The really insane thing about arts funding cuts like the ones currently devastating Victoria is how small the savings are. Jacinta Allen is presiding over generational damage to the arts scene, for a saving of around 1 day of transport infrastructure spending

One longtime Victorian arts leader tells the Guardian: “I think the wider cultural shock is [Melbourne] is going to go from the cultural capital to the least funded city in Australia.” New from me today:

I spoke to @gingerandhoney.bsky.social this week about the cuts to Victoria’s arts funding ecosystem. The cuts, the uncertainty and lack of transparency have left a cloud over what was Australia’s creative heart. The Melbourne Advantage is over. We’ll see if other cities pick up the pieces.

A look at sombre times in Melbourne’s arts scene via @gingerandhoney.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Such a pleasure to have a major news outlet doing these sorts of stories about the much ignored west of Victoria.

Continuing my little run of stories about overlooked places in far north-western Victoria: this story was a joy to write but Stu Walmsley’s pics really make it sing www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

"QUT will become the new custodian of Meanjin, Australia's most eminent literary journal, bringing the publication back to Brisbane 80 years after it relocated to Melbourne." So um, what the fuck was all that about then, UniMelb? www.qut.edu.au/news?id=203300

If you’re even asking the question at this point, you’re on the wrong side, jfc

Vale to an amazing man and legendary, brilliant cartoonist. The cartooning community is in mourning today.

Where it all went wrong: the case against John Howard is available for pre-order and you should get it just because it is going to make Alexander Downer very mad 😇 (You can also ask for it at your library 💖) You can pre-order it at any of your faves www.readings.com.au/product/9781...

Wrote a piece for @crikey.com.au on how the media stopped discussing climate change www.crikey.com.au/2026/02/02/c...

I’ve been in north-west Victoria reporting on the heatwave, but this one is a bit more personal www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Kare 11 local news just read, in full, this statement from Michael and Susan Pretti, the parents of Alex Pretti. "Please get the truth out about our son."

You have to read this. Firsthand affidavit from one of the women who was there and recording the video. She talks about how Alex Pretti was directing traffic when she arrived. She watched him be killed in front of her. She's afraid to go home, worried she'll be arrested.

I met an absolutely lovely academic who asked whether my department back home is affected by ICE -- a question dramatizing how little info is getting out. For the record, the small example I chose: My dept has a carpool to pick up grad students of color who can't safely commute to campus alone.

🚨 “The entire Israeli regime is complicit,” and the international community bears responsibility for “enabling the systemic torture” of Palestinians in Israel’s prison system, B’Tselem charges in Living Hell, its new report, which details life for Palestinians in Israel’s “network of torture...

Ah yes, famously events with interstate attendees, book sales, coffee carts, wine bars, hundreds of employed artists, dozens of staffers, thousands of daily visitors to the city and, yes, ticketed events, generate "zero revenue". www.indailysa.com.au/news/just-in...

Pulp have shared a statement on Adelaide Festival. They told organisers they would be withdrawing, were asked to delay their announcement, and are now satisfied that they will participate in this year's Festival.

From fires to floods. Just evacuated (and safe) from flash flooding in a caravan park at Wye River. No new coal and gas. thepoint.com.au/opinions/260...

We are calling on the Federal Parliament to reject the Federal Government's new proposed legislation, the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bill 2026. Read more: bit.ly/49kBGTu

Sharing my submission to the committee overseeing the rushed hate speech bill. I encourage you to submit by 4pm today(!). www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentar...

The new Adelaide Festival board has: - retracted the previous board’s statement about Randa Abdel-Fattah - rescinded her exclusion and invited her to the 2027 festival - apologised to Louise Adler - rescinded the decision to have a subcommittee review AWW operations

I gotta say, I'm not jazzed by the apology for "how the decision was represented" and "the distress this decision has caused" rather than apologising for the decision itself www.adelaidefestival.com.au/news/2025/ad...

The details in this piece from @instanterudite.bsky.social are quite something theshot.net.au/uncategorize...

In addition to supporting Palestinian writers like Randa Abdel-Fattah, and authors and artists who withdrew from AWW in solidarity, spare a thought for the "little" magazines like @overlandjournal.bsky.social, who have relentlessly stood up for Palestine and have been comprehensively defunded for it

No notes All the power and love to @cathywilcox.bsky.social

I wrote for @crikey.com.au on the Wilcox stuff www.crikey.com.au/2026/01/12/t...

When this blows over I might have to share some of the emails I’ve received over the days which really make me wonder why I am the one accused of hatred. There is deep unresolved trauma being spewed by some of these people and we cannot consent to living according to their warped reality.

Jesus Christ @lukeoneil47.bsky.social

Thanks to Tom Ballard for having me on his Serious Danger podcast. Full episode via seriousdanger.com.au

‘And, whatever the Board’s protestations that the two are not linked, how telling, how grim, is the dog whistle connecting Dr Abdel-Fattah’s name with the Bondi massacre.’

No really - where is he? Nearly 100 writers have now pulled out, so the festival obvs cannot proceed…

All this and it’s only 9 January

First withdrawal from the Adelaide Festival proper, DJ Haram www.indailysa.com.au/citymag/cult...

MEAA stands against racism in the media, entertainment and arts industries and condemns Adelaide Festival’s decision to drop Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah. meaa.io/45xUCM6

“Cultural sensitivity” means destroying an entire arts festival rather than allowing a Palestinian person to come along and talk about her new novel.

Yesterday I wrote to the Adelaide Festival Board to withdraw my participation from Adelaide Writers Week. Their decision to intervene in Writers Week programming and cancel the participation of author Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah is completely unacceptable.

My statement regarding my decision to withdraw from this year’s Adelaide Writers Festival.

Extraordinary how much of Australia’s literary and cultural leadership more broadly are completely out of step with the writers and artists without whom they would not exist at all

Randa Abdel-Fattah’s response:

Well, I was going to be on a panel at the Adelaide Writers' Festival but I'm not any more.

What’s the point of writers’ festivals — or, for that matter, writers — if they can’t discuss issues that matter? Australian arts administrators would rather destroy the whole sector than allow Palestinians to speak about genocide. It’s beyond shameful.

As a former Director of Adelaide Writers' Week I am appalled that the Adelaide Festival Board has rescinded Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah's invitation to the 2026 AWW, explicitly linking its decision to the shattering crimes in Bondi. A shocking decision that will and should have far-reaching consequences.

I stand with Randa and everyone standing against hate, genocide, oppression and terror. In all its forms.

Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide: "International law is universal and binding for all states. The American intervention in Venezuela is not in accordance with international law."

When I first considered learning the violin, I was startled by how many people insist you cannot pick it up as an adult, or if you do, you can't expect to get really good. Fuck those people. Starting to learn the violin at age 40 was one of the best things I've ever done.

Like many of the extremely elderly people we are fast becoming, J and I went to see the early NYE session of The Choral last night. It was exactly the kind of 3-star semi-fluff you'd expect, but jfc the conducting scenes were deeply infuriating. Wtf was Ralph Fiennes even DOING with his arms

Who ever this is serving, it’s not helping anything www.thenewdaily.com.au/opinion/2025...