Paul Austin
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paulnaustin.bsky.social
Paul Austin
@paulnaustin.bsky.social
240 followers 170 following 220 posts
Media professional. Politics, economics, sport, culture, society, the lot. [email protected]
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paulnaustin.bsky.social
The Saturday Paper:

“Linda Reynolds looks forever like someone about to send her main back to the kitchen. She has been victimised by life. Everything is an injustice and all of it done to her. According to court documents, her middle name is Karen.”

www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/2025/11/22/l...
On Linda Reynolds and Janet Albrechtsen
A little over a week ago, Linda Reynolds gave her first interview since winning her defamation case against Brittany Higgins. She gave it to Janet Albrechtsen, the right-wing columnist whose texts and...
www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au
November 21, 2025 at 11:22 PM
paulnaustin.bsky.social
How to fix public hospital funding

An important new Grattan Institute report that should be compulsory reading for the Prime Minister and the Premiers

#auspol #nswpol #springst #health

grattan.edu.au/report/smart...
Smarter spending: Getting better care for every hospital dollar
Australian governments waste $1.2 billion a year on avoidable spending in public hospitals which does nothing to improve patient care.
grattan.edu.au
November 18, 2025 at 10:06 AM
paulnaustin.bsky.social
Memo to the Libs and Nats: net zero is not a political plaything or a virtue-signalling culture war trope.

Grattan Institute expert Alison Reeve injects some facts and evidence into Australia’s
energy and climate-change debate.

#auspol #coal

Via The Age

www.theage.com.au/politics/fed...
www.theage.com.au
November 16, 2025 at 5:30 AM
paulnaustin.bsky.social
It’s a mirage of an energy and climate change policy

The Liberals’ plan won’t reduce power prices and it won’t reduce emissions substantially, writes Grattan Institute policy guru Tony Wood in the Financial Review

#auspol #coal #renewables #NetZero

grattan.edu.au/news/a-mirag...
A mirage of an energy and climate change policy - Grattan Institute
The Libs’ plan won’t reduce power prices and it won’t reduce emissions substantially.
grattan.edu.au
November 14, 2025 at 7:03 AM
paulnaustin.bsky.social
Melbourne is a great city, but…

Grattan Institute housing policy expert Joey Moloney puts the case for higher density across the suburbs, including Ivanhoe, Fairfield, and Newport

#auspol #springst #planning

grattan.edu.au/news/melbour...
Melbourne needs lots of new homes—quickly - Grattan Institute
The planning system needs to change so the city can stay great.
grattan.edu.au
November 13, 2025 at 11:11 PM
paulnaustin.bsky.social
The longest city is short on homes

Why Perth needs planning reforms, by Grattan Institute housing policy experts Joey Moloney and Ashleigh Chang in today’s West Australian

grattan.edu.au/news/the-lon... #auspol
The longest city is short on homes - Grattan Institute
Perth needs planning reform.
grattan.edu.au
November 12, 2025 at 5:22 AM
paulnaustin.bsky.social
To fix the economy, fix housing.

Brendan Coates, Joey Moloney, and Matthew Bowes summarise their blockbuster new Grattan Institute report on Australia’s housing crisis.

johnmenadue.com/post/2025/11...

#auspol #nswpol #springst #Insiders

Via Pearls and Irritations
To fix the economy, fix housing
Australia’s economy is in a post-pandemic slump. To dig us out, state and federal governments must tackle the chronic shortage of housing in our biggest cities.
johnmenadue.com
November 8, 2025 at 9:42 PM
paulnaustin.bsky.social
Why Australia needs a housing policy revolution – and what it will mean for your suburb.

Major new Grattan Institute report by Brendan Coates, Joey Moloney, and Matthew Bowes.

#auspol #nswpol #springst #Planning #Heritage

grattan.edu.au/report/more-...
More homes, better cities: Letting more people live where they want
Three-storey townhouses and apartments should be permitted on all residential land in all capital cities as part of a concerted policy assault on Australia’s housing crisis.
grattan.edu.au
November 5, 2025 at 10:21 AM
paulnaustin.bsky.social
Tony Abbott and the Ladybird view of history

Jane Lydon runs the rule over Abbott’s Australia

theconversation.com/tony-abbotts... #auspol
Tony Abbott’s history of Australia wants us to be proud of men like him
Tony Abbott begins his book Australia: A History, by telling off professional historians – and laments the “cultural confusion” of our present moment.
theconversation.com
November 3, 2025 at 10:22 PM
paulnaustin.bsky.social
Treaty yeah

www.theage.com.au/politics/vic... #auspol #springst #Australia
The votes are counted and the quiet shattered as treaty arrives in Victoria
The first treaty with our First Peoples came after a long debate and even longer wait.
www.theage.com.au
October 30, 2025 at 8:32 PM
paulnaustin.bsky.social
Nice
grattaninstitute.bsky.social Grattan Institute @grattaninstitute.bsky.social · 27d
We’re worth watching!

Grattan Institute has been named in the global ‘100 Think Tanks to Watch 2025’, by the ‘On Think Tanks’ organisation.

We’re delighted by this recognition by our peers, and determined to continue improving public policy in 2026 and beyond.

#auspol

buff.ly/uvXvrE8
October 29, 2025 at 12:41 AM
Reposted by Paul Austin
lancecalhoon.bsky.social
one of the ironclad rules of Australian journalism is that any story about voting must be accompanied by a picture of people voting in swimwear
October 21, 2025 at 4:51 AM
paulnaustin.bsky.social
“Less about saving swimmers and more about serving cocktails”

How $14m of public money to convert an ageing bayside pool to a heated indoor learn-to-swim centre is being misused to build a glitzy private social club on Williamstown’s heritage beach

www.theage.com.au/national/vic...

#springst
Tensions flare in seaside suburb over ‘Bondi Icebergs’ proposal
Over seven years, the lifesaving club has gone through three rounds of redevelopment plans, and the neighbourhood is once again divided over the $14.5 million project.
www.theage.com.au
October 12, 2025 at 9:00 PM
paulnaustin.bsky.social
Here’s some good news: Play your cards right, and your household energy bills could halve by 2050

New Grattan Institute report by Alison Reeve and Tony Wood

grattan.edu.au/report/bills...

#auspol #ClimateEmergency #NetZero #coal #renewables
Bills down, emissions down: A practical path to net-zero electricity
Australian household energy bills are set to halve by 2050, leaving ‘policy room’ for the federal government to cut emissions in the electricity sector without hurting households.
grattan.edu.au
October 12, 2025 at 10:20 AM
paulnaustin.bsky.social
Australia’s workforce challenge

Thoughtful new Grattan Institute series on building our workforce of the future

#auspol #ausecon #jobs #migration #AI

grattan.edu.au/australias-w...
Australia’s workforce challenge - Grattan Institute
Grattan Institute’s six-part series on building our workforce of the future.
grattan.edu.au
October 6, 2025 at 3:12 AM
paulnaustin.bsky.social
Three more reasons to object to the proposed over-development of Williamstown’s historic life-saving club:

1. Taxpayers’ money being used for private facilities

2. The ‘Members Only’ fence

3. A footprint that extends well beyond the club’s current fence line

thewestsider.com.au/is-the-willy...
Is the Willy Beach Lifesaving Club set to become Australia’s most expensive?
Jason Bryce asks community to become engaged in the discussions over the new plans for the Williamstown lifesaving club.
thewestsider.com.au
October 3, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Reposted by Paul Austin
grattaninstitute.bsky.social
Sydney remains ground zero for Australia’s housing crisis.

Our housing policy expert Brendan Coates gives the NSW government credit for acting to get more housing built – and identifies what should happen now.

#auspol #nswpol

grattan.edu.au/news/sydney-...
Sydney remains ground zero for Australia’s housing crisis - Grattan Institute
The NSW government deserves credit for taking steps to get more housing built. Here’s what it should do next.
grattan.edu.au
September 30, 2025 at 2:33 AM
paulnaustin.bsky.social
Gradually , then suddenly.

Jacqueline Maley charts America’s descent into authoritarianism.

#Trump #freedom #democracy

www.smh.com.au/world/north-...
Under Trump, America’s descent into authoritarianism may be unstoppable
Like the famous Ernest Hemingway quote, the demise of American democracy has happened gradually and now, all at once.
www.smh.com.au
September 20, 2025 at 11:22 PM
paulnaustin.bsky.social
Comedy, power, and democracy.

Steve Vizard rises to the occasion.

#JimmyKimmel #Trump

www.afr.com/politics/jim...
Jimmy Kimmel’s demise exposes how power fears ridicule
Comedy is not a sideshow. It is part of the main act. When comedy vanishes, rulers mistake themselves for the nation.
www.afr.com
September 20, 2025 at 12:40 AM
paulnaustin.bsky.social
‘This week has been a watershed on Australia’s hard road to net zero. The main game now is implementation, as the spectre of climate change awaits.’

The verdict from Grattan Institute energy policy guru Tony Wood in the Financial Review

#auspol #emissions #targets

www.afr.com/policy/energ...
A step up in action to hit the 2035 emissions target is urgently needed
This week has been a watershed on Australia’s hard road to net zero. The main game now is implementation, as the spectre of climate change awaits.
www.afr.com
September 18, 2025 at 9:36 AM
paulnaustin.bsky.social
The Albanese government has finally set a 2035 climate course – and it’s a mission Australia must accept.

By Tony Wood from the Grattan Institute in The Conversation

#auspol #NetZero #emissions #targets

theconversation.com/the-albanese...
The Albanese government has finally set a 2035 climate course – and it’s a mission Australia must accept
The target seeks to balance positive action with pragmatism. Achieving it will requires a major policy step-up.
theconversation.com
September 18, 2025 at 7:35 AM
paulnaustin.bsky.social
‘The similarly ageless Patrick Dangerfield leaves divots, bruises, and trauma. Scott Pendlebury doesn’t leave a trace. He hovers above the game, popping in where he sees fit.’

Jonathan Horn on Pendles

#AFL #Collingwood #GoPies

www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/s...
From the Pocket: they may be old but Scott Pendlebury’s Collingwood are wily and hungry
The Magpies’ core group of self-driven, physically and mentally resilient senior players eat up the hard work to maintain high performance
www.theguardian.com
September 18, 2025 at 1:50 AM
paulnaustin.bsky.social
Grattan talks to Grattan.

Michelle Grattan, doyen of the parliamentary press gallery, talks to Tony Wood, energy and climate change policy guru at the Grattan Institute, about net zero, 2035, 2050, and all that.

#auspol #climate #targets

theconversation.com/politics-wit...
Politics with Michelle Grattan: Tony Wood on ‘politics trumping climate policy’ and the hard road ahead
The energy expert says Australia’s only on track to cut its emissions by around 50% by 2035 – ‘so we’re going to have to step up the pace’ in the next decade.
theconversation.com
September 18, 2025 at 1:35 AM
paulnaustin.bsky.social
‘Getting shit done.’

Joel Deane on Dan Andrews.

Typically insightful.

#auspol #springst

www.crikey.com.au/2025/09/12/c...
What Albo can learn from Dan 'getting shit done' Andrews
Much of the praise and criticism of Dan Andrews — who, like Kennett, incited adoration and hatred — is one-eyed, if not cross-eyed. Andrews was neither dictator nor saviour.
www.crikey.com.au
September 15, 2025 at 4:50 AM
paulnaustin.bsky.social
The business case for corporate tax reform needs to be rather more sophisticated than just ‘cut our taxes’.

Grattan Institute CEO Aruna Sathanapally writes for the Financial Review

#auspol #ausecon #GST

www.afr.com/policy/tax-a...
Why the case for a corporate tax cut is tricky
If business wants change, it needs to do more than just call for “lower taxes”. It needs a clear model, a credible way to fund it, and a persuasive case.
www.afr.com
September 14, 2025 at 6:42 AM