⚙️ Political Gadgets News | Wednesday, 23 September 2026

Bluesky says Australian politics dominated by governance hypocrisy, with RBA rate hikes, fossil fuel approvals, and media freedom crises generating intense social media backlash.

BlueSky #auspol  ·  23 September 2026, 05:29 AEST  ·  495 posts  ·  AI-generated

The dominant tension across the platform centres on a stark disconnect between government rhetoric and action. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declared Australia’s climate commitment at the UN this week, yet simultaneously his government continues approving major fossil fuel projects—the latest a massive coal mine. Separately, the Reserve Bank’s implicit plan to raise unemployment above 4.5 per cent to combat inflation has drawn fierce criticism as deliberately punishing workers to serve corporate interests. These contradictions fuel a broader crisis of trust in both major parties.

Three key issues shape the debate. First, climate policy: Labor’s approval of 37 fossil fuel projects since 2022 contradicts its UN climate pledges, with commentators noting Albanese’s “duplicitous” messaging. Second, economic pain: Michele Bullock’s acknowledgment that rate rises will “take heat out of the labour market”—euphemism for job losses—has sparked outrage, with users highlighting the human cost of prioritising inflation control over employment. Third, press freedom: Senator Pauline Hanson’s bans on media outlets drew no solidarity from rival networks, unlike US colleagues who united against Trump’s similar censorship, exposing Australian journalism’s fragmentation.

A standout post from a prominent labour commentator crystallised public sentiment: “When someone earns around a million bucks a year and they want to pursue a policy that will force more people onto unemployment benefits they’ll most often call that policy ‘taking the heat out of the jobs market’. Bastards.” The overall tone across the 495 posts is one of disillusionment—not merely partisan critique, but systematic frustration with perceived betrayal across institutional politics, from housing and aged care failures to international complicity in conflicts Australia publicly opposes.

Top topics: Fossil Fuel Approvals  ·  RBA Rate Hikes  ·  Climate Policy Contradiction  ·  Press Freedom Crisis  ·  Government Rhetoric Gap

AI-generated from BlueSky #auspol posts.

Buying weapons from USA

U.S. Notifies Proposed Missile Sale to Australia [link]

Buying weapons from USA

U.S. Notifies Proposed Missile Sale to Australia [link]

Data#3 Secures $27.5 Million in Federal Microsoft Contracts

Brisbane-based technology services provider Data#3 Limited has been awarded four federal contracts worth $27.5 million to supply Microsoft products and cloud services across multiple government agencies. The largest contract, valued at $25.5 million over five years, will provide the Federal Court of Australia with Microsoft Volume Sourcing Arrangement products including software licensing and cloud services through to 2031.

Data#3, which reported gross sales of $3.4 billion in the 2026 financial year and employs more than 1,400 staff, was named Microsoft's 2025 Country Partner of the Year for Australia. The company was appointed in March 2026 as the sole provider on the Digital Transformation Agency's Microsoft Licensing Solution Provider panel under the government's five-year VSA6 agreement, which commenced in July 2026 and provides agencies access to Microsoft 365, Azure cloud services, Copilot, and security products.

Additional contracts include $1.3 million for Azure cloud consumption services to the Office of the eSafety Commissioner through 2031, $568,000 in software to the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, and $98,000 in computer equipment to the Department of Defence. The VSA6 framework provides standardised pricing and capped price increases for Microsoft products across the Australian Public Service, with Data#3 serving as the exclusive reseller since Microsoft does not sell directly to government.

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

All tenders

Fed govt contracts given today came to $108,101,576. The winner is DATA#3 LIMITED. DATA 3 GROUP ($27,469,778) DATA#3 LIMITED. DATA 3 GROUP has received $3,117,983,975 in contracts this year. [link]

Consultant Tenders

$501,938,766 in Federal contracts to the big consultants in 2026. $884,576 yesterday. – PWC: $884,576 {1391} [link]

Flights

The VIP fleet flew at least 6,292 km in the last few days. That’s 3 planes doing 5 flights over 8 hrs and 31 mins and costing around $38,860. [link]

What’s Parliament doing

Parliament… is not sitting today. There are committees today. {55} [link]

Fed Govt Outsourced labour costs

Government Temporary Staff Tenders in the last day: $6,000,687 [link]

How does the tender money flow…

YTD tenders for Sport Integrity Australia: $6,652,538 [link]

Donations

Wally Edwards made $80,000 in Federal political donations. [link]

Politician Expenses

Terry Young (Reps, Longman, Lib Nat) claimed $556,598 in expenses over the last 4 reported quarters for major categories such as travel, offices and cars. That is $43,525 less than the median. #auspol [link]

Double Donors

Precision Public Affairs donated $88,400 in 2024-25. That was $68,750 to Labor and $19,650 to the Coalition. {5847} [link]

Parliamentary attendance

Michelle Ananda-Rajah (Sen, Victoria, Australian Labor Party) attended 97% of possible votes. [link]

Political advertising on Google

Political advertising spend with Google in last 24 hours: $11,700. (YTD: $3,558,750) [link]

Political advertising on Facebook

Political advertising on Facebook in the latest day: $103,170 ($26,565,627 YTD) [link]

Votes-Like-Taylor-O-Meter

Larissa Waters (Sen, Queensland, Australian Greens) is 10.35% Angus Taylor [link]

Donations Data Has Changed — +6 rows in 2013-14 and 2015-16 and 2016-17 and 2024-25 – Interest update

Donations Data Has Changed — +6 rows in 2013-14 and 2015-16 and 2016-17 and 2024-25 [link]