If you’re unfamiliar with the “Australia is a totalitarian dictatorship” discourse Elon Musk & his boys are huffing out at Jacqui Lambie, the myth comes from a far right influence operation during the pandemic; I wrote about it for the The New York Times:

nytimes.com/2021/10/14/opi… #auspol

Problem: Australia generates lots of cheap, clean renewable energy during the day, but there is high demand in the evening when dirty coal and gas has taken over.

Luckily (for everyone except fossil fuel investors!) we can help fix this by using 'Buildings as Batteries'

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The ACCI media release ends with 'The ABS identified rental prices, insurance, healthcare and education as key influences of the latest data.'

Many landlords on minimum wage? Is the minimum wage going to affect insurance?

Utter clown show.

It remains rather weird to know that this actually happened and we all saw it happen.

A bill that would force China-based company ByteDance to sell TikTok — or else face a US ban of the platform — is all but certain to become law after the US Senate passed a foreign aid package including the measure. theverge.com/2024/4/23/2413…

What Democrats are offering workers: ban on non-compete clauses, expanded overtime eligibility, a friendly NLRB
What Republicans are offering: no lunch breaks, no heat breaks, robotic union-busting lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2024/04/giving…

Leaders at the US FTC voted 3-2 to ban noncompete agreements, which are often used by employers to prevent workers from jumping to competitors. However, the ban is expected to face intense legal challenges that will likely stall implementation. nydailynews.com/2024/04/23/ftc…

One in five American workers are restricted by noncompetes. But now the FTC has issued a ban that will cover hundreds of millions of workers.

Read the full story: substack.perfectunion.us/p/breaking-the….

Banning noncompetes is life-changing for millions of workers.

This action will allow people to switch jobs or start a business, boosting wages, spurring innovation & lowering health care costs.

Massachusetts workers stand to gain $2 billion in higher pay.

A big Biden win!

My piece for Guardian Australia today:

“Musk was always going to turn the video removal request into a glib culture war fought with 4chan-style memes and late-night missives.

theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

Fossil fuel companies are expert greenwashers that use clever advertising, intentionally vague language & sponsorship to make us forget they are fueling our climate crisis. Very disappointing to see #MasterChefAU become the latest promoter of this bullsh*t abc.net.au/news/2024-04-2…

I appreciate hannah gais laying out the way that 'anti-woke' is just a thin contemporary veneer on venerable RW racism, sexism, etc. But it's hard not to think that this is all very obvious & that centrist elites fall for it because they *want to*.
forummag.com/2024/04/16/the…

In the pointiest of ends of global media, it’s hard to miss the all-but-settled consensus: we’re done with late-20th-century neoliberalism. But not according to the Australian media class, writes Christopher Warren. crikey.com.au/2024/04/23/neo…

Bruce Lehrmann should pay all Network Ten’s legal costs because suing The Project for defamation was “deliberately wicked and calculated” and an abuse of process, Ten has told the federal court. theguardian.com/law/2024/apr/2…

Court documents have revealed Bruce Lehrmann refused an offer to settle with Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson before his failed defamation case had begun hearings.
abc.net.au/news/2024-04-2…

each stop is one of the blacksites where she tortures the poets

In case you missed it earlier - Ellen Sandell was unanimously elected as the Victorian Greens new leader at a party room meeting this morning. Prahran MP Sam Hibbins and upper house MP Sarah Mansfield were appointed as co-deputy leaders. More via the Guardian Australia blog.