Sarah Steel
@letstalkaboutsects.bsky.social
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Podcaster: Let’s Talk About Sects | Author: Do As I Say
https://linktr.ee/letstalkaboutsects
reposted by
Sarah Steel
Naomi Klein
about 15 hours ago
Everybody in the "climate space" (which means everyone on earth...) needs to understand these mind-blowing figures. Google's "total electricity consumption jumped from 31 terawatt hours (TWh) in 2024 to 43 TWh in 2025." In ONE year. The AI corporate arms race is eating the world.
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Sarah Steel
Fight for the Future
1 day ago
If you’re as grossed out as we are at Meta’s latest AI surveillance state glasses, Kylie Jenner edition, you could always make it really uncomfortable for people to wear them & get them banned at places you frequent. Here’s the toolkit to do so:
www.fightforthefuture.org/actions/glas...
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Stoked to be chairing Anke Richter’s session at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas on 22 August, also featuring the excellent Laura McConnell. We will not be encouraging anybody to start a cult.
festivalofdangerousideas.com/program/how-...
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HOW TO START A CULT // Anke Richter [GER/NZL], Laura McConnell
Inside of the world of coercion and control.
https://festivalofdangerousideas.com/program/how-to-start-a-cult/
2 days ago
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Admiring the strength of the complainant currently standing up in the latest court case against William “Little Pebble” Kamm (The Order of St Charbel)
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06...
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Court hears girl was groomed to repopulate 'post-apocalyptic' world
A complainant has told a court that alleged NSW South Coast cult leader William "Little Pebble" Kamm groomed her for more than a decade.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-24/courts-hears-alleged-cult-leader-groomed-girl-for-decade/106836450
8 days ago
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Sarah Steel
Briony Kidd
9 days ago
Some useful insights for anyone worried about the encroaching data centre mess.
#politas
#auspol
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The Xylom
12 days ago
The doomsday "cult" AllatRa has had extraordinary access to the late Pope Francis since 2024. AllatRa members have also participated in the two most recent UN summits on the climate crisis – COP29 in Azerbaijan, and COP30 in Brazil – as well as the 2025 Bonn climate conference.
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In Parliaments, TikTok and COP Summits, This Atlanta-Based Doomsday ‘Cult’ Spreads Climate Disinformation
AllatRa, a “religious cult” founded in Ukraine and now headquartered in Atlanta, has spread climate misinformation from parliaments and TikTok to COP summits, including the false claim that…
https://www.thexylom.com/post/atlanta-doomsday-cult-climate-disinformation-far-right-trump-pastor-eu-parliament-cop
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Sarah Steel
Naomi Klein
17 days ago
U.S. government claiming Musk has the right to poison Memphis because xAI is "vital" to national security, because the Pentagon signed a contract with them. Elite immunity is a cancer that causes cancer, among countless other ills.
www.wired.com/story/doj-la...
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DOJ Lawyers Argue xAI Is ‘Vital’ for National Security in NAACP Lawsuit
In a bid to dismiss a lawsuit over xAI’s polluting gas turbines, the Justice Department claimed the company is integral to military operations—including the Iran War.
https://www.wired.com/story/doj-lawyers-argue-xai-vital-national-security-naacp-lawsuit/
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Sarah Steel
Lucy Hamilton
25 days ago
1/4 Australians can’t understand the risk we face from Pauline Hanson & ON without seeing that she is Gina Rinehart, with all that money plus Advance plus Atlas Network operations (plus support from Murdoch if her vote share firms up). The LNP too?
#auspol
open.substack.com/pub/lucyham2...
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Sarah Steel
Josh Taylor
28 days ago
It's kinda funny the tech companies are pointing to the US-Aus free trade agreement to argue against the news bargaining incentive as though Trump doesn't keep trying to levy tariffs on Australia randomly (including this week)
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Sarah Steel
Amy Remeikis
29 days ago
Stay vigilant. The only thing people should care about with abortion is that it is accessible and safe.
www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/politic...
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There's nothing 'reasonable' about these rebooted abortion battles
It is no coincidence that that anti-choice movement is growing in relevancy at the same time as the normalisation of One Nation.
https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/politics/australian-politics/2026/06/03/abortion-right-wing-one-nation
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Sarah Steel
Lucy Hamilton
about 1 month ago
Your reminder that the new president of Australia’s long-term main “conservative” political party is still, as of midday an active member of a fascistic Hungarian influence-operation. Tony Abbott is a component of a transnational influence operation fighting to break democracy.
#auspol
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In which we get into the organisation’s failed ventures across dating and investment platforms, and the ongoing impacts for those who disengage.
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about 1 month ago
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Sarah Steel
Lucy Hamilton
about 1 month ago
American lawfare operator Alliance Defending Freedom is bringing its extremist Christian game to Australia. It’s not just trans people they’re coming for via Sall Grover (and that’s quite appalling enough). We have so much to lose. Thanks, Sall 🤬
#Auspol
lucyham29.substack.com/p/lawfare-le...
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Lawfare. Learn the term, Australians.
Christian extremists like the Alliance Defending Freedom have been using "lawfare" to destroy rights in the US and Europe. Their outposts and copycats are at work in Australia.
https://lucyham29.substack.com/p/lawfare-learn-the-term-australians
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A few snaps from yesterday’s Anti-Slavery Forum Workshop at NSW Parliament House, exploring where cult experiences are falling through modern slavery framework gaps. I was honoured to be invited to moderate a survivor panel with thanks to the NSW Anti-Slavery Commissioner and his office.
about 1 month ago
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Sphinx Spiritual turned into I think the longest 2-parter I’ve made yet. Former members Sophie & Ella (not their real names) left just last year, and they had a lot to share. I’m grateful to both for their openness and helping to break the silence about the harms of this Mornington-based group.
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about 1 month ago
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Sarah Steel
Cult Podcasts
about 2 months ago
"The #AggressiveChristianity Missions Training Corps with Harrison Hill" Let's Talk About Sects @letstalkaboutsects.bsky.social 12 May 2026 [0:55:24] #ACMTC #Cult
https://s.cultpodcasts.com/BnRWv1KysESWwAZzb40Cgg
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The Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps with Harrison Hill
The Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps, or ACMTC, is a hardline fringe religious cult that was led by a former hippie who went by the name Deborah Green. In The Oracle’s Daughter, author Harrison Hill tells the story of the group through the experiences of three women: Deborah, the self-proclaimed oracle; Maura, who nursed Deborah’s ailing brother and became one of her first followers; and Sarah, the oracle’s daughter of the title.The group’s practices included harsh punishments of children and extreme forms of exorcism, and its crimes included kidnapping and abuse. Through his book, Harrison examines the dwindling gap between the fringe and the mainstream in the United States, and shows how we may be much more vulnerable to extremism than we think.LinksThe Oracle's Daughter — by Harrison Hill, Scribner, April 2026The Oracle’s Daughter: Sarah Green escaped her mother’s cult 22 years ago. She still thinks about those she left behind. — by Harrison Hill, The Cut, 8 June 2021harrisonhill.me — Harrison's websiteCredits:Produced by Sarah SteelMusic by Joe GouldYou can support Let's Talk About Sects here. If you have been personally affected by involvement in a cult, or would like to support those who have been, you can find support with or donate to Cult Information and Family Support if you’re in Australia (via www.cifs.org.au), and you can find resources outside of Australia with the International Cultic Studies Association (via www.icsahome.com). Find Sarah's audiobook Do As I Say here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1sPtrXVKLHQwwofwD0HoSt
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“Australian progressives watching the stripping of rights in America, with the demonising of vulnerable minorities and the building of labour camps, are right to feel horror. We must not let that horror blind us to the project underway in our own politics.”
lucyham29.substack.com/p/australias...
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Australia's Christian Nationalism problem won't look like America's
Australians tend to feel safe from the US crisis of extremist Christians imposing their fringe morality on the state. Our trajectory would look different.
https://lucyham29.substack.com/p/australias-christian-nationalism?r=1en8k4&utm_medium=ios&triedRedirect=true
about 2 months ago
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I’ve finally made it! Somebody built me a Wikipedia page
about 2 months ago
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Sarah Steel
Lucy Hamilton
about 2 months ago
Well well well. The President and CEO of the Atlas Network from 1998 to 2018 confirmed on Twitter last month what some of us were wondering: he’s Opus Dei. Heritage Foundation is led by a recognised Opus Dei connection. Read Gareth Gore’s Opus to 😬
open.substack.com/pub/lucyham2...
#Auspol
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Sarah Steel
Alexandra Stein
2 months ago
Finally! And think how much earlier and more easily this group could be stopped with a law that targeted coercive control in groups!
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
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Crewe religious group raided by police investigating allegations of serious sexual offences
About 500 officers deployed as part of operation at headquarters of Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/apr/29/crewe-police-raid-ahmadi-religion-peace-light
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Sarah Steel
Daniel James
2 months ago
I think he means ‘popular’ campaign. Extremely popular.
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“The memo revealed a network of meetings and strategies among well-known scholars of New Religious Movements (NRMs), lawyers, and representatives of NRMs, aimed at ‘neutralizing’—this is the term used—the critics of cults (anti-cultists), such as Margaret Singer…”
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2 months ago
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‘“What becomes incredibly useful for these people to do is to present their products as the answer to the meaning of life,” Epstein told me.’
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
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Tech billionaires want Christians to believe in AI
For Peter Thiel and JD Vance allies, the tech right is framing AI as a moral—even divine—mission.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/04/ai-religious-right-christianity-thiel-katherine-boyle-trae-stephens/
3 months ago
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Sarah Steel
Jewish Council of Australia
3 months ago
We are once again asking you to make sure the Royal Commission hears from diverse Jewish voices! Public hearings for the Royal Commission start on the 4th of May so it's not too late to have your voice heard. Read our guide and make a submission today:
www.jewishcouncil.com.au/2026/03/ensu...
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Fai was just 10 when she was first introduced to the Soulful Journey. As a teenager she found herself sleep deprived from late-night classes and channelings of an omniscient being known as ‘G’, and learning about her own presence in a future dimension called The 99.
www.ltaspod.com/54
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Let's Talk About Sects - Soulful Journey
Special Guest: Fai West
https://www.ltaspod.com/54
3 months ago
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Sarah Steel
WIRED
3 months ago
“This has never happened before,” one government employee tells WIRED. “I have never gotten a message like this from anyone.”
www.wired.com/story/govern...
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Government Workers Say They're Getting Inundated With Religion
“This has never happened before,” one government employee tells WIRED. “I have never gotten a message like this from anyone.”
https://www.wired.com/story/government-workers-say-theyre-getting-inundated-with-religion/
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If watching so many great minds fall for the grand claims of AI messiahs with apocalyptic visions and clear records of deceit doesn’t showcase how any one of us is susceptible to seduction by a cult, I don’t know what does.
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3 months ago
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“What's different in the case of somebody like Pete Hegseth is just how extreme his ideas are, how far outside of what we could call mainstream American Christianity he is,” Professor Taylor said.
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04...
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Inside the church of the man who has been leading the US through war
The ABC visits US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's church, whose leaders challenge the legitimacy of democracy and key principles in the US constitution.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-10/pete-hegseth-holy-war-in-iran-christian-nationalism/106500910
3 months ago
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Many things are striking in this piece, but the apocalyptic framing that SA harnessed to attract (and retain) talent and investment is a key one for me. Altman “used apocalyptic rhetoric to explain how A.G.I. could destroy us all—and why, therefore, he should be the one to build it.”
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3 months ago
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My chat with former OneTaste member Ruwan Meepagala is out on the LTAS feed now.
www.ltaspod.com/orgsm
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3 months ago
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Sarah Steel
Ketan Joshi
3 months ago
Pretty persistently frustrating that enviro opposition to data centres get clumsily dismissed as "NIMBY" when, as you can see here, it's well-evidenced and packed to the brim with real-world examples of material harm. And GP goes further than most in pointing out the end-goals of the system:
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The energy and environmental impact of AI and how it undermines democracy - Greenpeace International
The AI boom is not progress if it deepens extraction, environmental harm and attacks on democracy. From Ireland to New Jersey, people are resisting a model of AI development that concentrates profit a...
https://www.greenpeace.org/international/story/82486/ai-energy-environment-democracy/
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Sarah Steel
Ed Zitron
3 months ago
Free newsletter: The Subprime AI Crisis is here. I explore the disturbing parallels between the run-up to the global financial crisis and the heavily-subsidized AI bubble, and how Anthropic and OpenAI's rush to IPO accelerates the crisis further.
www.wheresyoured.at/the-subprime-ai-crisis-is-here/
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The Subprime AI Crisis Is Here
Hi! If you like this piece and want to support my independent reporting and analysis, why not subscribe to my premium newsletter? It’s $70 a year, or $7 a month, and in return you get a weekly newslet...
https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-subprime-ai-crisis-is-here/
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R.L. Stollar
3 months ago
"Their agenda involves the elimination of public education and any government regulation of ‘parents’ rights,’ including dismantling child welfare agencies, departments of children and families, and child protective services."
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How Homeschoolers Plan to Take Over the World
The Global Home Education Exchange may be the most consequential right-wing organization in the world. But it doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page.
https://rlstollar.com/2021/05/03/how-homeschoolers-plan-to-take-over-the-world/
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Sarah Steel
Kevin Elliott
3 months ago
The New York Times rolling up its sleeves to do the hard work of normalizing the idea that women should not have the right to vote.
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For Australian cult survivors: Survivor Connections is running a free online info session about modern slavery frameworks in Australia, and how they could potentially be an avenue for accountability with cults.
events.humanitix.com/modern-slave...
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Modern Slavery Information Session
This session aims to provide information for people impacted by cults and high-control groups to understand modern slavery and support pathways
https://events.humanitix.com/modern-slavery-information-session
3 months ago
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Sarah Steel
Alexandra Stein
3 months ago
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
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‘If my boyfriend did what my pastor did, I believe police could investigate’. The campaign to close a serious gap in UK law | Barbara Speed
England and Wales pioneered the criminalisation of coercive control, but it doesn’t apply outside of intimate or family relationships. Why stop there, asks deputy head of Guardian Opinion Barbara Spee...
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/mar/31/uk-law-gap-police-investigate-coercive-control
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Nicole Daedone sentenced to 9 years (Rachel Cherwitz 6.5) for crimes related to OneTaste’s operations – I should have some thoughts for the pod from a former member soon.
apnews.com/article/onet...
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Founder of 'orgasmic meditation’ company gets 9 years in prison in forced labor conspiracy
The leader of a sex-focused women’s wellness company that promoted “orgasmic meditation” has been sentenced to 9 years in prison for federal forced labor conspiracy.
https://apnews.com/article/onetaste-orgasmic-meditation-founder-daedone-sentenced-1fdbf1d4b23078128c7c4f030983d52f?sfnsn=mo
3 months ago
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Leroy
3 months ago
Deborah Green was a charismatic woman who established a ‘free love ministry’ in California, claiming to be a vessel for God. She was also a controlling, cruel sadist. Her daughter Sarah talks about her upbringing and escape.
www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...
by
@shattenstone.bsky.social
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My mom, the cult leader: ‘She told us what to wear, when to pray, how we would have sex. We were prisoners’
Deborah Green was a charismatic woman who established a ‘free love ministry’ in California, claiming to be a vessel for God. She was also a controlling, cruel sadist. Her daughter Sarah talks about he...
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/mar/29/daughter-interview-deborah-green-cult-aggresive-christianity-missions-training-corps-free-love-ministries
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Sarah Steel
Daniel James
3 months ago
30 years of Hansonism is not her triumph, its our failure
www.thespencerstreetend.com.au/p/thirty-yea...
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Thirty Years of Hansonism
How the politics of resentment keep finding new excuses.
https://www.thespencerstreetend.com.au/p/thirty-years-of-hansonism
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“anti-trust legislation, enforceable regulation of generative AI, and steps to force companies to take responsibility for online disinformation are urgently needed.”
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03...
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Former defence leaders say Australia is already in a fight with its biggest threats
Australians are already deeply emersed in a global disinformation war about fossil fuels and climate change, former defence leaders say in an extensive new review.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-24/fossil-fuel-climate-disinformation-threatens-australia/106490840?utm_source=abc_news_web
3 months ago
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Sarah Steel
Lucy Hamilton
3 months ago
If you missed this article when I shared it earlier this week, don’t miss it now. Money shapes which fields are studied and which ignored. Epstein’s crowd funded and pushed the “race” “science” 🙄 and misogyny that has come to be pivotal to the grotesque Right we now endure.
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“One percent of taxpayers now own a quarter of all rental properties.” !!!
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4 months ago
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“… the continued reach of the Christchurch attack is at odds with how the man who committed the atrocity – an Australian – is confronted in his home country. “That is, hardly at all.”
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...
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‘A lot of the hate happened in Australia’: why the Christchurch mosque attack still awaits a full reckoning
The Australian terrorist’s propaganda continues to surface in other offenders’ cases, and Muslim leaders say more needs to be done locally to confront Islamophobia
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/15/australia-islamophobia-legacy-christchurch-attack-ntwnfb
4 months ago
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David Pocock
4 months ago
CSIRO have now lost more jobs under the Albanese Governmet than under the Abbott Government. We have to do better on research funding and backing our scientists.
www.smh.com.au/environment/...
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‘Worst thing I’ve ever seen’: CSIRO slashes climate modelling jobs
Australia’s science agency is cutting more than 100 jobs in its Environment Research Unit, which critics say will crush our capacity to predict climate change.
https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/worst-thing-i-ve-ever-seen-csiro-slashes-climate-modelling-jobs-20260310-p5o97a.html
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Greg Jericho
4 months ago
Remember this next time anyone in the govt says they can’t afford to raise the rate.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
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Australian governments subsidising fossil fuel use by more than $30,000 a minute, analysis finds
Australia Institute data finds state and federal subsidies for coal, gas and oil products increased 10% in past year, growing at a faster pace than funding to NDIS
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/mar/11/australian-governments-subsidising-fossil-fuel-use-by-more-than-30000-a-minute-analysis-finds
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Jeremy Poxon
4 months ago
NACC decided it wasn't in the public interest to make its corruption hearings with Morrison, Campbell, Mussolino etc public I would conservatively estimate that 90% of Australians would disagree
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Northern Rivers, Sydney & Melbourne based cult survivors who are interested in sharing their story in a live storytelling format, do submit to Stories that Stir:
www.storiesthatstir.com/share-your-s...
And for Brisbanites, there's an event on 29 March:
www.storiesthatstir.com/event-detail...
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Olive Leaf Network Australia & Stories that Stir® Collaboration- Brisbane - BREAKING FREE | Stories that Stir
Feel inspired with six raw and personal stories on the topic of BREAKING FREE, in all its shapes and forms. Please join us for an inspiring afternoon that will make you laugh, cry, and view the world...
https://www.storiesthatstir.com/event-details-registration/olive-leaf-network-australia-stories-that-stir-r-collaboration-brisbane-breaking-free
4 months ago
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Sarah Steel
onion person
4 months ago
it’s incredibly concerning that doomsday believing evangelicals have won control of the government
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The Cathy Wilcox
4 months ago
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03...
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Extreme rhetoric in right-wing political circles deserves more attention
The rhetoric in Australia's right-wing political circles is getting more extreme and the media should be paying more attention.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-01/extreme-rhetoric-australia-right-wing-circles-deserves-attention/106395138
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