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Ben Eltham

@beneltham.bsky.social

12K followers 1.7K following 1.7K posts

Writer, journalist, researcher, trade unionist

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Ben Eltham @beneltham.bsky.social · Sep 8

RALLY TO SAVE MEANJIN

Thursday 11 Sep 9am
Outside the Melbourne University Publishing office, 715 Swanston St, Carlton.

A number of Australian writers and editors will speak in support of this vital cultural institution

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Antipoverty Centre @antipovertycentre.org · 3h

"If they don't deliver, they don't get paid,"

The first flagrant lie from the employment department in today's senate estimates hearing about the welfare cops who profit from poverty. No doubt there will be much more bullshit to come!

Antipoverty Centre @antipovertycentre.org · 3h

If you want to watch the employment department defend their unlawful operation of compulsory activities (so-called mutual obligations), you can tune in to the senate estimates hearing here: 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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Quinta Jurecic @qjurecic.bsky.social · 6h

he's going to come after you either way, so you might as well act with integrity

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Crikey @crikey.com.au · 1h

The Coalition is opposed in principle, although those members will reserve their judgement until a Senate committee finishes its inquiry into the bill.

Barely anyone except Labor supports the government's FOI reforms

www.crikey.com.au

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Ben Eltham @beneltham.bsky.social · 1h

It’s important to post even when you’re happy and fulfilled

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Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 20h

I'm giving away this signed 1st edition h/b of my new novel (it has a tiny jacket rip which means I wouldn't sell it) to one person who reposts this.

You might like it if you like:
Folkloric creatures
Old records
Intricate psychedelic stories
The idea of circular time

All shares much-appreciated.

Joe McLaren's fabulous cover for Everything Will Swallow You

A close up of the small tear on this first edition of Everything Will Swallow You

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Ben Eltham @beneltham.bsky.social · 20h

You can almost guarantee that the AFP’s new taskforce for investigating things-that-aren’t-terrorism will be looking closely into climate activists

Lucy Hamilton @lucyham.bsky.social · 20h

In the Trump era, this is terrifying. Apparently criticising capitalism 🥴🤣 is terrorism now in the US.
#Auspol

Australian Federal Police ®
56m • S
The AFP has set up new National Security Investigations (NSI) teams to target groups and individuals causing high levels of harm to Australia's social cohesion.
The NSI teams will work closely with state and territory police, law enforcement and national security partners to provide a coordinated, consistent and intelligence-led response to security threats, and also work on a global level through operations, capabilities and relationships with the international law enforcement intelligence community.
There are current and emerging groups dispersed across Australia and in some cases, overseas, who are eroding our country's social fabric by advocating hatred, fear, and humiliation. While many of these crimes may not meet the threshold of terrorism, the AFP has identified concerning behaviours which could escalate to politically-motivated violence or hate crimes, which seriously put the Australian community at risk.
There is no place for hate or violence in our communities and the AFP will defend and protect Australia and Australia's future from these threats.
Anyone with information about possible threats to the community or suspicious activity should make a report to the National Security Hotline on 1800 123 400. In an emergency or life-threatening situation, contact Triple

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Ben Eltham @beneltham.bsky.social · 21h

❤️

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Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 22h

“Would you like to buy some drugs?” No I’m fine thanks. I’m a novelist. I already hallucinate every day free of charge.

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Rhianna Pratchett @rhi.bsky.social · 1d

Dad’s books are full of empathy, common sense, and a healthy suspicion of the powerful. But at its heart his work is also about how systems keep people poor while pretending it’s their own fault. So I hope Kemi’s taking notes as well as reading the jokes.

Paul Haine @paulhaine.bsky.social · 1d

Kemi Badenoch claiming Terry Pratchett as her favourite author is wild

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Ben Eltham @beneltham.bsky.social · 1d

Ha ha ha ha ha

Ben Eltham @beneltham.bsky.social · 1d

Artists themselves aren’t making real money on either performance or recordings

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Teresa Völker @tevoelker.bsky.social · 1d

New paper out with @dasalgon.bsky.social: “Far-Right Agenda Setting: How the Far Right influences the Political Mainstream” doi.org/10.1017/S1475676525100066 #openaccess in @ejprjournal.bsky.social🧵

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Ben Eltham @beneltham.bsky.social · 1d

I get what the author is trying to do here, but this is simply wrong. The “real money” in today’s music industry is in streaming and publishing. Revenues at the 3 major labels are up 7-9% YoY. Spotify booked nearly €5b profit in 2024. Live performance lags well behind

The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 1d

In today’s music industry the real money is in live performance – and many of the biggest pop shows are sites of both auteurish experiment and genuinely inspiring spectacle. satpa.pe/ugZA7K0

The power of modern live shows

In today’s music industry the real money is in live performance – and many of the biggest pop shows are sites of both auteurish experiment and genuinely inspiring spectacle.

satpa.pe

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Ross Mounce @rmounce.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 1d

I think scholarslop might be my new favourite word https://stunlaw.blogspot.com/2025/10/the-coming-threat-of-algorithmic-idea.html?m=1

HT @Samuelmoore

Scholarslop: The Dangers of an Algorithmic Idea of the University

Understanding digital media, technology, theory, culture and society.

stunlaw.blogspot.com

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Ben Eltham @beneltham.bsky.social · 1d

Big fat orange moon coming up at my place tonight

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The Flytrap @theflytrapmedia.com · 2d

ICYMI: @nicolefroio.bsky.social writes about the revolutionary potential of music through an analysis of Kneecap ( @kneecapceol.bsky.social ) and their solidarity with Palestine:

the-flytrap.ghost.io/censorship-o...

Censorship of Pro-Palestine Speech in the Music Industry Shows the Power of Demands for Decolonization

The liberation of Palestine is a threat to how we live today—that’s precisely why we should keep calling for it.

the-flytrap.ghost.io

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 3d

‘The hundreds of billions of dollars companies are investing in AI now account for an astonishing 40 per cent share of US GDP growth this year… Outside of the AI plays, even European stock markets have been outperforming the US this decade’
on.ft.com/4pTQ3US

America is now one big bet on AI

It’s seen as the magic fix for every threat to the US economy

on.ft.com

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Tom Studans @maximumwelfare.bsky.social · 3d

#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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The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 15d

Emma Briant, a Notre Dame professor who studies propaganda, says President Trump’s deep involvement in TikTok raises the risk he's “cherry-picking the board, making deals with his buddies … and creating a media monopoly to keep himself in power.”
https://wapo.st/3KhxPww

Trump turns Biden’s TikTok law into a big win

Biden officials said selling TikTok would safeguard it from political influence. Now, critics of a spinoff deal to Trump allies say that aim could be subverted.

wapo.st

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Fiona Tribe @fionatribe.bsky.social · 3d

“Yes, the empire is sick, and, what is worse, it is trying to become accustomed to its sores. This is the aim of my explorations: examining the traces of happiness still to be glimpsed, I gauge its short supply.” ~ Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities

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Moby Dick @mobydickatsea.bsky.social · 3d

What soulless thing is this that laughs before a wreck?

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The Associated Press @apnews.com · 4d

Over 2 million people across Italy have rallied in more than 100 cities for a one-day general strike.

2 million rally in Italy for Gaza as general strike halts key services

Over 2 million people across Italy have rallied in more than 100 cities for a one-day general strike.

bit.ly

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 3d

This is so good from Cory Doctorow on all the tricks Amazon uses to get both consumers to pay more, and how businesses on the platform end up paying it 45-51 cents on every dollar.

Plus he rightly calls for regulatory change, not just individual consumer action
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

Sick of scrolling through junk results, AI-generated ads and links to lookalike products? The author and activist behind the term ‘enshittification’ explains what’s gone wrong with the internet – and ...

www.theguardian.com

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Ben Eltham @beneltham.bsky.social · 3d

In fact, centrism probably spend more time patrolling the boundaries of acceptable discourse than either the left or right

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Alistair Kitchen @alistairkitchen.bsky.social · 4d

I wrote about the man everyone loves to hate, @mattyglesias.bsky.social . www.kitchencounter.blog/p/mr-opinion

Mr Opinion

Matt Yglesias and his discontents

www.kitchencounter.blog

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