Dr Ashlea Wainwright
ashleaw.bsky.social
Dr Ashlea Wainwright
@ashleaw.bsky.social
She/her. Geochemist at University of Melbourne, avid reader, AFL, recent pottery wheel enthusiast. Views are my own.
Reposted by Dr Ashlea Wainwright
“This is complete overkill by Victoria police to designate such a large area for six months... What it means is that a police officer or protective services officer can stop and search anyone, no questions asked, at any time in the CBD and its surrounds.”
‘Vast overreach’: police allowed to conduct warrantless pat-downs of people across inner Melbourne for six months
Search powers, usually reserved for protests, will be in effect in the CBD and beyond in a move criticised by human rights groups
www.theguardian.com
November 25, 2025 at 7:55 AM
Just outrageous!
That's more than 1,100 jobs lost at the CSIRO over the last two years.

"Combined, the staff association estimates that equates to cutting the agency’s size by a third."

This is more cuts to the CSIRO than was attempted by the Abbott government.

www.smh.com.au/national/csi...
CSIRO to slash hundreds of jobs in cost-saving drive
The staff association at the nation’s leading scientific research organisation says the latest round of cuts marks “a sad day for publicly funded science”.
www.smh.com.au
November 19, 2025 at 12:28 AM
Reposted by Dr Ashlea Wainwright
4BC is out here with the hard-hitting investigations!

500 Australians are apparently at the UN climate summit in Brazil, and that's costing taxpayers $2 billion!

So for some quick maths that's $4 million per person for a two week trip to Brazil.

Unbelievable stuff! 😛
Climate junket exposed: Australia sends 500+ to COP30 in Brazil - 4BC
It’s been revealed that more than 500 Australians are travelling to Brazil for COP30, costing taxpayers up to $2 billion. Jason Matthews on 4BC Mornings questions the value of the Paris Agreement and ...
www.4bc.com.au
November 18, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Reposted by Dr Ashlea Wainwright
so @matteowong.bsky.social & I wrote on data centers: arguably the most important buildings in the world & are, in a way, holding the economy hostage. Byzantine financial instruments, private equity, depreciating tech, hype, $trillion valuations. it’s all there. an ai crash prob starts here.
Here’s How the AI Crash Happens
The U.S. is becoming an Nvidia-state.
www.theatlantic.com
October 30, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Reposted by Dr Ashlea Wainwright
The most insanely frustrating thing about the #ClimateCrisis is how the breakthrough we so clearly need isn’t technological. It’s just a collective willingness, a determination even, to change in ways that would clearly be SO MUCH BETTER than the clear and obvious consequences of NOT changing.
October 29, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Reposted by Dr Ashlea Wainwright
Monster: Ed Gein, a thread

Ed Gein was schizophrenic and had mummy issues, he was extremely unwell but he was NOT trans by any acceptable definition of the word and would not have been considered trans by any medical professional. He was not a trans woman he was trying to be/become his mother. 1/
October 24, 2025 at 10:37 PM
Reposted by Dr Ashlea Wainwright
Lots of talk about solar geoengineering (SRM) in climate circles over the past few days.

As you try to decide what you think about it, please keep two things in mind:

1) Once it begins it would need to be maintained without a break for thousands of years, effectively forever, until…

1/3
October 26, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Reposted by Dr Ashlea Wainwright
Text of Aust/US critical mineral deal.

www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-st...

No 3 looks like an attack on requisite permits (probably environment)...the old red/green tape reduction trick.
October 20, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Reposted by Dr Ashlea Wainwright
It may have escaped your attention, but the Belgian energy system has quietly passed an important test. During the weekend of 4-5 October 2025, our consumption was almost entirely covered by renewable energy. And yet the system ticked like a Swiss watch. /
October 6, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Reposted by Dr Ashlea Wainwright
The Government justified a clamp down on freedom of information requests by claiming an increase in malicious and automated FOI attempts. Only problem is, there's no evidence of such a thing.

Our research showed that the number of FOI requests has not increased, but processing time has. 🔗⤵️ #auspol
October 8, 2025 at 12:25 AM
Reposted by Dr Ashlea Wainwright
Victoria's big batteries have broken a record, charging up with enough electricity to power over 2 million homes, after soaking up half of the state's rooftop solar capacity reneweconomy.com.au/victoria-bec...
reneweconomy.com.au
September 30, 2025 at 6:42 AM
Reposted by Dr Ashlea Wainwright
Women and children were seen screaming and rushing for shelter after an Israeli attack landed close to an Al Jazeera crew as they interviewed a displaced Palestinian mother in the al-Shati refugee camp near Gaza City.
September 27, 2025 at 10:53 AM
Reposted by Dr Ashlea Wainwright
A world first win. Unions in Australia holding Uber to account ✊
September 26, 2025 at 12:56 AM
Reposted by Dr Ashlea Wainwright
The success of the far right is not only measured in votes and seats but in its impact on rhetoric, policy and ideology. The fact that a (nominally) social democratic head of government with a huge majority choses to say and do this is maybe the biggest success of the far right in Europe yet.
September 26, 2025 at 7:29 AM
Reposted by Dr Ashlea Wainwright
We've signed onto this open letter coordinated by the Gun Safety Alliance.

The NSW Conservation Hunting Bill threatens public safety, risks poor animal welfare outcomes, undermines conservation efforts & erodes Australia’s globally respected firearm laws.

australiainstitute.org.au/report/submi...
September 16, 2025 at 1:20 AM
Reposted by Dr Ashlea Wainwright
What about option three: it actively stops learning but it isn't doomed and will continue to cause unthinkably severe damage to education for decades
September 2, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Reposted by Dr Ashlea Wainwright
This is how broken our lobbying laws are.

Every resources minister since 2001 went on to work for fossil fuel companies & 8 ex-ministers & senior advisers now lobby for gambling💰

It's time for complete reform of lobbying rules + independent watchdog.
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08...
'Revolving door' between politics and lobbying rings transparency alarm bell
Lobbying has become big business, with around 727 lobbyists registered in the national capital, more than three times the number of elected officials sitting in parliament.
www.abc.net.au
August 22, 2025 at 6:55 AM
Reposted by Dr Ashlea Wainwright
"Why are we rushing headlong into a future that threatens our agency, our livelihoods and our planet?"

There are vast costs that come with the rapid rise of AI technologies, writes @amyremeikis.bsky.social.

"Why wouldn’t you want that to be regulated? Or at least, have a say over its boundaries?"
Gung-ho won't do as we rush heedlessly towards an AI future
There is little space for the inevitable result of this lack of regulation when it comes to technologies such as artificial intelligence.
www.thenewdaily.com.au
August 25, 2025 at 4:06 AM
4 million!!! That's ridiculous
August 25, 2025 at 7:10 AM
Reposted by Dr Ashlea Wainwright
Tax breaks for huge, American-style utes cost the Australian government $250 million in 2023.

But it gets worse.

Emissions from passenger cars have fallen since 2005, but that drop was wiped out by the increased use of big utes. #auspol
August 25, 2025 at 6:05 AM
Reposted by Dr Ashlea Wainwright
Google’s growth was already accelerating, but between 2023 and 2024, the rate of growth doubled. If this isn’t the impact of the company’s new generative tools, then what the hell is it?”

ketanjoshi.co/2025/08/23/b...
August 23, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Reposted by Dr Ashlea Wainwright
HEY friends: recently seen heaps of "disclosures" from AI companies of the energy cost per question you type into chatbots (most recently from Google)?

Presenting per-query 'efficiency' is part of big tech's efforts to hide its extremely real and happening-right-now climate impacts!

NEW POST -->>>
Big tech’s selective disclosure masks AI’s real climate impact
Google claims to have disclosed new information proving its own efficiency. But it has hidden the bigger picture. Guess what: I’ve got the bigger picture for you right here in this big old po…
ketanjoshi.co
August 22, 2025 at 10:07 PM
Reposted by Dr Ashlea Wainwright
Hamas never congratulated Albanese. This was a manufactured story published The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age that has been debunked.

But the damage is done - it’s now the basis for a diplomatic assault from Netanyahu against Albanese.
August 21, 2025 at 12:25 AM
Reposted by Dr Ashlea Wainwright
We were warned.
August 17, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Reposted by Dr Ashlea Wainwright
A huge gas drilling rig in Victoria has been built just offshore from the 12 Apostles.

We're putting our coastlines at risk to extract gas we don’t even need.

Despite what big gas wants you to think, the data shows Victoria actually exports far more gas than it uses.

@ketanjoshi.co #auspol
August 18, 2025 at 6:30 AM