Rex Patrick
@mrrexpatrick.bsky.social
Transparency Warrior, small business owner, former Independent Senator for SA and former submariner.
This morning I’m hoping sunlight will shine upon the Govt’s plans for #AUKUS nuclear waste. I’ll be (remotely) cross-examining the head of our ☢️ Waste Management Agency on why, when social licence is essential, secrecy is the order of the day 🤷♂️. #FOI #auspol Pt Macquarie, NSW. #WorkFromRoam
February 8, 2026 at 8:00 PM
This morning I’m hoping sunlight will shine upon the Govt’s plans for #AUKUS nuclear waste. I’ll be (remotely) cross-examining the head of our ☢️ Waste Management Agency on why, when social licence is essential, secrecy is the order of the day 🤷♂️. #FOI #auspol Pt Macquarie, NSW. #WorkFromRoam
Last year Labor, Libs & Nats pushed through laws to make it impossible for independents/small parties to run competitive election campaigns. The laws are unconstitutional. We’re asking the High Court to ‘tell em they’re dreamin’. #auspol
Fighting a rigged political system
This week, the full bench of the High Court heard a challenge to Victoria’s changes to its campaign financing laws, brought by a pair of independent candidates. It is not the only case in the works. F...
www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au
February 6, 2026 at 10:07 PM
Last year Labor, Libs & Nats pushed through laws to make it impossible for independents/small parties to run competitive election campaigns. The laws are unconstitutional. We’re asking the High Court to ‘tell em they’re dreamin’. #auspol
@albomp.bsky.social’s done NOTHING on banning gambling advertising, as recommended by a Labor led House Committee in 2023. To make things even worse, yesterday in the Senate Labor actively stood in the way of the Greens doing something. #shame #auspol michaelwest.com.au/gambling-adv...
Gambling advertising ban. Labor odds-on to do nothing - Michael West
Doing nothing on gambling advertising isn’t enough for the Albanese Government; they want to ensure nobody does.
michaelwest.com.au
February 6, 2026 at 5:29 AM
@albomp.bsky.social’s done NOTHING on banning gambling advertising, as recommended by a Labor led House Committee in 2023. To make things even worse, yesterday in the Senate Labor actively stood in the way of the Greens doing something. #shame #auspol michaelwest.com.au/gambling-adv...
In circumstances where we’re gifting $10B to the US and UK to prop up their submarine shipyards, it would be treachery to not properly support Australia’s sole structural steel and rail manufacturing capability. #NationalResilience #auspol #saparli
Treasurer says it's the Feds' problem if Whyalla Steelworks sale falters - News | InDaily, Inside South Australia
SA Treasurer claims if Whyalla Steelworks is not sold it’s Canberra’s problem and refused to say whether more taxpayers dollars are needed.
www.indailysa.com.au
February 4, 2026 at 9:45 PM
In circumstances where we’re gifting $10B to the US and UK to prop up their submarine shipyards, it would be treachery to not properly support Australia’s sole structural steel and rail manufacturing capability. #NationalResilience #auspol #saparli
In the context of $billions being splurged on #AUKUS, this is Defence scratching about to find loose change down the back of the sofa.👇 🛋️ 💵 #auspol
Government to sell historic defence properties
The Albanese government has identified 67 defence sites for potential sale, aiming to unlock up to $1.8 billion.
www.abc.net.au
February 4, 2026 at 5:23 AM
@albomp.bsky.social has doggedly refused to release the Office of National Intelligence #climate risk assessment his govt commissioned. Wonder why? Probably because its conclusions are similar to this UK report👇 and he wouldn’t want to upset big coal & gas. #auspol
A UK climate security report backed by the intelligence services was quietly buried – a pattern we’ve seen many times before
Governments have been warned about climate change for 70 years. They’re still suppressing the worst news.
theconversation.com
February 4, 2026 at 1:03 AM
@albomp.bsky.social has doggedly refused to release the Office of National Intelligence #climate risk assessment his govt commissioned. Wonder why? Probably because its conclusions are similar to this UK report👇 and he wouldn’t want to upset big coal & gas. #auspol
Political divorce is rarely pretty - as seen in this brief but interesting exchange in the Senate yesterday as the Liberal Party removed National Party senators from Senate Committees. Labor Senator Tim Ayres seemed to enjoy being the bearer of bad news. #auspol
February 3, 2026 at 8:12 PM
Political divorce is rarely pretty - as seen in this brief but interesting exchange in the Senate yesterday as the Liberal Party removed National Party senators from Senate Committees. Labor Senator Tim Ayres seemed to enjoy being the bearer of bad news. #auspol
The latest Congressional Research Service Virginia Class submarine advisory to Congress paints a troubling picture for Australia’s future nuclear submarine ambitions. Luckily Richard Marles chooses to ignore bad news in his own Defence procurement planning. #AUKUS #auspol
February 3, 2026 at 7:58 PM
Despite Sussan Ley writing a strong opinion piece opposing the Bill and despite Liberal senators writing a strong Senate dissenting report against the Bill, the Libs voted with Labor to keep the #FOI Amendment Bill alive 🤷♂️🤦♂️. The Nationals walked from the Senate chamber (abstained). #auspol
February 3, 2026 at 7:15 PM
@albomp.bsky.social’s #FOI Amendment Bill is to ‘right to know’ as ICE is to ‘right to protest’. Will this secrecy bill be banished from the Parliament today in response to a motion to be moved by @fatima-payman.bsky.social at 3:30 PM? Watch this space! #auspol
Shouted down by common sense. The end of Albo's secrecy bill? - Michael West
It entrenches and broadens government secrecy, contradicting Albanese's own transparency pledge, but the FOI Amendment Bill is dead.
michaelwest.com.au
February 3, 2026 at 2:40 AM
@albomp.bsky.social’s #FOI Amendment Bill is to ‘right to know’ as ICE is to ‘right to protest’. Will this secrecy bill be banished from the Parliament today in response to a motion to be moved by @fatima-payman.bsky.social at 3:30 PM? Watch this space! #auspol
February 1, 2026 at 11:45 PM
I suggest the shift in support to One Nation is not a signal of love for that minor party, but of serious disappointment with the major parties (especially the mess that is the Coalition). #auspol
Could One Nation be a genuine threat to Australia’s conservative parties?
After years on the extreme fringes of politics, Pauline Hanson’s party is on the rise
www.theguardian.com
February 1, 2026 at 11:39 PM
I suggest the shift in support to One Nation is not a signal of love for that minor party, but of serious disappointment with the major parties (especially the mess that is the Coalition). #auspol
@albomp.bsky.social’s Govt is behaving like an unfaithful partner – engaging in a net-zero loving relationship with the community from wake-up to brekkie but then leaving the house for work to engage in an evil emissions affair with the fossil fuel industry. #auspol
"Someone got to the Minister". How fossil politics buried emissions data - Michael West
Why did the Albanese Government eliminate billions of tonnes of fossil fuel carbon emissions from public view. Rex Patrick investigates.
michaelwest.com.au
February 1, 2026 at 3:58 AM
@albomp.bsky.social’s Govt is behaving like an unfaithful partner – engaging in a net-zero loving relationship with the community from wake-up to brekkie but then leaving the house for work to engage in an evil emissions affair with the fossil fuel industry. #auspol
There is no rest for a Transparency Warrior. An #FOI a day stops democracy decay. #Gina #influence #auspol
January 31, 2026 at 11:28 PM
There is no rest for a Transparency Warrior. An #FOI a day stops democracy decay. #Gina #influence #auspol
The US’ priority #1 submarine program is in trouble. Our $368B #AUKUS future sub program is hitched to the US’ troubled priority #2 sub program. But our bathtub admiral, Defence Minister Richard Marles, says there’s no need for concern. 🤦♂️ #auspol
The Navy's New $348 Billion Columbia-Class Nuclear Missile Submarine Is In Trouble
The Columbia-class ballistic-missile sub program is slipping and getting pricier, but contracts, facilities, and modules show progress toward 2029 delivery.
www.19fortyfive.com
January 31, 2026 at 10:40 PM
#Robodebt is undoubtably proof that public servants, including and especially those in the $1M secretaries club, will NOT be held to account by Govt for wrongdoing. Does a Queensland misfeasance case open the door to citizen led accountability? 1/2 #auspol
Exclusive: Misfeasance case paves way for robodebt action
A damning judgement of ‘highhandedness or cynical disregard’ by the Medicare watchdog has established a new front for civil litigation of public servants named in the robodebt royal commission.
www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au
January 30, 2026 at 7:43 PM
Our Govt should support Australian industry, but avoid just gifting public money to companies. Equity stakes are the way to go, not grants. Well done @albomp.bsky.social in this instance. #auspol
January 29, 2026 at 9:14 PM
Our Govt should support Australian industry, but avoid just gifting public money to companies. Equity stakes are the way to go, not grants. Well done @albomp.bsky.social in this instance. #auspol
The UK’s submarine construction program is one big cluster fiasco. On top of concerns it doesn’t have the capability/capacity to deliver #AUKUS subs on time, if at all, is an emerging concern that the UK Govt can’t afford to buy them even if it could build them. #fantasy #auspol
January 29, 2026 at 5:49 AM
A month after @albomp.bsky.social announced his PROspective gas reservation policy, there’s more talk of east coast gas shortages. That’s because it was a dud policy from day 1 (see post 2/2 and my analysis of the policy). We need a RETROspective gas reservation policy. 1/2 #fail #auspol
January 27, 2026 at 8:18 PM
A month after @albomp.bsky.social announced his PROspective gas reservation policy, there’s more talk of east coast gas shortages. That’s because it was a dud policy from day 1 (see post 2/2 and my analysis of the policy). We need a RETROspective gas reservation policy. 1/2 #fail #auspol
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has championed the role of #AUKUS in advancing a “rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific” just 2 days after the Pentagon blasted “cloud-castle abstractions like the rules-based international order.” Our billions talks! #auspol
Rubio links AUKUS to rules-based order mocked by Pentagon
The US Secretary of State cited ‘AUKUS and broader alliance activities’ as helping both nations advance a rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific just two days after the notion was mocked by the Pentago...
thenightly.com.au
January 27, 2026 at 6:51 AM
Israel treats its reputation as a strategic asset, so the Hate Speech laws transfer the PR cost from the Israeli 'machine' to the Australian taxpayer. My dispassionate take.
#hasbara #auspol
#hasbara #auspol
Hate Speech. Protecting Israel's reputation in Australia just got cheaper - Michael West
Israel’s reputation is treated as a strategic asset to be managed in Western media and political domains. Hate speech laws.
michaelwest.com.au
January 25, 2026 at 9:38 PM
As our future submarine force lies in palliative care, the UK’s lies in intensive care - with Australians paying for both. #AUKUS #auspol
Royal Navy Submarine Maintenance Recovery Plan launched - Navy Lookout
The Submarine Maintenance Recovery Plan (SMRP) was formally launched on 15th January. The First Sea Lord announced he would initiate this 100-day drive to tackle chronic submarine maintenance delays i...
www.navylookout.com
January 25, 2026 at 9:17 PM
Happy Australia Day from Newcastle. I trust you’ll have more fun than me today. I’m doing reply submissions in the my Federal Court case on #AUKUS nuclear waste - accountability is a restless task. #FOI #WorkFromRoam #australiaday2026
January 25, 2026 at 9:10 PM
Happy Australia Day from Newcastle. I trust you’ll have more fun than me today. I’m doing reply submissions in the my Federal Court case on #AUKUS nuclear waste - accountability is a restless task. #FOI #WorkFromRoam #australiaday2026