Julia Thornton

Sensemaking, capital P Pragmatism, technology, the future of equality, parliamentary accountability and how not to fall into life's lacunae.

[Julia Thornton @Metaporia]

@PhillipAdams_1 Very much hoping that is not an oblique reference to your state of existence! You’re one of the great fixtures of Australian identity. Impossible for anything to happen to you.

[Julia Thornton @Metaporia]

@PhillipAdams_1 Did you know that in 2025 51% of the internet was bots?

https://t.co/nYpqjFXW3j

[Kos Samaras @KosSamaras]

In the latest Quarterly Essay, my response to Sean Kelly's piece from the previous issue.

Sean Kelly's Quarterly Essay asks whether Labor is still up for the good fight. It's a thoughtful critique of a government navigating a fragmented electorate with caution and moderation. But I think the strategic challenge runs deeper than questions of pace or ambition. Labor risks being seen as defending a settlement that no longer delivers for the people it was built to serve.

Meanwhile, the collapse of the Liberal Party's working-class base into One Nation isn't primarily a culture war story. It's a story about a broken economic promise. These voters haven't become irrational, they've made a rational calculation that no major party can deliver for them anymore. The culture war isn't the engine. It's what fills the vacuum when the economy stops working.

This is not just a Coalition problem. It's a warning. Labor may continue to defeat a hollowed-out Liberal Party. But if Labor voting working Australians come to see Labor as managing decline rather than offering a path to security, they too will look elsewhere. Victory over a collapsing opponent is not the same as building durable support.

[Julia Thornton @Metaporia]

@JNampijinpa Really? Complaining that Australian culture isn’t British enough? Take a closer look at modern Britain and ask if that’s where Australians would rather be.

[Julia Thornton @Metaporia]

@AussieVal10 The number of enrolled voters in Australia ie the people who can actually vote is 18,089,986.
Of these 8,553,231 voted Labor as their first or second preference at the last election. That works out at 55.22% of the 2PP vote.
You’re making a pretty undemocratic statement there.

[Julia Thornton @Metaporia]

@adoberrr @Daz_Or_Daz @au_border_force @AussieVal10 A bit more equality would go a long way. All Australians need to feel safe and heard.

[Julia Thornton @Metaporia]

@MadsMelbourne @350zeee It might not be you who is using your gun.

[Julia Thornton @Metaporia]

@old_soon @keithedwards Have a closer look. Both rear supports on the walker have sliders instead of wheels. It’s a common design. I’m old enough to have seen plenty of them.

[Julia Thornton @Metaporia]

@AlanKohler @abcnews Humanoid robots have a long way to go

https://t.co/tY9RgV0nj2

[Julia Thornton @Metaporia]

@gatzyxx @RpsAgainstTrump “Legend” meaning ‘story told about a person or event in the distant past that isn’t actually true’.

[Julia Thornton @Metaporia]

@PaulBongiorno I still want to know what his role in advising Argentina on Mercosur was, and what he got out of it.

[Julia Thornton @Metaporia]

@AlanKohler I want to know how “Assmilk” got to look at the CCP payroll!

[Julia Thornton @Metaporia]

@JaneCaro Droit de seigneur.

[Julia Thornton @Metaporia]

@Rob_McKay @phantomime @Peter_Fitz I believe the Australian flag has also been changed a number of times too. While the design was finalised in 1908, the flag itself wasn’t adopted as the official Australian national flag until 1954.
I haven’t any idea how many people fought for it. Not as many as people think.

[Julia Thornton @Metaporia]

@FairAusADV Because they’re old fashioned and would only sell to collectors with a specific interest. The market isn’t there.

[Julia Thornton @Metaporia]

@nsummons @EgliseHomme @WaterfordJack Have you?

[Julia Thornton @Metaporia]

@anonymous_julie @WaterfordJack I feel sorry for you. Not great at the best of times to have an elderly drunk leaning on you unless you’ve offered to help.

[Julia Thornton @Metaporia]

@habitat4tf @Terri_1987a Only one Australian. Himself. He’s prepared to blow up the Liberal Party to satisfy his ego.

[Julia Thornton @Metaporia]

@BigClaz92 @Peter_Fitz Polls have been showing that Australians are moving steadily leftward for a while now. Once voters used to become more conservative as they aged but now they stick with their early political views. Result. As older conservative people die, those who replace them are more left.

[Julia Thornton @Metaporia]

@SyncreticNat @MikeCarlton01 Yes.