Beth Spencer

@bethspen.bsky.social

Writer. Latest book - The Age of Fibs: fiction, memoir, microlit - Green lefty - she/her/dr. Living on Darkinjung land. https://linktr.ee/bethspen / substack at https://bethspen.substack.com

Ie move all this amazing potential out of the right wing billionaire/capitalist sphere of influence so it could become a community that is not based around algorithms designed for outrage & to keep us scrolling (to sell advertising) 
2/3 #auspol

This government approving the further destruction of Murujuga will devastate rock art over 50000 years old and add momentum to climate collapse for every future generation. They’re pulling off the most epoch spanning crime in human history. So congrats I guess.

I just keep thinking of the heartlessness of going to an election promising to sack 41,000 people just because they’ve chosen public service. The LNP talks of small business owners going out of business as a tragedy. How is sending thousands of people into unemployment not?

The Government is rushing changes through Parliament set to weaken environmental protection laws and benefit destructive industries. Today, 50 environment organisations have joined an open letter demanding that these changes are rejected. Published in The Aus, Cbr Times, Fin Review, SMH & the Age.

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This was a lovely surprise at my local library. (Great company to be in!) It's World Poetry Day/Month - so check out your library and borrow some #poetry books so they know to keep stocking them, and maybe they'll do displays like this more often.

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Did you hear about the Greens new arts policy? We will: - Pilot a living wage for 10,000 artists - Put an artist in residence in every public school and library - $2bn investment in the arts over a decade - $300 million capital fund to expand and renew arts infrastructure

Today we’ve launched a fully-costed arts policy which will see Australian artists and creatives properly supported, funded and valued.

ART MATTERS.

The plan will inject billions of dollars to sustainably fund the arts into the future.

I remember Albo saying that our relationship with China has “changed”, & that’s why we need AUKUS. I would argue our relationship with the US has also changed which is why we should dump AUKUS. TBH, in 40 years time, surviving climate is going to the main issue. What do you think?

Back on Sub-stack after a break - with 2 poems, one from Best of Australian Poems, and the other from 100 Poets (Flying Islands) - 'The trees shimmy / with an invisible clutch of life... a white-trousered parrot inspects / a drunken coven of witches hats' ...& a bit of this and that.

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According to a now-outdated report from UNICEF, more than 14,500 children have been killed in Gaza since Oct 7th 2023, including 700+ infants. 25,000 children injured or maimed. 17,000 children have become orphaned or separated from their parents. Over a million children have been displaced.

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Imagine if the Whitlam govt had caved to criticism about Blue Poles in 1973. We need Arts ministers and Arts Boards to lead, not bow down to the loudest voices in the media and those who don't care about art but just want to score political points. www.crikey.com.au/2025/02/17/k...

Instead of defending its artists, Creative Australia hangs Sabsabi and Dagostino out to dry

If conservative media is going to dictate cultural policy, Australian culture will face a reckoning.

crikey.com.au