Nica Cordover

[Dr Tracy Westerman AM @TracyWesterman]

The Sanewashing of Hanson Is at Its Peak.
This is how Trump came to power: platform the lies, skip the follow-up, let the headlines call it “proving her critics wrong.”
We are all watching it happen in real time.
At the National Press Club, Pauline Hanson said the following. Not one claim was challenged by the so called journalists in attendance and she continues to be unchallenged on the facts in every interview she sits.
-1. Unlike the Prime Minister, I welcome scrutiny.” Hypocritical. In the same speech she announced she refuses ABC interviews, will scrap the SBS, & will make the ABC subscription-only. The event allowed 2 hours; standard format gives 25–30 mins for the address. She spoke for 50-halving the time left for questions. When Guardian journalist Sarah Martin used that remaining time to ask about her daughter's $150,000 taxpayer-funded advisor role, Hanson called her “a trashy journalist” and banned her from all future press conferences.
• “Babies are aborted the day before birth.” Fabricated. Late-term abortion is highly restricted, requires medical approval, and occurs only in genuine medical emergencies.
• “Interest rates are heading towards 10%.” False. RBA cash rate: 4.35%. Forecast to fall, not rise.
• “There’s no gender pay gap — just women taking time off.” False. WGEA confirms the gap exists at equal hours, equal roles, regardless of career breaks.
• “$30B a year on Indigenous programs.” False. Only 18% (~$5.6B) is Indigenous-specific. The rest is the Indigenous share of mainstream services every Australian uses.
• Transgender people were compared to “militant Islam.” False and dangerous. ABS data: transgender and gender-diverse Australians make up 1% of the pop’n. There’s no body of research showing transgender ppl commit crime at elevated rates-in fact it shows transgender people are dramatically more likely to be victims of violence— assault, sexual violence, and homicide rates against trans people are well above general population rates in most studies (US, UK, and Aust data all show this pattern)
• “23% of Australians can’t speak English.” False. That 23% speak another language at home — most are bilingual. Limited English proficiency: just 3.2%.
• “The CEFC has had $200 billion.” False by a factor of six. Actual legislated capacity: $33 billion.
• “I care about the homeless and hungry.” Hypocritical. In the same speech, she backed cuts to Indigenous-specific funding — despite Aboriginal homelessness running up to 10 times higher than the non-Indigenous rate.
• $90 billion in cuts, no plan. ~$35 billion of it remains unaccounted for. No modelling.
• “I support worker rights.” False. Voted against minimum wage increases, penalty rates, criminalising wage theft, casual conversion rights, same job same pay, and the right to disconnect. Took a $100,000 pay rise while voting against a tax break for low-paid workers
• Called Australian workers “lazy.” She has attended just 12% of Senate estimates since 2016 & 53% of parliamentary votes. Paid over $200k a year
• Labor have let immigration get out of control.” False. Net overseas migration has fallen every year since the post-COVID peak in 2022-23 — 538,000 → 446,000 → 306,000 in 2024-25. She also recycled a 26-year-old ABS pop’n projection as a fresh “next 50 years” forecast

Said: This beautiful country belongs to all Australians born here and those who have joined us”- in her opening line; then spent the next 50 minutes demanding a monocultural society, comparing transgender Australians to militant Islam, inflating migration and language figures, denying the gender pay gap, and repeating the debunked $30 billion Indigenous funding myth. Welcomed everyone in the first sentence. Spent the rest of the speech defining most of them out — and offered no plan to fix anything she raised, only $90 billion in cuts.
Not one follow-up question. No source data on a single figure in the entire speech. This is what unchallenged looks like.
/2 sources

[Ronni🧂Salt-WhoWroteGunnawahYeahThatOne @RonniSalt]

The NACC clearly lists the Commissioner's office as based in Canberra

The Remuneration Tribunal (Official Travel) Determination 2024, does not allow for travel expenses to be paid for public servants/staffers from their home to their principal office

Paul Brereton lives in Sydney and yet via the NACC, Australians have funded his commute from his Sydney home to his primary office in Canberra, in breach of the Official Travel determination

Why?

Is this a judicious use of taxpayer's money?

[Ida Madge 🦋 @idahanks8]

@DaveMilbo @aparachick @RonniSalt Brilliant article.
The eye watering amounts of money being spent on overseas trips, wages and refurbishments.
Is staggering.

[Larissa Waters @larissawaters]

BHP made $91 billion in profit in the last ten years.

All while getting over $5 billion in taxpayer funded subsidies for their petrol & accounting for a third of our total emissions.

Greenlit by Labor, the Libs & One Nation.

[sgt.stingray @sgtstingrayy]

@JeremyPoxon Can't afford housing on jobseeker, can't afford internet to job search, can't afford phone credit to call back employers, can't afford transport to attend anything helpful, can't afford enough food to be healthy and alert. Poverty is my biggest barrier to finding work.

[Denise Difficult-Shrivell @deniseshrivell]

Brilliant. Watch this #auspol

[David Green @itsdavegreen]

Lord Devon’s lineage “goes back to the Crusades”. But so does mine. And yours. And literally everybody’s. Less well off people weren’t beamed onto earth during the Industrial Revolution.

[Gearside @gearside]

it still kills me… we could have funded the abc and aussie film for 20 years

[Bob Brown Foundation @BobBrownFndn]

New stats from the TAS Government have revealed that Huon Aquaculture used almost 3 tonnes of Florfenicol at 1 fish farm lease in 3 months. Such incredibly high quantities in a single geographical area are a cause for grave environmental concerns. #politas
https://t.co/u0ez5vHkG5

[FionaPWME @fioname.bsky.social @FionaPWME]

@MrRexPatrick @MichaelWestBiz As always, ppl with #disabilities are the scapegoats for govts' real priorities: sucking up to the US and remaining craven to fossil fuel extraction & defence manufacturing companies 😏 Reprehensible behaviour from a Labor govt @AlboMP @JEChalmers @SenatorJordon @Mon4Kooyong

[Rex Patrick @MrRexPatrick]

Yet another deeply concerning #AUKUS report for our ministers to ignore. Despite the risk of non-delivery and cost blowouts (already occurring), billions continue to be gifted to the US and UK, while social services are cut to balance the budget. #auspol https://t.co/X5G7K8iI1C

[David Shoebridge @DavidShoebridge]

Time to seriously reflect on the “achievements” of outgoing Defence Secretary Moriarty.

Billions wasted on the AUKUS scandal, failing Hunter frigate mess, procurement tangles - but he has made us hostage to US defence policy & weapons manufacturers.

So he gets promoted.

[Scott Ludlam @Scottludlam]

last week richard marles announced an additional $53 billion in military spending for weapons of death and obsolete nuclear submarines.

[the Juice Media @thejuicemedia]

The Government™ made an ad about what's happening, and it's surprisingly honest and informative.

We're on patreon: https://t.co/e6YAu8LFeT

[Norma Ballingall 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇪🇺🇵🇸 @Balr0g]

In a nutshell. 😊

[Australia Institute @TheAusInstitute]

“Australia Institute research shows if Labor had introduced a 25% export tax back in 2022, we would have collected $69 billion by now, and every week we delay introducing such a tax is costing us $350 million." - Dr Richard Denniss

Read more: https://t.co/8cOWqhBuxM

[Australia Institute @TheAusInstitute]

“In Australia, we subsidize the fossil fuel industry, and we charge our kids a fortune to go to uni.” - Australia Institute co-CEO Richard Denniss.

Add your name to the call and demand the gas industry pays its fair share: https://t.co/XcY8GvAwa8

[Nica Cordover @nicacordover]

@Tuners36 @Martina It’s not being political to say NO to aggression, violence and war. It’s ethical.

[David Shoebridge @DavidShoebridge]

Every dollar spent by Australia on developing this US weapon is taken from public funds that could be used for health, housing and renewable energy. We must stop the complicity, and use public funds for Australia’s security and Australian needs, not Israel’s and Donald Trump’s.

[David Shoebridge @DavidShoebridge]

Australia has awarded $78 million in genocide grants to F-35 suppliers, like US arms manufacturer Northrop Grumman. The F35 jet is critical to the illegal war on Iran and Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Important research by @sstephanietrann and @MichaelWestBiz https://t.co/kTHK0R00LT