a cartoon character from the simpsons is holding a clipboard and says hi everybody . ALT: a cartoon character from the simpsons is holding a clipboard and says hi everybody .

Back on BSKY.app after a long break, here to chat, say hi and meet strangers until they don’t appear like strangers any more.

Bands of brothers: How veterans groups build social connections among men and boys Veterans embody “no one gets left behind,” showing how service and community can fight men’s loneliness and build lasting connection.

Here’s a great article by Dan Vallone over at the American Institute for Boys and Men about how veterans groups build connections among boys and men. It’s a very interesting idea and one I’d like to pursue in my local setting (not for veterans per-se, but for boys and men).

This is a good, enlightening interview of Chris Hedges by Antoinette Lattouf.

"For essentially the last 25 years every single resources minister, bar one, has left Parliament and gone to work for the resources industry."

- Senator Larissa Waters at our Revenue Summit 2025
@larissawaters.bsky.social #auspol

Here’s a great article that introduces you to ACT - how to tolerate annoying things. It also has some great follow up reading and resources to help you go deeper.

There’s some really strange priorities in our planning system right now.

What's the single biggest driver of the housing crisis?

According to a new Grattan Institute report, it's our own urban planning rules. The path out of this crisis runs directly through bold reform of these rules.

A must-read. 👇

My goodness that’s a long time. I hope there’s no loan costs being paid while they wait.

Labour has become so afraid of taking action it’s virtually standing still and keeping Australia stationary with them.
You have to take some risks sometime.
I’m so sick of do nothing Government in this country.

The gangrenous Nats.

I think we’ve become so accustomed to saying no with regards to planning that that there’s a whole section of society that simply stopped asking the question in the first place. Let alone why not??

“Gas companies treat tax as optional, and they leave the rest of us with the cleanup bill for the natural disasters that they are turbo charging.”

- Australian Greens Leader Larissa Waters at our Revenue Summit 2025

@larissawaters.bsky.social #auspol @thepointau.bsky.social

Australian gas exports don’t cut coal overseas, and here are the charts to prove it The point.com.au

thepoint.com.au/opinions/251...
Australian gas exports are displacing renewables not coal, great piece by @ketanjoshi.co on @thepointau.bsky.social

Listen to the bloke unable to stop his right hand from moving

You only have to look back at how he ran Microsoft to see what kind of person he really is. He didn’t become a billionaire by being a really nice guy.

City of Melbourne has taken FIVE years to plan *one* affordable housing project.

Melbourne cannot afford these delays. It's time to get on with it.

It just turns out that upzoning expensive areas works?

The Age report: Bonnici, who has lived in the Melton area his whole life, said that the state government had promised upgrades to the road for years. “We’d just like an upgrade to this freeway. It needs to be a minimum of four lanes … We’re expecting a massive upgrade, not just a Band-Aid fix,” he said.

Sorry my friend. We know how this plays out. Years of roadworks disruptions, and then the new lanes will up with traffic within a year or two, and you're back to square one.
Ultimately to keep cities moving efficiently, we need to get more people out of cars.
Full story: www.theage.com.au/na... ($)

Images of Jonathan Swan, incredulous, trying to understand. Glen Waverley timetable from 1974 showing evening trains every 20 minutes. Glen Waverley timetable from 2025 showing evening trains every 30 minutes.

50 years ago, #Melbourne trains mostly ran every 20 minutes in the evening.
Our population has almost doubled since then... but in 2025 they run FEWER evening services, mostly every 30 minutes.
Time for State Government to fund #MoreServicesNow

Midnight Oil - Beds Are Burning YouTube video by MidnightOilVEVO

#Music time!

Overly broad application of heritage restrictions:

❌ make housing more expensive
❌ make our neighbourhoods older & less diverse

We need to let our neighbourhoods change with the times!

New Australia Institute research reveals that QLD has missed out on almost $400 million after Adani sold discounted coal to Indian companies.

‘It’s time Australian governments started charging for Australian resources and stopped giving them away for free.’

@rodcampbell.bsky.social #auspol

Victoria's new rental reforms are a good step forward.

But let's be clear: in a housing shortage, renters have little bargaining power.

We need to build more homes AND have robust regulations to truly empower tenants.

FromFB: ♥️

Keating makes the point that Labor should spend some political capital.
My wish list:
Be brave.
Ditch AUKUS.
Stop worshiping the “market”
Fix CGT and -ve gearing.
Tackle poverty reduction
Housing as a human right.
Establish a modern Housing Commission.
Build public Housing.
.

Protein Powders and Shakes Contain High Levels of Lead - Consumer Reports CR tests of 23 popular protein powders and shakes found that most contain high levels of lead.

my latest investigation for @consumerreports.org is based on months of reporting and 60+ lab tests of leading protein supplements

we found that most protein powders and shakes have more lead in one serving than our experts say is safe to have in a day (🧵)

www.consumerreports.org/lead/protein...

First they came for Brighton and I didn't speak up because I was not rich...

Great to see the Victorian Government grandstanding for more housing.....

This is some of the best messaging I’ve seen so far from the Democratic Party. Please forward far and wide.

@indivisible.org
@indivisiblenoco.com
@indivisible-co.bsky.social
NOCO
#copolitics
@hcrichardson.bsky.social

Hold the line -
@hickenlooper.senate.gov
@bennet.senate.gov