⚙️ Political Gadgets News | Saturday, 24 October 2026
Today’s Political Gadgets digest covers: Parliament: not sitting; MP expenses: Dai Le (Fowler, Ind) — $629,940 over 4 quarters; Political advertising: Google $23,700 (YTD $4,045,350).
Today’s digest includes:
- Parliament: not sitting
- MP expenses: Dai Le (Fowler, Ind) — $629,940 over 4 quarters
- Political advertising: Google $23,700 (YTD $4,045,350)
Bluesky says Helen Haines attack dominates #auspol as calls for civility clash with partisan blame
BlueSky #auspol · 24 October 2026, 04:29 AEST · 542 posts · AI-generated
The alleged attack on Independent MP Helen Haines continued to dominate Australian political conversation on Bluesky, with users split between mourning her and pointing fingers at the media, the Prime Minister and rival parties. Posts referencing a “dirt file” on Haines, claims that Murdoch outlets and One Nation were weaponising the tragedy, and a growing list of security incidents at other MPs’ offices fed a broader debate about the tone of Australian politics.
Key issues included AUKUS, with multiple posts citing John Menadue’s critique of the submarine program and questioning sovereignty; the Snowy 2.0 cost blowout, now reported at up to $25 billion against an original $2 billion estimate; climate and gas, including a UN warning over methane plumes at Chevron’s Gorgon project; and tax debates, with several users opposing a higher GST and calling for taxes on gas exporters and wealth. Israel and Gaza also featured heavily, alongside the Victorian state election and data centre concerns.
The standout exchange came from a widely shared post by Simon Rosenberg, who said Albanese’s “thumping 94 seat majority” meant he was governing for vested interests if he failed to act on broken systems; it drew 325 likes. The overall tone was angry and frustrated, with many users expressing disappointment in Labor and sympathy for Haines and her family, though many posts were also partisan or highly charged.
Top topics: Helen Haines Attack · AUKUS Submarine Program · Snowy 2.0 Cost Blowout · Climate and Gas Emissions · Tax Reform Debate
AI-generated from BlueSky #auspol posts.
Register of Interests Update — Susan Templeman
Macquarie, New South Wales
Australian Labor Party
Additions
None
Deletions
| Person | Item | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Self | 9. Other Assets | Self – Car – Mazda MX5 |
Duratec lands $6.7m in Defence building and roofing work
Duratec Australia has won two Department of Defence contracts, for building works and roofing works, worth about $6.7 million combined.
Duratec is a Perth-headquartered, ASX-listed (DUR) asset remediation and protection specialist. It was established in 2010 and serves defence, mining, oil and gas, and civil infrastructure clients. Business News lists Ertech as its major shareholder and puts its revenue at about $577 million. Its segments are Defence, Mining & Industrial, and Buildings & Facades. Managing Director Chris Oates owns about 9%, and co-founder Phil Harcourt holds nearly 8%.
Duratec says it has worked with Defence since 2014. It reports more than 450 Defence projects across more than 40 bases, covering new construction, upgrades, maintenance and condition assessments. It says it is the only Australian construction company with ISO 19443 nuclear-supply-chain accreditation. Past Defence work includes refurbishments at the Australian Defence Force Academy, Russell Offices and RAAF Edinburgh. In a joint venture with Ertech, it has also worked on marine projects such as Oxley Wharf at HMAS Stirling. Outside Defence, its clients have included BHP, Fortescue, Woodside and Newmont.
Building and asset refurbishment work of this kind has been a core part of Duratec's Defence business. In 2022 the company announced $25 million of Defence contracts, mostly in that area.
Sources: businessnews.com.au; duratec.com.au; thesentiment.com.au; listcorp.com; wcsecure.weblink.com.au; bizmodelmastery.substack.com [link]
All tenders
$48,361,178 in Fed Govt contracts given today. Top spend was with DURATEC AUSTRALIA ($6,729,445) DURATEC AUSTRALIA has received $96,047,500 in contracts this year. [link]
Consultant Tenders
$515,477,574 in Federal contracts to the big consultants in 2026. $364,100 yesterday. – Deloitte: $364,100 {908} [link]
Flights
The VIP fleet flew at least 1,913 km in the last few days. That’s 2 planes doing 6 flights over 10 hrs and 21 mins and costing around $148,860. [link]
What’s Parliament doing
Parliament… is not sitting today. There are no committees today. {78} [link]
Fed Govt Outsourced labour costs
Government Temporary Staff Tenders in the last day: $7,351,019 [link]
Politician Expenses
Dai Le (Reps, Fowler, Ind) claimed $629,940 in expenses over the last 4 reported quarters for major categories such as travel, offices and cars. That is $17,766 less than the median. #auspol [link]
Double Donors
Australian Energy Producers donated $171,888 in 2024-25. That was $94,838 to Labor and $77,050 to the Coalition. {8432} [link]
Parliamentary attendance
David Shoebridge (Sen, NSW, Australian Greens) attended 98% of possible votes. [link]
Political advertising on Google
Political advertising spend with Google in last 24 hours: $23,700. (YTD: $4,045,350) [link]
Political advertising on Facebook
Political advertising on Facebook on 20 Oct: $170,098 ($34.2m so far in 2026). Top spender: These ads ran without a disclaimer ($14,957). Biggest categories: Party/Candidate $40k, Advocacy $30k, Business $24k. Full breakdown: https://politicalgadgets.com/SocialMedia/facebook_stats/2026-10-20.html [link]
Politicians’ Shareholding Index
End of week amusement – here is our index of politicians’ shareholdings measured against the index. [link]
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