59 — Throw the Facebook at them (feat. Joanna Horton of Floodcast)

We're joined by Joanna Horton of Floodcast to discuss the political and media response to the Brittany Higgins story, the Facebook news ban and Kristina Kersher Keneally's posts.

Content warning: A chunk of this episode is spent discussing the Brittany Higgins story, which at its core is about sexual violence. We don’t discuss specifics of the incident itself, but do talk about the surrounding political context.

 

Good news

• Victoria is out of lockdown!
• Public drunkenness has been decriminalised in Victoria, after 30 year campaign.

Britney Higgins

• In 2019, Defense Minister staffer Brittany Higgins was allegedly raped in an office in Parliament house.
• Scott Morrison needed to have this explained to him by his wife.
• Political staffers have few workplace protections.
• There is absolutely no connection between drug use and a marble table being broken during a party at Tony Abbots office.
• The Full Story Guardian podcast on Brittany Higgins.
• Craig Kelly’s longtime office manager has stayed on, despite repeated allegations of grooming teenagers and having an AVO taken out against him.
• Oh, and the Family Court has been abolished as an independant body, after a long campaign by Pauline Hanson.
• Jacqui Lambie continues to be a problematic fav, blasting the family court merger.
• Lambie made a secret deal with the Liberals to secure her vote on medical evacuation of refugees.
• Former Motoring Enthusiast accidental Senator Ricky Muir was “forced into a corner” on asylum seekers.
• Scott Morrison doesn’t send his girls to government school, because he is uncomfortable with a course on “Building Respectful Relationships”.

Facebook

• Facebook has banned all links to news in Australia.
• Read Lizzie O’Shea’s article in Overland on the ban.
• The genocide in Myanmar was incited using Facebook.
• Facebook encouraged media organisations to start focusing on video content using faked metrics.

KKK news

• Kristina Kersher Keneally tweeted out a lie about the Greens opposing a motion to recognise Pregnancy & Infant Loss Remembrance Day.
• Greens Senator Janet Rice corrected her.
• Janet Rice’s article about the heart-wrenching decision to have a late-term abortion.

Actions

• Listen to Floodcast. It’s great. Follow them at @floodmediaAU on Twitter too.