Caitlin Cassidy
@caitecassidy
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Education reporter @GuardianAus. Former bookseller/full time dog lover, part time pasta maker. [email protected]
Gadigal Land of Eora Nation
Joined September 2014
Hello Twitter, I'll be taking up the higher education round with @GuardianAus this year - a first for us!- and as such: students, academics, tutors, prospective students, etc, please reach out to me if you'd like to chat. I'm very friendly. caitlin.cassidy@theguardian.com.
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Did I hear that correctly? It appears the prime minister just said he and Jenny were "blessed" to have two children without disabilities, in response to a woman's question about receiving NDIS funding for her four-year-old son with autism.
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Wow. Client of removalists was wearing a mask, and hasn't tested positive. Neighbours weren't and have. Pretty strong evidence for the benefits of mask-wearing.
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This afternoon, Peter Dutton called international students the "modern version of boat arrivals" on Ray Hadley, alleging they're "exploiting the system" to extend their stay. This isn't just weaponising migration for political purposes, it's racism that should've died decades ago.
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No mask mandates. No announcements on boosters or a wider, accessible rollout of rapid antigen tests. All we have is abstract messaging on “using commonsense” and “it’s up to the states”. Bloody hell.
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Brad Hazzard urging NSW residents to "think carefully" before calling an ambulance or heading to hospital is a disturbing indictment on the pressure that is already on the health system. 2,000 staff currently furloughed.
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I voted for a man who spoke in tongues and actively campaigned to get the Hillsong leader an invite to the White House. But when a Muslim woman said “inshallah”, I knew the ties between religion and politics had gone too far. - every man on talkback radio today.
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Getting really sick of childcare funding being reported as a "win for women." You know a real "win for women"? Equal pay and superannuation.
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Morrison acting like nobody saw Omicron coming when experts spent literally months warning new variant[s] would upend everything is interesting.
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Will be interested to see if nursing, teaching, social work or psychology follow, courses that are over represented by women and require up to 1,000 hours of unpaid placements.
It's not fair to ask police trainees to study for four months without pay. So we're going to pay them.
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The hand wringing over student debt reform is always such a reminder of how little Australia values higher education as a public good, worthy of financial investment.
I’m sure anyone with HECS debts will love this, of course. But this is just transferring their debt to all taxpayers. What’s next, cutting home mortgage debts. It’s so profoundly economically irresponsible…but the opposition will probably match it as a populist gesture. #auspol.
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Albanese directly linking recent floods and Black Summer fires to climate change & climate inaction. Should be wildly obvious and yet … how many times was “climate change” mentioned in Tuesday’s budget?.
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Anne Ruston says on ABC Albanese is "disregarding expert advice" on the return of the 288 Telehealth item. That's not true. The taskforce recommended either a replacement incentive, or a more graduated reduction, not the total removal at short notice as the government did.
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Everytime Frydenberg mentions what something was like under a Labor government he should be reminded the party hasn’t been in office since 2013. #auspol @RNBreakfast.
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Personally offended by the fact Scott Morrison just called Melburnians "Melbourne-siders".
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Some news. I'm hopping over to Sydney to take on the position of Breaking News Reporter with @GuardianAus. Cliches aside, it's a dream come true. But I loved my time at @sheppartonnews and I'll miss everyone I met in the GV along the way. Now bring on the big smoke!.
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Channel 9 choosing to cover a doubles game on their free to air network of Kygrios and Kokkinakis over Destanee Aiava’s second round game - who has just gone to a tiebreak in the first set - is a wildly disgraceful way to promote women’s sport @AustralianOpen @Channel9.
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I've been speaking to PhD candidates about the struggle to maintain a decent standard of living on stipend rates - well below minimum wage, because they're considered students, not workers. Particularly tough in this economy
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Brad Hazzard says trying to define essential work is "very challenging" and it's up to workers and employer's digression to "use common sense". If it's so challenging for the govt to define it how can they trust the rest of the state to figure it out?.
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Looking forward to Bazza's new series. One Plus One on the ABC, 9.20pm Thursday. via @theage.
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'There are genuine questions some in the media have to answer. You have to work very hard to build trust and maintain trust and if people within our ecosystem make the mistake of turning themselves into cheerleaders, that erodes faith in all of us' @Raf_Epstein on Vic election.
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Pet peeve: Could journalists stop referring to prime ministers by their nickname ie “Albo” and “Scomo” while speaking in professional capacities? They’re not your mate, or at least they shouldn’t be.
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In less than 12 hours, I've received dozens of emails from former and current students, staff and academics about this article. Thank you to everyone that has reached out, my DMS remain open (but sorry if I don't reply right away).
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It really defies comprehension that decades after the world became pertinently aware of the reality of climate change a 'process' to net zero by 2050 is seen as a step forward in this country.
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Spotted at Marrickville Primary School. Everyone is talking about the Teal independents but I think Otis and Olivia might be giving @AlboMP a run for his money.
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Thanks @VirginAustralia for cancelling my flight to Melbourne with less than 2 hours notice, then not explaining you would also cancel my flight back home if I rejected your generous offer to fly 6am the next morning. Would’ve been cool if I had notice before trying to check in.
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Just did a back of the envelope on my student debt. I graduated with a debt of $99,700 and have paid back around $12k. But with indexation, it's now larger, at $106k, because indexation has risen in excess of my repayments.
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The daily death rate in Gaza is higher than any other major 21st century conflict and our elected representatives are peddling this level of Islamophobic filth - published without question by our public broadcaster. A disgrace. What a country we are.
New from me: Payman expected to quit the ALP after caucus colleagues reveal she told them she was being guided by god on her Palestine floor crossing decision, shocking her colleagues #auspol
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Shoutout to the elderly man who wolf whistled me from his car five minutes after buying @AmyRemeikis’s On Reckoning. If you only slowed down to chat I would’ve asked you to dinner!.
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Threatening an "overwhelming police response" because people have the indignity to protest during the *checks notes* "school holidays" is entering some seriously wild territory
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I have watched this four times this morning.
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Grace Tame says she likely wouldn’t be alive today if it weren’t for her fiancé and has had to call ER in recent days. She says the media has a lot to answer for - that shame should be directed at perpetrators, not trauma survivors. @SydOperaHouse #AllAboutWomen
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The Voice was the first proposal contained in the Uluru Statement from the Heart (a dialogue in, you guessed it, Uluru, not Canberra), with the participation of more than 1,000 Indigenous people. Albanese was not there. Dutton is dismissing them, as he did in 2017.
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Happy life update: Starting at Shepparton News next week as a cadet journalist. Reputable, daily and independent print journalism is crucial in regional areas, and I'm humbled to play a part in delivering it.
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Confused why the PM keeps saying the pandemic is "getting behind us, thankfully" when thousands of people have tested positive and 564 people have died nationally in the past fortnight alone.
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There is something so wonderful about discovering independent bookshops thriving in regional towns. This is Berkelouw Books in Eumundi - here since 1812!
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Journos bemoaning the funding system is so “complicated” on Insiders as justification for huge inequity is driving me a bit mad. We have had a report for more than a decade that quite clearly outlines why and how public schools should be funded at 100%.
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There hasn't been a student protest like this in my lifetime. Not even close.
Melbourne uni right now following reports police could come and break up the pro-Palestine encampment this afternoon @AmyRemeikis @GuardianAus @caitecassidy
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Beautiful mural just popped up round the corner from my place in Melbourne - homage to @DanielAndrewsMP’S comments. ‘we see you. We hear you. We believe you’
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The joint statement by 10 Australian University encampments, published the same day the Coalition calls for a senate inquiry into antisemitism on campuses:
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"It is so important for our nation, the whole world, in fact, to listen to survivors' stories. Whilst they're disturbing to hear, the reality of what goes on behind closed doors is more so." Grace Tame #NPC.
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On a more personal note, it’s special to be following in the footsteps of my dad who worked at Shepp News in the early 70s. All I need now is to get a mullet and join the footy team.
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Stephen Bates still has to work three more shifts in his retail job before heading to parliament, where his salary will be quadrupled. "I still have to pay my rent," he laughed. So refreshing to see normal people representing their electorates.
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Finally checked my student loan and I'm thrilled to announce my debts will hereby be the problem of my children upon my death
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Really struggling to understand this logic. University shouldn't be free because . people from poor backgrounds would miss out?
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Around one in four eligible voters have already cast their ballot with 2.5 million postal votes and 1.9 million pre-poll votes lodged as of Sunday - the day of the Liberal party's campaign launch. #ausvotes.
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Note to media outlets: just because the stabbing was caught on a livestream, doesn’t mean you need to run the footage.
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If only we appreciated 2018 at the time - when the major news stories were needles in strawberries, cave rescues and Australia having a miserable time at the World Cup.
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All these Twitter hot takes on Grace Tame are reminding me of working in hospitality and people (99% of the time, men) constantly telling me to "smile more".
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"I think the French have moved on, just the ABC haven't . oh, and the Guardian haven't of course. and Malcom" sorry for not moving on Dutton @abc730.
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@Raf_Epstein 'The pollsters didn't get it wrong. The media rehashed old polls. There isn't a published poll that had the government in an uncomfortable position . it made me question what I thought was going on'.
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Wow. This is an absolute disgrace. Mr Pocock would be rejected from entrance at the MCC yet he's permitted to stroll through parliament house at leisure in nothing but a t-shirt. Thanks Sky News for holding our democracy to account.
What do you think? Play on? 😂. I'd come straight from an early morning game of tennis to celebrate 100 years of Tennis ACT and agreed to do a door stop (not a prearranged interview) in the hallway on the way out of the Press Gallery after a morning radio interview. Great to
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Ruston says it's "disgusting that people in regional areas are going to think they won't be able to get access to the important services". "Think" they won't be able to? Complex psychiatric patients have been cancelling appointments since Jan when bulk billing was removed.
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I received an email from a distressed mental health nurse just a week ago who said: "Many of my patients are cancelling much needed appointments or not booking them". He said govt was engaging in "alternative facts", which "ignores the reality of working in rural areas".
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Nobody is talking about the dill shortage. I’ve been to three different supermarkets tonight - no dill. Who’s hoarding the dill? And why.
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With one third of Shepparton's population (roughly 60,000) now in isolation, a councillor has put forward a motion to declare a local state of emergency. "We are a regional centre and urgently need more resources from the state". #SheppartonCOVID.
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Best lines working at a bookshop today:.“Do you sell stamps?” .“Do you have that book my the author who’s name starts with G?”.“Do you have crime and punishment, but in small segments, because it’s too thick to read on its own?”.
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Speaking of News Corp losses in regional areas - some towns are taking matters into their own hands. In Braidwood, a town highly affected by the bushfires, local journos started their own papers to make sure their community stays informed. My take:
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Announces this “ongoing” attack just as the education overhaul hits the news. Could Scomo be burying the lead here?.
Large-scale cyber attack from sophisticated state based actor happening on Australian Govt and business now. PM @ScottMorrisonMP media conf up now.
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Truly breathtaking that the quitting of Ken Wyatt - the first Indigenous Australian to be elected to the House of Reps and the first to serve in federal cabinet - has led to absolutely no self reflection on the Libs part, just platitudes of "respect".
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Can't wait for Murphy to explain to the landlord why he ripped up half the laundry lino in the dead of night! #baddog
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This is what happens when you try to have a quiet beer at the pub with @heatherewart1 #hello entire town of Rochester #backroads
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Everyone is deserving of humanity, but is seems particularly callous to publicly inflict this on a three-year-old-girl.
BREAKING: Tharni has been diagnosed with (untreated) pneumonia. We think this caused her blood infection. How did this go undiagnosed for so long that she became so ill? Please keep her in your thoughts. Karen Andrews, you can end this little girl's suffering today. #HomeToBilo
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Hope all the journalists calling Julian Assange an ‘activist’ and distancing him from our profession would be willing to spend 14 years without freedom to uphold it.
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Flying on an Australian airline in 2024 is the epitome of first world problems but how are our only options utterly dogshit.
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Commentators who say the AFL should stay out of the Voice forget sport has always been, and will always be a vehicle for social change. At times it's displayed Australia at its worst. Matches like tonight are footy at its best.
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Truly the most ‘shocking’ thing that happened in the last few days.
Television viewers were shocked when singer Tex Perkins shouted “This one’s for the PM” and gave the finger during a live NYE broadcast.
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On the 6th June, Victoria reported no new coronavirus cases. Today we reported 75. Just shows how quickly this virus can spread again.
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Was talking to a mate today who had a colleague warn her against voting yes in the referendum because the voice would be able to shut down any development and would've scrapped the new Sydney airport. Really worried about the state of misinformation right now.
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Seems unbelievable Trump has tested positive after all that hydroxychloroquine he was taking.
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Thought I was reading a newspaper from apartheid South Africa but no! It's just The Australian in 2023.
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Michael and Jeanette Ryan’s love story began in a Melbourne hospital in 1961 (Michael the patient; Jeanette the nurse) and continued for six decades in the town of Dookie until Covid took them, one week apart.
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Turns out climate change is expensive. Councils are still expected to front the cost of 90% of NSW roads, nowhere near their budget amid natural disaster after natural disaster
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Revealed: University of Sydney spent millions more on consultants than repaying wages of casual staff
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A word of warning: don’t forget your house keys on an evening trip to the pool or you’ll spend two hours helplessly wandering the inner west of Sydney with nothing but a dead phone, a bottle of vermouth and a mad look in your eye.
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ABC coverage tonight has been brilliant. @Dan_Bourchier all class. Love to all First Nations Australians hurting tonight. We are with you. It doesn’t end today ❤️.
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So while Amazon threatens to fire employees who speak out on climate change, @ReadingsBooks pledges to give all giftwrapping donations (and match the sales) to the Red Cross for the bushfire effort. Reasons to support independent bookstores: community spirit and engagement!
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People keep talking about “gotcha” questions with no mention of this wonderful time in politics when the Chasers brought trivial pursuit to press conferences @TonyHWindsor
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It’s difficult to write about chronic pain but I think it’s also important. If not just to remind us that we cannot understand the personal lives of others, and so may as well treat everyone with dignity and respect.
Creative non-fiction can be raw, personal and beautiful. Caitlin Cassidy's blog post, detailing what it's like to live with a chronic illness, is just that.
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Imagine spending seven decades training for one job then losing your mind over the concept of a pen. Yikes!.
Enough to say HM The King’s style differs a little from his mother’s.
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"Critics argue that it’s all the product of a warped political and media culture that has spent decades doing the industry’s bidding while deceiving the public, exaggerating coal employment and understating the need to reverse course."
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It’s 2022 and this is how respected journalists talk about their female colleagues. Still a pathetic boys club. Livid.
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I would also like to thank all the academics who have raised issues in the sector with me and passionately want the best outcomes for their students and fellow staff - who work overtime and forego pay.
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Jeihan and Azem Elmazs’ Albanian restaurant #Luftiyes has been a place of refuge for vulnerable people in Shepparton’s community for three decades.
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None of this to say I regret studying which, owing to privilege and naivety, I chose based upon my interests & love of it rather than future income. But young people shouldn’t be facing a future where despite doing the right thing, getting employed, lodging payments, debt rises.
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Trump proves time and time again that if the media run you verbatim, you can lie through your teeth and get away with it. What a dangerous political lesson that is.
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"They won’t say ‘no’ because they’ll get no cash, and they won’t say ‘yes’ [straight away] because they’ll get no cash"
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Things only regional journalists say: "Hi Debbie, I'm just calling about the 149gram egg?".
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I wish political analysts talked more about how policies would impact people rather than how things polled.
Labor sources tell me their internal polling shows strong support in rural and regional electorates for their tax cut plan. In fact, more popular in rural and regional areas than in cities - it’s going well in parts of the country where the Voice was unpopular #auspol.
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A thread on how fun it is to rent in Sydney: Two months ago, our oven broke. Weeks after requesting a fix, a man came by and said the part we needed was no longer available to order. We told our agent, who after not returning our calls, expressed shock & offered us a microwave.
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So lovely to visit the Richmond Bowls Club where my story has been framed right by the bar, and mocked up like it appeared in a newspaper. And to catch to up with Ricky Baker, the article’s star ⭐️ 🌈 Community stories are special
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