Robo-debt restart affects thousands
“The incident is revealed in an email sent to the Department of Human Services (DHS) compliance workforce. It outlines how ‘a number of debts’ were issued after the algorithm ‘came off pause in error’.”
EXCLUSIVE: Leaked correspondence shows an error caused the controversial robo-debt algorithm to ‘unpause’ in April this year.
News
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Albanese juggles Labor frictions
While the ALP pushes for reform of its troubled NSW branch, the opposition leader faces dissent from federal allies aligned to the party’s Right faction.
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Chemical restraint in aged care
While aiming to reduce sedative use in aged-care facilities, new government regulations may have the opposite effect, putting elderly residents at risk of dangerous – and potentially fatal – side effects.
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How Australia treats complex trauma
“We need to recognise that the lived experience of trauma and abuse is not a personal failing but the very common experience of a vast number of women.”
Survivors of domestic violence are being routinely let down by a system that misdiagnoses their trauma, leaving many women and children unsupported and stigmatised.
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Children in the criminal justice system
“Every year, some 600 primary-school-age children are locked up in Australia. These kids, aged 10 to 13, are overwhelmingly Indigenous. Almost all have committed only minor crimes; many have committed no proven crime at all.”
As crossbencher Rebekha Sharkie pushes to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14, experts point to the long-term detrimental effects of early incarceration and a disproportionate racial factor in detention rates.
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Russia backs Kurds as Erdoğan attacks
US withdrawal from Syria sees Russia and Assad supporting Kurds against Turkey. Peter O’Neill facing arrest in PNG. Setbacks for nationalists in Eastern European elections. China’s power play with NBA.
Opinion
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Nina Funnell
Me Too movement’s where to moment
“In the flood of disclosures that followed revelations about Harvey Weinstein’s decades-long abuse of women, there was hope for change and reform. Hope that individuals and institutions would finally be held accountable for their role in perpetuating sexual violence, and that attitudes and behaviours could genuinely be reformed. This week marks two years since the Me Too hashtag went viral on Twitter.”
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Paul Bongiorno
PM under the pump over drought and economy
“For Scott Morrison, God obviously votes Liberal – that’s how he explains his ‘miraculous’ win in May. His mother-in-law confirmed on election night the family had all been praying for the result they got. On Tuesday, at the National Prayer Breakfast in Parliament House, the prime minister told the gathered faithful, which included Anthony Albanese, ‘The only prayers that you can be assured are never answered are the ones that are never prayed.’ ”
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The talking points from the PM’s office that this week plopped accidentally into the inboxes of “undisclosed recipients” are designed so that a chorus of government parrots can squawk in the same tune. Bubble people in Canberra shrug off these revelations as uninteresting fare – yet for non-bubble citizens they provide a depressing insight into the contrived nature of our politics, the thin veneer of what passes for policies and the mind-numbing banalities deployed to prop them up.
Letters, Poem & Editorial
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Maxine Beneba Clarke
Jacqui’s law
they say the people’s senator
from tasmania
has the deciding medevac bill repeal vote
so, quite simply, we are asking:
does senator jacqui lambie know
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No one saw it coming, though the signs were there. They stacked up quietly, covered only on the business pages and the financial cable news shows with their meagre viewerships. Mortgage lenders filing for bankruptcy; house prices beginning to slip. Then, everything went quickly. And when Lehman Brothers collapsed on September 15, 2008 – bloated with debt – the firm dragged the sharemarket down with it.
Culture
The cultural insights of Jia Tolentino
Jia Tolentino has been dubbed the ‘voice of a generation’, a blogger turned New Yorker writer whose journalistic musings traverse everything from vaping to religion. She talks about the art of literary exploration and her much-anticipated debut book, Trick Mirror. “One of the reasons I write so much is that I’m not so good at thinking about things as they’re happening. Unless I’m writing about something, it’s not often that I’m analytically clear about my own present reality. I tend to just wander through it and hope that I will make sense of it later.”
Haroon Mirza: The Construction of an Act
In The Construction of an Act, British installation artist Haroon Mirza explores how extraordinary feelings can arise from everyday phenomena.
The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes
Acerbic and powerful, The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes exposes the exploitation of people with disability, and continues Back to Back Theatre’s tradition of making groundbreaking work.
Life
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Timor-Leste’s Agora Food Studio
Alva Lim moved from Australia to Timor-Leste, where she co-founded the Agora Food Studio, a social enterprise that celebrates the unique Timorese cuisine.
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For the early part of her professional netball career, Sarah Klau was lacking in confidence and accustomed to warming the bench. Now, despite managing a chronic illness, the 25-year-old has secured her spot in the Diamonds line-up.
Books
Puzzles
1. True or false: Goldie Hawn and Kate Hudson both have received one Academy Award nomination.
2. On which part of the body would you wear epaulets?
3. In Roman mythology, who is god of the underworld? (Bonus point for naming his Greek equivalent.)
4. Which Australian poet wrote the lines: “Life is mostly froth and bubble/ Two things stand like stone/ Kindness in another’s trouble/ Courage in your own”?
5. Belvedere, Stolichnaya and Absolut are all brands of what?
6. What does the musical direction da capo mean?
7. In medicine, what is an autoclave used for?
8. It was revealed this month that the prime minister of which country gave a South African bikini model nearly $US16 million?
9. Yucatán, Tabasco and Chihuahua are all states of which country?
10. Name the speaker of the United States house of representatives.
Quotes
BUSINESS
“I struggle that the business community is singled out. Young kids can earn $5 million now by playing Fortnite.”
The Telstra chairman hits back at critics of the multimillion-dollar salary paid to the telco giant’s chief executive, Andy Penn.
EMPATHY
“People who have not made a profit in the last 10 years really need to seriously think what are you doing with your life, what are you doing on the land?”
The Nationals MP says farmers struggling to break even during Australia’s long-running drought should reconsider their choice of career.
FAITH
“Please leave us.”
The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney says his church – born so that Henry VIII could engage in bigamy – will not welcome supporters of marriage equality.
ROYALTY
“My government’s new economic plan will be underpinned by a responsible fiscal strategy.”
The British monarch delivers the Queen’s speech, written for her by Boris Johnson’s government, which clearly isn’t averse to co-opting tradition for a bit of electioneering.
COMPENSATION
“Well, most people have one.”
The truck driver is cross-examined about hiding a sex toy in a colleague’s hand luggage as he went through airport security. The Fair Work Commission found Odgers was unfairly dismissed over this and other pranks and ordered BHP to pay $6550 in compensation.
MEDIA
“There’s a hip new term that’s been deployed recently to describe Lefties who want to save the planet, end coal mining, secure equal pay for women, open the borders to illegal refugees and attack middle-aged white men.”
The Sky News presenter breaks a big story on the opinion pages of The Courier-Mail, unearthing the term “woke”.
