Rex Patrick

I don’t know about you, but watching the price of fuel rise at the bowsers over the last week has left me feeling like fuel companies are taking Australian motorists and Australian consumers for mugs.

What are you doing ACCC? @jimchalmers.bsky.social #FOI #auspol

Minister Bowen has been telling the parliament that everything is OK - nothing to worry about - when it comes to national fuel supplies in the wake of the Middle-East conflict. Let’s find out what the department has been telling the minister. #FOI #auspol

I might take you up on that.

Legislative harakiri. A rare win for transparency as FOI bill dead - Michael West The Government's attempt to limit transparency has been killed off. Widely condemned, the death of the FOI amendment bill is a good thing

Whilst it was Labor that killed its own #FOI Amendment Bill, it was an action forced by a team of non-government organisations working closely together with non-government senators. Here's the inside story on how the secrecy retreat was forced. #auspol

Office view for today.

Murrumbidgee River at Darlington Point, The Riverina, NSW. #WorkFromRoam

Tony Abbot takes on Mark Carney in an intellectual fight … oblivious to the fact that he’s completely out-gunned.

All this painful read shows is that Abbott places sycophancy towards the US far ahead of sovereign conduct. He espouses easy & wrong instead of hard & right. #auspol

#Contrast: Yesterday I was in halls of Parliament advocating for whistleblowers and working to kill off @albomp.bsky.social’s secrecy Bill. Today it’s back to peace and tranquility - on the Murrumbidgee River at Darlington Point, The Riverina, NSW. #WorkFromRoam

The #FOI Amendment Bill is officially dead.

This is a victory for civil society, which has worked collectively to ensure this Bill – which would have harmed our democracy – did not become law.

Long live transparency! #auspol

Thanks to:

Kate Chaney MP
Senator Maria Kovacic
Senator Jacqui Lambie
Senator Bridget McKenzie
Senator David Pocock (co-chair)
Monique Ryan MP
Sophie Scamps MP
Senator Paul Scarr (co-chair)
Tony Zappia MP
Andrew Wilkie MP (co-chair)
#auspol

I was very pleased to attend the inaugural meeting of the ‘Parliamentary Friends of Whistleblowers’ in Parliament House today. Whistleblowers must be protected! 1/2 #auspol

My tweet on Sunday showed the Dept of Industry, Science and Resources’ assessment of what the effect of closing the Straits of Hormuz would have on Australia. Broadening of the conflict over the past 48 hours requires I tweet a new scenario. #FOI #auspol

Bondi Beach bounty - $5000 a day - Michael West Is public service pay too high? Head of Bondi Beach massacre inquiry Dennis Richardson jags $5,000 a day for 'independent report'.

Why be a departmental secretary on just $2740 per day ($1M per annum) when you can be a recalled departmental secretary on $5000 a day? It’s your money … and Dennis Richardson’s ‘Bondi bounty’. #CostOfLivingCrisis #FOI #auspol

2/2 #auspol

'Fill up your car' before petrol price spikes, analyst says Global financial markets expect a damaging spike in the oil price tomorrow, with a critical shipping route for the Gulf's biggest producers now a war zone.

We currently have 25/26 days of diesel/petrol stockpiles purchased pre-conflict. Prices should not go up immediately. @jimchalmers.bsky.social should issue the ACCC a direction under s95ZE of the Competition & Consumers Act to monitor fuel industry pricing. 1/2 #auspol

The current fuel security situation. #auspol

If we had the 90 days local fuel stockpile we’re meant to (by international agreement) some of that reserve could be released now to minimise the impact of the Middle East war on our cost-of-living. Successive Govts have failed us in this regard. #FOI #auspol

War with Iran. Surely it’s nothing to do with efforts to lift Donald Trump out of a polling black hole.

“AUKUS’s main game is the base that Australia intends to give to the US at HMAS Stirling in Western Australia.”

I don’t think this can be right. No-one is silly enough to pay $368B to the US to let them use our base. #auspol

Australia’s a great place to #WorkFromRoam. This weekend I’ll be working on two SA #FOI submissions, from the banks of the Barwon River near Walgett in northern NSW. Cost to park the office - $0!

A stunning sunrise this morning in Queensland’s Scenic Rim. With a Brisbane #FOI hearing now concluded, I’m slowly heading south back to the nation’s capital for a parliamentary ‘friends of whistleblowers’ event next Wednesday. Whistleblowers need friends! #auspol #WorkFromRoam

Fat Cat bureaucrats. Rem Tribunal out of touch, out of sight - Michael West While top bureaucrats are now earning one million a year, the tribunal that decides who gets what is doing its best to keep decisions secret.

The independent and transparent tribunal that sets pollies’ and fat cat officials’ salaries & benefits turns out to be NOT independent and NOT transparent. It is NOT value-for-money either. It IS out of touch. #FOI #auspol

The Remuneration Tribunal recently told the Senate “transparency and accountability … promotes understanding, trust and confidence in the remuneration system”. Here’s how it responded when I asked how they set the new pollie family travel rules. More on MWM soon. #FOI #auspol

Navy acquisition leadership team trying to set a direction for Naval shipbuilding. 😉 #auspol

#Update: I faced off against the Govt’s secrecy team flown from Canberra.

‘David’: Rex
‘Goliath’: AGS Barrister, 1 AGS solicitor, 2 Treasury officials, 1 Treasury First Assistant Secretary (Witness) and 1 DFAT FAS (Witness).

I paid $100 for parking
You paid for Goliath.

Decision reserved. #FOI

I, and others, think the Govt should disclose its reasons for approving the foreign acquisition of Aussie companies. The Information Commissioner agrees - but @albomp.bsky.social has appealed her #FOI access decision.

Fight! Administrative Review Tribunal. Brisbane. Today! #auspol

Spurning the Black Rod. Labor's transparency dummy spit - Michael West Rex Patrick reports on a transparency dummy spit by Labor on the floor of the Senate as the government pushes secrecy agenda

Not content with prosecuting whistleblowers for revealing improper Govt conduct, nor with trying to make #FOI (more) disfunctional, on 4 Feb @albomp.bsky.social’s Govt disgracefully tried to stop the Senate from using a >200 year old scrutiny power. 👇ICYMI👇 #auspol

Lake Moogerah, Scenic Rim Region, Queensland. Here’s last night’s subset. #WorkFromRoam

Fighting secrecy never stops. Next week’s #FOI hearings.

MON - War Memorial appeal against a Rex win
MON - Baxter Healthcare appeal against a Rex win
TUE - Treasury appeal against a Rex win
FRI - Rex’s Fed Court appeal against a DCCEEW secrecy win

👇Prepping👇. #WorkFromRoam

The AUKUS Nuclear Submarine Deal Looks 'Dead on Paper' AUKUS isn't dead—it's evolving. Discover how Australia and the UK are building new industrial capacity to break the U.S. submarine production bottleneck.

The Virginia subs will never arrive. Their "delivery" is a ruse to get Aussie taxpayers to write cheques. Too bad for the Royal Australian Navy. #auspol

"AUKUS is an industrial expansion pact. Australian funding flows into U.S. shipyard infrastructure now - not pledged for later, flowing now."

I’d like to say that a red sky at night is a submariner’s delight - but that’s only true if you’re at periscope depth. Yamba, Clarence Valley, New South Wales. #WorkFromRoam