rachelwithers.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

Imho if we keep Helen Haines in Indi and dump Dan Tehan in Wannon, "The Big O" will have done us all a favour.

submitted 3 hours ago • 2 comments

What do we call it if regional/rural independents — many of whom use orange — take out a swathe of Coalition seats in 2025, a la 2022's "teal wave"? The orange peel? The orange fizz?

submitted 3 hours ago • 30 comments

Because of her brilliance on last Sunday's #TheSundayShot, I've just listened to @rachelwithers.bsky.social, together with @jessielilley.bsky.social & @theshufflediary.bsky.social on 2RRR's #SpinCycle. Quality #journalism, commentary & analysis. Intelligent & engaging. Highly recommend. 📻 #auspol

submitted 3 days ago • 4 comments

Starting now on RRR! www.rrr.org.au

submitted 3 days ago • 2 comments

Tonight on Spin we're joined by Peter Lalor, who was recently told by SEN that his commentary would no longer be required after sharing posts relating to Gaza. Plus: Cairo Takeaway, the caravan, Khaled Sabsabi, and what it means for media more broadly www.rrr.org.au from 7pm, or podcast tmw

submitted 4 days ago • 2 comments

Welcome to my new series: Well Hung 🧐 This week, I take a look at that Dutton-favouring MRP, and what it might mean for our future crossbench www.crikey.com.au/2025/02/20/w...

submitted 4 days ago • 7 comments

I would like it very much if an Australian journalist challenged our treasurer to find a single landlord in the country who passes the rate cut on by reducing rent for their tenant. Just one.

submitted 4 days ago • 15 comments

Absolute nonsense being published in the national broadsheet. The preferential system doesn't favour Labor, it favours voters' choices. www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/polit...

submitted 6 days ago • 37 comments

Incredible choice of words from Hanson given her offer came just after Joyce was filmed lying on the ground mumbling obscenities into his phone.

submitted 6 days ago • 13 comments

Every time the Coalition says it can slash public service staffing levels w/out affecting "frontline services", it's worth remembering the current right-wing NZ Govt said the same thing in Opposition & has since imposed brutal cuts that have hit services www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350... #auspol

submitted 7 days ago • 8 comments

"The reality is that leaders take their habits into office: Morrison stayed flim-flam, Abbott ultra-conservative, Albanese small-target. Dutton will, presumably, continue to lean into the politics of race." @mrseankelly.bsky.social on our responsibility to remember www.theage.com.au/politics/fed...

submitted 7 days ago • 5 comments

YouGov MPR underselling indie/minor party chances in a few seats (eg Bradfield) - it doesn't account for circumstances on the ground. But if these really are the numbers after the election, Labor needs to rethink its entire strategy. Being a centrist small target ain't fuckin working.

submitted 8 days ago • 20 comments

Starting in 5 minutes from now! > facebook.com/theshot.net.au > youtube.com/@TheSundayShot

submitted 8 days ago • 6 comments

Looking forward to group therapy with @davemilbo.bsky.social @instanterudite.bsky.social and @anthonyklan.bsky.social at 9am tomorrow! Tune in on FB or YouTube: www.facebook.com/theshot.net.au www.youtube.com/@TheSundayShot

submitted 8 days ago • 16 comments

Ah yes, "the daily lives of Jewish people," visiting Muslim-owned venues wearing a blue-and-white Star of David cap + demanding to know if servers have a problem w you after you are politely served. "Never intended to provoke-" oh, what were you trying to report on here, Ben? How good the tea was?

submitted 9 days ago • 7 comments

Australians have been warned that a network of right wing think tanks and activist groups - backed by billionaires - is preparing an election onslaught of misinformation and climate denial. www.tempestsandterawatts.com/p/the-sneaky...

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

A petition from Australians for a Murdoch Royal Commission calling on parliament to investigate the Daily Telegraph's actions at Cairo Takeaway. The Murdoch media has thus far been allowed to divide and provoke with impunity, and this can't go on. www.megaphone.org.au/petitions/pe...

submitted 10 days ago • 31 comments

And it was not a “stunt gone wrong”. It was a deeply political provocation designed to generate lies that could be reported as facts. Posing as journalism. There absolutely needs to be an investigation of this rogue organisation at heart of our politics & they need to be held to account. Fat chance.

submitted 10 days ago • 39 comments

The Daily Telegraph took part in a stunt in which a provocateur tried and failed to stir up antisemitism at an Egyptian restaurant in order to have it caught on camera. How's this for "social cohesion"? I wonder if any politicians will bother to comment www.smh.com.au/national/nsw...

submitted 10 days ago • 20 comments

There is a lot of shit to talk about on Spin Cycle tonight. Good thing we're back - tune in from 7pm (or on the pod tmw) to hear @jessielilley.bsky.social, @theshufflediary.bsky.social and I wade through the Antoinette Lattouf/Peter Lalor/Sam Kerr/Cairo Takeaway crap: www.rrr.org.au/explore/prog...

submitted 11 days ago • 7 comments

Holds up.

submitted 11 days ago • 2 comments

"Since the major parties have nine branches, and they can take four donations per donor every three years, that means a single person or company could give $1.8 million to a major party every election cycle." live.australiainstitute.org.au

submitted 11 days ago • 14 comments

Many see Werribee as a preview of the upcoming federal election, from which we can surely expect another record-low vote for the duopoly. But who are the “double haters”, ditching both major parties? And are they voting against something, or for something else? www.crikey.com.au/2025/02/13/a...

submitted 11 days ago • 8 comments

The combined Labor-Coalition primary now sits at just 57.7% in Werribee — a shockingly low figure for the district where it once sat in the high 80s. @rachelwithers.bsky.social on the rise of "double haters" and the Werribee byelection in @crikey.com.au.

submitted 11 days ago • 1 comment

Opinion | The ALP will likely hold on in Werribee. But it still spells bad news for Labor and the Coalition, @rachelwithers.bsky.social writes.

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

Many see Werribee as a preview of the upcoming federal election, from which we can surely expect another record-low vote for the duopoly. But who are the “double haters”, ditching both major parties? And are they voting against something, or for something else? www.crikey.com.au/2025/02/13/a...

submitted 11 days ago • 8 comments

Why then do political parties need to be able to spend $90 million per campaign, as well as the individual 800k candidate spends? Must be something wrong with their campaigning 🤔

submitted 11 days ago • 9 comments

Unsurprisingly, the bill was rushed through the house this morning with gag orders preventing questions from the crossbench. Parliament is a vital check on the executive. Legislation is supposed to be questioned and deliberated upon such that it is improved. #auspol

submitted 11 days ago • 1 comment

Screengrab on the Guardian's version of the Zali Steggall/Don Farrell dispute so perfectly sums up the major parties' temper tantrum about the decline of their vote. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

submitted 11 days ago • 6 comments

An important reminder about claims Labor's electoral reforms are designed to lock out challengers and entrench the two-party system:

submitted 11 days ago • 5 comments