Five publishing outfits and four of them have women founders. Thanks to @womensagenda.bsky.social for republishing my piece in the Conversation

If you are in Canberra, get along to this. Have seen some of the clips and it is amazing/shattering

EVIDENCE-BASED GOOD NEWS FOR YA A new report shows that a bunch of renewable energy companies have massively improved their human rights record. This is good! And important! @reneweconomy.com.au @business-humanrights.org reneweconomy.com.au/renewable-co...

Australian artists helped the nation survive the COVID pandemic, but our governments have left them in the lurch. “If people can’t earn a living while making their art, newsflash, there’s not going to be a lot of art.” - Skye Predavec, Anne Kantor Fellow @skyelark.bsky.social #auspol

It felt like Australian publishing was shrinking with mergers and the shock closure of Meanjin - waiting to see the full story behind that! But there's a few new players bring fresh energy and new books in recent months. With thanks to @jocaseau.bsky.social for excellent editing.

Had my worst asthma attack in over a decade today. Any other Canberrans have the same experience? Wondered if it was the combination of pollen and the incoming storm

This is no time to open up crown land for hunting or allow silencers. But that's what the NSW Government is considering legislation this week with legislation that risks winding back some of the critical laws that have drastically reduced firearm violence in Australia since Port Arthur.

Lots of calls for moderation and avoiding “extremism” right now. But sometimes extremes are evidence based: take radical action on climate action. If you haven’t read Dead Centre by Richard Denniss yet, time’s a wastin!

There's plenty of money in a rich country like Australian to pay for the things we want, it's all a question of choice. Come along the Australia Institute's Revenue Summit in October to hear some of the big thinking we need right now including from Senator David Pocock and Kate Chaney MP

For a project I am working on - how do you think John Howard fundamentally changed Australia - what did he do that we are still feeling the effects of? (Housing, immigration debates, loss of workers rights, black arm band of history, jingoism etc) Really interested in your takes.

The current government is "tying us to a dying empire led by a panicked tyrant" @amyremeikis.bsky.social with some excellent assonance, and piercing political commentary

Always like to see an accessible archive, but maintaining it isn't free. How long until a "purely financial decision" to shutter the digital archive too?

Prime Minister gets doggy toy from INPEX. INPEX gets Australian gas for free, sold for $50 billion. Cool and normal. @australiainstitute.org.au @markogge.bsky.social @punterspolitics.bsky.social

@catrionamp.bsky.social crunches the numbers of the Meanjin closure; unsurprisingly, they don't add up.

One option for the future of Meanjin is for Uni Melb to reinstate its support. And here's one idea for how to fund it.

It’s a good day for Graeber girlies. LRB pod on his work and influence

Like so many of us, I'm deeply sad about the closure of Meanjin, after 85 years. @aunz.theconversation.com theconversation.com/australian-w...

This is why it doesn't make sense to make decisions about culture on "purely financial grounds" (quote from a university administrator). Meanjin is a critical part of Australian literary culture, an outrage it is being shuttered so unceremoniously.

Sure, this piece from @roycerk2.bsky.social is depressing AF, but it is very well written. What you need to know about the algal bloom in SA: "a spreading, imperialistic, green-tinged cloud that began to sweep through the ocean."

I am heartened to hear that no conviction has been recorded against ATO whistleblower Richard Boyle. However, it should never have come to this because he should never have been charged for simply doing the right thing #auspol #politas

“Australians need gun laws that live up to the Howard Government’s bravery and, right now, Australia does not have them,” said @alicektg.bsky.social. Read the research ⤵️

Denmark has cut taxes on books as part of a plan to improve reading levels. Australia could look at cutting GST on books - something industry proposed to the Howard government all those years ago.

No good evidence of hunting being effective for conservation in Australia. Turns out the same is true in the US where there are far more gun owners

Canberra showed up for a free Palestine today.

The Australia Institute is a power of good for fairness & nation's best interests. @richarddenniss.bsky.social is on 🔥 .Urge everyone to read this. Happy to buy couple copies for folks if nothing left in their book budget. DM me. @alicektg.bsky.social australiainstitute.org.au/store/dead-c...

Japan gets Australia's gas almost entirely for free, and then onsells 41% of it for a profit. Total scam. ieefa.org/resources/ho...

At the Press Club yesterday a reinforcement of the message from the Productivity Commission's interim report. To paraphrase: Australian creatives' work has already been harvested by foreign AI companies. We should change legislation locally to make Australian AI companies competitive.

Melbourne folks, get along to this with the excellent @varshayajman.bsky.social and @rodcampbell.bsky.social. Free food included!

Editors "are readers, writers, number crunchers, first-aiders, seconds in a duel ... Aim for perfection, acknowledge inevitable defeat, try anyway. You love words, and the people who make them and entrust us with them." Incredible piece from @radiomoderation.bsky.social on editing and publishing

How can you "Avoid language or topics that could be considered inflammatory, divisive or disrespectful" in 2025? This quote from the code of conduct sent to some authors is a bad idea, badly written. Hard to see much of the festival going ahead this weekend.

Claiming fair use in the States is a model Oz should follow is blinkered. "it’s hardly settled law, and is being hard fought in the courts. Rushing to give the tech companies what they want in the name of innovation for one new industry could come at the expense of many other industries."

Big story from us: How the media manufactured Hamas’ praise of Anthony Albanese www.lamestream.com.au/did-hamas-re...

Israel has killed 180 Palestinian journalists since Oct 2023. There are 120 of us in this video remembering our slain Palestinian colleagues - it's staggering to see so many faces and realise more than this number have been killed. #StopKillingJournalists #SanctionIsraelNow meaa.io/45A4vZ5

To celebrate its 30th anniversary, @australiainstitute.org.au published "What’s the Big Idea?"— leading thinkers on creating meaningful change. I'm giving away my chapter here 👇 because I want ideas to reach people who can use them (but pls buy the book)! #auspol australiainstitute.org.au/store

Just in time for your commute home! @richarddenniss.bsky.social and @markgkenny.bsky.social dig into the relationship between policy, evidence and politics in the latest episode of Democracy Sausage.

Some rather rubbery logic in this piece. One of the bigger stretches is comparing a person reading a book to a tech company training an LLM on author's work.

Time for diversity targets for business class on planes? Always white dudes hogging the front of the plane. Airlines, if you need a volunteer, I can help

The Productivity Commission has floated an idea to expand the fair use provision, which would make the kind of scraping AI companies do to train ChatGPT et al legal. Authors and other creatives are rightly outraged. NB: this isn't the first time the PC has come for book publishing.

Australia's preferential voting system is often praised, and for good reason. But in terms of reflecting overall votes cast it's not much better than first past the post. My look at how our winner-takes-all voting system skews election outcomes for @australiainstitute.org.au 👇 #auspol

Nearly three decades after the Port Arthur massacre, there are more guns than ever before in Australia. On the latest episode of Follow the Money, @alicektg.bsky.social & @skyelark.bsky.social discuss why Australia's gun laws aren't quite as strong as you think. #auspol 🎧 theaus.in/3U89KtK

Your support is needed - sign the petition opposing the Job-ready Graduates Scheme www.openpetition.org/au/petition/... @austhistassoc.bsky.social

Brindabella Christian College, a private school in Canberra, was apparently trading insolvent from Jan 2021 and "the company's directors put their own financial interests before the college's, attempted to reclaim property in the days before administrators came in"

Have you met your local member? Do you know their name? At a federal level we have fewer politicians per voter than in the states or other countries. Time for a change!

Despite what some people on the hill in Canberra would have you believe, Australia has a history of protest. @browne90.bsky.social has a set of timely reminders, including this example from when sport and activism crossed over.

The funding for the new literary programming, a SWF and SLNSW partnership, is $1.5m ... or nearly 20 per cent of the total literature budget for Creative Australia in 2023-4. It's a boon for Sydney lit-lovers, as I say in @theconversation.com With thanks to @jocaseau.bsky.social for the edit.

The #ICJ's ruling on the obligation of states in regard to climate change is now up. Unanimous ruling that states have a legal obligation to protect the environment (and human rights) and that there are legal consequences for breaching that obligation #climate #auspol www.icj-cij.org/sites/defaul...

Looking forward to seeing who wins the Miles Franklin tonight. A shame that they pay tax on their winnings but if you win the Block or a TV game show you don't pay tax. Past time for change! australiainstitute.org.au/post/heres-s...

Only on election nights can you drop “psephologist” in smalltalk so make the most of it! (Happy election night Tas)

This will be a good time. Canberrans come along!

Can’t wait for you to read the next issue of Vantage Point. Preorder now!