They seem to have removed this embed now, which is good, but yikes

Racism erupts after Melbourne announces Little India plans Social media posts about the announcement of a Little India precinct in Melbourne are flooded with racist comments, leaving some Indians with mixed feelings about the plan.

I realise this is a story about racism, but I don't think the ABC ought to be embedding social media posts by an actual neo-Nazi publication without telling readers what that publication is. This is not just any "announcement" news.
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04...

The yidaki, a 16th-century double bass and a South American flute: finding Australia’s oldest playable musical instrument The first musical instrument to arrive with European colonisers in Australia was a piano made in 1780 – but there are older ones still being played

I went hunting for Australia's oldest playable musical instrument. Here's what I found.

Plans for gaudy Trump presidential library in Miami spark ridicule Video posted on social media depicts a rendering of the proposed 50-storey gargantuan structure decked in gold

And not a book in sight.

move slow and repair things

Marks’ style of leadership is another flashpoint. Earlier this month, he was due to address staff at a town hall meeting to make his latest and what he said was his final offer in negotiations. But before the meeting, Marks unveiled the offer in an exclusive with the Financial Review. When he showed up to the town hall, Marks was asked why he’d chosen to go to the commercial media with his pay offer, instead of to his own staff. Marks replied that he didn’t have to explain himself.

Good piece by @index.lamestream.com.au.ap.brid.gy about the strike at the ABC.
www.lamestream.com.au/express-your...
Stuff like this is almost breathtaking, if unsurprising:

A group of people standing outside the ABC Central Victoria station in Bendigo, with a CPSU banner.

#ABC
#QualityNewsQualityJobs
#Bendigo

The If You're Listening team is striking today, calling for fair pay and conditions, particularly for casual and fixed term staff.
I'm lucky enough to have an ongoing role - many of my colleagues don't.
As a result, this week's Thursday episode will be released on Friday.

I'm begging people to click through and look at this man with his cat if nothing else

How good is Monty!

Thank you for reading!

The Melbourne expert who has spent a lifetime uncovering ‘the archaeology of the printed book’ Prof Wallace Kirsop, 92, is one of Australia’s foremost experts in rare books – not just their contents but their makers, buyers and readers, and the stories they tell beyond the page

I've known Wallace Kirsop since I was a child. He and my father were keen book collectors, bibliophiles. They'd met in the 1950s. A nice profile of a lovely man, with some astute observations on our public libraries
@humanitiesau.bsky.social

Did I mention his personal home library contains some 20,000 books? 📚

The Melbourne expert who has spent a lifetime uncovering ‘the archaeology of the printed book’ Prof Wallace Kirsop, 92, is one of Australia’s foremost experts in rare books – not just their contents but their makers, buyers and readers, and the stories they tell beyond the page

Sometimes the origin of a story is just a passing comment, like a casual mention of the 92yo rare books expert who often just drops by the State Library with an extremely valuable book in his pocket to donate.

I was very taken by this, so I found the guy.

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Yes of course!

Hello! This is quite a few days after you called out for people but I can definitely help you here if you still need?

The really insane thing about arts funding cuts like the ones currently devastating Victoria is how small the savings are. Jacinta Allen is presiding over generational damage to the arts scene, for a saving of around 1 day of transport infrastructure spending

Cutting the creative state: funding changes threaten the cultural future of Melbourne, arts workers warn Creative Victoria funding has dropped by more than $20m since 2022 and organisations including Writers Victoria now face closure

One longtime Victorian arts leader tells the Guardian: “I think the wider cultural shock is [Melbourne] is going to go from the cultural capital to the least funded city in Australia.”

New from me today:

Cutting the creative state: funding changes threaten the cultural future of Melbourne, arts workers warn Creative Victoria funding has dropped by more than $20m since 2022 and organisations including Writers Victoria now face closure

I spoke to @gingerandhoney.bsky.social this week about the cuts to Victoria’s arts funding ecosystem.

The cuts, the uncertainty and lack of transparency have left a cloud over what was Australia’s creative heart.

The Melbourne Advantage is over. We’ll see if other cities pick up the pieces.

Cutting the creative state: funding changes threaten the cultural future of Melbourne, arts workers warn Creative Victoria funding has dropped by more than $20m since 2022 and organisations including Writers Victoria now face closure

A look at sombre times in Melbourne’s arts scene via @gingerandhoney.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Such a pleasure to have a major news outlet doing these sorts of stories about the much ignored west of Victoria.

In the tiny outback town of Underbool, the community pool is a ‘vital’ part of life – and they almost lost it Locals in the Victorian Mallee town, where summer temperatures regularly top 45C, fought for 10 years to save the only swimming spot for 50km

Continuing my little run of stories about overlooked places in far north-western Victoria: this story was a joy to write but Stu Walmsley’s pics really make it sing

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Meanjin returns home: QUT to become custodian of Australia's iconic literary journal QUT will become the new custodian of Meanjin, Australia's most eminent literary journal, bringing the publication back to Brisbane 80 years after it relocated to Melbourne.

"QUT will become the new custodian of Meanjin, Australia's most eminent literary journal, bringing the publication back to Brisbane 80 years after it relocated to Melbourne."

So um, what the fuck was all that about then, UniMelb?

www.qut.edu.au/news?id=203300

Excessive or reasonable? Police actions at Sydney's protest analysed What is reasonable? It's a question being asked by some after footage of clashes in Sydney's CBD, during a rally against Israeli President Isaac Herzog's visit.

If you’re even asking the question at this point, you’re on the wrong side, jfc

Vale to an amazing man and legendary, brilliant cartoonist.

The cartooning community is in mourning today.

Where it all went wrong: the case against John Howard is available for pre-order and you should get it just because it is going to make Alexander Downer very mad 😇 (You can also ask for it at your library 💖)

You can pre-order it at any of your faves

www.readings.com.au/product/9781...

It's a record 48.9°C summer. The media doesn't care, and there's a few reasons why It's getting hotter, but politicians — and crucially, the press that pushed them — don't seem to care. It's all the result of the slow but steady collapse of global stability.

Wrote a piece for @crikey.com.au on how the media stopped discussing climate change

www.crikey.com.au/2026/02/02/c...

Thanks Jane x

Thank you x