Bec Leighton
@becleighton.bsky.social
The Age/SMH paywalling their coverage of the Bondi shooting is a real dog act.
December 14, 2025 at 9:14 AM
The Age/SMH paywalling their coverage of the Bondi shooting is a real dog act.
Reposted by Bec Leighton
“And while I would love to continue splitting hairs about whether a country starving kids is better or worse if the kids are already sick let’s just table that discussion for when I see you in hell.” 🔥
In which John Oliver methodically unpacks how thin it is to claim you’re all about “the truth” when you’re only running essays don’t get properly fact-checked — and don’t hold up to even basic reporting scrutiny www.youtube.com/watch?v=gieT...
Bari Weiss: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
YouTube video by LastWeekTonight
www.youtube.com
October 13, 2025 at 6:47 PM
“And while I would love to continue splitting hairs about whether a country starving kids is better or worse if the kids are already sick let’s just table that discussion for when I see you in hell.” 🔥
Reposted by Bec Leighton
The dishonesty around the use of Robodebt in prosecuting the government’s Freedom of Information secrecy drive is galling in the extreme. I set out some facts that deflate the specious claims being used as cover. www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/comment/topi...
‘Absurdist leaps of logic’: Robodebt misused in FOI reforms
I am furious. Angry, certainly, about the federal government’s proposed freedom of information laws, which mock the very idea of transparency, but seething especially about the justification for them,...
www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au
October 25, 2025 at 8:18 AM
The dishonesty around the use of Robodebt in prosecuting the government’s Freedom of Information secrecy drive is galling in the extreme. I set out some facts that deflate the specious claims being used as cover. www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/comment/topi...
Reposted by Bec Leighton
A letter to those who taught me my Jewishness, and who now sit on the other side of a deep chasm.
When you first heard me speak against this genocide, you heard my words as betrayal. But they were meant as love
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
When you first heard me speak against this genocide, you heard my words as betrayal. But they were meant as love
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
When you first heard me speak against this genocide, you heard my words as betrayal. But they were meant as love | Sarah Schwartz
Not speaking would go against everything I was taught to honour: the righteous among the nations – those who refused to be bystanders to injustice
www.theguardian.com
October 8, 2025 at 4:28 AM
A letter to those who taught me my Jewishness, and who now sit on the other side of a deep chasm.
When you first heard me speak against this genocide, you heard my words as betrayal. But they were meant as love
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
When you first heard me speak against this genocide, you heard my words as betrayal. But they were meant as love
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Bec Leighton
The NDIS algorithm is on the way, and no they don't want you giving them any evidence about your disability. In fact, they are going to make it next to impossible. www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/health/...
Algorithm to be used for NDIS plans
The government is using an ‘instrument’ designed by the University of Melbourne to reassess support payments for disabled people.
www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au
October 4, 2025 at 9:16 AM
The NDIS algorithm is on the way, and no they don't want you giving them any evidence about your disability. In fact, they are going to make it next to impossible. www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/health/...
Reposted by Bec Leighton
Anti-corruption chief Paul Brereton continued defence consulting after declaring he had resigned from role
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...
Anti-corruption chief kept consulting role after saying he had resigned
The head of the national anti-corruption commission told a Senate inquiry he had resigned his role at the defence force's investigative arm. But the ABC has learned he continued consulting for them, a...
www.abc.net.au
September 28, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Anti-corruption chief Paul Brereton continued defence consulting after declaring he had resigned from role
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...
Reposted by Bec Leighton
Simplest test as to how much this is anything more than an opportunistic swipe at the left is to ask Josh to show us the article he wrote when Melissa Hortman and her husband were murdered
Bad op ed by former Deputy Liberal Leader Frydenberg here, barking up the wrong tree by blaming the left for a killing it appears to have had nothing to do with while claiming to be on the side of "civility".
September 14, 2025 at 5:07 AM
Simplest test as to how much this is anything more than an opportunistic swipe at the left is to ask Josh to show us the article he wrote when Melissa Hortman and her husband were murdered
Reposted by Bec Leighton
September 11, 2025 at 11:39 PM
Reposted by Bec Leighton
to my mind the woman who dies of sepsis because of antiabortion laws, or the person who dies because they can't afford insulin -- these are just as much victims of political violence as the man shot through the throat while making a racist speech
September 11, 2025 at 2:20 AM
to my mind the woman who dies of sepsis because of antiabortion laws, or the person who dies because they can't afford insulin -- these are just as much victims of political violence as the man shot through the throat while making a racist speech
Reposted by Bec Leighton
anyone offering up hagiographies of kirk is a poltroon of the first water. mouthing pieties about that hatemonger is just absolutely vile
September 11, 2025 at 3:08 AM
anyone offering up hagiographies of kirk is a poltroon of the first water. mouthing pieties about that hatemonger is just absolutely vile
Reposted by Bec Leighton
rarely have I more acutely felt the dynamic by which Dems are held responsible for the rhetoric of every random left-leaning person on the internet and Republicans are not even asked to answer for their own personal words
September 11, 2025 at 1:25 AM
rarely have I more acutely felt the dynamic by which Dems are held responsible for the rhetoric of every random left-leaning person on the internet and Republicans are not even asked to answer for their own personal words
Reposted by Bec Leighton
Pretty good deal. No major complaints from me. Good job everyone.
August 27, 2025 at 3:15 AM
Pretty good deal. No major complaints from me. Good job everyone.
Reposted by Bec Leighton
BREAKING: The Senate has just voted YES to our inquiry into the social media age ban & search engine age verification codes! This isn't just about kids - it's a national age verification and identification system masquerading as being about online safety for children. 🧵
August 27, 2025 at 5:53 AM
BREAKING: The Senate has just voted YES to our inquiry into the social media age ban & search engine age verification codes! This isn't just about kids - it's a national age verification and identification system masquerading as being about online safety for children. 🧵
Reposted by Bec Leighton
Labor has been accused of failing to address the Robodebt crisis by not implementing more than two-year-old recommendations from a sweeping Royal Commission www.news.com.au/national/bre...
www.news.com.au
August 25, 2025 at 10:33 AM
Labor has been accused of failing to address the Robodebt crisis by not implementing more than two-year-old recommendations from a sweeping Royal Commission www.news.com.au/national/bre...
Reposted by Bec Leighton
States threatened to get on board with NDIS changes or risk hospital funding deal www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08...
States threatened to get on board with NDIS changes or risk hospital funding deal
The states have been warned to get on board with a new scheme to divert children with mild autism from the NDIS, with the treasurer reminding them that a five-year hospital funding deal is tied to the...
www.abc.net.au
August 24, 2025 at 3:08 AM
States threatened to get on board with NDIS changes or risk hospital funding deal www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08...
Reposted by Bec Leighton
age 15: Computers are amazing! I'm going to do amazing things with computers!
age 45: explaining to the fourth person this week why Chat GPT is not a replacement for google or the library or friends
age 45: explaining to the fourth person this week why Chat GPT is not a replacement for google or the library or friends
August 21, 2025 at 10:38 PM
age 15: Computers are amazing! I'm going to do amazing things with computers!
age 45: explaining to the fourth person this week why Chat GPT is not a replacement for google or the library or friends
age 45: explaining to the fourth person this week why Chat GPT is not a replacement for google or the library or friends
Reposted by Bec Leighton
Incredibly powerful op-ed written by Randa Abel-Fattah that everyone needs to read. It’s being published by @deepcutnews.bsky.social after The Age commissioned it then spiked it.
Pro-Israel groups have attacked me for years. The Bendigo Writers Festival is a turning point.
Randa Abdel-Fattah writes of her experience as a target of the pro-Israel lobby
www.deepcutnews.com
August 18, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Incredibly powerful op-ed written by Randa Abel-Fattah that everyone needs to read. It’s being published by @deepcutnews.bsky.social after The Age commissioned it then spiked it.
Reposted by Bec Leighton
Scoop: another expert has resigned from Australia's teen social media tech trial, as some on its advisory board describe an increasingly acrimonious relationship with the trial's organisers and question the significance of its findings.
How Australia’s teen social media ban tech trial was derailed by expert turmoil and secrecy
Expert participants had high expectations for the government’s $6.5 million Age Assurance Technology trial. Now, some have quit their advisory roles and others are questioning how seriously to take its results.
www.crikey.com.au
August 18, 2025 at 2:25 AM
Scoop: another expert has resigned from Australia's teen social media tech trial, as some on its advisory board describe an increasingly acrimonious relationship with the trial's organisers and question the significance of its findings.
Reposted by Bec Leighton
Australian National University's plan to axe its School of Music an "act of cultural vandalism". www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08...
Australian Chamber Orchestra slams ANU plan as 'cultural vandalism'
The Australian Chamber Orchestra's Richard Tognetti has warned that the ANU's plan to axe its School of Music would result in an "act of cultural vandalism", with another Canberra ensemble saying its ...
www.abc.net.au
August 10, 2025 at 6:55 AM
Australian National University's plan to axe its School of Music an "act of cultural vandalism". www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08...
Reposted by Bec Leighton
Whenever someone tells me they’re a YIMBY I have to ask whether they’re the public housing genre or the “I just want developers to be able to make as much profit as they want, I don’t care about public housing” genre of YIMBY
August 10, 2025 at 5:07 AM
Whenever someone tells me they’re a YIMBY I have to ask whether they’re the public housing genre or the “I just want developers to be able to make as much profit as they want, I don’t care about public housing” genre of YIMBY
Reposted by Bec Leighton
I know we are grumpy at Segal over the mega-donation to the far-right and her preposterous cribbed extremist 'report', but tbh I never quite got past her enthusiastically running with Trump's 'Riviera where Gaza is' ethnic cleanse
August 9, 2025 at 8:48 AM
I know we are grumpy at Segal over the mega-donation to the far-right and her preposterous cribbed extremist 'report', but tbh I never quite got past her enthusiastically running with Trump's 'Riviera where Gaza is' ethnic cleanse
Reposted by Bec Leighton
This judgment went more in depth about self-represented litigants using AI than I've seen in other cases before. jade.io/article/1146...
August 8, 2025 at 9:38 PM
This judgment went more in depth about self-represented litigants using AI than I've seen in other cases before. jade.io/article/1146...
I think this might be one of the most baffling political moves I've ever seen, given Winter's hardline attitude on negotiating with the crossbench, the near-unprecedented idea of an ind Treasurer, and Forrest being one of the only independents in parliament whose vote Winter doesn't need to govern.
Tasmanian Labor will appoint independent upper house MP Ruth Forrest as treasurer — if the party is able to form minority government when parliament resumes.
Labor names respected MLC as would-be treasurer in bid for government
Tasmanian Labor will appoint independent upper house MP Ruth Forrest as treasurer — if the party is able to form minority government when parliament resumes.
www.abc.net.au
August 10, 2025 at 3:07 AM
I think this might be one of the most baffling political moves I've ever seen, given Winter's hardline attitude on negotiating with the crossbench, the near-unprecedented idea of an ind Treasurer, and Forrest being one of the only independents in parliament whose vote Winter doesn't need to govern.
Reposted by Bec Leighton
Lawyers fought to reclaim stolen wages. Then they took millions in fees: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-04/class-actions-law-firms-litigation-funders-justice-four-corners/105604998
Lawyers fought to reclaim stolen wages. Then they took millions in fees
They are meant to deliver justice for ordinary Australians, but class actions are being used by law firms to profit at the expense of some of the most vulnerable members of society.
www.abc.net.au
August 3, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Lawyers fought to reclaim stolen wages. Then they took millions in fees: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-04/class-actions-law-firms-litigation-funders-justice-four-corners/105604998
It's disappointing to see MyGov is still hopeless. I can't verify my address to link the ATO to MyGov on my phone because it tries to verify the address against a database, but has coded it so badly that my phone keyboard covers up the popup, making it impossible to select the address I just typed.
July 30, 2025 at 5:15 AM
It's disappointing to see MyGov is still hopeless. I can't verify my address to link the ATO to MyGov on my phone because it tries to verify the address against a database, but has coded it so badly that my phone keyboard covers up the popup, making it impossible to select the address I just typed.