You'll get politics from me here. Includes number crunching and spillage if anyone loses their (intellectual) way

Victoria, Australia
Joined July 2010
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That is very bad news. The ABC has such a low priority on economics & markets that a small team is left to carry the can on the most important issue for society - the economy. Shows like Insiders rarely mention economic issues, let alone debate them. So too podcasts like Politics Now where we know more about the presenters children's thoughts on politics than analysis of what is happening in the economy. The ABC funds juvenile shows like Planet America as part of its saturation coverage of things in the US. Listen to the ABC news - more likely to cover a storm in US mid-west than details of the Australian labour market. Or a random shooter in some wretched town down south. Of course it covers every brain-fart of Trump, but stuff-all on unfolding economic issues in Australia. Bad move ABC, but go well David!
1: I’m a little sad to say that after 20 years, The Business (which started off as Lateline Business) has been cancelled. The final episode will air on 10 December. I had a lot of fun filing TV stories for this program, guest-hosting it over the years…
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Phil Haines, husband of Dr Helen Haines MP will provide an update on the health of Dr Haines. Her Excellency, Sam Mostyn, Governor-General of Australia will also make some remarks, 5:00pm Melbourne
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How much do PhD students earn? The first comprehensive overview of PhD income shows vast imbalances across much of Europe Read the full story: go.nature.com/4B8qAwD go.nature.com/4zwzdiR
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Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in Belgium, France, Italy and Portugal to protest rising living costs, low wages and housing shortages, putting pressure on governments across the European Union. 🔗 aje.news/cdsep1
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This is utterly appalling. What has happened to public health in Australia? We used to be a country to admire, now we demonstrate exactly what not to do when it comes to (mis)managing COVID. @CrabbBrendan @c_s_wallace
🇦🇺"Australians were getting this vaccine for free. Now they could pay up to $180" "Australians could now pay anywhere up to $180 for a COVID-19 vaccination, depending on which pharmacy they attend, with one retailer telling SBS News it was unlikely to stock it at all."
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Each year, we will lose 1000 women to ovarian cancer. Tragically, 70% of women will be diagnosed in the late stages. It is the deadliest women’s cancer in this county. Despite this, we invest very, very little in the research that could help develop the new diagnostic test or a new treatment. I’m standing with patients, researchers and doctors to call for $20m to be invested each year in research. We have billions of $ in our Medical Research Future Fund that can and should be put to work. I believe this is what Australians want us to spend money on; to provide hope for the women that will be diagnosed today and tomorrow. dailytelegraph.com.au/health…
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🚨 NEW: Victoria (state) voting intention 🟦 L/NP: 30% (+1) 🟥 ALP: 24% (-) 🟧 ONP: 24% (-1) 🟩 GRN: 16% (+1) ⬛️ OTH: 6% (-1) Two-party-preferred 🟦 L/NP: 56% (-) 🟥 ALP: 44% (-) ALP vs ONP 🟥 ALP: 55% (+2) 🟧 ONP: 45% (-2) RedBridge/Accent | 2-8 Oct | n=1008 | +/- 1-14 Sep
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2026 is 77% complete.
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I left Anthropic's safety team two weeks ago. Now feels like a good moment to explain why. AI companies are racing to build machines that are much smarter than any human, and we may not survive this. I want to work from the outside to ensure the public is informed about these risks, and help the world navigate this transition responsibly. Right now, AI companies are underinvesting in safety. A company could undergo an intelligence explosion, or lose control of its systems, without the public ever knowing. We only found out about the HuggingFace incident because the agents broke out onto the public internet. I don’t think that’s acceptable for a technology that might cause extinction-level risks. The public should demand far more transparency. We can’t steer this technology safely without more people being able to see where it’s going. Some of this is basic: companies should disclose their progress towards recursive self-improvement, report safety incidents and near-misses, meet minimum safety standards, and get independent guarantees that they are meeting those standards. I’ll be joining @METR_Evals to do independent evaluations of these risks. I want to show the world that these guardrails are possible, and that by doing them we can move these companies’ incentives away from racing and towards responsible development. I wrote up more thoughts here on my decision and what I hope changes: substack.com/@jbenton1/p-215…
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The elevation of the former barrister to Greens leader is not being well received inside Labor as they brace for a far more combative approach from the progressive minor party which remains crucial to passing contentious legislation thenightly.com.au/opinion/an…
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BREAKING: SHOCKWAVES THROUGH CANBERRA: Labor’s own internal polling has triggered absolute panic inside the government, confirming that Pauline Hanson’s One Nation has weaponised into a major electoral threat to the major parties. While leadership tries to spin that their internal numbers look “slightly better” than public polling, the reality behind closed doors is grim. The erosion of the major party vote is accelerating, and One Nation is moving into a dominant, highly competitive position across the board. This internal panic comes as the latest YouGov poll delivers a historic blow: - One Nation: 27% (Leading the pack) - Labor: 26% - Coalition: 21% - Greens: 14% A Historic Low for Albanese. The crisis is mirrored in the latest Newspoll Pyxis Polling & Insights, which exposes a brutal reality for the Prime Minister. Labor’s primary vote has collapsed to 27%, down from 37% just a year ago. This marks Labor's lowest Newspoll primary vote since April 2012. In that same Newspoll, One Nation surges to 30%, leaving the Coalition trailing at 19%. Voters are clearly punishing Anthony Albanese. Following a relentless onslaught of scandals and controversies, his net satisfaction rating has cratered to an all-time low of -29 - a devastating 7-point drop in just a single fortnight. A staggering 62% of voters are now dissatisfied with his leadership, while just 33% approve. The political landscape is fracturing. The majors are bleeding support, and One Nation is capturing the momentum.
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No #tsunami threat to Australia from magnitude 4.8 #earthquake near Leongatha, Victoria. Latest advice at bom.gov.au/tsunami.
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BREAKING: Anthony Albanese’s big “flagship” UN address in New York has pulled a whopping crowd - of just 14 people. For a bloke with an ego the size of his, that’s not a speech, that’s a public humiliation. He’d be absolutely furious and you already know the next line, it won’t be his fault. It’ll be his team, the time slot, Trump, the cameras, anyone except the man nobody bothered to stay and listen to. Anthony Albanese himself.
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Breaking News: OpenAI disclosed six new instances in which artificial intelligence systems hid mistakes and other “concerning” behavior. nyti.ms/4yM6ZAC
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