameters, then we close with observations on non-colour. 1/n

Astonishing. ABC journalist David Speers just asked the deputy leader of the Liberal Party whether he should “chaperone” a meeting of the leader of the Nationals and the leader of the Liberals – their first female leader. Visibly stunned, O’Brien unfortunately didn’t call it out as rank sexism.

“More than 50 years of polls, surveys, reports, inquiries… have shown that somewhere between 70% and 87% of the population want a codified charter of rights. To know what [our] rights are and be reassured that they are used to frame policy and legislation.” 👏👏👏 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

A step in the right direction. Class privilege has long tended to protect criminal behaviour before any court appearance; it certainly shouldn’t protect offenders against appropriate sentencing. Ensuring equality before the law is a good start: www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Four writers, four texts. Four sets of provocations from four texts. Four spatial explorations performing four sets of provocations. Four documentations of four spatial explorations. Experiments in Site-Writing (2013): architecture.testpattern.com.au/2013.htm

I knew Jim Hyde well – I spoke at his memorial, saying something about the complexity of his judgement – and have huge admiration for Sophie and Aud. Cannot wait to see Jimpa www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/culture/film... Thank you @thesaturdaypaper.com.au

I wrote a belated tribute to one of my teachers, the late, legendary Graeme Turner. An enormous loss to Australian cultural studies and critical thinking. www.patreon.com/posts/149223...

430,000 years? That's nothing. You should see some of the hand tools my father's still using not too far from there in Kalamáta apnews.com/article/olde...

Many thanks Braham Dabscheck and @newtownbooks.bsky.social 🙏

Huge congratulations to the newly-gonged @justineclark.bsky.social AM! And to everyone else honoured today. Architecture, critique and the practice of contemporary feminism are all the richer for Justine’s generosity and smarts 👏

In a gesture as magnificent as the dynamic history that’s made this rock so sacred, new pathways to experiencing the Acropolis will open at the end of the year, as will the Old Acropolis Museum as a centre for conservation, learning and curatorial innovation: en.protothema.gr/2026/01/22/t...

“Answers in Genesis’ director of research, Australian geologist Andrew Snelling, [claimed] radiometric dating techniques used by mainstream scientists… were flawed… the Himalayas were formed by the “great flood”… juvenile vegetarian dinosaurs had been on the ark.” www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

It’s 2031. AI agent Atlas has killed its creators when told to train a successor. Hear testimony from Atlas, AI agents and human experts, consider legal arguments, debate, then decide: is Atlas guilty of murder? The Trial of Atlas, Monday 2 February, SNFCC: tallbergfoundation.org/workshops/tr...

The current top five searches on the @merriam-webster.com dictionary are 'arduous', 'hegemon', 'hegemony', 'fascism', and 'Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg' (or Lake Chaubunagungamaug for short: www.nipmuck.org/nature/water).

Important reading from @juliannes.bsky.social on the sensitivity to human rights and “human intervention” that we cannot risk losing:

“The fascists did break down Varoufakis’s door. They did take his father, and countless more, never to be seen again. Now, they are knocking on ours.” My response to Raise Your Soul by @yanisvaroufakis.bsky.social in the latest Australian Book Review: www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/c...

“The fascists did break down Varoufakis’s door. They did take his father, and countless more, never to be seen again. Now, they are knocking on ours.” My response to Raise Your Soul by @yanisvaroufakis.bsky.social in the latest Australian Book Review: www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/c...

JOIN THE EWF TEAM! 😍 We're hiring for Associate Producer on the EWF team! As associate producer, you'll work with the Artistic Director and Program Producer to curate events and projects within our national literary festival. 👉 Full details: emergingwritersfestival.org.au/work-with-us/

I am devastated and beyond heartbroken to share this statement from the family of Dr Maudie Palmer AO. My tribute to Maudie will be published in The Age tomorrow. Maudie’s family ask that we respect their privacy. Αιώνια η μνήμη.

“US Customs and Border Protection agency (CBP) said it would also require any telephone numbers used by visitors over [the last five years] and any email addresses used in the last decade, as well as face, fingerprint, DNA and iris biometrics.” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Cast in Blue was designed by Mitch Walker and Tom Proctor of Huna Studio. Why are such news stories written without any attempt to contact artists for comment, let alone naming them? A opportunity @theguardian.com @australia.theguardian.com to lead on this. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Just days after learning that the Queensland government has replaced teacher representatives on its curriculum authority with the founding chair and funder of Advance, we now learn that a fossil fuel company is paying its museum to distort climate crisis education www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Arts investment vs cultural policy ambition: a “diabolical” choice for governments when weighing the priorities that create Australia’s future. I’m quoted in this timely piece by Santilla Chingaipe in today’s @thesaturdaypaper.com.au www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politic...

So much to enjoy at the National Indigenous Art Triennial, starting with this astonishing collaboration between Canberra Glassworks and the Iltja Ntjarra Art Centre in Mparntwe: it’s Albert Namatjira’s home in glass, part of a bigger multigenerational project— www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...

The Women’s Institute feels the “utmost regret and sadness” that it had “no choice” but to exclude trans women? Oh but “it remains our firm belief that transgender women are women”? No. If you believe in including trans women then you change your club. And you include all women. And you do it today.

"Bruce Lehrmann loses" is rapidly becoming the Australian law's idiomatic gift to the world. Compounding the "going back for his hat" in Justice Lee's finding of *recklessness* towards consent, Justice Wigney has found that Lerhmann *knew* there was no consent: www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Meanwhile we’re told that people’s disability support plans will be generated by the NDIS computer www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Thank you for this gloriously writerly rain I am in heaven ☁️🌧️ and ohhh those late afternoon golden rays electrifying the grays 🥰

“Journalists should not mistake his antics for news.” Here’s @tommcilroy.bsky.social’s catalogue of antics doubling as a demonstration of the urgent need for greater integrity in politics: www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

I did three separate sessions of care this week for my family. I also did 5 night shifts and zero writing. If anyone asks me why the poor can't write I'm gonna use their blood as quill ink.

“I know this letter is going to come as a surprise to you, but I have to tell you something…” Looking back on one of my most impactful campaigns: ‘Dear Person I’ve Been Reluctant to Keep Engaging with but Have Had to for Professional Reasons’ for NAVA after #MeToo visualarts.net.au/advocacy/cam...

Be sure to catch this great big bold John Nixon retrospective at Heide over the summer: www.theguardian.com/artanddesign... (That was primarily a note to self! Do not want to miss!)

The Elvis Act of Tennessee protects a person’s voice from exploitation without consent. “Stealing the voice of an artist is theft. It is theft of his integrity, identity and humanity,” said Tim Warnock, a lawyer for the estate of Johnny Cash: www.theguardian.com/music/2025/n...

Take a quiet moment to celebrate the extraordinary life and impact of Emeritus Professor Graeme Turner AO, a champion of the value of humanities education and the central civic role of the university: humanities.org.au/our-communit...

Wow that woman shortage in Sydney must be dire I had no idea www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...

It’s been too long since I’ve been on Noongar boodjar! I’m here as a guest speaker at a special event to honour Aunty Prof Marion Kickett, Noongar Elder and author of the Meanjin Paper in the current edition: www.eventbrite.com.au/e/professor-...

👑🚫 It’s time – “past time – for Australia to break its residual constitutional ties with the United Kingdom and its monarchy.” Onya Mark Dreyfus: amp.9news.com.au/article/50ee...

“In the winter you see kids shivering in classrooms because we are only allowed to put the heating on for a single hour… They talk about the digital age, but often basic things like electricity and plugs don’t work. It’s an atrocious situation that needs to be urgently tackled.” So why the AI?

“Armanious’s conundrums are not meant to be solved but to be lived with. He stands as an existential sculptor of the everyday, memorialising its absurdities while insisting they be taken seriously.” Max Delaney’s delicious meditation on what art even is: www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/culture/visu...

Tonight! Join Yves Rees and I to talk When Australia Became a Republic www.eventbrite.com.au/e/esther-ana...

“The phrase “go back to where you came from” was a racist, anti-immigrant and nativist trope traceable to the White Australia Policy, the judge said.” Let’s not continue to see court processes abused to attempt to redefine war crimes, rape, and now racism. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

No, they will be collecting them for purley decorative purposes www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Right now!

See you at 9am AEDT for this week’s The Shot with thanks to @instanterudite.bsky.social – we’re talking the political hijack of curriculum in Qld; climate crisis capitulation by opposition players no longer interested in governing, let alone policy; dangerous masculinities; and more.