Ben Eltham @beneltham Twitter profile | Pikagi

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Ben Eltham

@beneltham

58,800

Followers

7,773

Following

1,806

Media

108,468

Statuses

Writer, journalist, researcher, unionist. Banner image: Claire Healy and Sean Cordeiro, 'Tapestry of Disaster, Immolation' (2012).

Djab Wurrung country

https://t.co/KSqK1wx4jC

Joined November 2009

Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.

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@beneltham

Ben Eltham

4 months

I’ve got a new article out this week with the inimitable @bestqualitycrab ⁩ on the role of consultants in universities … “Nousferatu: are corporate consultants extracting the lifeblood from universities?”

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“Nousferatu”: Are corporate consultants extracting the lifeblood from universities?

Universities and management consultants are locked in a danse macabre. We turn to the vampire genre to elaborate on the relationship of consulting companies to the university sector, focusing on th...

www.tandfonline.com

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@beneltham

Ben Eltham

6 years

The most successful people I've met: 1. Were rich 2. That's pretty much it 3. A lot of them were really mediocre 4. Some were actually stupid 5. Most were boring 6. It didn't matter, they were 'succesful' 7. In a capitalist society, wealth determines success 8. $ 9. It's money.

@APompliano

Pomp 🌪

6 years

The most successful people I've met: 1. Read constantly 2. Workout daily 3. Are innately curious 4. Have laser focus 5. Believe in themselves 6. Build incredible teams 7. Admit they know very little 8. Constantly work to improve 9. Demand excellence in everything they do

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Ben Eltham

4 years

I just want to remind everyone that *literally the reason Scott Morrison is the PM* is that the Liberal Party wouldn’t let Malcolm Turnbull pass an energy policy that addressed climate change

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Ben Eltham

1 year

Maybe, and I’m just throwing this out there, Dan Andrews is not actually that unpopular in Victoria

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Ben Eltham

3 years

The single most important thing Australia can do on climate is to vote out the Morrison government

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Ben Eltham

7 months

Apparently Drew Carey has been paying the tab for breakfasts and lunches for striking WGA members for months now #solidarity

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Ben Eltham

2 years

Omicron is a kind of ultimate failure of Australia’s ruling class. Despite everything that happened in 2020 and 2021, our so-called leaders still could not get their head around the idea that some things are more important than the economy

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Ben Eltham

3 years

I know there’s no accountability for anyone in Australian politics ever, but can we take a moment to recall that Bridget McKenzie resigned for overseeing $100m+ in totally improper sports rorts, and now she’s back as a federal minister in the very same term of government

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Ben Eltham

5 years

Year 6 student Ariel Ehlers carried out a solo school strike in Chinchilla, Queensland. Photo: Drew Hutton

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Ben Eltham

2 years

Still cannot get my head around the fact that this week, the Prime Minister of Australia made campaigning *against* integrity in public office a major aspect of his re-election campaign

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Ben Eltham

3 years

So far the only person to lose their job over the Christian Porter affair is the female CEO of the law firm representing him

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Ben Eltham

5 years

I want kids to be kids, says leader of government jailing a 2- and a 4- year old

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Morrison warns against 'needless anxiety' after Thunberg climate speech

The PM has called for "context and perspective" in the climate debate in the wake of 16-year-old activist Greta Thunberg's condemnation of today's leaders.

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Ben Eltham

3 years

Covering up a rape. Blaming a victim. Abolishing the Family Court. Just another day in Morrison’s Australia

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Ben Eltham

2 years

Bevan Shields blocked me for pointing out he misreported the Sydney train lockout

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Ben Eltham

4 years

Scott Morrison on bushfire response: "I don’t hold a hose, I don’t sit in a control room.” Scott Morrison on boats: "I stopped these"

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Ben Eltham

3 years

Whatever you think about Friendlyjordies, this is a deeply concerning development for civil liberties in NSW

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Friendlyjordies producer charged with stalking John Barilaro

Exclusive: Police allege Kristo Langker twice approached Barilaro, who is also suing Jordan Shanks for defamation, but Langker’s lawyers strenuously deny the police version of events

www.theguardian.com

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Ben Eltham

2 years

If you can’t afford a rapid antigen test you should simply sell an investment property

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Ben Eltham

4 years

People are starting to realise Scott Morrison just makes shit up when he’s under pressure. He has a major problem with truth, and it manifests in the little lies as well as the big ones

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Ben Eltham

4 years

The jigsaw pieces are starting to fit together. Organised bot attacks pushing hazard reduction lies, AstroTurf volunteer firefighters associations, far-right talking points pushed into the mainstream ... Australia is suffering a proper disinformation attack.

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Ben Eltham

2 years

"We can't just give people healthcare for free," says government that has just given 40 million vaccines to people for free

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Ben Eltham

4 years

Australia’s leadership class, especially the Liberal and National Parties, have utterly failed our nation. Scientists, security experts, the Home Affairs department warned this day would come. They laughed it off, brandished lumps of coal in Parliament. Blood on their hands.

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Ben Eltham

5 years

It’s genuinely time to have a debate about whether Sky News should be taken off the air

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Ben Eltham

3 years

Good morning to all Victorians except the Liberal politicians who attempted to undermine our public health response during a pandemic

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Ben Eltham

2 years

I put it to you that tackling a small child to the ground is something of a ‘gaffe’

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Ben Eltham

4 years

No-one tell Matt it works by the power of the sun and the wind

@mattjcan

Senator Matt Canavan

4 years

Installed 100% Aussie made Austral clothesline today. Disappointing that Hills Hoists are Made in China. Great product from Austral though. Support Aussie manufacturing jobs 🇦🇺 ... And timing is a coincidence but the missus is happy with the early Mother's Day present!

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Ben Eltham

4 years

I missed this yesterday, but this might be the single most ironic thing Morrison has said in this whole crisis. Just months ago he travelled to Tuvalu and told the leaders of these very nations that Australia would do nothing on climate change. The PM of Tonga literally cried.

@ScoMo30

Scott Morrison

4 years

We are deeply grateful for the support from our Pacific family, including PNG, Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Nauru & Samoa to help us fight the ongoing #bushfires . Thanks to all governments & people of the Pacific region who have sent heartfelt messages & offers of assistance.

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Ben Eltham

4 years

This stat blows my mind: value of JobKeeper paid to Crown (so far): $111m value of JobKeeper paid to public universities: zero.

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Ben Eltham

2 years

Reckon we're about 5-7 days away from this election campaign really cutting loose. Polls are way worse than 2019, Labor not imploding, Teals genuinely threatening key seats, gaffes not cutting thorugh ... Coalition will start to get desperate I reckon

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Ben Eltham

2 years

The idea that ‘if only Fran Bailey hold told the truth about Morrison he would never have been PM’ is bizarre. Literally everyone in the Liberal Party had years to observe Morrison in power.

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Ben Eltham

2 years

A new low for Australian governance: Transparency International lists Australia as a 'country to watch' for worsening corruption. Quite an achievement for the Morrison government

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Ben Eltham

5 years

Celebrity chefs: ‘I made a molecular tomato foam using a mass spectrometer and a blowtorch at 76 degrees for 17 hours’ Also celebrity chefs: ‘Paying my workers is way too complex’

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Ben Eltham

2 years

This is going to shock some people on this website but people will still work if there’s a universal basic income

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Ben Eltham

2 years

If your position on COVID is that "the people who are dying would have died of something else anyway", it's probably time to check out of the debate

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Ben Eltham

4 years

The Morrison cabinet refusing to follow its own testing and quarantine policies is a perfect example of a government that thinks the rules don’t apply to it

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Ben Eltham

2 years

PvO is singlehandedly destroying the standing of political science as a discipline in this country

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Ben Eltham

2 years

If you told voters that "living with COVID" meant 40 people a day dying of COVID, I wonder what they would have said

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Ben Eltham

2 years

Frydenberg giving a presser just now. Says young people are ringing his office because they're so excited about withdrawing their super to buy a first home. I mean, maybe ..... I do wonder how young these "young people" are

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Ben Eltham

4 years

A Prime Minister who made his name stopping boats and closing borders is now upset at state premiers for stopping flights and closing borders

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Ben Eltham

4 years

Time for Gavin Morris to move on, I reckon. Once you’re telling journalists at a public broadcaster to calibrate their reporting to government talking points, you’re done. Get someone in there with some courage.

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Ben Eltham

4 years

In my next life I’m coming back as a mining executive. I can destroy the planet for millions a year, and when there’s some extraordinarily complex crisis I’m not remotely qualified to understand, the government will put me in charge of it

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Ben Eltham

3 years

What if, and hear me out here, maybe a state premier *should* resign when faced with an official corruption investigation

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Ben Eltham

3 years

A state premier declaring a national emergency tells you everything you need to know about the Prime Minister's disappearing act during this crisis

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Ben Eltham

4 years

Greg Hunt was the environment minister when the Abbott government abolished the carbon tax. He cut hundreds of millions of funding from climate change research

@TheHonGregHunt

Greg Hunt

@TheHonGregHunt

4 years

Our hearts go out to the families, farmers and communities affected by the bushfires. May you continue to find strength during these terribly difficult times. Thank-you to our brave emergency service personnel and volunteers, the navy and the ADF for your heroism.

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Ben Eltham

3 years

Gina RInehart owns 1.2% of the entire landmass of Australia, which is reason 726 why we need a wealth tax in this country

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Ben Eltham

3 years

We’ve seen it so many times in the past. Morrison goes to pieces under pressure. He gets angry, he denies, attacks the questioner, starts compulsively making stuff up. The pattern has been there since Reza Berati

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Ben Eltham

2 years

It’s 3 weeks into January and already I’ve got members at my university being made redundant and casual teachers being let go. From a university running a $250m surplus. Higher education in this country is in such a dark place.

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Ben Eltham

2 years

Ah yes, those militant unions! With their unreasonable demands of … [checks notes] …. not wanting to get Coronavirus at work

@JoshFrydenberg

Josh Frydenberg

@JoshFrydenberg

2 years

Threats today of strike actions by militant unions has no place in the middle of a pandemic. It would hurt workers, businesses & families. It’s the wrong thing to do at a critical time, as Australians must continue working together to protect lives & livelihoods.

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Ben Eltham

5 years

Sure sex is good, but have you ever driven slowly and serenely at the speed limit in front of a large ute driven by an angry person

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Ben Eltham

2 years

What's happening in aged care in this country right now is horrifying. After two years of a pandemic, despite more than a year of vaccine availability, and despite an actual Royal Commission, vulnerable older Australians are dying, alone, uncared for, locked in rooms

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Ben Eltham

2 years

Stop calling it a ‘once-in-100 years flood’. It’s a flood caused by climate change.

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Ben Eltham

3 years

Alan Tudge was the minister responsible for #robodebt . Now that government has settled the lawsuit, Morrison should sack him

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Ben Eltham

4 years

We need to abolish casual employment as a type of labour altogether. It’s exploitation, pure and simple.

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Ben Eltham

4 years

Apart from everything else said about it, Morrison’s HomeBuilder continues his government’s massive gender bias towards jobs for blokes. Housing construction is highly masculine, unlike other industries not getting stimulus (arts, hospitality, higher education)

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Ben Eltham

5 years

How great is this. My mum had her very first painting exhibition as a 73-year old this week. And she sold a painting!

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Ben Eltham

3 years

Victoria's arts and cultural sector looks over at construction: You're upset because they're shutting you down for 2 weeks? 2 WEEKS?

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Ben Eltham

1 year

The real value of the Robodebt inquiry is to make unaccountable public servants everywhere abslutely shit their pants at the prospect of having a KC methodically go through every single work email they ever wrote and make them testify under oath for 2 days

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Ben Eltham

5 years

All the Australians freaking out about the Amazon, just a gentle reminder Australia has one of the very worst rates of forest destruction in the world

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Ben Eltham

1 year

Thought I might put a few thoughts down about the #Robodebt Royal Commission. If you're following me you probably know I've taken a close interest ikn it for a long time now. So: a thread.

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Ben Eltham

2 years

Think we're getting close to a Coalition meltdown now. Morrison's campaign has been ragged, at times chaotic. Frydenberg has lost two debates in two days. Half the frontbench is in witness protection. Labor still not imploding. Next week's going to be loose.

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Ben Eltham

2 years

Watching the Coalition suddenly discover nuclear energy in opposition after 9 years ignoring it in government is pretty funny

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Ben Eltham

2 years

The irony of a man who didn’t notice a $24,000 internet bill calling public school teachers duds

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Ben Eltham

4 years

Stop reporting Andrew Forrest has "donated $70 million" to bushfire relief. The true figure is $10 million. The other $60m includes a $50m donation to his own foundation for greenwashing, plus $10m to "mobilise volunteers"

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Ben Eltham

5 years

My prediction: franking credits is an issue that won't go away. Younger voters are horrified that tax concessions to the old and rich swung the election. This isn't settled.

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Ben Eltham

2 years

Pretty depressing how NSW government has just pivoted to literally "we're all going to get Omicron"

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Ben Eltham

2 years

Everyone here is joking about Peter Dutton but the idea that Angus Taylor could seriously be put forward as shadow Treasurer is dark humour of interstellar dimensions

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Ben Eltham

3 years

I really hope 2021 is the year we finally abandoned the myth that the Liberals are 'better for the economy'. 40,000 jobs lost in higher education, and we're heading for a second recession in two years. These guys are wreckers, pure and simple

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Ben Eltham

4 years

There is apparently no problem the Australian government thinks can’t be solved by locking people up on an island

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Ben Eltham

2 years

A few of the things I'd like to see journalists abandon after this election ... a thread: * following party leaders around on media junkets * 'gotcha' questions * discussions of complex policy areas entirely through the prism of 'optics' and 'campaign startegy'

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Ben Eltham

5 years

Parliament has has sat for just 44 days in 2019 so far.

@BreakfastNews

News Breakfast

5 years

"What I would say to students around Australia is that school time is a time to go to school." @MathiasCormann on the #schoolstrike4climate

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@beneltham

Ben Eltham

6 years

You are literally torturing kids in a Pacific island concentration camp

@ScoMo30

Scott Morrison

6 years

We do not need ‘gender whisperers’ in our schools. Let kids be kids.

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Ben Eltham

2 years

Ah yes, the ‘worried well’, also known as ‘people seeking a test for an infectious disease during a pandemic’

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Ben Eltham

5 years

The ‘Fraser Anning only got 19 votes’ takedown is dangerous. He’s in the Senate because 250,000 Queenslanders voted for One Nation

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@beneltham

Ben Eltham

2 years

Shane Bazzi has won his appeal against Peter Dutton's defamation action

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Ben Eltham

2 years

You'll be amazed to discover that Matthias Cormann is stuffing things up at the OECD

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Ben Eltham

5 years

I reckon Labor should go on a media strike for a month or two. Take a holiday. Turn off the phones. Force the media to go back to reporting on the government.

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Ben Eltham

2 years

Remember when the Morrison government promised aged care workers a $800 bonus? You'll be shocked to hear that they haven't followed through

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‘Lot of show and not a lot of go’: aged care workers struggling to get Morrison government’s $800...

Cash-strapped industry is being asked to initially fund the scheme, with no guarantee of reimbursement from an ‘overly bureaucratic and slow process’

www.theguardian.com

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Ben Eltham

2 years

The idea that any citizen should have to be polite to our political leaders is deeply cooked. Morrison once claimed asylum seekers shouldn't be allowed to go their family members' funerals, and falsely blamed a murder victim for his own death. But yeah, be nice Grace

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Ben Eltham

5 years

All federal Australian politicians got a pay rise in March. No MPs were sacked

@SkyNewsAust

Sky News Australia

5 years

. @ScottMorrisonMP : To pay someone more, you’ve got to sack someone else to do it. That is the Labor Party’s policy. I don’t think anyone wants to get pad more as a result of their work colleague getting sacked. MORE: #firstedition

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Ben Eltham

2 years

I feel that more should be made of Morrison’s announcement that he is effectively pro-corruption

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Ben Eltham

5 years

Upset about the election? Looking for something to do? Join a union or an environment group. Join both. Collective action is all we’ve got

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@beneltham

Ben Eltham

11 months

The ABC's decision today to abolish its arts team arguably breaches the broadcaster's Charter. One of the ABC's legislated functions is to "encourage and promote the musical, dramatic and other performing arts in Australia." Very serious Qs need to be asked

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Ben Eltham

4 years

Reasonably devastating footage of the Aged Care Minister walking away from a Senate question about 350+ deaths on his watch

@thetopjob

🇦🇺🌸Hon. Dumb Blonde🌸🇦🇺

4 years

This should, SHOULD, spell the end of this govt...

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Ben Eltham

3 years

Berejiklian is in a bit of trouble now. Giving $5m to a sporting club in Wagga that your secret boyfriend just happens to lobby for is, err, something of a bad look

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Ben Eltham

5 years

Hell hath no fury like a wealthy Boomer told they should no longer receive taxpayers' money for owning shares

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Ben Eltham

6 years

Penny Wong just marched into Employment estimates and extracted an apology from Michaelia Cash. Got it, then left. Stone cold.

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Ben Eltham

4 years

If public schools are so important to this government, maybe it could have a go at funding them properly

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Ben Eltham

3 years

Just a reminder that all over Sydney thousands of freelancers and casual workers are losing work and income right now, and may have nothing coming in for weeks -- for no other reason than the srtructure of their employment relationship. Insecure work is a blight on our society.

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Ben Eltham

4 years

Just going to say it again. Labor should just make this entire term of government about federal corruption

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Ben Eltham

2 years

Do Australians want federal integrity agency? Let’s ask 7 politicians from the party that just announced it wasn’t going to create one

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Ben Eltham

3 years

1 in 8 Australian university workers have lost their jobs in the pandemic. The Morrison governments response? To stop universities from getting JobKeeper, and to cut university funding

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Ben Eltham

4 years

Been saying it for a while, but Labor’s best tactic for this term might be to simply run on anti-corruption

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Ben Eltham

2 years

All politicians lie, but Morrison is on a whole other level. His need to lie is compulsive, genuinely I don't think he can help himself

@SquizzSTK

Squizz

2 years

Morrison tries to spin a story about Jenny buying rapid tests, but even he wasn't buying it. #auspol #covid19vic #covid19nsw #covid19qld

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Ben Eltham

4 years

I was reminded today that Labor took a costed and detailed national firefighting policy to the 2019 election, including water-bombing helicopters and aircraft (ht @elliemail )

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Ben Eltham

4 years

That's strange, because last week you said payments for volunteers weren't needed

@JoeDoesNews

Joe O'Brien

4 years

“We’ve been working on this for some time” .. The PM announcing targeted payments for volunteer firefighters .. “for income lost” Live on @abcnews channel now.

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Ben Eltham

4 years

Morrison swanning around Kirribilli telling everyone to stay positive. He’s approaching Nicholas II levels of out-of-touchness

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Ben Eltham

2 years

It turns out that Australia has actually cut aid funding to the Solomons by 43%, which may explain a few things about their recent security pact with China

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Ben Eltham

4 years

I've covered federal politics for 15 years. Sturggling to think of another government policy as nakedly vindictive and self-defeating as this one

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Humanities degrees to double in cost as Government funnels students into 'job-relevant' uni courses

The cost of studying humanities at university is set to more than double next year, while the Federal Government will slash fees for priority courses with "job opportunities" amid the coronavirus...

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Ben Eltham

4 years

Time for Peter Dutton to answer some questions about the Ruby Princess debacle, methinks. Border Force is his creation and ministerial responsibility.

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Ben Eltham

1 year

He stole from his employees

@theprojecttv

The Project

1 year

George Calombaris opens up to Hamish about the disastrous headlines that saw his restaurant empire close and how he dealt with losing everything. #TheProjectTV

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Ben Eltham

3 years

Every time Gladys talks about how great everything’s going to be when NSW is 70% vaccinated, I wonder how things are going to go for the 30% of adults — and every single kid — who won’t be vaccinated

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@beneltham

Ben Eltham

1 year

What you need to understand is the people with $5m in super have worked hard for that money. They’ve hired tax accountants, engaged financial planners, moved some money around multiple secrecy jurisdictions, organised a watertight family trust. There should be reward for effort

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