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Fiona Kelly McGregor

@fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social
156 followers 72 following 174 posts

Novelist, essayist, art writer based on Gadigal country in Sydney, Australia. Out now: The Trap, follow up to Iris. Set Sydney 1942-43, The Trap is about an entrapment scandal that went all the way to the top. No generative AI pls.

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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
AI - so useful in so many ways
aje.news
Israel weaponises AI for West Bank demolitions
AI tools push forced evictions of Palestinians, automating demolitions in occupied territories under Israeli control.
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Exclusive: AHPRA chief reveals ‘heightened external pressure’ over antisemitism definition
open.substack.com
Exclusive: AHPRA chief reveals ‘heightened external pressure’ over antisemitism definition
A trove of internal documents obtained by Deepcut shows how Australia’s regulator of health workers initially resisted adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism, but later changed course
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
‘I don’t recognise my children’: a Gazan father’s despair
open.substack.com
‘I don’t recognise my children’: a Gazan father’s despair
Three years of genocide have left thousands of Palestinian children psychologically damaged, with no reprieve in sight
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
So not surprised.
abc.net.au
Impact of colonisation on First Nations people far greater than previous estimates, research finds
Australia's Indigenous population was up to seven times larger before colonisation than previously estimated, but was devastated following the arrival of Europeans, new research reveals.
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Yeah!
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Coming up at State Library of NSW. HOMEGROWN, a mini festival of literature. All free! I’ll be in a panel about writing queer Sydney moderated by Ben Law, with Madeleine Gray and Zoe Terakes. Friday 9 October, 7.30pm. Link to book is here. www.swf.org.au/program/out-...
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Here’s a podcast from an interview I did in May at WoW festival.
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
New essay up -
open.substack.com
Take me to a Gay Bar
A night out in the penal colony, on Gadigal land
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
“In an industry under strain, product tends to be prioritised over process. I’ve been working as a critic and an editor in Australia for over 20 years and the story I hear from people in the industry is that they are being asked to do more with less, and quickly.” @catrionamp.bsky.social on OzLit
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
"By letting the West set Jews against its other victims, we suffer alongside them, while only the civilisation that historically abused us truly benefits.” Incredible interview with historian Barnaby Raine.
equator.org
Good Jews, Bad Jews • EQUATOR
What the mainstream gets wrong about antisemitism
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
New review up - on Mia Khan Boe’s Walking About at Sutton Gallery in Naarm/ Melbourne.
open.substack.com
MIA KHIN BOE – Walking About
Sutton Gallery, Melbourne/Naarm, 7 March – 11 April 2026
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
Good news at last. (The elephants were female too.)
theguardian.com
US millionaire big-game hunter dies after being crushed by elephants
Ernie Dosio, a 75-year-old vineyard owner, was hunting an antelope species in Africa when the incident occured
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
The Amoc is a major part of the global climate system and is close to the tipping point of collapse. This is the biggest news of the year if not the decade.
theguardian.com
Critical Atlantic current significantly more likely to collapse than thought
Scientists say finding is ‘very concerning’ as collapse would be catastrophic for Europe, Africa and the Americas
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Bref, 150 writers, including Virginie Despentes, have left Grasset, French publisher, due to policies of its ultra-right owner Vincent Bolloré. Grasset is part of Hachette, big list here in Australia. I’m so inspired by writers acting against autocrats. ✊🏼
estrepublicain.fr
Livres. Despentes, Lévy, Beigbeder : 115 écrivains quittent la maison d'édition Grasset et ciblent Bolloré
Un total de 115 auteurs publiés chez Grasset annoncent quitter cette maison d'édition pour dénoncer le licenciement de son PDG, Olivier Nora.
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
REMEMORY - 25th Biennale of Sydney. This review is of Campbelltown Arts Centre.
open.substack.com
REMEMORY - 25th BIENNALE OF SYDNEY - Curated by Hoor al Qasimi
CAMPBELLTOWN ARTS CENTRE, 14 March – 14 June 2026
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
"In short, Watt’s own statement revealed that at the very time he was arguing in public and at UNESCO that industrial emissions were causing no damage to the [50,000 year-old] rock art, his own department was telling him – and he accepted – that the opposite was true."
themonthly.com.au
The very model of a modern Labor general
Murray Watt – tireless fixer and good soldier – is federal environment minister in a Labor government that has approved 35 fossil fuel projects and has done little to quell disquiet about the climate ...
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 29/03/2026
Latest essay up on substack@fkmcg
open.substack.com
Mike Parr – Ships in the Night
SYRUP Gallery, Marrickville. 8pm, Thursday 12 March, 2026. (Exhibition 5 – 22 March)
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Reposted by Fiona Kelly McGregor
Market Forces @marketforces.org.au · 26/03/2026
Macquarie has been a little shy 👉👈 … but we know deep down it's just as proud of the billions of tonnes of emissions its financing as it is about doing climate action 🫠 So today we surprised them with an award. 🎖️ #auspol #climate #macquariebank #beetaloo
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
Come and help me launch this novel into Sydney harbour. Everyone is welcome! Tuesday March 31. 5.30pm Sean and Dolly’s 220 William St, Woolloomooloo Hosted by Potts Point Bookshop. Launched by 78er Mark Gillespie RSVP to anna@pottspointbookshop.com.au
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
" … more than half the al-Hol camp’s population are children, most under 12 years old. Albanese said Australia won't repatriate its citizens with links to Islamic State. 34 Australian women & children were turned back by Syrian authorities after they left al-Roj detention camp.
cnn.com
Syria reports ‘mass escape’ from detention camp holding ISIS-linked families amid reports thousands fled | CNN
A “mass escape” took place last month from Syria’s al-Hol camp that holds families linked to the Islamic State following the withdrawal of Kurdish forces, according to Syrian TV, amid reports thousand...
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
New essay up at substack. On English poet Alice Oswald giving a lecture in Paris. And other stuff too. #poetry #literature #lecture #review #paris #essay
open.substack.com
Alice Oswald in the City of Light
And a Stranger on the Train
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
‘Need a lord on the board?’ Great article on that pimple Mandelson, one of legion pustules popped out of the Epstein file. As a coda, read this about Mandelson's contribution to the campaign to destroy Australian Labor's proposed mining super profits tax. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
lrb.co.uk
James Butler · ‘Need a lord on the board?’: Mandelson and the Lobbyists
Why​ did a man whose political expertise was acquired in the departed era of broadcast television maintain such...
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
New essay up at brand new substack. Published five days ago, and just tweaked. Please enjoy! "Melvin Edwards, Echo Delay Reverb, and the Cops Who Just Won’t Stop." Paris, January 2026.
open.substack.com
Melvin Edwards, Echo Delay Reverb, and the Cops Who Just Won’t Stop.
PALAIS DE TOKYO, PARIS 22/10/2025 – 15/2/2026
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
Here’s the footage. Multiple punches on a man with his arms up. Another assault case against #nswpolice, paid for by us? Meanwhile, the man who should be arrested for inciting genocide is dining on canapés with our PM. All this under a democratically elected leftist government.
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
Why does this article say « police allegedly threw punches » when footage of them actually, graphically doing so has been circulating for hours already?
theguardian.com
Police use pepper spray at Sydney rally against Isaac Herzog visit, with MP alleging officers threw punches
Grace Tame and Lidia Thorpe address crowds in Sydney and Melbourne as NSW Labor backbencher says police reaction ‘totally over-the-top’
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
Beautiful story amidst the rolling disasters on our feed
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
What do people think of this? That humans came out of Australia as much as or more than Africa? That they migrated north, not south?
sciencealert.com
World's Oldest Rock Art Discovered in Indonesian Cave
The dark bowels of a limestone cave on Muna Island, off the coast of Sulawesi in Indonesia, just yielded an ancient secret.
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
Oh Australia … who profits from this???
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
« Greenland is essential for the Golden Dome we are building. » « Talks fail. » Terrifying. But real.
theguardian.com
Trump insists Greenland is crucial for national security after Denmark talks
Talks fail to solve ‘fundamental disagreement’ over Arctic island controlled by Copenhagen
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Terrific piece on the AWW debacle. ‘Over the past 30 years, there has been a strong push towards corporatisation of arts boards. Arts orgs have adopted private-sector style governance models, with organisations seen as “enterprises” rather than cultural institutions.’
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
When the country who led the case against Israel for genocide does this, you know you are in deep shit.
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 11/01/2026
Surely the best thing to do now would be reinstate Abdel-Fattah and the entire program. Appoint a new board with a majority of writers (and pay them) and other workers from our industry. Cos apart from the cultural devastation, SA must be haemorrhaging $$ from this debacle.
sbs.com.au
Board members quit from Adelaide festival as fallout from dropped author grows
SBS News can confirm three board members have now resigned from the Adelaide Festival, amid growing controversy over a decision to drop a Palestinian Australian author and academic.
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Reposted by Fiona Kelly McGregor
Ren Wyld @wyld.bsky.social · 11/01/2026
Tracey Whiting, Chair of Adelaide Festival Board, has officially stepped down. Good Can we have our writers festival back now?
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Reposted by Fiona Kelly McGregor
Nick Feik @nickfeik.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
I’m still amazed that the sub judice aspect has been ignored in the rolling media campaign for a Bondi royal commission. In case you’ve not read about it (and why would you) I’ve written about it here: open.substack.com/pub/nickfeik...
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 04/01/2026
7000 year old barbecue site and clay ovens near Campbelltown. Fabulous stuff.
smh.com.au
Meet the women who unlocked the secret history of this Sydney site
Ancient camping sites where Indigenous people fired clay balls for underground ovens proved this development in south-west Sydney was anything but undeveloped.
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
New novel due 2026! The Trap (Picador) is the ‘spiritual sequel’ to Iris. Set in Sydney 1942-43, this novel is based on a true story of entrapment, police corruption, and the power of the media. A social portrait of this city in wartime, with characters from all strata of society. Get excited!
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
“What would politics be like in an age in which the economy – in other words, capitalism, its worldwide web stretched tight – had become absolutely preponderant? That is, where politicians no longer had control, or even the pretence of control, over the key decisions affecting their societies … “
lrb.co.uk
T.J. Clark · The Job
What would politics be like in an age where one empire continued to hold sway over the ‘international community’, as...
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
What a great idea! 👊🏻
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Reposted by Fiona Kelly McGregor
Senator David Shoebridge @davidshoebridge.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
"The reality of Aukus, from Australia’s perspective, is that it is not, fundamentally, an agreement that will deliver this country nuclear-powered submarines. It is a plan that will further enmesh Australia into US defence strategy..." www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...
theguardian.com
Full steam ahead with Aukus – but where to?
Defence agreement kept afloat through sheer political will, despite Pentagon doubts over its ability to ever deliver what it promises
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Reposted by Fiona Kelly McGregor
The Australia Institute @australiainstitute.org.au · 08/12/2025
Australia Institute research shows a 25% tax on gas exports would raise would raise more than $17 billion a year, enough to cover an extension of the energy rebate! ✍️ Sign our petition urging the government to fix our gas export laws: nb.australiainstitute.org.au/fix_ga…
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
‘The government could use their money better on educating and regulating, than on restricting.’
theguardian.com
‘Everyone will miss the socialising – but it’s also a relief’: five young teens on Australia’s social media ban
As the under-16s social media ban looms, Guardian Australia speaks to five 13 to 15-year-olds about what they will miss, and what government should be doing instead
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
know. “We hold grave concerns that the current Amendment Bill takes the Australian freedom of information regime in a more secretive direction,m,” said professors Catherine Williams and Gabrielle Appleby from the Centre for Public Integrity. Albanese’s secretive governance.
thesaturdaypaper.com.au
Exclusive: PM’s office directs lobbyists to use encrypted, disappearing messages
Multiple sources confirm the Albanese government has pushed lobbyists and industry groups to use encrypted messages and verbal briefings when proposing policy ideas, to avoid FOI and disclosure requir...
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
It was a great turn out at Rising Tide this year - one of the most relevant and best organised movements for climate justice on this imperilled planet. getting arrested never looked so good (& funny). Not so funny for minors, who of course will suffer the most if we don’t address this crisis.
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
Full moon over Gadigal 🤍 #pleinelune #lunapiena #fullmoon
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
Less and less difference between em …
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
Erm … what about that apartheid state in the Levant and its secret service that starts with M? And you don’t have to click far to get your Hasbara, just watch ABC news.
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 26/10/2025
So loving these videos of Gestapo ICE. Scream them down, barefoot in your PJs, drive them out!
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
"In 2025 alone, Germany purchased 315 million euros' worth of Israeli weaponry – more than in the previous four years combined ... "
haaretz.com
Germany is buying Israeli-made Spike anti-tank missiles in 2 billion euro deal
The Major Deal Was Signed Through NATO With EuroSpike, Rafael's European Joint Venture, in Which It Holds a Stake. In 2025 Alone, Germany Purchased 315 Million Euros' Worth of Israeli Weaponry – More ...
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Fiona Kelly McGregor @fionakellymcgregor.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
Well this is incred. In Berlin in 2009-10 around 30-50,000 pa came from France to live, escaping Sarkozy’s neo-liberal hellhole. EN DIRECT - Incarcération de Sarkozy : «Il y est pour un minimum de trois semaines ou d’un mois», assure l’un de ses avocats www.liberation.fr/societe/poli...
liberation.fr
EN DIRECT - Incarcération de Sarkozy : «Il y est pour un minimum de trois semaines ou d’un mois», assure l’un de ses avocats
Condamné à cinq ans de prison ferme dans le cadre de l’affaire du financement libyen de sa campagne de 2007, l’ancien chef de l’Etat est sur le point d’être incarcéré ce mardi matin.
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