David Sligar
@davidsligar.bsky.social
ex Treasury and min adviser, occasional poster on welfare states and egalitarian public finance. Studying psychology for a change of scene.
lol sorry this is awful prose - abstraction sandwich held together by mixed metaphors.
Mamdani: For too long, those fluent in the good grammar of civility have deployed decorum to mask agendas of cruelty
January 1, 2026 at 9:17 PM
lol sorry this is awful prose - abstraction sandwich held together by mixed metaphors.
outstanding fireworks in sydney - really going above and beyond. unrelated i have an idea for easy budget saving in nsw
December 31, 2025 at 1:16 PM
outstanding fireworks in sydney - really going above and beyond. unrelated i have an idea for easy budget saving in nsw
my 4yo son’s favourite word is “actually” - going to make a good smart arse poster
December 31, 2025 at 5:22 AM
my 4yo son’s favourite word is “actually” - going to make a good smart arse poster
what a timeline when the Democrat presidential front runner is openly leaning in to looksmaxing critique from toxic right wing manosphere influencers
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 AM
what a timeline when the Democrat presidential front runner is openly leaning in to looksmaxing critique from toxic right wing manosphere influencers
Reposted by David Sligar
Due to disability, I barely have energy to clean my apartment, yet I work for a living.
I'm not eligible for welfare because my partner is financially responsible for me while simultaneously not sharing her income with me.
Australia's safety net.
#endpartnerincometesting
I'm not eligible for welfare because my partner is financially responsible for me while simultaneously not sharing her income with me.
Australia's safety net.
#endpartnerincometesting
December 29, 2025 at 2:59 AM
Due to disability, I barely have energy to clean my apartment, yet I work for a living.
I'm not eligible for welfare because my partner is financially responsible for me while simultaneously not sharing her income with me.
Australia's safety net.
#endpartnerincometesting
I'm not eligible for welfare because my partner is financially responsible for me while simultaneously not sharing her income with me.
Australia's safety net.
#endpartnerincometesting
Reposted by David Sligar
Hanson is calling for tougher hate speech laws, while she is currently in court trying to appeal against her loss in a hate speech legal case. A fact not mentioned by a single outlet covering this story.
Hanson at the Bondi memorial calling for students to be "rounded up" and cuts to immigration. The crowd muttering in agreement, and giving her a huge round of applause once she finishes.
Everything is about to get so much worse in Australia
Everything is about to get so much worse in Australia
December 16, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Hanson is calling for tougher hate speech laws, while she is currently in court trying to appeal against her loss in a hate speech legal case. A fact not mentioned by a single outlet covering this story.
excellent piece on online mmt's schtick of using word game tricks to sound pseudo-profound and transformative - @jomichell.bsky.social
criticalfinance.org/2025/12/19/w...
criticalfinance.org/2025/12/19/w...
December 21, 2025 at 9:29 AM
excellent piece on online mmt's schtick of using word game tricks to sound pseudo-profound and transformative - @jomichell.bsky.social
criticalfinance.org/2025/12/19/w...
criticalfinance.org/2025/12/19/w...
Reposted by David Sligar
I think this post nails the actual problem, for researchers at least—AI hallucinations would simply not be a problem in academic work if we’d not normalized citation-as-signaling rather than actual engagement—you can only cite a fake paper if you’re not in the habit of reading the papers you cite
Do not cite an academic paper unless you’ve read it
AI Is Inventing Academic Papers That Don't Exist -- And They're Being Cited in Real Journals
Academic articles from authors using large language model are creating an ecosystem of fake research that threatens human knowledge itself.
www.rollingstone.com
December 19, 2025 at 7:01 PM
I think this post nails the actual problem, for researchers at least—AI hallucinations would simply not be a problem in academic work if we’d not normalized citation-as-signaling rather than actual engagement—you can only cite a fake paper if you’re not in the habit of reading the papers you cite
Reposted by David Sligar
In response to the reappearance of MMT, I have, somewhat reluctantly, written up where the current crop of 'pop MMT' goes wrong.
The short version: yes the central bank issues money; no this doesn't change anything.
criticalfinance.org/2025/12/19/w...
The short version: yes the central bank issues money; no this doesn't change anything.
criticalfinance.org/2025/12/19/w...
What’s wrong with MMT?
As Marc Lavoie and John Quiggin have noted, there are ‘two MMTs’. Scholars such as Randy Wray, Eric Tymoigne and Scott Fulwiler have contributed to debates on monetary economics, instit…
criticalfinance.org
December 19, 2025 at 10:34 AM
In response to the reappearance of MMT, I have, somewhat reluctantly, written up where the current crop of 'pop MMT' goes wrong.
The short version: yes the central bank issues money; no this doesn't change anything.
criticalfinance.org/2025/12/19/w...
The short version: yes the central bank issues money; no this doesn't change anything.
criticalfinance.org/2025/12/19/w...
Reposted by David Sligar
When we most need clear thinking abt threats (ISIS, gun availability, racist & lethal ideologies), & elevation of acts of courage, & care for all communities hurting, Minns, unforgivably, serves up inflammatory conflation of anti-genocide rallies w the terror attack
Feel 🤢 abt what 2026 will bring
Feel 🤢 abt what 2026 will bring
![Excerpt from The Guardian
Bondi beach terror attack
(Headline) NSW to effectively ban protests for up to three months as premier links Gaza rallies to Bondi terror attack
Chris Minns says state 'can't risk another mass demonstration on that scale in NSW [because] the implications can be seen, in my view, on Sunday'](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:klj5q7cnbmt4pryeaegonnhi/bafkreicqrxg3cvzkfhf7bcljck5z2p4e5erynhahnzlrwzejfwgwnhie3m@jpeg)
December 21, 2025 at 4:39 AM
When we most need clear thinking abt threats (ISIS, gun availability, racist & lethal ideologies), & elevation of acts of courage, & care for all communities hurting, Minns, unforgivably, serves up inflammatory conflation of anti-genocide rallies w the terror attack
Feel 🤢 abt what 2026 will bring
Feel 🤢 abt what 2026 will bring
Unpopular view, but I do think the progressive drift away from prioritising free expression has made us more vulnerable to these moves.
Lowering criteria for speech restrictions from objective risk to subjective harm and vulnerability leaves us without a coherent framework to push back.
Lowering criteria for speech restrictions from objective risk to subjective harm and vulnerability leaves us without a coherent framework to push back.
At the moment it’s limited to public assemblies (protesters the easiest targets), but logically why stop there? Contentious discourse in the media, online, running for office, in parliament etc could all cause disharmony.
Shocking to blame Gaza protesters (which include his own MPs), but even more disturbing is the rationale for protest repression.
It isn’t about risk at the event. It’s that expressing contentious political views might vaguely undermine community harmony.
The problem is political expression itself.
It isn’t about risk at the event. It’s that expressing contentious political views might vaguely undermine community harmony.
The problem is political expression itself.
December 21, 2025 at 4:00 AM
Unpopular view, but I do think the progressive drift away from prioritising free expression has made us more vulnerable to these moves.
Lowering criteria for speech restrictions from objective risk to subjective harm and vulnerability leaves us without a coherent framework to push back.
Lowering criteria for speech restrictions from objective risk to subjective harm and vulnerability leaves us without a coherent framework to push back.
Reposted by David Sligar
Linking the march across the bridge to the massacre is disgusting and everyone doing so should be deeply ashamed of their giving tacit support for genocide
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
NSW to effectively ban protests for up to three months as premier links Gaza rallies to Bondi terror attack
Chris Minns says state ‘can’t risk another mass demonstration on that scale in NSW [because] the implications can be seen, in my view, on Sunday’
www.theguardian.com
December 19, 2025 at 7:14 AM
Linking the march across the bridge to the massacre is disgusting and everyone doing so should be deeply ashamed of their giving tacit support for genocide
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Reposted by David Sligar
crazy stuff - deliberate law breaking for decades and as to consequences, well 🤷
Police to decide on the legality of their own secret prison wiretaps
Police will be trusted to decide whether their own conduct was illegal during a secret prison bugging program, with prosecutors saying they will only reassess cases the force flags for review.
www.abc.net.au
December 19, 2025 at 7:15 AM
crazy stuff - deliberate law breaking for decades and as to consequences, well 🤷
At the moment it’s limited to public assemblies (protesters the easiest targets), but logically why stop there? Contentious discourse in the media, online, running for office, in parliament etc could all cause disharmony.
Shocking to blame Gaza protesters (which include his own MPs), but even more disturbing is the rationale for protest repression.
It isn’t about risk at the event. It’s that expressing contentious political views might vaguely undermine community harmony.
The problem is political expression itself.
It isn’t about risk at the event. It’s that expressing contentious political views might vaguely undermine community harmony.
The problem is political expression itself.
December 20, 2025 at 6:22 AM
At the moment it’s limited to public assemblies (protesters the easiest targets), but logically why stop there? Contentious discourse in the media, online, running for office, in parliament etc could all cause disharmony.
Shocking to blame Gaza protesters (which include his own MPs), but even more disturbing is the rationale for protest repression.
It isn’t about risk at the event. It’s that expressing contentious political views might vaguely undermine community harmony.
The problem is political expression itself.
It isn’t about risk at the event. It’s that expressing contentious political views might vaguely undermine community harmony.
The problem is political expression itself.
December 20, 2025 at 5:33 AM
Shocking to blame Gaza protesters (which include his own MPs), but even more disturbing is the rationale for protest repression.
It isn’t about risk at the event. It’s that expressing contentious political views might vaguely undermine community harmony.
The problem is political expression itself.
It isn’t about risk at the event. It’s that expressing contentious political views might vaguely undermine community harmony.
The problem is political expression itself.
When police and ministers can wholesale shut down public assemblies across an entire state, via administrative decision, without a defined or contestable risk threshold, without judicial authorisation, and keep them shut for months…
truly a grim moment for liberal democracy
truly a grim moment for liberal democracy
December 20, 2025 at 3:58 AM
When police and ministers can wholesale shut down public assemblies across an entire state, via administrative decision, without a defined or contestable risk threshold, without judicial authorisation, and keep them shut for months…
truly a grim moment for liberal democracy
truly a grim moment for liberal democracy
Reposted by David Sligar
Until now, the Palestine protests in Sydney have been held in accordance with the law and in cooperation with police. If Minns effectively causes the permanent criminalisation of protest, the most likely outcome is not that the protests will cease but that they will become ungovernable.
December 19, 2025 at 8:07 AM
Until now, the Palestine protests in Sydney have been held in accordance with the law and in cooperation with police. If Minns effectively causes the permanent criminalisation of protest, the most likely outcome is not that the protests will cease but that they will become ungovernable.
whatever the problem, in nsw banning protest will be the solution
“The NSW Council for Civil Liberties has opposed the proposed changes to protest laws.
Timothy Roberts, the council’s president, said: “We cannot have a ‘summer of calm’ and ‘togetherness’ with a government eroding our democratic freedoms.”
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Timothy Roberts, the council’s president, said: “We cannot have a ‘summer of calm’ and ‘togetherness’ with a government eroding our democratic freedoms.”
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
‘Protests had nothing to do with the attacks’: activists condemn premier’s plan to restrict rallies after Bondi shooting
Pro-Palestine activists, some Jewish groups and civil liberty campaigners criticise NSW Labor for ‘eroding our democratic freedoms’
www.theguardian.com
December 19, 2025 at 8:10 AM
whatever the problem, in nsw banning protest will be the solution
Interesting discussion of dating-app anomie among men and women. IMO a Polanyi angle would fit well: apps disembed mate-selection from social contexts, fostering consumer-market logics that strip away informal norms that once regulated expectations, behaviour and meaning
jacobin.com/2025/12/dati...
jacobin.com/2025/12/dati...
Dating in the Age of the Algorithm
Dating apps have transformed intimacy into a marketplace of frustration. They fuel gender conflict while ruthlessly extracting value from our most intimate desires.
jacobin.com
December 19, 2025 at 5:40 AM
Interesting discussion of dating-app anomie among men and women. IMO a Polanyi angle would fit well: apps disembed mate-selection from social contexts, fostering consumer-market logics that strip away informal norms that once regulated expectations, behaviour and meaning
jacobin.com/2025/12/dati...
jacobin.com/2025/12/dati...
I've student or worked at several unis and while many have administration / IT problems Macquarie is singularly bad omg
December 19, 2025 at 4:31 AM
I've student or worked at several unis and while many have administration / IT problems Macquarie is singularly bad omg
Hundreds of teens storm supermarket after beach brawl | 9 News Australia
YouTube video by 9 News Australia
youtube.com
December 18, 2025 at 12:49 AM
Reposted by David Sligar
The AFR run a 2 year campaign to get the ALP to weaken the changes to super tax concessions to make it easier to avoid paying the tax.
The ALP does it.
The AFR criticises the ALP for weakening the policy because people can avoid paying the tax.
My column #ThePoint
thepoint.com.au/news/251213
The ALP does it.
The AFR criticises the ALP for weakening the policy because people can avoid paying the tax.
My column #ThePoint
thepoint.com.au/news/251213
The rich get tax advice; the poor get lectures: super tax saga lays bare a skewed system
A new report on the amount of revenue expected to be raised by the changes to superannuation tax on balances over $3m highlights yet again how the tax system is weighted in favour of the rich and that...
thepoint.com.au
December 12, 2025 at 10:52 PM
The AFR run a 2 year campaign to get the ALP to weaken the changes to super tax concessions to make it easier to avoid paying the tax.
The ALP does it.
The AFR criticises the ALP for weakening the policy because people can avoid paying the tax.
My column #ThePoint
thepoint.com.au/news/251213
The ALP does it.
The AFR criticises the ALP for weakening the policy because people can avoid paying the tax.
My column #ThePoint
thepoint.com.au/news/251213
Reposted by David Sligar
Legislation passed in the Queensland Parliament tonight to allow imposing ankle trackers on 10 year olds - "it will let the police know everything they do and where they are" according to the Minister for Youth Justice.
December 10, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Legislation passed in the Queensland Parliament tonight to allow imposing ankle trackers on 10 year olds - "it will let the police know everything they do and where they are" according to the Minister for Youth Justice.
Reposted by David Sligar
“Let them be kids!”
But Victoria passed the Adult Time for Violent Crime legislation which can send 14 year olds to adult jails.
Which is it you want them to be? Adults or children?
Or simply not seen or heard at all?
But Victoria passed the Adult Time for Violent Crime legislation which can send 14 year olds to adult jails.
Which is it you want them to be? Adults or children?
Or simply not seen or heard at all?
December 10, 2025 at 11:31 AM
“Let them be kids!”
But Victoria passed the Adult Time for Violent Crime legislation which can send 14 year olds to adult jails.
Which is it you want them to be? Adults or children?
Or simply not seen or heard at all?
But Victoria passed the Adult Time for Violent Crime legislation which can send 14 year olds to adult jails.
Which is it you want them to be? Adults or children?
Or simply not seen or heard at all?
Reposted by David Sligar
A very normal thing for any dictatorship to do. Not sure why the fuss.
The Trump administration just announced they will refuse to release the October inflation report.
December 10, 2025 at 2:24 AM
A very normal thing for any dictatorship to do. Not sure why the fuss.