Melissa Fagan
@liss-liss.bsky.social
Writer, reader, surfer, swimmer | on unceded Bundjalung country | author 'What Will Be Worn' 👗 | Co-pilot, stepmum, dogmum, auntie | gardener-in-training | PhD survivor | Sessional academic - creative writing
http://melissafagan.com/
http://melissafagan.com/
Pinned
Melissa Fagan
@liss-liss.bsky.social
· Jan 20
Sat by the river yesterday, tide dropping, watching five pelicans feasting on fish in the shallows, marvelling at their beaks: strange, slightly ridiculous and oh-so-majestic. Note to self: spend more time watching pelicans.
Reposted by Melissa Fagan
As the age assurance policies roll in I'm still thinking about this article from AFR: www.afr.com/politics/fed...
It's been two and a half years since the Murphy Report was released, and instead of regulating online gambling advertising, the Albanese govt may use the social media ban as a cover.
It's been two and a half years since the Murphy Report was released, and instead of regulating online gambling advertising, the Albanese govt may use the social media ban as a cover.
Labor tipped to drop proposal for online gambling ad ban
Political and industry sources expect Communications Minister Anika Wells to crack-down on illegal offshore gambling websites.
www.afr.com
December 9, 2025 at 1:22 AM
As the age assurance policies roll in I'm still thinking about this article from AFR: www.afr.com/politics/fed...
It's been two and a half years since the Murphy Report was released, and instead of regulating online gambling advertising, the Albanese govt may use the social media ban as a cover.
It's been two and a half years since the Murphy Report was released, and instead of regulating online gambling advertising, the Albanese govt may use the social media ban as a cover.
Reposted by Melissa Fagan
Australia is home to many endangered reptiles and frogs. This snapshot shows their numbers have dropped sharply. But it’s possible to reverse this trend.
👉 theconversation.com/new-dat...
👉 theconversation.com/new-dat...
November 25, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Australia is home to many endangered reptiles and frogs. This snapshot shows their numbers have dropped sharply. But it’s possible to reverse this trend.
👉 theconversation.com/new-dat...
👉 theconversation.com/new-dat...
Please read this living-breathing essay in SRB by Tegan Bennett Daylight - on re-reading Ruth Park and not writing her biography, motherhood, writerly aspirations versus reality, among other things. It is very very good. sydneyreviewofbooks.com/essays/life-...
Life at Its Most Free | Sydney Review of Books
What happens when a project that could make one’s career doesn’t eventuate? In the wake of the biography of Ruth Park she never wrote, Tegan Bennett Daylight considers what it means to write for a liv...
sydneyreviewofbooks.com
November 11, 2025 at 4:15 AM
Please read this living-breathing essay in SRB by Tegan Bennett Daylight - on re-reading Ruth Park and not writing her biography, motherhood, writerly aspirations versus reality, among other things. It is very very good. sydneyreviewofbooks.com/essays/life-...
Reposted by Melissa Fagan
It's funny how hard we have to work to convince the world that uncontrolle data centre expansion is a climate risk when there's a fossil gas power station called the EXXONMOBIL POWER PLANT being built explicitly to power a data centre
Not enough people know about Homer City. The single largest fossil fuel plant that's being built *explicitly* to power a data centre.
This isn't a future projection, or some hollow marketing. This is physical stuff happening right now.
bsky.app/profile/keta...
This isn't a future projection, or some hollow marketing. This is physical stuff happening right now.
bsky.app/profile/keta...
November 10, 2025 at 8:17 PM
It's funny how hard we have to work to convince the world that uncontrolle data centre expansion is a climate risk when there's a fossil gas power station called the EXXONMOBIL POWER PLANT being built explicitly to power a data centre
“Labor sources have told ABC Investigations the prime minister's office has been putting pressure on advocates for gambling reform within the parliamentary Labor party to prevent them from speaking up.” Nice way to use your mandate guys 👏🏽
“Over a dozen Labor MPs, including senior figures in the party, have told ABC Investigations they want action on gambling reform.”
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...
'Broad, unspoken consensus': silent Labor MPs want action on gambling
Andrew Wilkie has asked the PM to allow a free vote on banning gambling advertising and it appears many Labor MPs would support it.
www.abc.net.au
November 7, 2025 at 8:39 PM
“Labor sources have told ABC Investigations the prime minister's office has been putting pressure on advocates for gambling reform within the parliamentary Labor party to prevent them from speaking up.” Nice way to use your mandate guys 👏🏽
Reposted by Melissa Fagan
Things keep going from bad to worse for horses in the racing industry yet the media, politicians and their mates in toxic gambling companies continue to pretend everything is okay. This is a stain on our nation.
November 3, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Things keep going from bad to worse for horses in the racing industry yet the media, politicians and their mates in toxic gambling companies continue to pretend everything is okay. This is a stain on our nation.
Reposted by Melissa Fagan
What’s this? Yet more research concluding that robust public investment in the arts yields economic benefits?
A great outcome for Ireland, and a rebuke to all those tired cliches about freeloading artists sapping the resources of the state.
But also, art enriches us all, economic benefits or no.
A great outcome for Ireland, and a rebuke to all those tired cliches about freeloading artists sapping the resources of the state.
But also, art enriches us all, economic benefits or no.
Damn. This is amazing. £325 per week, paid monthly, for 3 years - and the result was a profit for the Irish economy:
www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employmen...
www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employmen...
October 7, 2025 at 4:14 AM
What’s this? Yet more research concluding that robust public investment in the arts yields economic benefits?
A great outcome for Ireland, and a rebuke to all those tired cliches about freeloading artists sapping the resources of the state.
But also, art enriches us all, economic benefits or no.
A great outcome for Ireland, and a rebuke to all those tired cliches about freeloading artists sapping the resources of the state.
But also, art enriches us all, economic benefits or no.
Reposted by Melissa Fagan
Classic Blair. He is now proposing himself as the Empire's Regent of Gaza. A war criminal himself, he demands a five year appointment to run the site of Israel's genocide on behalf of Donald Trump in the finest tradition of White Settler Colonial projects www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Tony Blair in discussions to run transitional Gaza authority
The former prime minister has been in high-level planning talks over the territory's future, the BBC understands.
www.bbc.co.uk
September 29, 2025 at 10:03 AM
Classic Blair. He is now proposing himself as the Empire's Regent of Gaza. A war criminal himself, he demands a five year appointment to run the site of Israel's genocide on behalf of Donald Trump in the finest tradition of White Settler Colonial projects www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Age yourself with a movie you saw in a theater as a kid.
September 28, 2025 at 11:19 PM
Age yourself with a movie you saw in a theater as a kid.
Reposted by Melissa Fagan
You can't be a centrist under a fascist regime. You're either fighting, or facilitating. There's no secret third thing. Except dead, I suppose.
September 19, 2025 at 12:42 AM
You can't be a centrist under a fascist regime. You're either fighting, or facilitating. There's no secret third thing. Except dead, I suppose.
Reposted by Melissa Fagan
Sadly “AI is the future” is true in the same way as “gas is a transition fuel”; not because of any science-fictive ability to predict the future, but it can be made true by the billions spent on marketing and the capture of governments.
I’m all for bursting the bubble but how do you recon with the massive momentum (governments see AI as "instrumental in economic competitiveness”. in fact, most governments have become big tech mouthpieces. most academics and media are AI evangelists. funders favour anything and everything AI)
2/
2/
August 20, 2025 at 10:07 PM
Sadly “AI is the future” is true in the same way as “gas is a transition fuel”; not because of any science-fictive ability to predict the future, but it can be made true by the billions spent on marketing and the capture of governments.
Reposted by Melissa Fagan
We reiterate our stance: freedom of expression is a fundamental right.
Read the full statement from @asauthors.bsky.social on Bendigo Writers Festival and the issue of code of conduct overreach.
www.asauthors.org.au/news/bendigo...
Read the full statement from @asauthors.bsky.social on Bendigo Writers Festival and the issue of code of conduct overreach.
www.asauthors.org.au/news/bendigo...
Bendigo Writers Festival Code of Conduct Issue - Australian Society of Authors
The ASA is deeply concerned about a Code of Conduct provided to authors presenting at the Bendigo Writers Festival.
www.asauthors.org.au
August 19, 2025 at 1:02 AM
We reiterate our stance: freedom of expression is a fundamental right.
Read the full statement from @asauthors.bsky.social on Bendigo Writers Festival and the issue of code of conduct overreach.
www.asauthors.org.au/news/bendigo...
Read the full statement from @asauthors.bsky.social on Bendigo Writers Festival and the issue of code of conduct overreach.
www.asauthors.org.au/news/bendigo...
Reposted by Melissa Fagan
No TISM, Clouds, Falling Joys, Frente, Models, Kate Miller-Heidke, Lucksmiths, Deadstar, Jebediah, Fauves, Hummingbirds, Tumbleweed, Underground Lovers, Died Pretty, Rocket Science, Radio Birdman, Saints, Custard, Cordrazine, Triffids, Sunnyboys, Drones, Eddy Current Suppression Ring… #hottest100
July 26, 2025 at 9:32 AM
No TISM, Clouds, Falling Joys, Frente, Models, Kate Miller-Heidke, Lucksmiths, Deadstar, Jebediah, Fauves, Hummingbirds, Tumbleweed, Underground Lovers, Died Pretty, Rocket Science, Radio Birdman, Saints, Custard, Cordrazine, Triffids, Sunnyboys, Drones, Eddy Current Suppression Ring… #hottest100
Reposted by Melissa Fagan
Yes, it's called genocide.
Minister says Israel racing ahead to wipe out Gaza, will make it Jewish
* * *
www.timesofisrael.com
July 26, 2025 at 6:19 AM
Yes, it's called genocide.
This is not just a strategic undermining of cultural authority, it is also a clear and harmful violation of the sovereignty, self-determination and integrity of black&write!’s fellowship processes which have been successfully delivered every year since the inception of the black&write! fellowships.
An open letter from First Nations storytellers to the Queensland State Library and the Queensland Education and Arts Minister, in solidarity with our Martu sibling, Ren Wyld, and with our siblings at black&write!
Open letter from First Nations storytellers to the Queensland State Library and the Queensland Education and Arts Minister - Overland literary journal
To the State Library of Queensland and the Queensland Education and Arts Minister, We write as a community of First Nations authors, publishers, literary scholars, arts workers and Storytellers. We sp...
overland.org.au
May 26, 2025 at 12:04 AM
This is not just a strategic undermining of cultural authority, it is also a clear and harmful violation of the sovereignty, self-determination and integrity of black&write!’s fellowship processes which have been successfully delivered every year since the inception of the black&write! fellowships.
Reposted by Melissa Fagan
In 2016 I was one of the winners of the Black&Write! fellowships/awards. It was a life changing award, leading to the publication of my Terra Nullius and all the awards, accolades, and publications I have achieved since. Without B&W and the SLQ I wouldn't be a writer ... 1/
May 22, 2025 at 1:23 AM
In 2016 I was one of the winners of the Black&Write! fellowships/awards. It was a life changing award, leading to the publication of my Terra Nullius and all the awards, accolades, and publications I have achieved since. Without B&W and the SLQ I wouldn't be a writer ... 1/
Reposted by Melissa Fagan
They can rescind my award, take away my prize money, rip up the contract but I was still one of two winners of the prestigious Blak & Write Fellowship for 2025. A panel of peers read my manuscript, and selected my work as worthy of winning. Haters can not rob me of Blak joy
May 20, 2025 at 1:50 PM
They can rescind my award, take away my prize money, rip up the contract but I was still one of two winners of the prestigious Blak & Write Fellowship for 2025. A panel of peers read my manuscript, and selected my work as worthy of winning. Haters can not rob me of Blak joy
Reposted by Melissa Fagan
The unprecedented strike on Khan Younis is profoundly distressing – tens of thousands forced to flee under evacuation orders, while humanitarian zones are bombarded.
Australia must sanction the Netanyahu government.
Australia must sanction the Netanyahu government.
May 20, 2025 at 1:01 AM
The unprecedented strike on Khan Younis is profoundly distressing – tens of thousands forced to flee under evacuation orders, while humanitarian zones are bombarded.
Australia must sanction the Netanyahu government.
Australia must sanction the Netanyahu government.
Reposted by Melissa Fagan
“Vehicles with higher, more vertical front ends pose greater risk to pedestrians. Vehicles with especially tall front ends are most dangerous to pedestrians, but a blunt profile makes medium-height vehicles deadly too.”
Deadly by design. And they know it.
www.iihs.org/news/detail/...
Deadly by design. And they know it.
www.iihs.org/news/detail/...
May 18, 2025 at 3:31 PM
“Vehicles with higher, more vertical front ends pose greater risk to pedestrians. Vehicles with especially tall front ends are most dangerous to pedestrians, but a blunt profile makes medium-height vehicles deadly too.”
Deadly by design. And they know it.
www.iihs.org/news/detail/...
Deadly by design. And they know it.
www.iihs.org/news/detail/...
This is shocking (but also not), scary, and absolutely heartbreaking. But also, Adrift Lab are doing some amazing work, great to see it highlighted here, and supported by @senatorsurfer.bsky.social www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05...
On this island the birds are so full of plastic they crunch
It's an exclusive tourist destination and one of the most pristine places on the planet. It's the last place you would expect to find birds with bellies so full of plastic that they crunch if you sque...
www.abc.net.au
May 15, 2025 at 12:24 AM
This is shocking (but also not), scary, and absolutely heartbreaking. But also, Adrift Lab are doing some amazing work, great to see it highlighted here, and supported by @senatorsurfer.bsky.social www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05...
Reposted by Melissa Fagan
Drive it like you stole it, stop fucking around, deal with climate change, poverty, and deal with inequality to pay for it. Deal with industry transition, deal with education costs, accept that large investments in ourselves today pay for more than themselves in the future. And dental in Medicare
May 3, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Drive it like you stole it, stop fucking around, deal with climate change, poverty, and deal with inequality to pay for it. Deal with industry transition, deal with education costs, accept that large investments in ourselves today pay for more than themselves in the future. And dental in Medicare
Reposted by Melissa Fagan
I've just signed the global statement on AI training.
“The unlicensed use of creative works for training generative AI is a major, unjust threat to the livelihoods of the people behind those works, and must not be permitted.”
You can sign also:
www.aitrainingstatement.org
@austlit.bsky.social
“The unlicensed use of creative works for training generative AI is a major, unjust threat to the livelihoods of the people behind those works, and must not be permitted.”
You can sign also:
www.aitrainingstatement.org
@austlit.bsky.social
Statement on AI training
An open letter on AI training signed by creators around the world.
www.aitrainingstatement.org
April 6, 2025 at 11:18 PM
I've just signed the global statement on AI training.
“The unlicensed use of creative works for training generative AI is a major, unjust threat to the livelihoods of the people behind those works, and must not be permitted.”
You can sign also:
www.aitrainingstatement.org
@austlit.bsky.social
“The unlicensed use of creative works for training generative AI is a major, unjust threat to the livelihoods of the people behind those works, and must not be permitted.”
You can sign also:
www.aitrainingstatement.org
@austlit.bsky.social
Reposted by Melissa Fagan
I wrote to the law firm running one of the class actions against Meta/Facebook for stealing IP (they fed all of my books into their LLM. Got a good result: Hello John — Thanks for your message about the LibGen dataset and the Kadrey v. Meta class action.
LLM litigation · Joseph Saveri Law Firm & Matthew Butterick
LLM litigation
llmlitigation.com
March 26, 2025 at 11:16 PM
I wrote to the law firm running one of the class actions against Meta/Facebook for stealing IP (they fed all of my books into their LLM. Got a good result: Hello John — Thanks for your message about the LibGen dataset and the Kadrey v. Meta class action.
Reposted by Melissa Fagan
This is a dark day for Australia’s environment and our democracy.
Last night’s passing of amendments to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act weakens the protection of our natural treasures, rammed through by a govt which promised greater protection.
Last night’s passing of amendments to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act weakens the protection of our natural treasures, rammed through by a govt which promised greater protection.
A dark day for the environment - and democracy
This is a dark day for two of Australia’s greatest treasures: the environment and our democracy.
australiainstitute.org.au
March 26, 2025 at 10:35 PM
This is a dark day for Australia’s environment and our democracy.
Last night’s passing of amendments to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act weakens the protection of our natural treasures, rammed through by a govt which promised greater protection.
Last night’s passing of amendments to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act weakens the protection of our natural treasures, rammed through by a govt which promised greater protection.