Droppie [farcebk] 🐨♀🌈🐧🦘

https://farcebook.space/profile/msdropbear42

7/12/25: Just an average leftie pacifist feminist rainbow dropbear +/-42sigma. Reserve apprentice stenographer at antifa AGMs.

👍: Classic Oz+Eng lit, sci-fi, fantasy, comedy, satire; Linux+FOSS; Kindness; Gaia.
👎: Cruelty; RWNJs; Anti-Gaia.
Stuff:

- She/Her.
- Straya born, Thailand reborn.
- Linux+FOSS distracts my sadness.
- Posts 🔥 @ 2mths.
- For Follow-Requests, you MUST have Profile & Public posts, else ⛔🚫👎.

20/4/26: Non-Friendica fallback is Masto; [infosec.space/@MsDropbear42](https://infosec.space/@MsDropbear42 )

Political 💜: Left, Greens, Gaia, Peace, AntiCapitalist, SocialEquity.
Philosophy 🤔 : Atheism, Veganism, LGBTQI, PostOpTrans.
FOSS 💻: Linux, Arch, KDE Plasma, Floorp, Firefox Nightly, Thunderbird, GnuCash, Fedora, openSUSE, Debian, KDELinux.
Comedy 🤣: TheGoons, MontyPython, RippingYarns, HHGTTG, Red Dwarf.
Psychopathy 💀: Depression, Social-Phobia, Despair, Fear, Misanthropy.
Otherwise 🌐: 🇦🇺 🦘♀🌈

Public Key

npub1c5d05e96sl3qtfag3lrmet5lmnnvrw20u0s9tekkwfr8d5qfwdjsheapf5

NIP-05 Address

msdropbear42_at_farcebook.space@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsv2xh6vjag0cs9575gl3au460aeekph9878cz4umt8y3nk6qyhxegpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0ds5cx3ny

Publishing to

relay.nostr.bg

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1c5d05e96sl3qtfag3lrmet5lmnnvrw20u0s9tekkwfr8d5qfwdjsheapf5

Show more details

Published at

2026-04-22T01:40:58Z

Kind type

0 Metadata

Event JSON

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Last Notes

2026-03-06 00:18:40 UTC

- reply

@[url=https://bne.social/users/caity]Wonderdog 🏳️‍🌈[/url] lovely pic, Caity, &/but... me be a confused dropbear... you're [i]smiling[/i], i can see [i]teeth[/i], [i]good[/i] teeth, [i]nice[/i] teeth, not smashed remnants... i had not realised that i'd lost track of the status, so i thought all this time your terrible dental woes were still unsolved & you were still suffering... so this seems like wunnerful news hence accept my belated YAY!
...[i]hoping i've not made some ghastly mistake here[/i]...

2026-02-16 23:03:41 UTC

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@[url=https://toot.community/users/sister_ratched]Jude🇵🇸[/url] i wonder that they don't perhaps instead whinge about the increasing frequency & intensity of weather disasters linked directly to the climate crisis, which is actively promoted by their continuing gratuitous use of discretionary air travel.
#[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=ClimateCrisis]ClimateCrisis[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=NonLinear]NonLinear[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=TippingPoints]TippingPoints[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=PositiveFeedbackLoops]PositiveFeedbackLoops[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=FossilFools]FossilFools[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=RenewableEnergy]RenewableEnergy[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=ChangeTheSystem]ChangeTheSystem[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=StateCapture]StateCapture[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=RightToProtest]RightToProtest[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=Biodiversity]Biodiversity[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=WeAreTotallyFscked]WeAreTotallyFscked[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=Misanthropy]Misanthropy[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=Karma]Karma[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=NativeForests]NativeForests[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=StopLoggingNativeForests]StopLoggingNativeForests[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=FsckCapitalism]FsckCapitalism[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=CognitiveDissonance]CognitiveDissonance[/url]

2026-02-16 20:35:59 UTC

- reply

@[url=https://toot.community/users/sister_ratched]Jude🇵🇸[/url] well i dunno, but surely someone needs to mention the elephant in the corner of the room... [i]Shirley![/i]

2026-02-16 08:27:51 UTC

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@[url=https://toot.community/users/sister_ratched]Jude🇵🇸[/url] i believe that the elephant midwives union is already right up on this.

2026-02-16 03:03:54 UTC

help, help, [i]heeeeeelllllp![/i]
i have tried sitting on the dock of the bay, i visited octopussy's garden, i walked like an egyptian, i even tried turning japanese, i valiantly did the eagle rock, i pretended to be the real thing, i kidded myself into forgetting it's monday & instead had friday on my mind, i deeply pondered whether there's life on mars, i imagined nutbush city sans limits ... oh i tried so many things, but all have ended in failure, ergo, i remain tormented by this recently rediscovered malignant #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=earworm]earworm[/url]:
[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtyNLwqljzI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtyNLwqljzI[/url]
#[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=whimsy]whimsy[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=nonsense]nonsense[/url] :zany face:
[attachment type='link' url='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtyNLwqljzI' title='Dollar Bill - The Decimal Currency Jingle' publisher_name='YouTube' publisher_url='https://www.youtube.com/' author_name='Reserve Bank of Australia' author_url='https://www.youtube.com/@reservebankau' preview='https://i.ytimg.com/vi/GtyNLwqljzI/hqdefault.jpg']Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.[/attachment]

2026-02-14 09:25:44 UTC

[url=https://johnmenadue.com/post/2026/02/genocide-is-the-story-not-anti-semitism/]https://johnmenadue.com/post/2026/02/genocide-is-the-story-not-anti-semitism/[/url]
#[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=auspol]auspol[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=nswpol]nswpol[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=ACAB]ACAB[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=FuckZionism]FuckZionism[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=RightToProtest]RightToProtest[/url]
[attachment type='link' url='https://johnmenadue.com/post/2026/02/genocide-is-the-story-not-anti-semitism/' title='Genocide is the story, not antisemitism' publisher_name='Pearls and Irritations' image='https://johnmenadue.com/images/Herzog-minns-bondi-pavillion-cl.jpg']The Australian government’s response to Gaza, and its handling of President Isaac Herzog’s visit, has blurred the line between antisemitism and criticism of Israel.[/attachment]

2026-02-14 09:21:39 UTC

[url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/14/toxicity-social-media-ethical-racism-misogyny-far-right]https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/14/toxicity-social-media-ethical-racism-misogyny-far-right[/url]
not a single mention of the #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=fediverse]fediverse[/url], in an article ostensibly about #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=socialmedia]socialmedia[/url], which instead bangs on merely about #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=cesspitmedia]cesspitmedia[/url]. another useless journo, ffs.
[attachment type='link' url='https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/14/toxicity-social-media-ethical-racism-misogyny-far-right' title='Given the toxicity of social media, a moral question now faces all of us: is it still ethical to use it? | Frances Ryan' publisher_name='the Guardian' publisher_url='https://www.theguardian.com/' publisher_img='https://uploads.guim.co.uk/2018/01/31/TheGuardian_AMP.png' author_name='Frances Ryan' author_url='https://www.theguardian.com/profile/frances-ryan' image='https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/92c5d854fcc572664b4862bee31ce2a90d6b0db7/240_0_4320_3456/master/4320.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&precrop=40:21,offset-x50,offset-y0&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctb3BpbmlvbnMucG5n&enable=upscale&s=ca4c6055ded88705a26ecf9dc66b079e']With so many platforms rife with racism, misogyny and far-right rhetoric, there must be a point where decent people walk away, says Guardian columnist Frances Ryan[/attachment]

2026-02-13 22:09:33 UTC

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@[url=https://toot.community/users/sister_ratched]Jude🇵🇸[/url] some excellent [i]loony toons[/i] relied on 'em!

2026-02-13 08:09:45 UTC

special abc 730 tonight [i]yay[/i]
sarah interviews madmonk [i]boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo[/i]
#[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=AusPol]AusPol[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=WhyTheFuckIsLabor]WhyTheFuckIsLabor[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=HahahahaLiebs]HahahahaLiebs[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=NatsAreNuts]NatsAreNuts[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=GreensYEAH]GreensYEAH[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=VoteGreens]VoteGreens[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=VoteProgIndies]VoteProgIndies[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=PHONkedinthehead]PHONkedinthehead[/url]

2026-01-26 23:53:48 UTC

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@[url=https://toot.community/users/sister_ratched]Jude🇵🇸[/url] ooh, good insight! you might be onto something there, but afaict the primary reason is pure taste; somehow i find their flavours to be [i]nasty[/i]. have never understood, clearly can't adequately explain it, just always has been so. 🤔🤷‍♀️

2026-01-26 23:12:10 UTC

my sister [who loves & supports me unreservedly] regards me as quite incomprehensibly bonkers when i reminded her during a chat t'other day that i don't, & never have, like either #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=pawpaws]pawpaws[/url] or #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=mangos]mangos[/url]. 😲 🤯

2026-01-26 08:17:43 UTC

i posit that receiving a [i]"key to the city"[/i] is likely an exercise in frustration, as one traipses up street & down crescent trying to find a bloody lock that the key fits.
#[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=whimsy]whimsy[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=nonsense]nonsense[/url] :zany face:

2026-01-26 07:17:13 UTC

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@[url=https://toot.community/users/sister_ratched]Jude🇵🇸[/url] @[url=https://aus.social/users/cheryanne]Chery (Great Australian Pods)[/url] @[url=https://bne.social/users/james]James Cridland[/url] @[url=https://bsky.brid.gy/ap/did:plc:o226ujhlcj6anuqigwao4hhi]Amy Remeikis[/url]
[quote]can't read this[/quote]
aha!
[abstract]da wordz[/abstract]
[quote]Last week, a clip circulated of Indigenous children standing in what looked like a prison yard, singing. It was a mock-up of a Qantas ad, and the tune was I still call Australia home. Instead of the usual words, the children were singing about being incarcerated. “I’m only 10 and so far from grown, I shouldn’t call this place home.”
It was a rare piece of satire: cutting, yes, but also moving. It pointed to the gap between the pride in Australia so often used to sell us things – be it plane seats or political parties – and the things in this country nobody should take pride in. But the clip, taken from Tony Armstrong’s show Always Was Tonight, had a blunter point, too, about the criminal age of responsibility – which in parts of this country is just 10 years old. How are we putting these kids behind bars?
Today is January 26 – usually the time for a debate about celebrating Australia Day. Is it racist? Is Australia racist? How can we move on from or respond to or adequately memorialise the different facets of our history?
This year, that debate has different contours. Rather than reckoning with our past, the facts force us to reckon with the changing role of racial politics in our present. This masthead’s Resolve poll found 68 per cent of Australians support leaving Australia Day where it is – a remarkable rise from 47 per cent just three years ago. Meanwhile, Pauline Hanson’s party is polling either within spitting distance of or above the Coalition. Federally, the Nationals have just broken from the Coalition – driven at least in part by fears about One Nation’s gains.
There are other worrying signs around attitudes to immigration – again discernible from polling. Ten years ago, a third of voters said immigration was “too high”. Now, over half of us think that.
Those numbers are from the Scanlon Foundation’s Mapping Social Cohesion report. There is, it should be said, also very strong support for multiculturalism and immigration as a general phenomenon. In other words, it’s possible to believe these are good things, while also believing immigration is too high.
But this is not as reassuring as it might seem, when you take account of the authors’ warning that all these sentiments are potentially affected by concerns about housing and the economy. This warning isn’t a vague suspicion: it is based on numbers showing overlaps in beliefs. For example: “People who believed that immigrants increase house prices or take jobs away in 2024 were 2.2 times more likely to change their minds between 2024 and 2025 from agreeing that immigrant diversity makes Australia stronger in 2024 to disagreeing in 2025.”
So we know sentiments are changing and we have some sense of potential reasons. And so we should take note when we see prominent politicians leaning into such narratives – because this has the potential to change attitudes further. Andrew Hastie, reportedly now campaigning for the Liberal leadership, wrote of Australians becoming “strangers in our own home” in an Instagram post last year, evoking the notorious 1968 Rivers of Blood speech from British politician Enoch Powell. Hastie’s focus was on the housing crisis, which he traced to “unsustainable immigration”.
Increasingly, parts of the Coalition seem to be moving in on One Nation’s territory. But we shouldn’t think of this as new. Instead, we should recognise it as a trend in our politics stretching back at least a quarter-century.
In a 2017 Quarterly Essay on One Nation, David Marr wrote that Hanson had, in 2000, called for a blockade against refugees. The next year, John Howard delivered Hanson’s policy, when those aboard the Tampa were sent to Nauru. “We will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come,” Howard said. Marr said that this, too, echoed Hanson, who in her maiden speech said: “If I can invite whom I want into my home, then I should have the right to have a say in who comes into my country.”
Howard had found a way to fight off Hanson: adopt her policies. Hanson did poorly at the next election – but the Liberals did well. This did not mean Hanson’s ideology had been defeated. Rather, Marr writes, it had “entered the political mix of the nation”.
It is impossible to say what happens to the Coalition next because there are so many permutations. But what we do know is that we are about to watch various individuals and groups jockey for position – the Nationals, conservative Liberals and One Nation itself. It seems likely that the politics of race are about to become more dominant – and more horrible – than ever.
In the short term, what is stopping One Nation from rising further? Marr identified two main drivers of the party’s support: concern about immigration and distrust of government (with nostalgia and law and order also factors). Both have risen over time, and they may keep rising. And so One Nation’s competitors will feel pressed to follow, just as Howard did. And consider, too, the new likelihood of another rate rise: if housing unaffordability is a more recent driver of anti-immigration sentiment, that may be a dangerous catalyst.
Some suggest that Anthony Albanese has, again, got marvellously lucky with the Coalition divisions, just when he was under pressure. But as we watch the mess in Canberra, we should remember that it is not just “Coalition chaos” or fascinating polling – some bemusing political circus. All this is a pointer to deeper divisions in our society. Attitudes are changing, in worrying ways. This is what we are seeing reflected in the rhetoric of and battles between some of our most prominent politicians. We may be entering an ugly time – and given how horrible some of the past years have been, an uglier time is an awful thought. This is the nation Albanese must now try to lead and keep together. “Lucky” is not the word that comes to mind.[/quote]

2026-01-26 04:23:56 UTC

good essay on the laughable liebs
[url=https://newpolitics.substack.com/p/from-menzies-to-nowhere-the-liberals]https://newpolitics.substack.com/p/from-menzies-to-nowhere-the-liberals[/url]
#[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=AusPol]AusPol[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=WhyTheFuckIsLabor]WhyTheFuckIsLabor[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=HahahahaLiebs]HahahahaLiebs[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=NatsAreNuts]NatsAreNuts[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=GreensYEAH]GreensYEAH[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=VoteGreens]VoteGreens[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=VoteProgIndies]VoteProgIndies[/url]
[attachment type='link' url='https://newpolitics.substack.com/p/from-menzies-to-nowhere-the-liberals' title='From Menzies to nowhere: The Liberals and their disappearing voters' publisher_name='New Politics' publisher_url='https://newpolitics.substack.com' publisher_img='https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!bofR!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcd81fae8-0653-40e7-83f6-64733826f555_1280x1280.png' author_name='David Lewis' author_url='https://substack.com/@dlewis' image='https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!PE60!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6e24595a-33ba-4a06-8ace-e5e8de7928eb_800x450.jpeg']The Liberal Party is falling apart because it’s trying to represent an electorate that no longer exists.[/attachment]

2026-01-25 22:53:15 UTC

i just get so irritated at this kind of journalism...
[quote]Today is January 26 – usually the time for a debate about celebrating Australia Day. Is it racist? Is Australia racist?[/quote]
such morally-bankrupt both-sidesism is akin to writing comparable bullshit like
[quote]is climate-change real?[/quote]
or
[quote]is the earth really not flat?[/quote]
etc.
[url=https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/rise-of-one-nation-reflects-deeper-divisions-in-society-20260125-p5nwun.html]https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/rise-of-one-nation-reflects-deeper-divisions-in-society-20260125-p5nwun.html[/url]
#[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=AusPol]AusPol[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=TheVoice]TheVoice[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=iVotedYes]iVotedYes[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=FsckenStrayaVotedNo]FsckenStrayaVotedNo[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=Racism]Racism[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=VotedNoGetKarmaComebackYouRedneckRacists]VotedNoGetKarmaComebackYouRedneckRacists[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=Misanthropy]Misanthropy[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=FirstNations]FirstNations[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=AlwaysWasAlwaysWillBe]AlwaysWasAlwaysWillBe[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=InvasionDay]InvasionDay[/url]
[attachment type='link' url='https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/rise-of-one-nation-reflects-deeper-divisions-in-society-20260125-p5nwun.html' title='Rise of One Nation reflects deeper divisions in society' publisher_name='The Sydney Morning Herald' publisher_url='https://www.smh.com.au' publisher_img='https://www.smh.com.au/metro-assets/assets/static/smh.png' author_name='Sean Kelly' author_url='/by/sean-kelly-h1d26a' image='https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.2288%2C$multiply_0.7025%2C$ratio_1.777778%2C$width_1059%2C$x_0%2C$y_0/t_crop_custom/q_86%2Cf_auto/95d5a8250405880bac3df37be8c47986f441f7b1']We may be entering an ugly time – an awful concept. This is the nation the PM must now try to keep together.[/attachment]

2026-01-24 09:44:15 UTC

[quote]A long-running case connected to the ABC axing The Checkout has resulted in a new finding on whistleblower liability. By Jason Koutsoukis.[/quote]
[url=https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/2026/01/24/abc-whistleblower-reaches-the-federal-court]https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/2026/01/24/abc-whistleblower-reaches-the-federal-court[/url]
[quote]For more than seven years, a bitter and unresolved dispute over the ABC’s decision to cancel The Checkout, its long-running consumer affairs program, has expanded into something more consequential: a test of how Australia’s national broadcaster accounts for itself, how it deals with internal dissent, and how far whistleblower protection laws can reach to protect those blowing the whistle.
What began as an internal challenge to how senior ABC executives justified the show’s cancellation later spilt into parliament, and then into the Federal Court, where a series of procedural rulings have repeatedly prevented judges from examining the substance of the allegations themselves.
At the centre of the saga is the ABC’s 2018 decision not to fund a seventh series of The Checkout, a program that regularly drew audiences of more than a million viewers.
In a letter sent to the ABC’s then managing director Michelle Guthrie in July 2018, one of The Checkout’s producers described the decision as “a failure of public broadcasting”. They warned the decision to cancel the ABC’s only consumer affairs program risked breaching the ABC Charter, a part of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act that outlines the broadcaster’s ongoing functions and responsibilities.
According to the producer, known in court documents as BDR21, senior ABC managers made the decision to cancel The Checkout without consulting the show’s producers. Later, the producer claims, a false internal narrative was constructed that framed the cancellation as the inevitable consequence of failed budget negotiations – negotiations BDR21 says never took place.
That version of events is set out in an account compiled by BDR21 as part of a February 2022 external public interest disclosure, which is supported by contemporaneous internal documents and emails. The PID reproduces explanations given within the ABC for the cancellation decision – explanations that would later be relied on to justify the broadcaster’s actions in oral and written answers to a Senate estimates committee.
“In July 2018, I was troubled by the fact that the ABC cited a cut to the internal ABC budget for ‘Entertainment’ programming as the reason for not funding The Checkout Series 7, but made that decision without having any discussions with the show’s producers about ways to reduce the cost of the show,” BDR21 said in the PID.
“The ABC’s Head of Non-Scripted Production … responded to this allegation within the ABC by making and circulating false claims such as: ‘this situation stemmed predominantly from the producer’s inability to negotiate the budget down for the 7th series to fit in to the priorities for 18/19 ABC budget.’ ”
The PID says the ABC claimed the producer “flat out refused to reduce the budget down at all during numerous conversations and negotiations over the phone”.
BDR21 strongly disputes this, saying there were not “numerous conversations and negotiations” in June 2018. Instead, there was “one phone call in which we discussed a tax rebate called the PDV offset”.
According to BDR21, the false internal narrative hardened over time and was edited, endorsed and circulated at increasingly senior levels within the ABC. The producer alleges such conduct was in breach of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 and constituted maladministration.
BDR21 also cited an internal ABC investigation named “Project Twirl”, which in March 2021 concluded that the ABC’s claim it had asked the show to return to its Series 5 budget was not correct.
Despite this, no disciplinary action was taken against any person “for falsifying an account of the communications between the ABC and me in the leadup to the Checkout 2018 Decision”, BDR21 alleges in the PID. “I believe this was done because, faced with evidence of serious misconduct, the ABC’s preference was to sweep it under the carpet. It seems to me that concealing misconduct in this way is, itself, maladministration which involves more breaches of the PGPA Duties.”
When Anderson appeared before a Senate estimates hearing in October 2018, he was asked by then Labor senator Kristina Keneally whether ABC management did in fact approach The Checkout’s producers “about an alternative arrangement or perhaps making budget cuts and they said it wasn’t possible?”
Anderson replied: “We did. It wasn’t me specifically at the time, but we did talk to the producer about the timing of the program in that, given the budget pressures that we had, we could not do the program from the beginning of next year.”
Keneally responded: “That’s not my question. My question was: was an approach made to the producers of The Checkout to say: ‘Hey, this show is too expensive. Is there any way we can cut the cost?’ ”
Anderson replied: “I believe so. But, from the producer’s perspective, cutting the cost would mean it wouldn’t be the same show. So the producer made it quite clear that simply taking cost out of it would mean it would not be the show that you know as The Checkout.”
Anderson took a number of questions on notice relating to the timing and location of meetings between ABC managers and the producers of The Checkout.
In written answers to those questions, provided by the ABC to the Senate in November 2018, the broadcaster said discussions about the format and budget for a seventh series of The Checkout began with a teleconference on May 15, 2018, attended by BDR21 as well as the ABC’s head of entertainment and head of distribution for entertainment and specialist content.
The written answer added that further meetings and phone calls took place over the following weeks, before ABC managers advised The Checkout’s producers on July 6, 2018, that it was unable to commission the program for a seventh series within the budget proposed by the producer.
“Subsequent meetings between the producer and the ABC explored the budget possibilities,” Anderson said. “After careful consideration, the ABC requested a return to the Series 5 budget after the program had received a one-off 3.5 per cent increase for Series 6. The producer declined to negotiate.”
In the PID, BDR21 provides an account of a phone conversation with Anderson in January 2019, after those written answers were provided to the Senate.
“The ABC Managing Director David Anderson told me … ‘My assessment is that this looks like serious misconduct … There is someone who is trying to misrepresent the situation to protect themselves,’ ” BDR21 said in the PID.
On February 6, 2019, Anderson wrote to the Senate estimates committee to amend the evidence given both to the committee and in response to Question on Notice 161.
“The producer emailed possible budget scenarios for a seventh series of The Checkout to the ABC,” Anderson wrote. “In the context of budget adjustments, the ABC did not put a specific revised budget to the producer. There was some discussion between the ABC and the producer regarding the PDV offset, however, there was no substantial negotiation of a new program budget with a view to commissioning a seventh series.”
For BDR21, Anderson’s amendment resolved only the surface issue: what had been said to the Senate. Untouched was the deeper concern that had driven the dispute from the outset: how an inaccurate internal narrative had come to be created, hardened and defended inside the ABC, and why no one appeared to be held accountable for it.
After pursuing internal complaints and making a series of public interest disclosures under the Commonwealth whistleblower regime, BDR21 began proceedings in the Federal Court, seeking to test if the ABC’s account of events was false or misleading and whether the broadcaster had breached its obligations in the way it responded.
What followed exposed a fundamental tension between whistleblower protections and the constitutional limits placed on judicial scrutiny of parliamentary proceedings.
The full Federal Court later ruled that parliamentary privilege was paramount and the court could not test the truth or falsity of what was said to parliament, even in the context of whistleblower claims.
In 2021, and again on appeal two years later, the Federal Court ruled that large parts of the producer’s case could not proceed.
The problem was not that the allegations lacked seriousness but that proving them would require a court to question the truth or motivation of evidence given to parliament. Parliamentary privilege, the judges held, operates as a hard boundary: unless parliament itself says otherwise, courts cannot test what is said in Senate proceedings. Much of BDR21’s legal action was struck out without any finding on whether the ABC’s internal account was accurate or misleading.
As the case ground on, new problems emerged that went beyond parliamentary privilege and into the mechanics of how whistleblowers are able to act.
While BDR21 received documents from the ABC during proceedings, provided under the court-ordered discovery process, the use of such material is tightly constrained.
Parties to litigation are bound by what is known as the Harman obligation, which prevents documents obtained through court processes from being used for any purpose outside the proceedings, unless they are read into evidence. Breaching that obligation can amount to contempt of court.
Because of the novelty and broader implications of the issue, the Human Rights Law Centre’s Whistleblower Project was granted leave to appear as a friend of the court – an unusual step that underscored the case’s significance beyond the parties themselves – with Federal Court Justice John Halley delivering a ruling on the Harman obligation on December 5 last year.
According to Anneliese Cooper, a lawyer with the Whistleblower Project, who was there to support BDR21, the case raises “complex questions about whether someone would be protected from liability for contempt of court, if they were to use confidential court documents to make a whistleblowing disclosure”.
In the end, the Federal Court found whistleblowers are immune from liability if they use confidential court material to make a valid whistleblowing disclosure. “This is an important decision which underscores the important role of whistleblower protection laws,” Cooper tells The Saturday Paper. “In his Honour’s judgement, Justice Halley underscored the public interest function served by whistleblowers.”
Still, Cooper says, the ruling exposes a deeper and unresolved flaw in Australia’s whistleblowing protections. “The decision also recognised an ongoing hole in Australia’s whistleblowing framework,” she says. “Because the prosecution of tax office whistleblower Richard Boyle led to a finding that whistleblower protections only protect the actual act of whistleblowing, not any prior, preparatory conduct, the judge in BDR21 raised the possibility that using court documents to consider blowing the whistle, before the actual whistleblowing, could be contempt. This possibly invokes an issue where the act of whistleblowing is protected, but the thinking about it is not.”
For Cooper, the implications stretch well beyond a single case.
“The way whistleblower protections were considered in the Boyle case, and now in BDR21, underscore the urgent need for comprehensive reform in this area,” she says. “These cases demonstrate the significant gaps and complexities in whistleblowing laws across Australia. If whistleblowers fail to follow narrow and prescriptive whistleblowing pathways, they will not be protected. That must change urgently.”
Ultimately, the most striking feature of the BRD21 v Australian Broadcasting Corporation saga is not what has been proved but what has been made difficult to prove.
The national broadcaster corrected its evidence to the Senate, yet no court has been able to examine how the original account was assembled, endorsed and defended. In that gap between parliamentary privilege and whistleblower protection, the case leaves the stubborn proposition that public institutions can meet the formal demands of accountability while the substance of their conduct remains beyond scrutiny.
The ABC provided a two-sentence response to detailed questions submitted by The Saturday Paper. “The queries raised relate to historical matters that form part of ongoing court proceedings, in which there are suppression orders,” it said. “It would therefore be inappropriate for us to provide further comment at this time.”[/quote]
#[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=ABC]ABC[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=TheCheckout]TheCheckout[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=AusPol]AusPol[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=whistleblowers]whistleblowers[/url]
[attachment type='link' url='https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/2026/01/24/abc-whistleblower-reaches-the-federal-court' title='ABC whistleblower reaches the Federal Court' publisher_name='The Saturday Paper' publisher_url='https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/' publisher_img='https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/sites/default/files/tsp_masthead_black_smlr.png' author_name='Jason Koutsoukis']For more than seven years, a bitter and unresolved dispute over the ABC’s decision to cancel The Checkout, its long-running consumer affairs program, has expanded into something more consequential: a test of how Australia’s national broadcaster accou…[/attachment]

2026-01-24 01:17:42 UTC

more of this bullshit. humans continue to be idiots.
[url=https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/the-conversation-we-re-not-having-about-death-20251127-p5nj2c.html]https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/the-conversation-we-re-not-having-about-death-20251127-p5nj2c.html[/url]
#[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=death]death[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=dying]dying[/url]

2026-01-23 02:35:22 UTC

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[abstract=apub]Auspol, the coalition[/abstract]
@[url=https://toot.community/users/sister_ratched]Jude🇵🇸[/url] oi, you -- ease up a bit; our supplies are fast running out! 🤪 @[url=https://theblower.au/users/HardBeingGreen]Paul[/url]

2026-01-23 00:44:10 UTC

[url=https://consortiumnews.com/2026/01/22/going-down-down-under/]https://consortiumnews.com/2026/01/22/going-down-down-under/[/url]
stupidly rushed faulty law noticed OS.
#[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=AusPol]AusPol[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=WhyTheFuckIsLabor]WhyTheFuckIsLabor[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=HahahahaLiebs]HahahahaLiebs[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=NatsAreNuts]NatsAreNuts[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=GreensYEAH]GreensYEAH[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=VoteGreens]VoteGreens[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=VoteProgIndies]VoteProgIndies[/url]
[attachment type='link' url='https://consortiumnews.com/2026/01/22/going-down-down-under/' title='Going Down, Down Under' publisher_name='Consortium News' image='https://consortiumnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/AUS-SENATE.png']The Australian Parliament has passed a new hate crimes law that could potentially throw critics of Israel in prison for years, reports Joe Lauria.[/attachment]

2026-01-22 22:09:06 UTC

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[abstract=apub]Auspol, the coalition[/abstract]
@[url=https://theblower.au/users/HardBeingGreen]Paul[/url] late last night i streamed the latest [code]democracy snag[/code], & was amused by a view offered that sussssssssan could get rolled as early as [i]today[/i]. also that the next !=leader will be welldoneangus not hopalonghastie.
#[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=AusPol]AusPol[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=WhyTheFuckIsLabor]WhyTheFuckIsLabor[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=HahahahaLiebs]HahahahaLiebs[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=NatsAreNuts]NatsAreNuts[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=GreensYEAH]GreensYEAH[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=VoteGreens]VoteGreens[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=VoteProgIndies]VoteProgIndies[/url]

2026-01-21 23:04:35 UTC

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@[url=https://toot.community/users/sister_ratched]Jude🇵🇸[/url] doing a DLP...

2026-01-21 14:56:25 UTC

just a fucken sausage-fest, steadily fucking the rock
[url=https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/eds-blog/davos-remains-a-festival-of-men-despite-mostly-man-made-risks-we-al-face/]https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/eds-blog/davos-remains-a-festival-of-men-despite-mostly-man-made-risks-we-al-face/[/url]
[attachment type='link' url='https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/eds-blog/davos-remains-a-festival-of-men-despite-mostly-man-made-risks-we-al-face/' title='Davos still a festival of men despite (mostly) man-made risks we face' publisher_name='Women's Agenda' publisher_url='https://womensagenda.com.au/' author_name='Angela Priestley' author_url='https://womensagenda.com.au/author/apriestley/' author_img='https://womensagenda.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Headshot-Linkedin-96x96.jpg' image='https://womensagenda.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/WEF_mens_fest.png']Every year, the wealthy and influential descending on Davos for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum are overwhelmingly male[/attachment]

2026-01-21 07:03:10 UTC

[quote]‘Oh my God, if I died in this room, no one would even know.’[/quote]
so what? i'm damned if i understand why some humans have such strange concerns of this scenario, [strong][em]if[/em][/strong] they have no next of kin or friends. if you've carked it, then it's game over anyway, & if you have nobody then nobody will be upset or sad, so why should you be sad now pre-cark? it's so irrational.
[url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/20/chinese-app-are-you-dead-exposed-deepest-darkest-fears]https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/20/chinese-app-are-you-dead-exposed-deepest-darkest-fears[/url]
#[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=death]death[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=dying]dying[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=alone]alone[/url] #[url=https://farcebook.space/search?tag=silly]silly[/url]
[attachment type='link' url='https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/20/chinese-app-are-you-dead-exposed-deepest-darkest-fears' title='Afraid of dying alone? How a Chinese app exposed single people’s deepest, darkest fears' publisher_name='The Guardian' publisher_url='https://www.theguardian.com/' publisher_img='https://uploads.guim.co.uk/2018/01/31/TheGuardian_AMP.png' author_name='Amy Hawkins' author_url='https://www.theguardian.com/profile/amy-hawkins' image='https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/36e7b39206427e54a26a41cf1fb496e582d4e1bf/0_0_5000_4000/master/5000.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&precrop=40:21,offset-x50,offset-y0&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=e2f95604676d9b9c68ff2fe7bfc58980']In China, marriage and birth rates have hit record lows and many people are living in isolation. Is the Are You Dead? app just a practical response to this – or something more troubling?[/attachment]

2026-01-21 04:57:46 UTC

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@[url=https://toot.community/users/sister_ratched]Jude🇵🇸[/url] @[url=https://aus.social/users/Susan60]Looking for explanations…[/url] @[url=https://gives.hugz.online/users/MelissaBearTrix]Melissa BearTrix[/url] PFJ JPF...

2026-01-21 04:30:02 UTC

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@[url=https://toot.community/users/sister_ratched]Jude🇵🇸[/url] ta. yeah i have some nasty stuff which works but i tend to be lazy & not use as often as i should, coz i dislike the residue it leaves & so need to wear socks to avoid staining the carpets. i do otoh keep up a bit better with grinding away on my heels in the shower with my foot scraper thingie. baaaaah!

2026-01-21 03:36:39 UTC

[i]i love the ~~smell~~ look of cracked heels bleeding onto the bathmat in the ~~morning~~ arvo. [/i]

2026-01-21 00:25:28 UTC

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@[url=https://bne.social/users/caity]Wonderdog 🏳️‍🌈[/url] ha!
[quote]Himself[/quote]
hmmmm, now where / from whom have i seen this in common use elsewhere in fedi? think, think... 🤷‍♀️🤭😇

2025-12-08 09:42:28 UTC

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@[url=https://friendica.opensocial.space/profile/msdropbear42]Droppie [opensoc] 🐨♀🌈🐧🦘[/url] oh quit yer whining, yer febrile fictitious fangball

2025-12-07 09:00:27 UTC

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@[url=https://mastodon.au/users/Jacquetta]Jacquetta[/url] me be late to the thread, & all the words have been said, so i can but repeat the common sentiment of your other fedi-friends, except in the vernacular of my species... you're a ripper 🏆, & that caller is a disgusting fuckhead 💩. so sorry you've been subjected to all this 😢, [i]everything[/i], from go to whoa. 🥺🤗💜

2025-12-07 04:09:15 UTC

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@[url=https://toot.community/users/sister_ratched]Jude🇵🇸[/url] well said Jude! 💯✅👍
@[url=https://setouchi.social/users/David]David[/url]