Lefa
@lefasn.bsky.social
Writer, creative producer, mobile-bookshop owner, tea addict, feminist, repping disability pride. Naarm (Melbourne), Australia. #MECFS
here is the full survey results from CYDA about the proposed Thriving Kids. CN suicide, distress cyda.org.au/thriving-kids/
Thriving Kids
Our national survey reveals community concerns about the government's Thriving Kids supports program. Read the submission and survey factsheet.
cyda.org.au
Albanese on emission targets of 62 - 70% by 2035: "We think we have a sweet spot." The sweet spot:
Would be really funny if Kimmel and Colbert et al. decided to broadcast their shows from outside the USA like some kind of pirate network accessible with VPN - I could see it taking off, tbh
What exactly happened to Meanjin? And why in this manner? Some excellent observations (and questions) from @catrionamp.bsky.social over on @crikey.com.au: www.crikey.com.au/2025/09/08/m...
I have $5 that says Thomas Sewell, the Neo Nazi will escape jail time again. There are Indigenous kids in jail in Australia for stealing biscuits but a violent Neo Nazi who has had multiple assault charges against him still walks the streets.
Claire G. Coleman@clairegcoleman.bsky.social · last yr.If you have any doubt that the "anti-immigration" rallies over the weekend were Neo-Nazi racist rallies ... The "anti-immigration" protestors attacked an Indigenous protest camp. The descendants of immigrants marching "against immigration" attacked Indigenous people. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...
A thread on the impact of seemingly nonsense, tabloid media narratives. Many of you will have seen the 2018 Ch9 A Current Affair footage painting Dezi Freeman and his family as supposedly peaceful normal folk having to deal with neighbours from hell. Typical ACA fodder. 1/6
Everything the pro-Israel media think the pro-Palestine movement is (racist, extremist, building up violent hate) is actually happening with the anti-migrant “March for Australia” but with a fraction of the outrage.
Disabled kids, excluded by design. Me in 2023. Everything old is new again www.bluntshovels.au/disabled-kid...
Disabled kids excluded by design
The wellbeing of children is often invoked by a variety of groups. But when it comes to disabled kids, the conversation becomes very different.
bluntshovels.au
no disabled peoples' representatives at the roundtable last week, just those that make money from our commodification. nothing about us, without us www.croakey.org/detailing-th...
Detailing the 48 participants at the Health, Disability and Ageing Economic Reform Roundtable
Regular readers will know that Croakey has been trying for some time to establish who was invited to the Health,
croakey.org
Minister Butler is giving a major speech about the NDIS tomorrow at the NPC. Hmm, I wonder how many disability representatives have been able to get a seat? How many disabled people? Hint - very very few we are on the goddamn menu npc.org.au/events/the-h...
The Hon. Mark Butler MP
August 20, 2025 @ 11:30 am - 1:30 pm - The Hon. Mark Butler MP, Minister for Disability & the National Disability Insurance Scheme and Minister for Health and Ageing, will address the National Press C...
npc.org.au
Solidarity with Randa Abdel-Fattah I will not be silenced and neither will Randa while I have legs to stand Pro-Israel groups have attacked me for years. The Bendigo Writers Festival is a turning point. www.deepcutnews.com/p/pro-israel...
Pro-Israel groups have attacked me for years. The Bendigo Writers Festival is a turning point.
Randa Abdel-Fattah writes of her experience as a target of the pro-Israel lobby
deepcutnews.com
Just don't ask what's up with University of Melbourne's relationship to the fossil fuel industry, though.
Nick Feik@nickfeik.bsky.social · last yr.It’d be tragic if any other universities surrendered to this kind of pressure and wrecked their own institutions, wouldn’t it UniMelb? 🧐
The demise of men reading books has, once again, been greatly exaggerated - I've taken a deep dive into the surprisingly chaotic world of reading statistics in Australia. And got some exclusive (?) figures from the HILDA survey! www.theguardian.com/news/2025/au...
Have men really stopped reading? We take a deeper dive into the data
It’s clear that if there is a crisis in Australia, it affects both men and women, boys and girls. So what can be done to boost reading?
theguardian.com
It was obvious we would discover the real push behind this fiasco, kudos to @deepcutnews.bsky.social for bringing it to our attention in today’s newsletter. Shameful.
Claire G. Coleman@clairegcoleman.bsky.social · last yr.Here it is, it all makes sense now. “Pro-Israel group lobbied La Trobe and Bendigo Writers Festival over Palestinian academic's inclusion” www.deepcutnews.com/p/exclusive-...
people need to understand that when they leave disabled folks behind, they are leaving their future selves behind too disability happens to most of us eventually if we live long enough
I want you to understand something incredible about the boycott of Bendigo Writers Festival. There was no planning, organizing or coordination between writers. It was almost entirely spontaneous but for a bit of word of mouth. 50 or writers all responded in the same way in less than 48 hours.
“A whopping 88% of podcast appearances made by politicians were with white hosts only” Important analysis by @crystaljane.bsky.social of ‘new media’ in the Aus election and how it replicates some of the worst features of legacy media.
Preview: New media 🤝 Legacy media
Plus, is 'overconsumption' a gendered term?
zeefeed.beehiiv.com
Things have gone from bad to worse for the Bendigo Writers Festival, with more than a third of the lineup pulling out over concerns the event is restricting criticism of Israel www.deepcutnews.com/p/anti-censo...
Anti-censorship boycott leaves Bendigo Writers Festival in tatters
More than a third of the Festival's lineup has withdrawn over restrictions on criticising Israel
deepcutnews.com
Clare Wright Randa Abdel-Fattah Evelyn Araluen Jeanine Leane Paul Daley Claire G Coleman Kate Mildenhall Jess Hill Sonia Orchard Thomas Mayo Daniel James Fiona Stanley Kirstin Ferguson Michelle Scott Tucker Kylie Mirmohamadi Jock Serong Melanie Cheng Kate Larsen Cher Tan Madison Griffith 1/2
Jessie L@jessielilley.bsky.social · last yr.If you want to support all the writers boycotting Bendigo Writers Festival, borrow their books from your library. They get paid and libraries buy more of their books.
If you are at Bendigo Writers Festival and can't see me there because I pulled out due to censorship concerns AND you want to buy my books, please visit Bookish in Bendigo. Bookshops are good people.
Time to order a few books from the writers who withdrew from appearing at the festival, comrades.
This list of authors from @deepcutnews.bsky.social newsletter deserve a standing ovation. The action they have taken withdrawing from Bendigo Writers Festival will have impacts across the whole sector. Boards and staff of festivals will need to consider the reputational risk of silencing artists.
I want to make something clear. I have spoken at DOZENS of writers festivals over the last 8 years, so many I couldn't begin to count them. Wednesday was the first time I have ever been sent a "Code of Conduct" When BWF and LTU tell you Codes of Conduct are common for writers fests they are lying
One of the constant themes of current arts politics is administrators & managers *immediately* bowing to right-wing pressure and artists resisting — if only by excluding themselves from events & publications. So the most precariously-employed, low-paid workers are the ones who pay for their morals.
Martin Shaw@thebooksdesk.bsky.social · last yr."More to follow", no doubt... www.crikey.com.au/2025/08/14/w...
