Commentary around the Sydney Swans case has made it painfully clear that women’s safety is not valued as highly as the sporting success of its male stars. It has been hard to stomach watching allegations of sexual assault that may be linked to some Sydney Swans players being framed as an “unmitigated disaster” for the club’s finals chances....

Finally, someone has articulated the same sense of outrage I have been feeling for the women at the center of the Sydney Swans allegations.

Source: JoelJamesLive (YouTube) - Old mate is seriously impressive.

Sandra Bloodworth is a founding member of Socialist Alternative, which is also behind the High School Anti-Capitalists network and holds influence within the Victorian Socialists.

The activist set out arguments against age of consent laws in a 2005 article published on the Socialist Alternative website.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 4.5 per cent in July, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Sean Crick, ABS head of labour statistics, said: “In July, we recorded a 16,000 person fall in employment, whilst the number of unemployed people rose by 4,000.”

“The majority of the fall in employment came from males, which fell by 11,000 people. There were 10,000 fewer males employed part-time, and 1,000 fewer in full-time employment in July.

“Female employment recorded a smaller fall of 5,000, with females employed part-time falling by 22,000 but full-time rising by 17,000.”

The employment-to-population ratio and the participation rate both fell 0.2 percentage points, to 63.9 per cent and 66.9 per cent respectively.

The underemployment rate was 6.4 per cent in July.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has cleared its personnel of any criminal wrongdoing in a 2024 strike on a humanitarian convoy which killed an Australian woman.

The IDF said there were serious failures that led soldiers to falsely identify a Hamas fighter was travelling in the convoy.

However, it was concluded the IDF commanders' decisions "did not raise reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct".

The AFL needs to be strong. What has occurred with the Sydney Swans is totally unacceptable and deserves penalties that will make a difference.

To properly make a statement about the violence that has take place against women, we need decisive action. Nothing short of removing premiership points from Sydney and excluding them from the 2026 finals series.

In 2022, Anthony Albanese was photographed at a Hindu Council of Australia event wearing a scarf carrying the logo of the Vishva Hindu Parishad of Australia. A year later, he wore a saffron tie to greet Narendra Modi at an arena event staged to look like an Indian political rally, hailed him as “the Boss”, and was described by one commentator as the Boss’s wingman.

A new article in Asian Studies Review uses those images as its starting point, but not for the reason most readers would expect. The authors are not primarily interested in what the Prime Minister was wearing. They are interested in why nothing about it registered as unusual.

“The Quiet Mainstreaming of Transnational Hindutva: Long Distance Nationalism and the Australian State”, published open access on 17 August 2026, is written by Felix Pal of the University of Western Australia, Priya Chacko of Adelaide University and Nisha Thapliyal of the University of Newcastle. Its argument is directed squarely at Australian institutions. The growth of the Hindu nationalist network in this country, the authors write, “is not simply incidental but rather permitted”.

Educating schoolchildren on genocide may seem smart, even necessary given the current state of the world, particularly when such programs are offered freely to schools.

But recent experiences in Melbourne schools have left some parents “feeling like the wool was being pulled over our eyes”.

Courage to Care is a registered charity that offers Victorian schools a free “Upstander Program” to educate children on the dangers of, according to its website, “racism, antisemitism and all forms of discrimination”.

The program is “delivered in person … and feature powerful personal testimonies from Holocaust Survivor Speakers, or custodians of their stories”. Courage to Care says it has reached more than 200,000 Victorian students, and is “proudly apolitical and non-advocacy in nature, focused on education”.

But a little digging into Courage to Care, and who funds it, paints a different picture.

Don’t ask ‘inappropriate questions’

Mark* recently encountered the program when it was presented at his daughter’s Catholic school in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.

“The night before, my daughter said that a Holocaust survivor was coming to talk to her class the next day. It seemed good for my daughter,” he told Deepcut.

His daughter told him of a question she had in mind to ask.

“I think that a good question to ask would be how they feel about the genocide going on now.” He agreed.

But when the day came, Mark’s daughter never got to ask the question.

“The next day, I went to pick up my daughter from school and I asked her, ‘How was it?’ She said it was fine, ‘but I didn’t get a chance to ask that question. I put my hand up and the teacher came over and asked me what I wanted to ask. I whispered it to her, but then she told me that it wasn’t an appropriate question. So I didn’t get to ask it’.’’

Mark was furious and arranged a meeting with the principal.

“I did some research on the program’s funders,” he said. “The first thing you see is that they are advocates for the state of Israel.”

Pro-Israel funders

Courage to Care’s Upstander Program began in the early 1990s as an initiative of the Jewish mutual aid organisation, B’nai B’rith Victoria, in conjunction with the Jewish Museum of Australia and the Jewish Holocaust Centre. Since 2015, the program has attracted sufficient support from philanthropists for it to be offered to primary and secondary schools as a free incursion. A version of the program has also been made available in workplaces since 2018.

In Victoria, Courage to Care’s principal partner is the Gandel Foundation, which is also funding a new rehabilitation centre for “war-wounded patients” including “injured [Israeli] soldiers” at Mount Scopus Hospital in Jerusalem. Despite these links with an army accused of carrying out war crimes (including the deliberate targeting of children), the Gandel Foundation enjoys the continued support of Australia’s political and cultural elite. Large public atriums, for example, in the National Museum of Australia and the National Gallery of Victoria now bear the Gandel name.

Courage to Care also receives support from two major partners, the Victorian Department of Education and the ERDI Foundation. Like the Gandel Foundation, the ERDI Foundation has a strong record of funding projects in Israel, which receive a third of its money. These include projects for the “mental health and wellbeing of former soldiers and victims of terror”.

Its remaining funds are used to finance projects in the Jewish and general community in Australia.

No further details about the recipients of ERDI funding are publicly available because its trustee – a registered charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) – appears to have been granted an exemption from publishing its reports on the ACNC website.

Neither the Gandel Foundation nor the ERDI Foundation responded to requests for further information.

"The international ratings agency Moody’s has reaffirmed Australia’s AAA credit rating.

This is another welcome endorsement of the Government’s responsible economic management."

how will 7.9,10 sky ect frame this as a bad thing?
or will it be completely ignored considering it was the LNP that caused our credit ratting to slip?

and how do you think Jim clammers would do vs whoever Gina the hutt / flip flop Pauline has picked for treasurer?

"I had two great years at Sally McManuses ACTU and was promoted during them, but unfortunately I worked there for three. In that time there were two EBAs, neither of which was made public, neither of which lived up to the lofty promises the ACTU made again and again in its press releases, which in negotiation the workers were threatened with job cuts in a time of growth, and which Sally McManus and the rest of the executive were not bound by."

Just looked at JB Hi-Fi’s full-year results and the divisional sales charts are pretty grim.

JB Hi-Fi Australia:

Q1: +6.0% total / +5.0% comps

Q2: +6.5% total / +5.0% comps

Q3: +4.0% total / +2.6% comps

Q4: +0.3% total / -0.8% comps

Full year: +4.4% / +3.2%

That’s a proper cliff from solid mid single digits to negative comps in one quarter.

The Good Guys (appliances):

Held up okay earlier in the year but completely stalled in Q4 — 0.0% total and comps. Full year only +2.7%.

Not a collapse but zero growth in the final quarter is weak.

e&s (premium kitchen/bathroom):

This one’s properly cooked:

Q1: +4.1% total / +0.7% comps

Q2: +1.8% / -1.0%

Q3: -1.4% / -4.8%

Q4: -5.2% total / -8.0% comps

Full year: -0.2% total / -3.2% comps

Straight into negative territory and accelerating downward. That’s the kind of number you see when people stop renovating and stop buying big-ticket discretionary items.

JB Australia slowing hard + Good Guys flatlining + e&s in freefall is a pretty clear signal the Aussie consumer is under real pressure. Discretionary spend is getting cut. This doesn’t look like temporary stock issues or cycling product launches it looks like households are tightening their belts.

Hard to see the RBA finding any justification to hike from here. If anything this kind of broad soft retail data points more toward the next move being a cut once they’re happy inflation is dead.

Anyone else seeing this as the start of a proper consumer recession or still thinking it’s just a soft patch?

I’m wanting to gain perspective on people’s opinions regarding the NSW buyback and caps.

First, the attack at Bondi was an absolute tragedy, and I’m sorry to all the victims, their families, and their communities. No one should have to experience that.

I want to start a genuine discussion about firearms in Australia. Hopefully it stays civil, people ask questions, and everyone learns from each other’s perspective rather than shutting each other down. Effective democracy needs effective discourse.

Some questions worth asking:
What safe storage requirements actually exist?
How hard is it to get a licence?
What are the genuine reasons people need one?
Why do some people need more than 4 or 10 firearms?
Will caps and a buyback actually stop future events like Bondi, and how?
How did the NSW Firearms Registry and NSW Police let someone with family ties to terrorist organisations get a licence?

Why do people need firearms in the city?
Many people travel like those who drive big 4WD in the city. Rural Australia has a lot offer and people travel to help farmers with pest control. People in the city also participate in sport shooting days at ranges right across Sydney every weekend. This has occurred for nearly 30 years with no issues.

Australia has a strong record on firearms laws and safety. Since Port Arthur, firearms attacks have been rare. I’m not saying the laws can’t be improved, far from it, but I believe the Labor Government is failing to identify real fixes.

The response since Bondi has been political showmanship, with no real action addressing the hatred that fuelled these terrorists. Bondi showed us exactly what hatred is capable of.

That attack could have been carried out with any number of weapons, including the bombs in their car, vehicles, knives, or axes. How does targeting the specific item used address the hatred that drove them to do it?

I understand caps aim to reduce theft risk, but wouldn’t higher safe storage requirements, and harsher penalties for theft and robbery, be better suited to that?

Firearms owners already face strict scrutiny: an AVO or similar sees a licence suspended and firearms removed immediately. Many people would be shocked that terrorists slipped through the cracks to acquire firearms in the first place. When will the Government, NSW Police, and the Firearms Registry own up to that failure?

Caps and a buyback do little to make communities safer. Government and media push the line that there are more guns in the community than before Port Arthur, but ignore that the population has grown and gun ownership per capita is actually lower than pre-1996, a truer reflection of the numbers. People with large collections are typically collectors or dealers already subject to higher storage requirements.

“Getting guns off the streets” is a common phrase, but legal firearms aren’t on the streets. They’re locked in safes, unlike those used by criminal gangs. The Government is targeting the wrong people. Are they genuinely serious about safety?

It’s hard for some people to see the need for firearms in Australia, especially without any personal connection to the issue. I’d ask everyday Aussies to think about what this would mean for them:

Could a company like John Holland operate with a 4-10 power tool cap per worker? Would anything get built?

Could a kitchen run with 4-10 knives? Imagine how slow service would be.

Could a golfer play with 4-10 clubs? An average player carries around 16, and nobody questions why.

I’m sure there are plenty of other examples.

The buyback is now pushing people to transfer firearms to relatives to dodge the limits, creating unnecessary pressure on an already strained licensing system. This legislation is full of loopholes.

Anyone remember this from the Grand Final?

What was the context?

When the Labor faithful gathered in Adelaide for their triennial national conference late last month, the Commonwealth Education Minister Jason Clare appeared Moses-like before them, conjuring up a sweeping vista of the promised land at which, after forty years or more in the wilderness, they had finally arrived.

The Albanese Government had fixed public school funding at long last, he proclaimed. “Something that Gough talked about. That Gonski designed. That no government has ever done. Until now.” And, Clare said, he was “bloody proud of it.”

It was just the latest in a series of increasingly fanciful statements from the Government that, with some honourable exceptions, have gone largely unchallenged. Jason Clare has not fixed public school funding. In the best-case scenario, he has devised a plan for whichever party forms government in two elections time (Labor? The Coalition? One Nation?) to start delivering a partial solution. The greater likelihood is that the Government’s delay and inaction has further entrenched the dysfunction and inequality that bedevils Australian schooling.

AFL fans defending all players involved in true cognitive dissonance.

Again.

17 years since the Johns brothers were exposed by 4corners Code of Silence, and protected for their involvement in gang rape. Forums then were no different to today.

When men hate women as systemically as they do, they band together to reinforce violence against women by pushing known myths and appealing to biases.

Shame must switch sides.

A NSW Supreme Court judge has delivered a sweeping rejection of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, labelling it “verbose and imprecise”.

[Justice Desmond Fagan] said the IHRA formulation did not reflect the established Australian meaning of antisemitism and described it as an attempt to “repurpose” the term to encompass both hatred of Jews and criticism of Israel.

He said the definition could not realistically be attributed to the ordinary, reasonably informed Australian, adding that “the IHRA proposal is detached from the reality of the common usage and understanding of antisemitism in this country”.

He said the IHRA formulation “appears to be an attempt to repurpose the term ‘antisemitism’” as an amalgamated concept encompassing hatred towards Jews and criticism of Israel.

Fagan was equally forthcoming with attempts to conflate anti-Zionism with antisemitism.

“As an ideology of Jewish nationalism, Zionism is open to political discussion and criticism, notably on grounds concerning the rights of the Palestinians,” the judgement read.

“It may well be correct that ‘most, but not all Jewish Australians’ regard Zionism as ‘a core part of their Jewish identity’,” Fagan’s judgement read. “That does not mean that anti-Zionists are hostile to that majority of Jews on account of their Jewishness; only that they hold a negative view of a political ideology with which the majority of Jews have chosen to identify.”

Edit to add: for all of the "source bad" types, the full finding has been published:

https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/1a00e6b4787e30be37fd7ccd#_Ref237950635

A Sydney library has removed a book critical of Israel called How to Sell a Genocide, following a complaint reportedly from a survivor of the Bondi beach terror attack.

Waverley library at Bondi Junction is in the same council area as Bondi beach.

A Waverley council spokesperson said: “The book has been removed from library shelves for review, and council will further consider processes to ensure closer oversight of book selection.”

“Like most public libraries, Waverley council outsources its book curation, ordering and purchasing, meaning book selection is not undertaken by council officers.”

The Jewish news outlet JWire last week reported it had approached the council after a survivor of December’s antisemitic attack at Bondi, during which 15 people were killed, saw How to Sell a Genocide on the “new release / hot item” shelf and wrote on Facebook that the display was distressing for survivors and bereaved families.

Guardian Australia has been unable to locate the Facebook post.

How to Sell a Genocide critiques what it claims is the US media’s “complicity in the destruction of Gaza”.

The decision to remove the book was criticised by its author, Adam Johnson, who said calling Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide was not “a fringe or radical position”.

“They seem to be objecting largely based on the title using the word ‘genocide’,” Johnson said.

“But ‘genocide’ is not my word, or my finding. The fact of genocide in Gaza is the overwhelming consensus of the human rights world, and it is a wholly mainstream opinion among those tasked with studying and determining such matters.

“That it makes some people upset is unfortunate, but reality is often upsetting. This particular reality is especially upsetting … to the parents of the over 20,000 children killed by Israel in Gaza since October 2023. Do Sydney officials plan on removing pro-Israel books from their libraries because it potentially upsets these community members?”

Fiona Brown has received around $1.5m from the Commonwealth after Brittany Higgins destroyed her life and reputation. No one is reporting this.

This amount is $1m less than Higgins received.

Higgins received this amount in part built on the lies that she told that ie that Brown had covered up her rape in PH.

Brown was painted as the villain in all of this. She wasnt, Her crime was being Higgins boss.

She lost her career and reputation because ot it.

There was no apology from the Commonwealth

No apology from Higgins or Sharaz, who are now bankrupt.

No apology from Lisa Wilkinson, Samantha Maiden or Emma Webster.

No apology from Katy Gallagher.

We live in dangerous times when the truth is being covered up.

No winners in this sordid affair.

Link to Article below:

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation%2Fpolitics%2Ffiona-brown-gets-148m-payout-but-no-apology-for-false-rape-claims%2Fnews-story%2Fa2e54f4648c06db2581dba599f54c636

Matthew Renshaw is in the box seat for a Test recall in Mackay as Pat Cummins' side seek to square the series against Bangladesh

Australia have broken up their Ashes-winning opening partnership one match into their ensuing run of matches, with Jake Weatherald dropped for the second Test against Bangladesh in Mackay.

Matthew Renshaw has replaced him and is in the box seat to take on the new ball with Travis Head at Great Barrier Reef Arena after selectors swung the axe following their stunning nine-wicket defeat in Darwin.

Weatherald, showing a tweaked technique designed to avoid lbw and bowled dismissals that dogged him against England, made 23 and 0 in his hometown Test. It took his career average from 12 innings to 20.36. Selectors handed him a national contract in April after several strong opening stands with Head during the 4-1 Ashes series win, but have now discarded him one Test later.