Marcelle Mangan

Dogs, yoga, Sundays, wine 🐶🌸

[Nannan. @NannanBay lower class Australian @NannanBay]

Let's look back and see what leads to normalising violence and inflaming unstable people.

[Sam Connor @criprights]

I want you to try a little thought experiment.

In the wake of one of the nicest humans in Parliament being violently attacked by a man allegedly using his car as a weapon, think about this.

Pick a politician you cordially detest. Someone who makes your teeth itch. Pauline, Barnaby, Tanya, Albo, Jacqui. Whoever.

Now imagine what happened to Helen Haines had happened to one of them.

How would you react?

If Pauline was violently run down, some flog would make a joke about her hair or say ‘please explain’ seventeen thousand times.

If it was Barnaby, twenty thousand edgelords would announce it wasn’t the first time he’d been legless.

If it was Jacqui, someone would inevitably crack a joke about her prolapse.

And if it was Albo, people would be scouring the road rules before the ink was dry on the first newspaper.

I’ve forgotten the Coalition, but to be fair, so has most of the country. Labor is rolling out its agenda with barely an opposition in sight.

But I digress.

Aren’t we better than this?

I’d like to think that if I saw any of those people in trouble, I’d help them. That I wouldn’t mock their disabilities, their bodies, their families or whatever personal misery they happened to be going through.

Maybe I would. Maybe I wouldn’t. I’m not a saint, neither are you.

But this culture of attack is becoming uncomfortably Seppo. And we’re not Seppos.

Look at the barber who intervened when Helen was attacked. Everyone is calling him a hero, and rightly so.

But what if we discovered something about him we didn’t like? What if he was a drug dealer on the side? What if he voted for Pauline? What if the bloke in the car owed him a redback and he was actually dragging him out to give him twenty fucken whacks?

I’m not suggesting any of that is true, obviously.

I’m asking how quickly we’d change our minds about him.

Because we’ve become obsessed with sorting people into angels and demons. Heroes and villains. Our side and their side. Worthy victims.

Yikes.

If someone from the NSN committed a heinous act, I know I’d struggle to give a rat’s arse about his childhood, his footy dreams, his family struggles or his vet-farmer daddy.

And isn’t that precisely the problem?

Heinous acts are heinous regardless of who commits them. Understanding someone’s circumstances doesn’t excuse what they’ve done. But deciding who deserves compassion based on whether we like them is a pretty ugly road to go down.

And Parliament isn’t exactly setting an example.

Albo was close to tears talking about Helen yesterday, while questions remain about his office’s political dirt sheet circulated against her just one day before.

The Greens have been tearing themselves apart, with the treatment of Jordon Steele-John and their leadership battles.

One Nation has been mocking Jacqui Lambie’s medical condition.

And then there’s the absolute shit they scream at each other across the chamber.

The online abuse directed at Jordon, who has a restraining order against a stalker and is in the middle of an active police investigation against his alleged abuser, was particularly ugly. Mocking his disability is every bit as grubby as the treatment Julia Gillard received, including that revolting menu making jokes about her breasts, thighs and genitals.

When you bring disability into an attack on a disabled politician, or misogyny and rape threats into an attack on a woman, you’re not making a clever political point.

You’re being a dick.

I reckon it’s about time our country grew the fuck up. All of us.

Enough with importing American culture wars, the pilgrimages to Mar-a-Lago and treating everyone who disagrees with us as an enemy. Enough selling off our businesses and letting bloated plutocrats run our country.

We used to pride ourselves on the fair go. On looking after someone who was down on their luck. On treating people like mates.

[Peter FitzSimons @Peter_Fitz]

Fabulous!

[Marcelle Mangan @ManganMarcelle]

@RonniSalt @KellyRo42046860 Done. Good luck!!

[Sam Connor @criprights]

According to Perth mob, Ashley was assessed and released YESTERDAY. Because of course he was.

And now his twin brother has died and so many lives are over, Ashley’s included. This is so so shit.

And with the cuts to the NDIS and so many being thrown off without any supports, the hospital is packed out with social admissions and everyone, EVERYONE, is sent home.

This is not okay.

I’ll be in Perth next week.

RIP, child.

https://t.co/umXjDfh1TY

Enough. https://t.co/cd0lzUFGbL

[Ben Pennings @BenPennings]

Editorial: A turd in the swimming pool

The decision of the New South Wales Independent Planning Commission, to approve the biggest coalmine ever to come before it, is based on a simple falsehood: that the 809 million tonnes of greenhouse gases the mine will release are not a problem because they will be released mostly when the coal is burnt overseas.

The logic of this is like defecating in one end of a swimming pool and insisting it is fine to drink from the other. It pretends as if the planet is not one large and interdependent whole, connected by people and oceans that will all suffer the impacts of this crass indifference. It pretends as if Glencore and Yancoal aren’t asking the government to forgive them their greasy turd.

The commission’s decision is explained in a 76-page statement of reasons. It is hardly the commission’s fault: it is assessing the mine against legislation that was drafted to ignore its true impact.

That legislation is the result of decades of policy built around the sooty votes of places like the Hunter. The science doesn’t matter because the opportunists are in charge. Labor is as guilty of this as the Coalition. There is nothing between them. The approval was met with dumb jubilation by the Minns Labor government.

The commission accepts that there will be significant emissions from the HVO North and South Open Cut Coal Continuation Projects – a mine with a name like a bloodborne disease, based near Singleton in NSW, which will now export coal until 2045. It acknowledges the environmental impacts but is more concerned with the dishonest benefits of economic activity.

“The Commission finds that the residual impacts of the Project are, on balance, outweighed by its benefits to the Hunter region and NSW, including continued employment, economic activity, support for local business, ongoing royalties and taxation revenue,” the approval says.

“The continued operation of the HVO complex would provide economic stability for the Hunter region and support a more orderly transition for workers, businesses and communities as the coal industry changes over time.”

In 2007, a ship called the Pasha Bulker ran aground on a beach in Newcastle. It was waiting to load coal from mines around the one approved this week. The huge red carrier drove itself into the sand and was stuck there for almost a month. Tourists visited to take photographs. Scores of similar red ships waited on the horizon, queuing for more coal.

The stranded ship gave a Lilliputian quality to Newcastle, to Australia. It seemed to represent the destruction to be brought by climate change and the smallness of the politics that would enable it. It was a warning tossed onto the sand. Eventually it was pulled back out to sea, like countless tonnes of coal since.

The next step for the Glencore and Yancoal mine is federal sign-off. The minister could intervene. He has the discretion to act in the interest of humanity. It’s unlikely that he will, however. Hunter is a marginal seat, held by an Olympic sport shooter the size of Gulliver. The electorate is among those Labor is most likely to lose to One Nation. What is the future of the planet when a couple of votes are at stake?

https://t.co/2GDiTfDkko

[Sam Connor @criprights]

Over the next few weeks, watch how governments respond to news stories about public money, private profits and what’s being done with our personal information.

We expect some uncomfortable questions. We also expect a fair bit of effort to change the subject, especially when it comes to data centres, AI, those who need care, public spending and the nation’s Future Fund. Allll the distraction.

Don’t fall for it.

The graphic below shows what to watch for: keeping information quiet, attacking the people speaking up, explaining away the harm, sending complaints through endless processes, or putting pressure on people to stop.

Keep an eye out for stories that encourage you to blame people who need support. Talk of cheats, rorters and people asking for too much can be very useful when a government has questions of its own to answer.

Remember Robodebt. People spoke up about government accountability, an algorithm that didn’t work and debts they didn’t owe. The government defended the scheme, and recipients’ personal information was used to discredit them in the media.

So read the documents. Check the claims, and don’t fall for the tactics in the attached graphic. Notice whose questions still haven’t been answered, and what’s waved away or dismissed outright.

And if a story leaves you furious about someone who needs help, ask what happened to the questions about the people in charge.

[Dr Tracy Westerman AM @TracyWesterman]

Lachie Neale intentionally struck Jack Ginnivan in the stomach, off the ball, in the preliminary final. He got a one-match ban, meaning he'd miss the grand final.

At the Tribunal, his team argued his "exemplary record" should get him off. The Tribunal heard it, weighed it, and rejected it. The ban stood.

So they took the exact same argument to the Appeal Board. No new evidence. They didn't even dispute the strike. Same facts, same record, same plea. This time the "good bloke defence" worked. Ban overturned, $10,000 fine, and he plays.

Except his record isn't clean. He's been found guilty eight times before, three for striking opponents in the body. And nine other players were suspended for this exact offence this season. No pass for them. The star got one, in grand final week.

So what are kids learning? That who you are matters more than what you do. That if you're good enough, the rules bend. And if the first answer doesn't suit you, keep asking until you get one that does. This is moral relativism in action. The act didn't change. The finding didn't change. The evidence didn't change. The only thing that changed was how much the person who did it matters. Once right and wrong depend on who you are rather than what you did, there is no standard left, just a sliding scale that always tilts towards the powerful.

It's the same "good bloke" logic we've spent years fighting in courtrooms, where reputation and standing are used to soften consequences for harm.

And here's what moral relativism always hides: the standard doesn't disappear, it just shifts onto everyone else. Leniency for the powerful is paid for by harsher judgement of the powerless.

A rule that only applies to some people isn't a rule. It's a privilege. And yesterday the AFL told every kid watching exactly who that privilege is for.

[Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan]

This from @AOC is very clear, very timely, very powerful, and very good. Presidential even.

[stranger @strangerous10]

“Look at the real person behind those decisions.”🔥 NDIS participant Eric speaks with passion, tired of endless reviews for a permanent disability, a system under the axe targeting his vital support network, says he just wants to ‘work and contribute.’ Watch & share. TY Eric.

[Sam Connor @criprights]

Tomorrow - no wait, today - I get to spill the years of entangled awfulness that has led to the undoing of our NDIS.

But with it comes more awfulness: a concerted attack by government on our rights, our economy and Australian values.

But first, I need to finish neatly laying out each strand of these entangled Christmas lights for the worst occasion ever.

I know that lighting up dark corners is the right thing to do, but my heart hurts for Australians harder than ever. It is not just the betrayal of disabled people. It is the betrayal of Australia, and of every value we collectively claim to hold dear.

And after today, there is no turning back. Coles have told them what they think; as the rest filters through to the Australian consciousness over the coming weeks and months, there will be a reckoning.

I encourage good women and others to stand up for what they believe in and nominate as candidates in the coming federal election, because God knows we need good, trustworthy and reliable humans willing to undo what has been done by the LNP under Scott Morrison and now by Labor, which has become complicit in these actions.

I fervently wish this were not the case, but it is.

We must act quickly to protect our country from forces that are fundamentally unAustralian; the hollowing-out of public institutions, the surrender of public interest to private power, the stripping away of rights in the name of efficiencies, and the expectation that ordinary people will accept far, far less, including the ending of lives and livelihoods, while someone else profits from it.

Better now than in two years. Australia is better than this.

And if the people entrusted with protecting what is ours will not do it, then ordinary Australians will have to.

To our allies in State and Territory Labor - those of you who are not complicit will weather the storm. But remember, if you cross the floor as a bloc, they will not be so swift to act. Thank you for standing with us, especially the friends among you in @walabor.

We start with the @Greens, @SenJacquiLambie , @DavidPocock, @SenatorPayman and @SenatorJordon Steele-John, because we know they cannot be bought.

And then we rebuild, like it is once again December in 1974, after Cyclone Tracy, or any other natural or manmade disaster.

Not because we wanted this fight.

Because somebody has to put the bloody Christmas lights back in the box. #auspol

Women, remember where you came from. It’s time, and past time.

Now is the time to take action.

[Sam Connor @criprights]

It took me a very long time to work out exactly what the Australian government is doing, and how. And what it started doing from as far back as 2009, through Palantir, and now through new and emerging technologies.

I did not expect the breadth of corruption, self interest, regulatory and institutional capture - from both sides - that has reached into the very heart of our federal institutions.

It is the same as they are doing in the UK and the USA.

Governments are quietly building a digital model, a persona, of every one of us. They are linking health, disability, veterans, welfare, identity, justice, service use and payment data, then using algorithms to classify us, predict our behaviour and cost, score our ‘risk’ and decide when to intervene. This is not just about record-keeping, or ‘fraud’, although it could be conceivably be used in some ways for good, with the right protective guardrails and legislation, in the right hands. In the wrong hands, it can and will be catastrophic.

But it is not in the right hands; nor should we be sharing our data or information with foreign actors, nor using malignant companies like Palantir.

It is the infrastructure for a surveillance state in which government doesn’t merely know what you have done - it builds a machine-readable version of you to predict what you will do, what you will cost, and how the state should respond.

And although they deny that they are using AI over the top of Maven and Foundry and other products, if you knew what they were doing, and how comparatively little protection you have over your privacy and safety, you would be absolutely horrified.

This extends to everything. It started long ago, was accelerated throughout COVID and has been picked up as a quick and dirty solve to the AUKUS and gas economic problems Scott Morrison, Minister for Everything, started with Stuart Robert and others.

This is about men, money and power.

This is not the Labor I once knew and I reject everything it stands for. I reject their complicity in the murder of innocents; I reject their treatment of Australia’s most vulnerable in exchange for warmongering. And I reject their casual dismissal of democratic processes, like the dismissal of 4500 submissions saying no to a piece of legislation.

My love and solidarity goes to those who stood by Labor and whose hearts are hurting; those who have resigned their Party memberships or refused to vote on the NDIS and other Bills because of their abject shame. They include many sitting members from both sides of government, especially in WA, who have expressed their horror at what has been unfurled over the past few months.

Even as our nation flounders with no real leadership; even as our disability community has lifesaving support torn away, I hold one firm hope - that we as a nation are better than this.

Australia IS better than this.

It’s time we held them to account. And take our country back.

[David Shoebridge @DavidShoebridge]

🚨This is happening right now 🚨

Labor + Coalition + One Nation just cut a secret deal to pass laws on ASIO's power to detain and interrogate you without charge with a warrant issued by a politician. They're trying to do this while media is distracted.

[David Shoebridge @DavidShoebridge]

🚨🚨🚨BREAKING: ASIO no. 2 is being rushed through parliament this week.

This is the bill that allows warrantless questioning by ASIO, without a lawyer, and you can't tell a soul without being sent to prison.

Share this widely and make some noise.

[Marcelle Mangan @ManganMarcelle]

@NiallHarbison This one is breaking me from a distance. It must so hard for you and the team. Lovely to see those pics of a happy Fluffy though. ❤️

[Marcelle Mangan @ManganMarcelle]

Absolute gold!

[Dr Monique Ryan MP @Mon4Kooyong]

Today at 2pm, the Government will test AusAlert, Australia's new national emergency warning system. A loud siren alert will be sent to all mobile devices in Australia including most phones and some tablets and smartwatches at 2pm (AEST).

Putting your device on silent or Do Not Disturb will not stop the alert.

If you have a hidden or safety phone:
At least one hour before 2pm today, turn your device off or switch it to aeroplane mode. Leave it off or in aeroplane mode for at least one hour after the test to be safe. If possible, keep the device out of earshot before turning it back on.
https://t.co/cFyjotc5xQ

[WeRateDogs @dog_rates]

This is Willie Nelson. He was found on the streets of Mexico severely anemic and missing one eye. He needs a blood transfusion, surgery to close the empty eye socket, and intensive treatment to save his vision. You can help him below ❤️‍🩹

https://t.co/zdy0ayXHVt

[Bob Brown Foundation @BobBrownFndn]

⚠️Today in Lutruwita / Tasmania: another giant, centuries-old tree destroyed by Forestry Tasmania.

In the middle of a climate and extinction crisis, this must end.

@AlboMP: end native forest logging NOW. #politas

[Dr Tracy Westerman AM @TracyWesterman]

Because of YOU my paper on Attachment Theory & Aboriginal ppl hit the top 2% of research globally & the editors responded by making it FREE access. I’m posting it here first!
This only happens for the most consequential papers.
No paywall. Read now & share widely

https://t.co/Y0YXXcNN4O