Co Founder of Northern Sydney’s Independents & a happy “Democracy Gardener”
Sydney, Australia
Joined May 2016
- Tweets6.7K
- Following1.3K
- Followers896
- Likes8.3K
Pinned Tweet
"Most people do not listen with the intent to understand. They listen with the intent to reply." — Stephen Covey
Kristen Lock retweeted
Pelvic organ prolapse - bladder or vaginal - affects about 1 in 12 Australian women. It's often linked to physical strain, heavy lifting or past childbirth. It’s uncomfortable and debilitating.
Jacqui Lambie has shown courage and honesty in speaking of her experience of vaginal prolapse. She’s talked about an awkward subject to make it easier for other affected women.
Pauline Hanson thinks that's worth making fun of.
One Jacqui Lambie is worth 1,000 Pauline Hansons.
Kristen Lock retweeted
Please please please be OK @helenhainesindi ❤️❤️❤️ theguardian.com/australia-ne…
Kristen Lock retweeted
“There’s almost no opposition to it... people really support this as a policy issue." - Australia Institute Deputy Director Ebony Bennett on a 25% tax on gas exports, which could raise $17 billion every year.
#RevenueSummit26
Kristen Lock retweeted
Mad climatically?
Mad economically.
Yesterday they were still talking about the damage of fossil fuel price spikes; today they’re talking about increasing our reliance on fossil fuels…
…and it’s all under the same guy who moved our fossil fuel reserves offshore, to the USA.
This is obviously mad climatically, as we likely move into our hottest summer on record, but what do you make of it politically?
smh.com.au/national/australi…
Kristen Lock retweeted
Australia’s political lobbying rules are broken. Nearly two-thirds of registered lobbyists in Canberra are former government representatives - former ministers, advisers or party officials. These are people who’ve spent years building relationships and gathering knowledge on the public purse, and are now able to sell access to the highest bidder.
Next month, I’ll introduce my National Lobbying Act as part of an effort to put a stop to this and to clean up politics. It would create a lobbyist register capturing both in-house corporate lobbyists and industry associations, while also closing the revolving door through enforceable bans on former ministers cashing in on their contacts.
Australians don’t send politicians to Canberra to protect big coal, big gambling, or the big banks. They send us there to stand up for our communities and act in their best interests. It’s time to clean up politics.
Kristen Lock retweeted
A Senate report shows nearly three-quarters of a $500M+ government grant program went to Labor-held seats. When Senator David Pocock tries to table the evidence proving it, the government blocks him from even putting it on the record.
youtube.com/watch?v=yJ-pmzh5…
Kristen Lock retweeted
Did you know Australia uses the exact same private immigration detention operator as Trumps US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Management and Training Corporation (MTC).
MTC through its local subsidiary Secure Journeys won a $2.3 billion contract to manage Australia’s
Kristen Lock retweeted
Sharing this quickly (will say more later)
Here's a list of independents to support in the Vic state election.
The way out of the mess we're in is to lean in, get active & support candidates who put their communities above all else #auspol #VicVotes27 > linktr.ee/CommunityIndepende…
Kristen Lock retweeted
Over the last week several independent publishers & journalists have focused on the Northern Territory - & frankly it’s alarming & should be on the radar of all of us. Please have a read #auspol
True North helps expose the Northern Territory government.
“The NT government has lost the confidence of the very communities it's meant to serve.
▪️A justice system addicted to punishment
▪️ A Territory being quietly sold off to gas corporations
▪️And to militarisation
▪️…all the while its own services collapse.
▪️And southern states pick up the bill.
“This is what's actually happening in the NT.” —> Read on…
truenorthnews.substack.com/p…
I'm backing @helenhainesindi's End Pork Barrelling Bill. Add your name: actionnetwork.org/forms/end-…
Kristen Lock retweeted
Defence's $432,541 p/a Dep Sec Security & Estate Celia Perkins pulls out the "I often find your questioning ... distressing" victim card when asked to provide yes or no answers by Senator David Shoebridge during a public inquiry hearing on Friday. #auspol
Celia Perkins is the same senior Defence official who buried a so-called "investigation" into classified document leaks from the Vice Chief of the Defence Force, i.e. the same crime for which David McBride was jailed. She is the absolute epitome of the cover-up culture in Defence. #auspol
michaelwest.com.au/defence-c…
Kristen Lock retweeted
If your marginal seat had a competitive ALP candidate, you could expect 10x funding from this grant program. Slush funds for election promises = bribes for votes. Grant programs should be open, competitive & merit-based #auspol abc.net.au/news/2026-09-08/l…
No one in the country understands or supports AUKUS except the duopoly - what is actually going on with them? #auspol #AUKUS
"I am firmly convinced, that the evidence is there for everyone to look at today, that it (AUKUS) is undeliverable" - Retired Admiral Peter Briggs at the AUKUS public inquiry today.
Tune in to the livestream for tomorrow's session here: youtube.com/watch?v=sr5IRK5N…
#auspol
Kristen Lock retweeted
Gronk proving it's by far the *worst* AI.
- Claims PHON vote "surges" when one poll has them -3, the other +1... neither "surging"
- The broader trend has PHON falling ~1.5%/month since June - the opposite of "surging"
- "as Coalition hits lows" is wrong. Both the trend and multiple individual poll results had them lower in June.
- If anything, the Coalition are the ones "surging", up ~1.6%/month since June, with the slow (~0.6%/month) ALP decline since the last election largely arrested now, and the GRN vote flat
- Leans on a LNP v ALP 2PP - but LNP's in a deep 3rd, unlikely to make the 2PP in many seats on current numbers
- THAT means it's not the Coalition with a "slim 52-48 edge over Labor" - the (understated) ALP 52-48 edge over PHON is the buried lede.
- And "fifth recent lead change between Labor and One Nation" is reporting noise as signal - with a brief and barely measurable PHON lead between ~26 May and 20 June on aggregate/trend. The 5 "lead changes" are just results bouncing around the margin of error between two closely-polling parties.
The bigger story is the Coalition is clawing back some of its One Nation defectors - a significant churn on the "right" - while the "left" stays largely still.
That still leaves the Coalition deep in 3rd spot - but only ~2 months away from passing back into 2nd for the first time since late January at current trends - with the turnaround point being Hanson's "we must be monocultural" speech in June...
Still, that's on a very thin, recent trend - and as Hanson's monoculture speech demonstrates, it only takes a single event to shift the direction.
xitter.cf/i/trending/20940329643…
Kristen Lock retweeted
VERY interesting…
Grayndler has been held by Albo since 1996.
A month ago, Hannah Ferguson announced she’s contesting the seat.
Yesterday, she posts this pic.
At this rate, Ferguson’s campaign will easily surpass Maxine McKew’s campaign against Howard in 2007 - possibly becoming the largest single-seat campaign in history.
(It has a larger seed group to compound, and is starting far earlier.)
Still far too out to gauge political sentiment for what (at this stage, given the seat margin) is likely a May 2028 election. (Things are moving fast though. 9 months ago One Nation was a twinkle in a mining baron’s eye.)
Margins are in the ballpark of Fowler, Warringah, Wentworth, Denison before each flipped to independents.
The primary vote shift required would be lower than Fowler 2022. Wilkie shows how a seat like this could be won from 3rd place too.
Will be very interesting…
Kristen Lock retweeted
Data centres could be an opportunity for Australia but only if we get the settings right and plan for the long term.
That means putting in place strong power and water safeguards, ensuring they are appropriately located, guaranteeing local compute access for Australian companies and introducing some kind of data centre tax - which we have heard nothing about from government. These companies are experts at profit shifting offshore and we need to retain some benefit here in Australia. We also need to see far greater investment in retraining workers who face job displacement due to AI and make sure we're not make housing affordability worse if data centres are taking away from our construction workforce.
Kristen Lock retweeted
This speech from Shoebridge is a must watch through to the end, even quoting Albo from back when he at least pretended to stand for something.
#auspol
Kristen Lock retweeted
About 77-80% of Australians want a gambling ban.
Disappointingly, it seems only tiny fraction of parliament supported a ban though - amidst a flurry of rushed bills...
Kudos to Wallace and Conaghan on taking the rare step of crossing the floor - and to the consistent advocates for gambling reform on the crossbench, including independents Wilkie, Haines, Ryan, Spender, Steggall, Chaney, Boele, Sharkie ...
