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ABC News Bot (unofficial) @abcnewsbot.bsky.social · 1h

The quake hit in the Mindanao region at a depth of 62 kilometres below ground level and could cause hazardous tsunami waves along coasts within 300km of the epicentre, seismology authorities say.

Breaking: Magnitude-7.4 earthquake strikes Philippines, sparking tsunami warnings

The quake hit in the Mindanao region at a depth of 62 kilometres below ground level and could cause hazardous tsunami waves along coasts within 300km of the epicentre, seismology authorities say.

www.abc.net.au

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Michael Klapdor @mklapdor.bsky.social · 1d

Services Australia told Estimates last night that they will soon provide access to documents on the FOI disclosure log directly from the website (rather than having to request the doc and wait for it to be provided).
This is something I've been complaining about for years (at least since 2018)

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Michael Klapdor @mklapdor.bsky.social · 1d

Department of Employment and Workplace Relations before Senate Estimates today - cross portfolio/corporate on now. Employment Services scheduled for around 2pm www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WId...

Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee [Part 1] | 09/10/2025

YouTube video by Australian Parliament House Streaming Portal

www.youtube.com

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Rohan Alexander @rohanalexander.bsky.social · 1d

Updated Australian Hansard data (1998-2025) thanks to the incredible work of Lindsay Katz!
zenodo.org/records/1729...

A new, comprehensive database of all proceedings of the Australian Parliamentary Debates (1998-2025)

This database contains data on the proceedings from each sitting day in the Australian Parliament by the House of Representatives from 02 March 1998 to 31 July 2025, in parquet form. These data were p...

zenodo.org

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Michael Klapdor @mklapdor.bsky.social · 2d

Income apportionment validation and resolution scheme Bill scheduled to be debated (and potentially passed) after question time in the House of Reps today

Michael Klapdor @mklapdor.bsky.social · 9d

Parliamentary Library analysis of the Social Security +Other Leg. Amdt. (Technical Changes No. 2) Bill 2025 has been published. The Bill validates historical use of income apportionment, establishes a resolution scheme and changes debt waiver provisions. parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/dow...

Screenshot of Key Points section of Bills Digest.

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Michael Klapdor @mklapdor.bsky.social · 2d

Lots of social security stuff in this Bill - including changes to information sharing provisions, changes to rounding rules + indexation arrangements, and new provisions setting out how employment income is attributed when a person moves to a new payment parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/sea...

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Michael Klapdor @mklapdor.bsky.social · 2d

Reminder that Services Australia is now in the Finance Portfolio so will be up tonight at Senate Estimates at around 750pm in the Finance and Public Admin Committee - after the Future Fund and before the ASC (formerly Australian Submarine Corporation). Can watch here www.aph.gov.au/News_and_Eve...

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Michael Klapdor @mklapdor.bsky.social · 2d

The federal Minister of Social Services would need to issue legislative instrument(s) to activate the school attendance and enrolment income management measure - e.g. to declare primary and secondary school areas, determine conditions, set the % to be quarantined (currently 100%).

Michael Klapdor @mklapdor.bsky.social · 3d

NT to activate school attendance income management measure. While provided for in the legislation, I don't believe it's been used previously. There were other program which could suspend or cancel payments - e.g. SEAM in the NT which ended in 2017. nit.com.au/06-10-2025/2...

NT government to refer parents of truant children to income management

The Northern Territory Government will refer parents whose children do not attend school to income management, saying the measure is part of the CLP's plan to reduce crime and strengthen community saf...

nit.com.au

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Michael Klapdor @mklapdor.bsky.social · 2d

As at 29/8/25 there were 32,354 on income management (IM):
- 9,938 on old IM (BasicsCard) and 22,416 on enhanced IM (SmartCard)
- 8.1% (2,649) were voluntary, the rest under compulsory measures.
- around 82% (26,450) on IM identify as Indigenous data.gov.au/data/dataset...

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ABC News Bot (unofficial) @abcnewsbot.bsky.social · 2d

The Education Standards Board has closed Edge Early Learning Centre at Plympton for 90 days following an investigation into reports of "inadequate supervision" of children.

SA childcare centre 'unsuitable to open' amid supervision concerns

The Education Standards Board has closed Edge Early Learning Centre at Plympton for 90 days following an investigation into reports of "inadequate supervision" of children.

www.abc.net.au

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Michael Klapdor @mklapdor.bsky.social · 2d

As at 29/8/25 there were 32,354 on income management (IM):
- 9,938 on old IM (BasicsCard) and 22,416 on enhanced IM (SmartCard)
- 8.1% (2,649) were voluntary, the rest under compulsory measures.
- around 82% (26,450) on IM identify as Indigenous data.gov.au/data/dataset...

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Michael Klapdor @mklapdor.bsky.social · 3d

NT to activate school attendance income management measure. While provided for in the legislation, I don't believe it's been used previously. There were other program which could suspend or cancel payments - e.g. SEAM in the NT which ended in 2017. nit.com.au/06-10-2025/2...

NT government to refer parents of truant children to income management

The Northern Territory Government will refer parents whose children do not attend school to income management, saying the measure is part of the CLP's plan to reduce crime and strengthen community saf...

nit.com.au

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Michael Klapdor @mklapdor.bsky.social · 4d

The income apportionment Bill is down for debate in the House of Reps this week

Michael Klapdor @mklapdor.bsky.social · 9d

Parliamentary Library analysis of the Social Security +Other Leg. Amdt. (Technical Changes No. 2) Bill 2025 has been published. The Bill validates historical use of income apportionment, establishes a resolution scheme and changes debt waiver provisions. parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/dow...

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Jack Smalligan @jsmalligan.bsky.social · 4d

The Wa Post has issued an important story on an upcoming major SSA disability regulation that would especially affect older disabled workers: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
1/2

Trump plan would limit disability benefits for older Americans

Trump administration officials are considering eliminating age as a factor in deciding whether someone is capable of working.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Tom Studans @maximumwelfare.bsky.social · 4d

#BREAKING 🚨 Deloitte to refund government, admits using AI in $440k report into mutual obligations issues.

Fake quotes from Federal Court case that ended Robodebt deleted from new report in Friday DEWR dump.

📰 AFR

✍️ @paulkarp.bsky.social

✍️ @edmundtadros.bsky.social

🗣️ @chrisrudge.bsky.social

HEADLINE: Deloitte to refund government, admits AI errors in $440k report

Deloitte Australia will issue a partial refund to the federal government after admitting that artificial intelligence had been used in the creation of a $440,000 report littered with errors including three nonexistent academic references and a made-up quote from a Federal Court judgement.

A new version of the report for the Department of Workplace Relations (DEWR) was quietly uploaded to the department’s website on Friday, ahead of a long weekend across much of Australia. It features more than a dozen deletions of nonexistent references and footnotes, a rewritten reference list, and corrections to multiple typographic errors.

(photo of Deloitte Australia HQ) Deloitte Australia has made almost $25 million worth of deals with the Department of Workplace Relations since 2021. Photographer Dion Georgopoulos

The first version of the report, about the IT system used to automate penalties in the welfare system such as pauses on the dole, was published in July. Less than a month later, Deloitte was forced to investigate the report after University of Sydney academic Dr Christopher Rudge highlighted multiple errors in the document.

At the time, Rudge speculated that the errors may have been caused by what is known as “hallucinations” by generative AI. This is where the technology responds to user queries by inventing references and quotes. Deloitte declined to comment.

The incident is embarrassing for Deloitte as it earns a growing part of its $US70.5 billion ($107 billion) in annual global revenue by providing advice and training clients and executives about AI. The firm also boasts about its widespread use of the technology within its global operations, while emphasising the need to always have humans review any output of AI.

SUBHEADING: Deleted references, footnotes

The revised report has deleted a dozen references to two nonexistent reports by Professor Lisa Burton Crawford, a law professor at the University of Sydney, that were included in the first version. Two references to a nonexistent report by Professor Björn Regnell, of Lund University in Sweden, were also deleted in the new report.

Also deleted was a made up reference to a court decision in a leading robo-debt case, Deanna Amato v Commonwealth.

The new report has also deleted a reference to “Justice Davis” (a misspelling of Justice Jennifer Davies) and the made-up quote from the nonexistent paragraphs 25 and 26 in the judgement: “The burden rests on the decision-maker to be satisfied on the evidence that the debt is owed. A person’s statutory entitlements cannot lawfully be reduced based on an assumption unsupported by evidence.”

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Nobody Deserves Poverty @nobodyinpoverty.bsky.social · 6d

"unlike robodebt where it was very clear you had ppl shouting from the rooftops...saying this was illegal, nobody actually wrote or even said anything about this"

(ht Jeremy Poxon for grabbing the vid)

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Tom Studans @maximumwelfare.bsky.social · 6d

🚨 #BREAKING The Department of Employment & Workplace Relations has some breaking Friday night news for us.

Sanctions under 42AG for work refusal failures have been paused since July 5.

NO mutual obligations payment cancellations since then.

🫡

dewr.gov.au/assuring-int...

Statement from the Secretary on progress under the Targeted Compliance Framework Integrity Assurance program

3 October 2025

I am providing a further update on the department’s work under the Targeted Compliance Framework Integrity Assurance program.

This program encompasses independent and internal reviews and activities to assure the integrity of the administration of the Targeted Compliance Framework that applies to people required to meet mutual obligations.

The Targeted Compliance Framework can lead to decisions which have an impact on people’s experience of the employment services system and critically, their social security payment.

Under this program, the Department has paused certain decisions which reduce or cancel a person’s social security payments for failing to meet mutual obligation requirements.

Further decisions

The department has taken the precautionary step to pause decision making under section 42AG of the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 (Administration Act) which applies to cases where a person refuses or fails to accept an offer of suitable employment, including accepting but not commencing a job. These decisions were paused on 5 July 2025 and will remain paused while work is underway to determine whether the decision-making processes align with the legislative framework.

Decisions under consideration

The effect of decisions taken by the Department is that all payment reductions and payment cancellations made as a result of mutual obligations failures under the Social Security framework are paused.

The Department is progressing consideration of the nature and approach to compensation that may be appropriate with respect to other decisions that are currently paused.

I will not take any decision to resume social security payment reductions or cancellations unless and until it can be clearly demonstrated that the process to support the decision making complies with the law.

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Cameron Yarde Jnr @cameronyardejnr.bsky.social · 6d

This is so sad. Patricia Routledge was a superb actress with impeccable comic timing. Made Hyacinth Bucket an iconic comedy character. 😞 news.sky.com/story/keepin...

Keeping Up Appearances star Dame Patricia Routledge has died

Actress Dame Patricia Routledge, best known for TV show Keeping Up Appearances, has died aged 96, her agent has said.

news.sky.com

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Michael Klapdor @mklapdor.bsky.social · 7d

This tension between means tested and universal social supports was explored in this Parliamentary Library article from May 2025: www.aph.gov.au/About_Parlia...

Universal access versus targeting of social services

Key issues The Australian welfare state is facing significant demographic, economic and political challenges, which are likely to require a reconsideration of the structure and fun...

www.aph.gov.au

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Michael Klapdor @mklapdor.bsky.social · 7d

e61 Chief Executive Michael Brennan writing on the decline in cash transfer spending and the rise in spending on in-kind benefits. Expresses concern at a shift away from means-testing toward universal supports.
Does not discuss poorly targeted tax concessions. www.afr.com/politics/fed...

Screenshot of AFR article text:
'Here is a stark fact: while the size of government has grown since the late 1970s and early 1980s, the amounts spent by government on direct cash transfers – to pensioners, the unemployed and low-income families – is actually lower as a share of GDP than it was then. Bigger government is not due to rising welfare dependency.

It is due to the significant expansion of in-kind services: areas such as health, aged care, childcare and NDIS, where government pays for services on our behalf. Research by e61 and UNSW shows that these in-kind social assistance benefits rose from 0.8 per cent of GDP in the 1960s to 6.8 per cent today.'

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Michael Klapdor @mklapdor.bsky.social · 7d

Committee hearing on this significant Bill has started - YouTube link here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyGZ...

Michael Klapdor @mklapdor.bsky.social · 7d

Dr Chris Rudge’s and Antipoverty Centre’s submissions have now been published. Both highlight the prosecutions and imprisonments affected by unlawful income apportionment (as did the Ombo’s). APC’s includes a statement from someone imprisoned www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentar...

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Michael Klapdor @mklapdor.bsky.social · 7d

Yes - that’s the one

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Michael Klapdor @mklapdor.bsky.social · 7d

there's always one frosty day in november that punishes over-enthusiatic tomato planters

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Richard 塚正ー緑 @rhtebooks.bsky.social · 7d

The ASDEP tables are out and I'm looking at the CALD proportions by agency. APS wide prop is 26.95, nationally 22.3 Lots of service delivery agencies with greater proportions, lots of cultural institutions with far less
www.apsc.gov.au/employment-d...

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Andy Fleming @slackbastard.bsky.social · 8d

'A former deputy head of the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation, McInerney has also argued the White Australia Policy did not go far enough and that white Australians may need to live in separate neighbourhoods as a form of “tactical retreat”.'

www.smh.com.au/national/nsw...

The far-right figures teaching students at a Sydney college

The dean of studies says the country will need political parties for white Australians. A senior lecturer wants an Anglo-Celtic club to inspire fear in “leftist thugs”.

www.smh.com.au

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Michael Klapdor @mklapdor.bsky.social · 8d

Draft program for the Senate Community Affairs Committee public hearing on the Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Technical Changes No. 2) Bill 2025 tomorrow from 9am - www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentar...
In Canberra but will be streamed: www.aph.gov.au/News_and_Eve...

Screenshot of the public hearing program

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Josh Nicholas @joshnicholas.com · 8d

3.3 million Australians have a different religious belief than their partner! 🤯 www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...

The group that's almost everyone's top pick for love, according to the data

Exclusive data for 5.2 million couples shows nearly one in five marriages are between people of different religions – double the proportion recorded in 1986.

www.abc.net.au

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El Gibbs @bluntshovels.bsky.social · 8d

if you are interested in Thriving Kids, here's the new advisory group (no disabled people as far as I can tell), and their meeting summary

www.health.gov.au/our-work/thr...

www.health.gov.au/sites/defaul...

www.health.gov.au

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