⚙️ Political Gadgets News | Wednesday, 15 July 2026

Bluesky says One Nation’s polling surge shows signs of peaking as coalition recovers ground.

BlueSky #auspol  ·  15 July 2026, 05:29 AEST  ·  380 posts  ·  AI-generated

One Nation’s momentum appears to be stalling after weeks of dominance in Australian political discourse. A Roy Morgan poll released mid-July showed the party at 28 per cent—up from earlier peaks—but recent polling suggests the movement may have plateaued, with the Coalition regaining some lost ground. The shift reflects broader volatility in voter sentiment as the major parties grapple with persistent challenges around cost of living, housing, and public trust.

Key Issues dominating the 380-post sample centred on three main areas. First, the Royal Commission into Antisemitism continues to generate fractured testimony, with Jewish community members offering sharply conflicting views on Israel criticism and definitions of antisemitism, prompting debates about whether the inquiry is conflating legitimate political critique with hatred. Second, AI policy and data centre development feature prominently, with Labor’s push for tech sector partnerships facing criticism that the government is prioritising corporate interests over public benefit and creative workers’ rights. Third, a cascade of accountability concerns—including defence procurement bungling, NACC systemic failures, Telstra infrastructure outages affecting emergency services, and mounting domestic and family violence—underscore voter frustration with institutional competence and ministerial responsiveness.

The dominant tone across Bluesky is one of exasperation and polarisation. A standout post from Michael West drew 72 likes and 30 reposts, reporting Jewish leader Jeffrey Loewenstein’s criticism of Royal Commission “hypocrisy” as the tide shifts from the Israeli government narrative. Across the platform, posts oscillate between sharp Left critiques of Labor’s corporate alignment, right-wing culture-war messaging, and expressions of despair at perceived governmental inaction on women’s safety, housing affordability, and climate emergency. Engagement levels remain high but fractious.

Top topics: One Nation Polling Surge  ·  Royal Commission Antisemitism  ·  AI Policy Data Centres  ·  Cost of Living Crisis  ·  Institutional Accountability Failures

AI-generated from BlueSky #auspol posts.

Data#3 Secures $6.4 Million in Microsoft Licensing Contracts with Federal Agencies

Data#3 Limited has been awarded two Microsoft licensing contracts worth a combined $6.41 million over five years by the Office of the Fair Work Ombudsman and Comcare. The Brisbane-based IT services provider will supply Microsoft Volume Sourcing Agreement 6 licensing solutions to both agencies from July 2026 through June 2031, covering products including Microsoft 365, Azure cloud services, and Dynamics 365.

Data#3, founded in 1977 and listed on the ASX since 1997, is Australia's sole government-appointed Licensing Solution Provider under the federal government's VSA6 framework. The company reported revenue of $863 million in 2025 and employs approximately 1,446 staff across 12 locations in Australia and Fiji. Data#3 serves clients across government, healthcare, education and corporate sectors, and was named Microsoft's 2025 Country Partner of the Year for Australia.

The VSA6 arrangement is a five-year whole-of-government agreement signed by the Digital Transformation Agency in February 2026. Under the framework, Data#3 provides purchasing, transaction and support services between Microsoft and Commonwealth agencies, facilitating access to Microsoft's enterprise software stack under standardized terms with capped price increases. The arrangement replaced the previous VSA5 model and introduced a reservations-based licensing system for agencies.

Sources: data3.com; itnews.com.au; dta.gov.au; ibisworld.com [link]

All tenders

$40,719,049 in Fed Govt contracts given today. Top spend was with DATA#3 ($6,409,902) [link]

Consultant Tenders

$247,911,559 in Federal contracts to the big consultants in 2026. $42,662,443 yesterday. – PWC: $3,706,764 – EY: $124,470 – Accenture: $38,831,209 {1384} [link]

What’s Parliament doing

Parliament… is not sitting today. There are committees today. {15} [link]

Flights

The VIP fleet flew at least 236 km in the last few days. That’s 1 plane doing 1 flight over 0 hrs and 33 mins and costing around $2,528. [link]

Fed Govt Outsourced labour costs

Government Temporary Staff Tenders in the last day: $0 [link]

How does the tender money flow…

YTD tenders for Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: $1,075,423,516 {535} [link]

Donations

Australian Automotive Dealer Association made $596,815 in Federal political donations. {703} [link]

Politician Expenses

Mark Dreyfus (Reps, Isaacs, Lab) claimed $810,781 in expenses over the last 4 reported quarters for major categories such as travel, offices and cars. That is $14,732 more than the average. #auspol [link]

Double Donors

Nexus APAC donated $98,908 in 2023-24. That was $69,658 to Labor and $29,250 to the Coalition. {2316} #auspol [link]

Parliamentary attendance

Tim Watts (representatives, Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party) attended 87.6% of possible votes. [link]

Political advertising on Google

Political advertising spend with Google in last 24 hours: $9,450. (YTD: $2,936,100) [link]

Political advertising on Facebook

Political advertising on Facebook yesterday: $68,613. (YTD: $1,327,292) [link]