I’m writing a book about Australian art and culture. If you’re an Australian artist and you’d like to be in it, get in touch with me here
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Ben Eltham
@beneltham
Writer, journalist, researcher, unionist. Banner image: Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro, 'Tapestry of Disaster, Immolation' (2012).
Ben Eltham’s Tweets
Wage suppression, a weak workforce, and undervalued jobs: Can multi-employer bargaining fix them all?
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SAURON WASN’T ACTUALLY THE FIRST DARK LORD. IN THE FIRST AGE WHEN VALAR STILL WALKED THE EARTH, MELKOR GREW JEALOUS OF ERU, THE ONE, WHO IN ARDA IS CALLED ILÚVATAR. HE FELLED THE TWO TREES OF VALINOR AND WAS NAMED MORGOTH BY FËANOR OF THE NOLDOR, MEANING “BLACK FOE OF THE WORLD.”
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Reading Jan Morris again. I find her such a comforting writer
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Showed a social policy class these two graphs in the Guardian.
Distribution of income earners versus total benefits of stage 3 tax cut by group. There were gasps when I flicked to 2nd graph.
Around half of the money goes to 3.7% of people
theguardian.com/business/grogo
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Global Droughts Are Turning Waterways to Dust - Bloomberg
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A good example of why wages aren’t growing in Australia. Rail workers are striking for better conditions & higher pay. The only time they can legally take action is during EBA negotiations. NSW govt is saying if they take more action, they’ll cut wages
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An Eastern Yellow Robin poses in the Ararat Hills. September 2. #birds #birdwatching #birdpic #birdphoto #wildlife #nature
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Australia's political media isn't at all interested in this?
Here is the Governor General signing off on the $18 million for his own pet charity.
Yes, you read that right.
Scott Morrison oversaw this. What favours did he seek from the Governor General & his office in return?
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Australia’s employment laws are among the most pro-management of any democratic country… meanwhile Allan Joyce is like ‘What you don’t want is the pendulum swinging too far in either direction on industrial relations because the economy relies on getting the balance right.’
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Nearly 2,000 Australian children have lost parents to Covid
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A glaring conflict of interest that for some reason and the Murdoch media just will not touch.
The secret $18 million promised to the Governor General's pet project and the secret signing in of Scott Morrison to his ministries at the same time.
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Victorian Chief Health Officer advice to the Premier. Well worth a read, summarizing current thinking and research on Covid.
Next tweet has screenshot of key points.
content.health.vic.gov.au/sites/default/
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Michael Pascoe follows up on the excellent investigation here by : Some questions about the Governor-General’s leadership grant
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Barbara Ehrenreich is gone. I'd say "May her memory be a blessing" to those who were with her; may it be a scourge to those who were against her, as it was during her life. May she rest in power, may her words keep working
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The Sydney Review of Books is one of Austraia's most important literary institutions. Throw them a few dollars if you can, the money is going directly to writers
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We’re often told that there’s nothing else like the SRB in Australia. We’ve now been publishing the best longform criticism and essays for almost a decade. If you like what we do, please consider making a donation.
sydneyreviewofbooks.com/donate/
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I've been covering bad parts of the internet for long time now.
For years, there was one site extremist researchers warned me not to cover because publicizing it would be dangerous.
But it's time people know KiwiFarms—and how they're chasing political enemies around the world.
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Political thinking about COVID
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Monarch Cakes in St Kilda has been on Acland Street since 1934. They've just brought back Paradise, a 4-layer Hungarian cake that takes 3 days to make.
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In today's , I take a closer look at the phenomenon of the right-wing bro.
I unpack some interesting research by , and others on the May federal election.
A short 🧵 with graphs:
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Today is quintidi 15 Fructidor in the year of the Republic CCXXX, celebrating the trout.
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🚨The full report is out!🚨 ‘Caregiving Dads, Breadwinning Mums: Transforming gender in work & childcare’ is a major mixed-methods study comparing couples in traditional, equal & reversed arrangements. #gender #work #childcare #parenting #family #equality
nuffieldfoundation.org/wp-content/upl
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Another example of what I'd call "bulk standard" wage theft at an Australian university: piece rates for marking that don't begin to cover the time taken to mark
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Businesses like Qantas have restructured their operations to avoid bargaining with workers in favour of unilaterally setting the price of labour. The result: wage stagnation & record profits. The system is badly skewed against healthy wage growth.
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Journalists need to do some actual research. Wesfarmers benefited from agreements that paid 50%+ of employees below award (and should have failed BOOT). This is all on the public record and part of a major Fair Work case in 2016
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I love reading the and I love writing for it too. It's far and away the most important space for literary criticism in Australia and we really, really need it. If you have some spare cash, even a small amount, would you consider donating to the SRB this month?
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We’ve been online for a decade! Well, almost. The SRB turns ten in February 2023 – but our budget remains precarious. This month we’re asking readers to consider making a donation to the SRB to help us into another decade.
sydneyreviewofbooks.com/donate/
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has a wage theft problem. academic Michael Ciaravolo on why this is the case & what Monash can do to fix it. While VC pulls in $1.4m a year, casual teaching staff are trying to claw back wages that Monash won't pay for essential teaching work.
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The wants Covid isolation health advice that went to national cabinet to be released - calling it a "political decision" and saying doctors are "puzzled" at the reduction to 5 days theguardian.com/australia-news
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The stage three tax cuts are a pile of garbage, and everybody knows it | Greg Jericho
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Molly Jong-Fast: Of Course Voters Care About Abortion
Most people with covid-19 are still infectious after five days
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Snowy 2.0 is crowding out other projects, and might be more important for its own business model and position in the market, than it is for the energy transition as a whole.
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Say what you will about Covid but it’s nice to have a virus that is immediately obedient to National Cabinet requirements and is now willing to leave the body on day five, for the sake of the nation
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My heart goes out to this struggling small business owner who feels 'traumatised' by an EBA process he actively fought at every available juncture and make incredibly unpleasant for all involved
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So nails it: fossil fuel exporters are making windfall war-profits while 22 million of us in East Australia are smashed by hyper-gas & electricity price inflation, which is driving rising cost of living / mortgage costs.
theguardian.com/australia-news
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I'd hate to take sides in the pay dispute between Nine and its journalists. But here's a piece of data on the company's annual profits over the last five years
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People keep complaining about our skills shortage, and yet they still insist that children not be allowed to operate heavy machinery
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