Andrew Smith

Onc Rehab, Supportive Care & Survivorship Care.
Oncology/Haematology Occupational Therapist.

Views are my own
Melbourne, Australia

[Liverpool FC @LFC]

Alisson Becker.

[COSA @COSAoncology]

Our 2025 National Cancer Survivorship Conference begins tomorrow. Be prepared for an exciting program showcasing innovations in survivorship care, research, advocacy and policy. Plus opportunities to meet, mingle and collaborate. https://t.co/ONLlO3mfxf #Surv25

[Claire Lehmann @clairlemon]

Two nurses at Bankstown Hospital, located in Sydney's western suburbs, have been removed from their positions after declaring on video they would refuse to treat—and would kill—Israeli patients who presented for care. This marks the first time in Australian history that healthcare workers have openly declared their intent to murder patients based on nationality.

Healthcare enjoys a special place in the Australian psyche. The fact that everyone—no matter who they are—can access the highest quality care through our public hospitals is a source of national pride. When you ask people why they live in Australia, healthcare is typically listed among the top five reasons why citizens stay, and migrants arrive.

From the moment an Australian is born, they know that if they get sick or have an accident, they will be treated in hospital without receiving a bill. They can be confident the care will be of high quality. This is what makes the NSW Nurses Scandal such a bombshell. It rends a tear in a blanket of trust that all Australians experience as a birthright. The sight of nurses in NSW government uniform declaring murderous intent represents a fundamental break in the social compact.

This social compact is grounded in a small-l liberal, egalitarian society. We pay high taxes that support our welfare system, schools, hospitals, and disability scheme. Australians accept this because our culture emphasises that "we're all in this together." This attitude was one reason why Australians were so compliant during Covid lockdowns. Because we are a small country, on a harsh, unforgiving landscape there is a much higher sense of collectivism in Australia as compared to the US. Rejecting the aristocratic class system of the Old World, Australia has a much stronger egalitarian spirit than the UK. The only comparable cultures are the high-trust nations of Scandinavia, similarly small nations with robust welfare systems.

You can see the trust breaking down in real time in the faces of our health bureaucrats. In a press conference on the morning of Wednesday 12 Feb, the NSW Health Minister Ryan Park can be seen as visibly angry as he described the nurses' behaviour as "vile and disgusting," emphasising they will "never, ever, ever" work for NSW Health again. Holding back tears, the NSW Health Secretary opened her statement saying that "never in her wildest dreams" did she think she would have to address the media about staff threatening to murder patients.

Yet while the emotion of these leaders is real, it is unlikely we will get complete honesty about what has happened here. The nurses responsible for bringing the NSW Health system into disrepute are from a minority group themselves. Referring to "Jahannam", the Arabic word for hell, and wearing a hijab, both of them speak the language of Islam.

And the incident occurs against a backdrop of escalating antisemitism in Australia that has now entered the realm of domestic terrorism. From the mob chanting "Where's the Jews" at the Sydney Opera House less than 48 hours after the October 7 massacre, to the discovery of a caravan of explosives intended for a Sydney synagogue in January 2025, what began as street demonstrations has metastasised into organised terror.

The NSW Nurses Scandal forces us to confront an uncomfortable, but urgent, question: If one group of Australians cannot safely access public healthcare—a basic right and necessity—can we still claim to be a "successful" multicultural society? That we are multicultural is a fact. The the claim we are successful is now under doubt.

The reality today is that any Australian who is Jewish, appears Jewish, has a Jewish name, or simply supports Israel, may experience hesitancy when visiting a public hospital. For the first time in our history, Australians will have to consider the ethnic and political beliefs of their healthcare workers. Again, this is unprecedented. It represents a fundamental shift.

The mateship ethos that defines Australian identity rests on a simple truth: we look after each other. We support Medicare because we believe in equal treatment for all. Never before have Australians had to worry about what clan, race, or political group their nurse belongs to. Such tribal considerations are alien to our culture.

The shock in our health officials' faces reveals how deeply this has breached the social compact. The nurses have not just threatened individual patients—they have desecrated something that is sacred to Australians. Using the authority of our healthcare system to declare murderous intent against any group of Australians is more than a criminal act. It is a rejection of the foundational values that make Australia work. Such a problem must be named and addressed by our leaders. No bureaucratic action will be able to restore what will be lost if we fail to confront those who continue to reject Australian values while enjoying its benefits.

Read my full piece for @Quillette in the next tweet
👇

[Claire Lehmann @clairlemon]

Writing in @australian recently, Chris Uhlmann observed that “when you crimp or criminalise words and symbols, a tiny piece of freedom is handed to a bureaucrat to arbitrate”. It was an astute analysis, but Uhlmann did get one thing wrong. In Victoria, under its proposed expansion of anti-vilification laws, the freedoms that will be handed over are not tiny.

If the government’s proposed changes proceed, Victorians will lose their right to free speech, setting a precedent for the entire country.

Current anti-vilification legislation in Victoria is restricted to race and religion, which is in line with the rest of the country. But the government wants to expand this law to include a laundry list of additional attributes, including disability, gender identity, sexual characteristics, and sexual orientation. If such an expansion is passed, it will become illegal in Victoria to offend people who are disabled, trans, non-binary or “sexually diverse”. Maximum prison sentences will be up to three to five years.

The legal thresholds for what constitutes vilification will be lowered. Currently, one must “incite hatred” to breach the law. Under the proposed changes, however, speech that is “likely to incite” will become a criminal offence. Under such a standard, almost all speech referring to those with protected attributes – regardless of intent or context – could be deemed criminal. This means journalists, writers, comedians, academics, artists and activists will all be open to prosecution.

This may sound alarmist and hyperbolic. And of course, warnings about encroaching authoritarianism – particularly from the Victorian government – are nothing new.

During the pandemic – and during the longest lockdowns outside China – Victoria drew international scrutiny for its authoritarian measures. Demonstrations in which rubber bullets were shot at protesters shocked the country. Images of a pregnant mother being arrested in her home shocked the world. Nevertheless, Victoria emerged from the Covid pandemic with its freedoms still intact, and dire predictions of enduring totalitarianism proved to be overblown.

This proposed legislation, however, is different. To grasp how these changes could suppress everyday speech, we need only look at what’s already deemed offensive. Unlike previous false alarms, this threat to free expression is both real and urgent.

In 2023, for example, trans activist Claire Southey took the Australian Press Council to court for failing to rule against The Daily Telegraph for reporting the gender identity of a sex offender. The Council had ruled that The Daily Telegraph had not breached journalistic standards when it reported that “pedophile Scott Lee Irwin … identified as transgender and was now known as Sheryl”. Yet Southey alleged that such reporting promoted "negative stereotypes" about transgender people, and thus took the Press Council to court.

Other complaints target figures for political reasons. In August, the Alliance Against Islamophobia lodged a complaint against federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton for creating a “hostile environment for Muslim Australians” and “reinforcing harmful stereotypes about the Muslim community”.

What did he say? Dutton said that if “the Prime Minister were in a minority government in the next term of parliament, it will include the Greens, it’ll include Green-teals, it’ll include Muslim candidates from western Sydney. It will be a disaster”. Such a statement “dehumanises and vilifies Muslim candidates”, the AAI alleged.

Dutton’s sentiments – likely to be echoed by thousands of Australians – could wind up attracting prison sentences under Victoria’s proposed changes to anti-vilification laws.

...

Victoria’s shift represents a fundamental reimagining of the role of government in a liberal democracy. Rather than serving as a neutral arbiter, protecting the rights of citizens who have equality before the law, the state is now becoming the enforcer of a particular worldview. It’s a vision where the government not only dictates what citizens can say, but what they must believe.

The rest of Australia must remain vigilant. Whatever path Victoria chooses, the rest of the country must not follow suit in elevating this new orthodoxy to the status of state religion.

Read my full column in the Oz today

https://t.co/cP6CLLSO4S

[Fede @lfc_fede]

Top 10 best goals by Darwin Núñez for Liverpool 🇺🇾🏹

A thread 🧵

[Andrew Smith @1982SmithAndrew]

FindWays. Helping parents find ways to help their child's behaviour and emotions. https://t.co/NoCqG876Pa

[Andrew Smith @1982SmithAndrew]

Powerful speech @bariweiss 👏👏. Need more like you to stand up and be heard

"The ideology of nihilism... it knows not how to build, but to only tear down and destroy"

[The Free Press @TheFP]

“I’d like to talk about the war of ideas and of conviction and of will that faces us as Americans. I want to talk about the stakes of that war. About how we must wage it—fearlessly and relentlessly.”

Watch our founder @bariweiss’s, speech at @FedSoc. https://t.co/cW2XUaZZPP

[Jonathan Haidt @JonHaidt]

"But mom, everyone ELSE has a smartphone!"

How to solve the collective action problem of middle school students begging for smartphones. Four simple norms, from my talk at @arc_forum.

Norm #1: only flip phones before high school

[Balaji @balajis]

Here's the livestream for the Network State Conference (part 1 of 2). https://t.co/rRvHYOVTOq

[Andrew Smith @1982SmithAndrew]

@triggerpod @professorstokes @francisjfoster @KonstantinKisin Brilliant episode K and F 👏 👏 👏

[Andrew Smith @1982SmithAndrew]

@Ben_T_Smith @tabcomau Pretty sure would be be retired by now if he hadda won that race
Benmenang>maybe diva

[Jonathan Haidt @JonHaidt]

We are seeing the full flowering of Great Untruth #3 this week, from The Coddling: "Life is a battle between good people and evil people." It can lead otherwise good people to celebrate war crimes.

[Claire Lehmann @clairlemon]

For the past decade I've been told that jokes, words, & scholarly debates need to be suppressed because they may cause 'harm' to vulnerable minorities. Yet when a global minority is butchered, tortured & maimed, those who suppress words shrug as if war crimes are no big deal.

[Andrew Smith @1982SmithAndrew]

@m_pannell what a jet

[⁸ @_Szoboszlai]

WHAT A HIT 🇭🇺🚀🚀 #LFC

[⁸ @_Szoboszlai]

WHAT A HIT 🇭🇺🚀🚀 #LFC

[Gad Saad @GadSaad]

Let me reiterate this for perhaps the 1,000th time: In a free society, there can never be a law against misinformation/disinformation. Free societies must tolerate imbeciles, racists, falsehood spreaders, etc. I'm Jewish with my tragic childhood history in Lebanon and yet I SUPPORT the right of Holocaust deniers to spew their infinitely grotesque falsehoods. The reflex for governments to sanitize your mind from "falsehoods" is the definition of authoritarianism. This trend must be fought with all of our might.

[Greg Lukianoff @glukianoff]

8 YEARS OF REVERSE-CBT: This month marks 8 years since @JonHaidt & my @TheAtlantic article that predicted that the same medicalization of censorship then hitting campus would be a disaster for both #freespeech & the mental health of young people.

https://t.co/Cp49jR1lPO

[Andrew Smith @1982SmithAndrew]

@bonich15 Very true bonich.... but how am I gunna watch the matildas with no TV ?

[Andrew Smith @1982SmithAndrew]

Hi @TheGoodGuysAU I returned a faulty TV to your store in Essendon (DFO) 2.5 months ago.... still waiting on an update? Tried ringing the store x3 times and it just rings out
#dobetter

[Andrew Smith @1982SmithAndrew]

@NMFCOfficial @bmacca1981 @PattySherlock good by cunners