Labor didn’t have the ″⁣ticker″⁣ for a fight with the online gambling lobby. It’ll be the same with the gas lobby.
David Cayzer, Clifton Hill
The Age, letters

I am so enraged that the Albanese govt is cutting the NDIS - kicking off 160,000 and shrinking it by an overall 300,000 by 2030 - yet refuse to tax gas exporters 25%.

Taxing gas revenue would collect $17b a year - more than enough to keep funding the NDIS!!!

But no. Screw disabled peeps 🙃

#AusPol

From Barcelona to Paris, cities thrive with women in charge. It’s all about sharing public space | Melissa and Chris Bruntlett Female mayors have had notable successes in making transport in urban areas benefit everyone, write Melissa and Chris Bruntlett, co-authors of Women Changing Cities

From Barcelona to Paris, cities thrive with women in charge. It’s all about sharing public space | Melissa and Chris Bruntlett

wake up babe the Australian privacy commissioner just published a determination that online rental application platform, 2Apply, undermined renters' privacy by collecting too much personal information, and doing so by unfair means. we love to see it classic.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth...

So, you've decided to write a terrible EV piece. An early column, because I'm away this Friday.

My head assploded and harsh words came out after reading the ABCs stupidest ever 730 report on EVs

Great piece, @robbieb.bsky.social
He's SO right.
What a legacy for Uni bosses... to lay waste to our cultural landscape? Silence the voices of the next generation?.
Is this what you signed on for??
WRONG WAY!
GO BACK!

NDIS infiltrated by organised crime gangs using intimidation and threats of violence against Australians Review recommends better use of NDIS data to identify repeat rorters and a requirement for providers to register with the government

Australian politicians love to claim welfare programs are beset with fraud, even if there's very little evidence, because it justifies cutting welfare spending www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Hey space people, I'm looking to speak to experts about the undiscovered irregular moons of the Solar System. How many might there be? What are they telling us?

If that's you, do get in touch: jdaoca[at]gmail[dot]com

Thanks!

Girls in bands: two 90s rock icons on romance, ruthlessness and boring men

🎸 Iconic 90s bass players Melissa Auf Der Maur (Hole) and Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth) chronicle a time characterised by messy humanity, low-level trust and delicate egos.

“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://theaus.in/4cwYwYk

Headline from the AFR "Time to end welfare for the wealthy, says big business"

You mean the superannuation tax breaks? No?
You mean the CGT discount? No?
You mean the fossil fuel subsidies? No?
You mean the free gas for multinationals? No?
You mean the failure of the PRRT? No?
You mean the tax dodging trusts? No?
You mean the lack of a wealth tax? No?

No you mean the NDIS FFS

Japan raises more tax revenue from Australian gas exports than Australia does.

Japan has a tax on gas and coal imports that raises more money than Aus PRRT.

Great new research out today @australiainstitute.org.au @richarddenniss.bsky.social

australiainstitute.org.au/report/taxin...

Do you think hospital care should be means tested?
Do you think public education should be means tested?

Means test NDIS and the NDIS will become a bottom of the barrel service

The stunning underwater world that’s at risk as the Iran war drags on | CNN Not far from the vessels stuck in the Persian Gulf is a one-of-a-kind marine ecosystem that’s home to dolphins, sea turtles and coral. How do oil slicks affect them?

A wildlife disaster unfolds alongside the human tragedy in the Strait of Hormuz

@greenpeace.org reports Iranian vessel Shahid Bagheri, stuck by a US warplane in early March, is still leaking oil near the Strait, with nearby wetlands at risk:

www.cnn.com/2026/04/17/s...
🧵 1/5

THREAD 🧵

A joint investigation by Al Jazeera English and Liberty Investigates found that 12 UK universities paid Horus Security to monitor pro-Palestine activity online. Using AI tools, it flagged organisers and profiled academics.

🔗: aje.news/30ic1p | #Infograph

Preparing for a conference?

Here are free must-have resources for making the very best science presentations. 🧑‍🏫

An astronomical image featuring the backdrop of the dark night sky with a faint grey-blue speckle at the centre. The nebulous cloud has the shape of a four-leaf flower. Four orange laser beams are pointing to it.

This isn't a scene from #StarWars.

What you're looking at is the Tarantula Nebula. While those beams come from the lasers installed on the telescopes that comprise our VLTI.

But why are we sending lasers into the sky? Find out: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2616a/

🔭 🧪
📷 A. Berdeu/ESO

Just glad you're not EXPIRED

Lost, alone and out of range. How phone maps failed to save Celine Cremer Backpacker Celine Cremer set off on a short walk with only a phone to guide her — and vanished. More than two years later, her family has an urgent message for other travellers.

Lost, alone and out of range. How phone maps failed to save Celine Cremer: www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-20/celine-c...

Profits shrivel as yellow tail winemaker posts $5.5 million loss The maker of one of Australia's best known wine brands, yellow tail, says rising costs and global factors such as tariffs are behind the sharp drop in profits.

Profits shrivel as yellow tail winemaker posts $5.5 million loss: www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-20/low-wine...

Uppies and Downies, the medieval football game that has no rules and no time limit (Gift Article) In a town in the north of England, hundreds gather each year to take part in a no-rules mass football game

"There are no rules"

<article proceeds to describe rules, including the need to throw the ball three times in the air at the opposing goal>

It really is something that when an established game with conventions and rules is seen as totally lawless just because mass sport has been over-regulated.

A week since splashdown and I’m thinking a lot about the motivations and legacy of Artemis II…🧪🔭

Astronaut: hitteschild Artemis II-missie zag er na landing 'fantastisch' uit Sommige experts waren ongerust over de veiligheid van het hitteschild vanwege problemen met de eerste, onbemande Artemisvlucht in 2022.

Astronaut: hitteschild Artemis II-missie zag er na landing 'fantastisch' uit

Patients with little-known neurological condition wait years for diagnosis People with functional neurological disorder say they experience misdiagnosis and struggles within the medical system.

Patients with little-known neurological condition wait years for diagnosis: www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-18/function...

Australia’s space program stuck in low orbit Australia plays an important role in space exploration, but the advantages are being lost through a lack of government investment in research and development.

Australia has so much going for it in the space sector: world-class researchers, engineers, telescopes and prime geographic position for launch, landing and observation. But waning govt interest and funding, and over-regulation, is slowly killing Australia's long-held and lofty space aspirations.

'How worlds are created': UW astronomers find evidence of planets clashing University of Washington astronomers have published evidence of a possible planetary collision that could inform our understanding of how celestial objects like the moon form.

University of Washington astronomers have published evidence of a possible planetary collision that could inform our understanding of how celestial objects like the moon form.

Because Australia gives so much of our gas away for free, Japan gets it so cheap that it makes a profit selling it on to other countries!

Add your name to the call to impose royalties on all gas exported from Australia ✍️ nb.australiainstitute.org.au/collect_gas_royalties

Astronauts Zhang L. and Wu F. made a spacewalk from the Chinese Space Station on Apr 16
from about 1206 UTC to 1736 UTC

"The world’s top 100 oil and gas companies banked more than $30m every hour in unearned profit in the first month of the US-Israeli war in Iran"

That cash comes from all of us locked into reliance on dirty fossil fuels despite none of us asking for it

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

BNS and low-mass NSBH rates, in units of $ {Gpc

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Implications of low neutron star merger rates for gamma-ray bursts, r-process production and Galactic double neutron stars. Maya Fishbach et. al. https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.05059