Tech for work, swimming for sanity, and doing my bit to fight for integrity in our politics. Also aaronsmith333 at the other place.
Melbourne, Australia
Joined March 2009
- Tweets65K
- Following7.8K
- Followers21.9K
- Likes256K
Pinned Tweet
I rarely put pen to paper, but this privileged experience was worth the exception.
Four days, a lot of walking, a few people I admire enormously, and several I do not.
It's all in here👇
/2
substacktools.com/sharex/NV5…
Aaron Smith retweeted
Jess Wilson made commitments to the people of Kew at the 2022 candidates’ forum.
Four years later, she’s abandoned those commitments and won’t face the same community to explain why?
And you think this is ok because she’s leader? It makes it worse.
Jess Wilson has a rather remarkable proposition for the people of Kew tonight: give her another four years in Parliament, but don’t expect her to give you one evening of her time.
Tonight is Kew’s only community candidates’ forum. Once every four years, candidates have the opportunity to front the people whose votes they’re asking for, defend their record and answer questions about what they intend to do next.
Jess Wilson has decided she’d rather not.
Instead, there’s an empty chair with her name on it. Which is a rather fitting illustration of how much accountability the people of Kew can apparently expect from their local MP.
Four years ago, her former boss Josh Frydenberg did exactly the same thing to the people of Kooyong. Apparently, facing your own electorate is becoming an optional extra in the Liberal Party.
Jess Wilson wants another four years representing Kew. She just doesn’t want to spend one evening answering to it.
Aaron Smith retweeted
Someone’s polling in Kew because they’re scared the Liberals are going to lose this seat.
This is what happens when politicians ignore their community and toe the party line.
Aaron Smith retweeted
All of us are so very, very sad. My piece for @shot_au
The violence we still refuse to name.
theshot.net.au/news/opinion-…
Aaron Smith retweeted
"Ideology, outrage and opportunism in the wake of a nightmare."
My latest on the despicable politicisation of the Helen Haines attack:
'The dogs of discourse circle a national tragedy'
#auspol boganintel.com/p/the-dogs-of…
Aaron Smith retweeted
You’ve spent more time on this trivial non-story today than on the Liberal Party’s relationship with One Nation over the last three months.
You’re a political journalist choosing to obsess over trivia while leaving serious questions about power untouched.
Jess Wilson wants Victorians to stop being pessimistic while campaigning relentlessly to convince them Victoria is terrible.
Aaron Smith retweeted
Most people don’t realise how utterly useless the Press Council is until they have to deal with it. I’ve been trying to positively engage with it behind the scenes since Feb. Radio silence. Then again, it’s funded by the very tabloids it’s supposed to police.
The @AusPressCouncil has been working hard to get its website back after GetUp launched a campaign for a better press regulator. @SharazDavid explains...
Aaron Smith retweeted
I beg your pardon - "instead of the lefties views he reportedly holds ..."
Lefties?
Are you attempting to come across as a serious journalist making a serious point while using the pejorative term "lefties"?
Seriously? Do better and be the standard you expect others to follow
Pauline Hanson has helpfully clarified the rules:
Mocking someone’s serious health problems is “satire”; objecting to it means you need to “get over it”.
Kew voters will turn up tomorrow night to scrutinise the people asking for their vote.
Will Jess Wilson turn up, or follow Josh Frydenberg and Amelia Hamer in the Liberal tradition of demanding the electorate’s support while squibbing the electorate’s scrutiny?
Aaron Smith retweeted
Then there’s Vic One Nation leader Warren Pickering, who attended anti-abortion rallies, called Victoria’s laws among the “most draconian on the planet” and advocated returning the abortion limit to 12 weeks.
Sure, he leads One Nation in Victoria. And sure, he was talking about Victoria.
But apart from that, the relevance to One Nation in Vic is difficult to establish.
5/7
Jess Wilson will preference One Nation and put more One Nation MPs in parliament.
She will rely on those MPs to make her Premier.
But when it comes to standing alongside One Nation’s VIc leader and answering to the Victorian people for that arrangement, Wilson won’t show up.
Aaron Smith retweeted
There are moments when being a decent human being requires almost nothing of you.
Compassion. Restraint. Even silence.
Dave Pellowe apparently couldn’t manage any of them.
Aaron Smith retweeted
Helen Haines is the most generous and kind person - a woman of warmth and great personal integrity.
Since 2019 she has been the model for me as a politician. She loves her community and works extraordinarily hard to represent Indi effectively and well. She was very generous with the new crop of independents in 2022 - it's why I had these T-shirts made.
Today I'm thinking about how Helen would respond to this terrible event. I know that it would be to reach out to those who need support and love, to lead with dignity and respect, and to remind us all of the inherent goodness and decency of Australians and the strength of our democracy.
