Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

El Gibbs @bluntshovels.bsky.social · 17h

abuse of older disabled people found out because the aged care home followed NDIS standards. horrifying, and points to the urgent need to implement the disability royal commission recommendations to stop this

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...

'It's a human rights tragedy': Aged care facility inappropriately restrained residents

A South Australian government aged care home, which looks after 23 people with dementia or complex disabilities, inappropriately used lap belts and other mechanical restraints to stop falls and contro...

www.abc.net.au

6 17

El Gibbs @bluntshovels.bsky.social · 17h

doesn't look like the NDIS is there, but Centrelink and Medicare are

bill is online here: parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/sea...

2 1

El Gibbs @bluntshovels.bsky.social · 18h

good summary of the Thriving Kids inquiry hearing last week, with key concerns from a wide range of groups and folks

www.sbs.com.au/news/podcast...

Advocates alarmed as major change for autistic kids looms

There are fears that many children with autism or learning difficulties will fall between the cracks of a new support system that aims to limit access to the National Disability Insurance Scheme. The ...

www.sbs.com.au

3 6

El Gibbs @bluntshovels.bsky.social · 18h

more restrictions on disability supports = higher costs, or what we all said at the time

''Everyday living cost' or assistive technology? NDIS participants frustrated with flexibility of rules'

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...

'I was so cross': NDIS participants blast 'nonsensical' spending rules

A year after a controversial NDIS change, advocates are growing increasingly concerned that "counterintuitive" and "nonsensical" funding decisions are reducing participant independence.

www.abc.net.au

1 3 1

El Gibbs @bluntshovels.bsky.social · 18h

hmm, wonder if this includes the NDIS and their wildly terrible IT systems?

'‘Tell us once’ laws to sweep away data sharing barriers'

www.innovationaus.com/tell-us-once...

'Tell us once' laws to sweep away data sharing barriers

Australians will be able to update their personal information across multiple federal government agencies in one go, rather than contact them individually, as part of a new bill introducing sweeping c...

www.innovationaus.com

1 3

El Gibbs @bluntshovels.bsky.social · 18h

trying to have the patience to let myself rest and recover. not really succeeding.

6

El Gibbs @bluntshovels.bsky.social · 18h

would love to have that chat Lauren!

1

Reposted by El Gibbs

Lauren Pikó @booklearning.bsky.social · 1d

The planning and heritage industries do a terrible job in general of engaging with the horrors of what went on in these sites, often with grotesquely whitewashed results (e.g. "Springthorpe", the generic suburban estate built on the grounds of Mont Park Hospital in northeast Melbourne).

El Gibbs @bluntshovels.bsky.social · 1d

any further changes must include justice for the thousands of disabled people who lived and died in these places, and who also fought for liberation

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...

Psychiatric hospital to 'urban parkland': Sydney's public space dilemma

The challenge of transforming a major piece of Sydney's public space from a former mental health hospital to an "iconic urban parkland" is a delicate dance for the state government.

www.abc.net.au

1 3 10

El Gibbs @bluntshovels.bsky.social · 1d

here is the full survey results from CYDA about the proposed Thriving Kids. CN suicide, distress

cyda.org.au/thriving-kids/

Thriving Kids

Our national survey reveals community concerns about the government's Thriving Kids supports program. Read the submission and survey factsheet.

cyda.org.au

4 3

Reposted by El Gibbs

Asher Wolf @asherwolf.bsky.social · 1d

I regularly come across older people with disabilities who were held at ‘Mayday Hills’ previously known as the ‘Beechworth Lunacy Asylum’. The site is now used for ghost tours, even while some of the old Mayday Hills workers are still employed elsewhere as disability support workers

El Gibbs @bluntshovels.bsky.social · 1d

any further changes must include justice for the thousands of disabled people who lived and died in these places, and who also fought for liberation

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...

Psychiatric hospital to 'urban parkland': Sydney's public space dilemma

The challenge of transforming a major piece of Sydney's public space from a former mental health hospital to an "iconic urban parkland" is a delicate dance for the state government.

www.abc.net.au

4 19 49

El Gibbs @bluntshovels.bsky.social · 1d

community affairs #estimates on this week, with NDIS on Friday morning

www.aph.gov.au/-/media/Esti...

www.aph.gov.au

4

Reposted by El Gibbs

Alastair Lawrie @alastairlawrie.bsky.social · 1d

“The research from Stubbs Terrace continues to be used to promote the idea that gender diverse children’s thoughts, feelings and behaviour can be suppressed, changed or corrected so that they become cisgender adults.” #wapol #aushealth
www.outinperth.com/rainbow-futu...

Rainbow Futures WA: Ban on conversion practices 'cannot come soon enough'

"The government must urgently introduce legislation to protect LGBTQA+ people from these abhorrent practices.”

www.outinperth.com

2 6

El Gibbs @bluntshovels.bsky.social · 1d

indeed, in part because there are so few resources to support folks to live well in community. but always money for institutions

1 1 7

El Gibbs @bluntshovels.bsky.social · 1d

100% yes to that. group homes, forensic detention, prison - so many places where disabled people are held in dehumanising conditions by the state and enforcers

1 1 7

El Gibbs @bluntshovels.bsky.social · 1d

“It is a major red flag when a vast majority of the people who will be impacted tell you your [NDIS] reform timetable is unrealistic and that it could cause real harm” Children and Young People with Disabilities Australia

archive.md/WHxuF

archive.md

1 4

El Gibbs @bluntshovels.bsky.social · 1d

"I visited a watch house where I saw a 17-year-old who had been detained for more than three weeks in the watch house without any access to sunlight, no access to their family, no schooling"

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...

Boy's 'haunting' expression in watch house drives home concerns for commissioner

Queensland's outgoing human rights commissioner says he has lost sleep worrying about some juveniles "spending weeks and weeks" in the state's watch houses.

www.abc.net.au

1 29 53

El Gibbs @bluntshovels.bsky.social · 1d

any further changes must include justice for the thousands of disabled people who lived and died in these places, and who also fought for liberation

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...

Psychiatric hospital to 'urban parkland': Sydney's public space dilemma

The challenge of transforming a major piece of Sydney's public space from a former mental health hospital to an "iconic urban parkland" is a delicate dance for the state government.

www.abc.net.au

3 15 45

El Gibbs @bluntshovels.bsky.social · 2d

amazing!

1 1

El Gibbs @bluntshovels.bsky.social · 2d

I've gone in for the pelican this year, but if I could write in, it would be the eastern spinebill, solely due to their visits to my garden

1 4

Reposted by El Gibbs

Deepcut News @deepcutnews.bsky.social · 2d

NEW: Australians overwhelmingly recognise and oppose the genocide in Gaza and want the government to do more to stop it, according to a new poll released today.

www.deepcutnews.com/p/australian...

Australians overwhelmingly back sanctions on Israel, new poll finds

'Sizeable majority' of voters across political lines want Israel to end genocide in Gaza

www.deepcutnews.com

45 73

Reposted by El Gibbs

Mark Bray @mark-bray.bsky.social · 8d

I teach a history of antifascism course @ruhistorydept.bsky.social and figured I'd start an ongoing thread this semester to share some insights from course readings and recommend some great works on antifascism.

🧵

12 170 440

El Gibbs @bluntshovels.bsky.social · 2d

here's some of the research:

"It is likely that the true costs of the social mission of the ADE sector have never been adequately understood nor supported, resulting in employees bearing the impost of the financial viability of the organisation through low wages."

apo.org.au/sites/defaul...

apo.org.au

2 6

El Gibbs @bluntshovels.bsky.social · 2d

research I did with Inclusion Australia a couple of years ago, with expertise from Prof Erin Wilson, found that sheltered workshops were often not financially sustainable and disabled people paid the price

but more subsidies for the same model, I guess

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...

More funds announced to keep Bedford afloat as hunt for buyer continues

Australia's second-largest disability employment provider Bedford will be kept afloat by a $4.4 million federal government funding injection as it seeks a buyer for the embattled business.

www.abc.net.au

1 6 11

El Gibbs @bluntshovels.bsky.social · 2d

Important, awful, queer history

"I absolutely feel good in my skin now I know who I am. I don't feel uncomfortable anymore. I don't feel like I'm putting on a mask whenever I walk out the doors" - Jayne McFadyen

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...

Jayne hid who she was for years. Now she's speaking out against trans health study

A decades-old psychiatric study is influencing current debates over transgender youth health care. But a new analysis led by a survivor says the findings were deeply harmful and dangerously misleading...

www.abc.net.au

2 10

Reposted by El Gibbs

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.”

10 94 190