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Dr Blair Williams

@blairwilliams26.bsky.social

Award-winning academic. Lecturer in AusPol. Research examines the gendered media coverage of women in politics. Also loves craft. #feminist #disabilityactivist #unionist #craftivist TEDx speaker 🏳️‍🌈 Canberra

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Rebecca Solnit@rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · yesterday

There's just this constant: "You must pretend that you are at a ladies' tea party even in the midst of a massacre, which is by the way your fault because you're not tea partying with enough daintiness and reserve. Doilies shall be thy only weapon against cannons." Fuck that. And hooray for Ossoff.

Royce Kurmelovs@roycerk2.bsky.social · yesterday

"Appeasement didn’t work in the 1930s and it won’t work now. That doesn’t mean that people have to be angry or hate back or hostile, but it does mean they have to stand on principle and defend what’s under attack."

Rebecca Solnit@rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · yesterday

Years ago I wrote this essay, and the clamor for compromise and one-sided pandering marches on, and of course David Brooks is a standard-bearer in the parade. As Jamelle Bouie notes, what if they are Nazis?

Liam Hogan@liamhogan.id.au · 3d ago

‘You’ll be left behind unless you accept our promises’ is the threat of both Silicon Valley and the weird evangelical rapture cults. American Protestantism is not OK

Simon Rosenberg@simonrosenberg.bsky.social · 6d ago

#AUKUS is a massive waste of money, is strategically stupid, and represents Australia giving up what little national sovereignty we have left for the privilege of being an ATM for the US and UK governments. And now we can add; corrupt. #EndAUKUS #aispol www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10...

US firm gets $2.9bn sub deal after boss joins war study with Musk

Anduril said it would invest $3.7bn to develop shipyard that would build submarine parts.

aljazeera.com

Ben Eltham@beneltham.bsky.social · 7d ago

The Kouk makes a great point here. Productivity in human services is extremely hard to measure; the class sizes for teachers example is a great one. Universities have been cramming more students into their classes for years — learning has declined — is that better ‘productivity’?

Independent Australia@independentaus.bsky.social · 7d ago

Australia’s productivity debate overlooks a fundamental flaw: across much of the economy, productivity simply cannot be reliably measured. Australia’s productivity problem may be impossible to measure ~ @thekouk.bsky.social buff.ly/xZ509Fb

Graham Readfearn@readfearn.bsky.social · 7d ago

A month of broken records for temperatures around Australia. Hottest September ever for minimums across the continent, scores of places setting records for warmest September. A snow depth gauge in the NSW alps fell to zero - a first for any September since it was deployed in 1954.

Australia experiences second hottest September on record as El Niño and climate crisis combine

Alpine areas also experience record-breaking heat with snow depth recorded at zero in Kosciuszko national park

theguardian.com

Greg Jericho@grogsgamut.bsky.social · 7d ago

I'd suspect a vast majority of the heterosexual community would be stunned to hear that up until *1992* consensual homosexual activities could be prosecuted as service offences under Australian military discipline law. Or that only *now* can such convictions be removed.

MEDIA RELEASE 6 October 2026 REMOVING HISTORICAL HOMOSEXUAL DEFENCE SERVICE CONVICTIONS Current or former Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel can now apply to have historical homosexual convictions extinguished from their service records. Up until 1992, consensual homosexual activities could be prosecuted as service offences under Australian military discipline law. While it has long been decriminalised, people still carry the burden of service convictions appearing on their service records for consensual same-sex activities that occurred before this change. To address the ongoing harm caused by these historical convictions, the Defence Force Discipline Act 1982 (Cth) was recently amended to allow eligible individuals to apply to have convictions for consensual activity formally extinguished, meaning they are treated as if the conviction never happened. This is a significant step towards recognising that these laws and policies were discriminatory and caused profound and lasting harm to many Defence people and their families. Extinguishing these convictions will restore dignity and legal equality to affected individuals and their families. The Defence discipline system is the final jurisdiction in Australia to allow for extinguishment of such convictions. Any person who has a conviction of an historical homosexual service offence, their representative, or a person with a special interest in the conviction, can apply under the scheme. Family members of deceased veterans can also apply under this scheme on behalf of their loved ones. Former Defence personnel who believe they were administratively separated due to a prevailing discriminatory Defence policy can seek a review of their administrative separation and have their record updated.
dunk after dunk, jam after jam@llewbu.bsky.social · 7d ago

No point only doing 200, should just be the whole lot of Coles and Woolies Run them (mostly) the same but without the profit motive and without the “treat all the customers like criminals”

Cam Walker@camwalker.bsky.social · 7d ago

'Voters were asked: “Would you support or oppose publicly owned supermarkets being tried in Australia?” 84% said they strongly supported or somewhat supported the idea. Support was strongest among voters aged 25-34 (88%), Greens voters (96%) & women (88%).' www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Cam Walker@camwalker.bsky.social · 7d ago

'Voters were asked: “Would you support or oppose publicly owned supermarkets being tried in Australia?” 84% said they strongly supported or somewhat supported the idea. Support was strongest among voters aged 25-34 (88%), Greens voters (96%) & women (88%).' www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Max Chandler-Mather pitches Mamdani-style $25bn plan to nationalise 200 Coles and Woolworths supermarkets

Former MP and Green Institute head says proposal for publicly owned supermarket chain will ease grocery prices

theguardian.com

Lex McMenamin (they/them)@lexmcmenamin.com · last wk.

it is interesting that I can't find any mainstream media coverage of Altman's sister Annie going viral on social media over the weekend for uploading footage of the first hour of her deposition in her lawsuit against him (one of two) in which she is alleging years of CSA

Accept ‘bad things’ in return for benefits of AI, says Sam Altman

Boss of OpenAI calls for a regulatory light touch because of the ‘good stuff’ the technology can deliver

theguardian.com

Dr Blair Williams@blairwilliams26.bsky.social · last wk.

I LOVE DAYLIGHT SAVINGSSSSS!! 😁😁😁😁 Aside from the lack of sleep, it's the best day of the year! Yes I will die on this hill. #DST

Possum@pollytics.bsky.social · last wk.

Adieu to my southern cousins tonight as you embark, yet again, upon your great annual experiment to control time itself instead of just getting up early and embracing the dawn. It's why you're all pessimistic you know - embracing the setting of the sun instead of the dawn of a new day