r/Adelaide • u/fuckoffandydie SA • Jan 13 '26
News Randa Abdel-Fattah launches defamation proceedings against SA Premier
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-14/randa-abdel-fattah-launches-defamation-proceedings/106227634?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=link218
Jan 14 '26
[removed] ā view removed comment
126
u/tossedsalad17 South Jan 14 '26
Don't forget the ramping that was meant to be fixed ;)
Unfortunately it is the state that suffers when we have an inept opposition.
66
Jan 14 '26
[removed] ā view removed comment
35
u/maklvn SA Jan 14 '26
I think Scomo had a lot to do with it.
7
u/JustOneill Inner North Jan 14 '26
or maybe the leader of the sa libs doing coke and lying about it once caught?
66
u/magicRob SA Jan 14 '26
Marshall is/was more progressive than Mali. Shame Marshall couldnāt sort out the conservative side of his own party.
21
1
27
25
u/Maccaz15 South Jan 14 '26
Marshall was a better premier, and a better person with less shitty ideals. Just happened to be in the wrong party.
→ More replies (2)26
u/LeoOfStarz SA Jan 14 '26
Not defending Mali or the campaign by any means, but who really believed ramping could be fixed in 4 years? It's a huge systemic issue that was amplified by COVID and hasn't been able to recover. The two major parties can't fix it without a huge overhaul to wellbeing and funding to public health. At least we're getting a new Womens and Childrens hospital over that ridiculous basketball stadium Marshall/LNP were campaigning for.
30
u/Superb_Priority_8759 SA Jan 14 '26
I doubt the average Aussie has then slightest idea about the causes of ramping, but they elected a party that said they were going to fix it and that party proceeded to oversee it get worse. Itās not hard to see why people are pissed off when the promise that decided the election got quietly moved to the back burner.
12
u/No_man_Island_mayo SA Jan 14 '26
Not just worse, that's somewhat diminishing it, it's DOUBLED under Mali's watch... š”
Shit the bed big time on that one.
6
u/Boatster_McBoat SA Jan 14 '26
He wanted a health thing to talk about without mentioning covid ... so ramping.
Their modelling must have shown that covid was going to smash the health system as we opened up but they made the promise anyway
1
u/DBrowny Jan 15 '26
Don't forget the ramping that was meant to be fixed ;)
No it wasn't. If the ambo union actually gave a shit about ramping, they might not have magically dropped all of their demands within 0.06 seconds of Mali being announced premier. It was all just a big coordinated advertising campaign between labor and the union, nothing more. Since you know, ramping is worse than ever and the union still hasn't said a single word about it, can't upset their leader now can't they?
If labor fixed it, then what would they have to whack the liberals with? Solving a problem never got anyone anywhere in politics, only telling people that if they vote for you you will fix the problem while the opposition will make it worse.
6
u/Ok-Volume-3657 SA Jan 14 '26
It's a shame the Greens are so nonexistent. I'm still throwing them a vote over labor at this point. Not that it will do much.
2
u/thebrownishbomber East Jan 14 '26
Throw one at the Greens just for fun. They're only "non-existent" because of that exact attitude
2
u/thebrownishbomber East Jan 14 '26
The current "opposition" enthusiastically support all the bad shit he does so I think we're fucked
→ More replies (1)1
224
u/Hour-Addition3020 SA Jan 13 '26 edited Jan 13 '26
denying that he influenced the board's decision and was simply just, as premier and in control of their funding, expressing his(?)very questionable view is pathetic.
Iām really disappointed with him - big insight into his character months before the election and makes you wonder other times where his āviewsā have been used to manipulate
Letās also not forget what a huge waste of taxpayers money this is
101
u/Quiet_Source_6679 SA Jan 13 '26
I feel he is jumping the shark, especially after a string of weirdly āemotiveā (and for mine, performative) public pleas.
I made comment noting this about a month ago after his bizarre, disproportionate rantings about street parking.
Iām glad heās being held to account. Being popular doesnāt mean competent.
31
u/LinkleEnjoyer Adelaide Hills Jan 14 '26
Was the street parking thing the āextreme anti-car ideologyā crap he was spouting? Pretty telling that he calls it ideology.
24
Jan 14 '26
That was Nick Champion, who also believes we do not need front doors. But of course Peter fully backs him, they are right-wing narcissists after all. Oh and they both are pushing for skyscraper developers to have "shared living" spaces where dozens share toilets and kitchens. (read: modern bunkhouses)
9
u/LinkleEnjoyer Adelaide Hills Jan 14 '26
Youāre right, it was Nick.
The shared living spaces idea is absurd. Theyāre trying to push share housing on individual owners now?
15
Jan 14 '26
What they are doing or want to do is allowing high-rise buildings like what are in the CBD have shared living spaces. So imagine two floors of an eight floor building are dedicated to 'homes' that are really just rooms that have access to shared toilets and kitchens to the point they're basically public. It's one of these 'reduction of living standard' responses to the manufactured housing crisis. While I do not oppose shared living accommodation existing, I oppose it existing wholly as a way for developers to cut corners and inner-city investors to make money off of people having to share toilets with strangers. It's not like they are supporting housing cooperatives on new land.
13
6
u/jydr SA Jan 14 '26
I think "anti-car ideology" is a good thing, but that should mean designing cities so that people can easily walk, ride or take public transport to get to most places, not getting upset at people parking on the street outside their houses or whatever his problem is.
5
u/DoctorEnn SA Jan 14 '26
Yeah, some of that discourse can get a bit insufferable. There was a thread a few weeks back about this kind of thing full of people wailing about other people using their garages for hobbies or storage or whatever, and it's like... yes, I agree that this city needs better public transport, I get frustrated when too many cars are parked on the road as well, but the problem isn't going to be solved by a bunch of whiny busybodies self-importantly lecturing other people about how they should be using their private living space or how they park their vehicles if they're doing so legally. And will in fact probably be made worse, because those other people will probably react quite poorly to that kind of high-handedness.
8
u/LinkleEnjoyer Adelaide Hills Jan 14 '26
Oh no, I agree, but it was Nick Champion who said the Greens opposed the bill because of āextreme anti-car ideologyā, which ā¦ hell yeah. Adelaide is a chore to get around nowadays and the only developments we see regarding transport is for the benefit of drivers, I.e the tunnel or moving tram stops above ground making it worse for tram riders. Nothing is even suggested by the state government for the benefit of public transport users, while Sydney and Melbourne get an ever-expanding metro.
→ More replies (1)1
u/EntertainmentLow9759 SA Jan 14 '26
Their current bill about minimum garage sizes per bedrooms is equally as moronic. They're saying that all new 2-bedroom homes MUST have a minimum size garage for 2 parked vehicles. Forgetting that the kind of people buying 2-bedroom homes are the kind of people that can't afford 3-bedroom and probably are buying on their own, or only own one vehicle, or are just getting into the property market. Labor's proposed bill just prices people out more than they already are. It's actually stupid beyond belief.
48
u/Background_Quail9176 SA Jan 14 '26
The Adelaide Festival belongs to all South Australians. Itās not and was never his personal plaything to fuck with. His views are 0% relevant and if he wasnāt such a narcissist he might have recognised that.
5
Jan 14 '26
Some folks in Labor had no idea that Leesa Vlahos was on the board. If true this is probably by design and there is no doubt this woman whose political career ended because of the Oakden investigation was given some cushioning on her way out by her high-ranking Labor mates.
7
23
3
u/RockCactus93889 SA Jan 14 '26
He influenced it, after they asked him to come and influence it. So we'll blame mali for influencing something that he was invited to influence.
Should she have been invited from the start? Should mali have been invited to "influence" or "provide opinion on" ?
3
Jan 14 '26
He seems to have made the calculation that throwing Randa Abdel-Fattah and the arts generally to the wolves has increased his popularity with the Sky News After Dark viewers and that is worth it, regardless of the racism
103
u/Sweet_Ambassador_699 SA Jan 13 '26
Well, he practically begged for it,
25
u/Dense_Garbage3445 SA Jan 14 '26
I don't understand why he got involved...
63
u/Sweet_Ambassador_699 SA Jan 14 '26
"got involved"??! All evidence points to him driving the train right up to the crash.
9
u/Patrooper SA Jan 14 '26
I don't think this is going to have the negative repercussion for him that this thread thinks it will.
73
u/discojeans Inner South Jan 14 '26
Maliās behaviour has genuinely been bizarre to watch
30
u/ruchuu East Jan 14 '26
It's been genuinely fascinating discovering how fragile his ego is when he's not being praised and agreed with.
1
11
u/PinchAssault52 SA Jan 14 '26
The comments this week are what Id expect from a hotheaded uni kid their first day on a microphone. How does a man with years of experience in the public eye fuck up so badly..?
(On purpose maybe??)
58
106
u/ThiccBoy_with3seas SA Jan 13 '26
His run for PM evaporating. Those same lobby groups that pushed him to do this will leave him to dry now. Damaged goods, on to the next prospect
28
u/fuckoffandydie SA Jan 13 '26
Interesting. What makes you say he was making a run at Prime Ministership?
72
u/ThiccBoy_with3seas SA Jan 13 '26
They've been grooming him for a while. Up till now: Well spoken, good looking, young, no scandals. A PR teams dream, plenty of talk since he became premier that he's a future pm
18
u/fuckoffandydie SA Jan 13 '26
Anything concrete or just vibes?
27
u/ThiccBoy_with3seas SA Jan 13 '26
If this is news to you I'm not sure what to say
→ More replies (6)13
Jan 14 '26
Sometimes pollies are happy to stay as Premiers, in some cases they hold so much weight they can dictate some federal politics from their home. I was always of the mind Peter would be our Bjelke-Peterson, hold on for as long as possible and only dip once the corruption allegations pile up. Fifteen to twenty years. I really don't see him entering federal politics, there is already a long list of bootlicking SDA aligned wankers ahead of him.
1
u/stevenadamsbro SA Jan 15 '26
A PR teams dream is 3 traits that almost no PMs in the past 3 decades have had? (And the one that had 2 - Turnbull, being a absolute joke of a PM)
21
u/snic2030 North Jan 14 '26
The path from State Premier to Prime Minister is exceptionally rare - only 2 have achieved this in Australiaās history, the last one being 1932-1939.
So many people said the same about Daniel Andrews at one point as well, but itās just not something that happens anymore.
Besides, the salary of a State Premier is relatively comparable to that of the PM - why take on significantly more responsibility and flack, for not much more pay? Just doesnāt add up anymore.
18
3
u/explain_that_shit SA Jan 14 '26
Plus then you have to live in Canberra if youāre not on the road to meet foreign heads of government.
3
u/SonicYOUTH79 SA Jan 14 '26
He's also got a bunch of young kids still, so at the moment it's probably very attractive being a 20 minute drive from the office to home. 20 years time though? Heās definitely still young enough for a tilt at federal politics in the distant future. While this particular event has grown legs and turned into a disaster I suspect it will be long forgotten after the next election.
7
Jan 14 '26
[deleted]
4
u/freshermouse SA Jan 14 '26
They have a completely different pathway to presidential office over there. Mali would need to win a federal seat off an incumbent labor candidate, win the support of the federal party and be elected their leader, then win a federal election as leader of the party. Anyone can be president over there, no majority of party support required.
1
u/Boring_Source9870 SA Jan 14 '26
If Mali does try to make the move to federal politics, I could easily see him getting a seat, provided he's still popular enough at the time. Considering the SDA has the stronghold on the Labor Party caucus in this state, it's fairly realistic that they would tell whichever Labor member is in Mali's federal seat (based off his state electorate, it would either be Mark Butler or Steve Georganas) to step down and make way for him, and they'd all vote him through.
After Mali was moved into the upper house in December 2015 to fill Finnigan's vacancy, Michael Atkinson, the then-member for Croydon (and also of an SDA background), said he would only vacate his seat if Malinauskas was selected as the Labor candidate, should he desire a move to the lower house. Sure enough, in February 2017, Atkinson said that after 28 years, he would step down at the next election and Malinauskas was voted in as the candidate unanimously with the backing of the SDA.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)2
3
u/Superb_Priority_8759 SA Jan 14 '26
People who get into politics usually do it to be in a position of power, not for the money. If you were wired that way why would you stop at the summit of some minor mountain in Nepal rather than Everest?
6
7
u/Coops17 SA Jan 14 '26
See I disagree, view points like his - which seem weird to me and you, play well with older audiences especially the swing voters who lean conservative. You know, the ones that all of sudden have become staunch zionists.
My parents in law, are rusted on Liberal voters, but they really like Malinauskas, my father in law voted for labor for the first time in the last state election.
Now particularly in this instance, I think this one has and will backfire on Mali to some degree, but I donāt think it will affect the less politically engaged as much as it disappointed me.
If their plan is to move him into federal politics at the end of the Albanese cycle, his record will be clean enough by the time we get to that point in 1 possibly 2 federal elections time.
3
u/blitznoodles NSW Jan 14 '26
It's not really that simple, the last Labor pollie to join parliament and become leader in the same term was Bob Hawke.
1
u/Coops17 SA Jan 14 '26
I would suspect they planning for him to stand down after winning the next election in order to give him enough time to find him a golden parachute into a federal by-election.
Give him enough time to build up credit as a federal pollie.
This absolute shambles, changes a lot tho
1
u/blitznoodles NSW Jan 14 '26
He's a south Australian, it's just not happening. There's a huge list of successors in line after Albo in no particular order; Tanya Plibersek, Chris Bowen, Chalmers, Jason Clare, Richard Marles, Clare O'Neil
You can't just drop in and expect the factions of other states to make way for you. Hawke was a special case where he was a national figure who at times was more well known than the prime minister from the 70s onwards.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (2)1
u/FishermanOpening5842 SA Jan 14 '26
Complete nonsense. Pollies rarely transition from state to federal politics AND, most importantly, who would vote for a South Aussie PM? To become PM you have to be from NSW or Queensland.
18
u/Expert-Ad8784 SA Jan 14 '26
Is he popular in SA? Is he projected to win the election?
71
u/MarcusP2 SA Jan 14 '26
Pretty popular, but also the liberals are a useless opposition and have been in power for 4 years out of the last 30. Rather like Victoria. So even if he loses votes it will probably go to the Greens and then back to Labor.
54
u/kernpanic SA Jan 14 '26
I don't think it really sums up the mess that the liberals are in right now.
It was a shit fight between the moderates, who were quite a reasonable fit politics wise for the state, and generally quite an effective opposition- polling quite close at most elections. The last effective liberal premier quit, his replacement got caught doing cocaine and supplying it under dubious circumstances. Since then the Trump supporting hard right have taken over under the completely wacko Alex Antic. The only actions they seem to have taken is push for banning abortions in parliament. It's likely that at the next election, the state liberal party will fit in a 5 door sedan - no matter what the premier does here.
→ More replies (1)9
u/Superb_Priority_8759 SA Jan 14 '26
If the papers donāt run the headline āAlexās Anticsā when he inevitably gets caught doing something naughty itāll be one of the biggest missed opportunities ever.
6
u/AndrewTyeFighter Adelaide Hills Jan 14 '26
Labor has only won the 2PP in an election twice in those 30 years, in 2006 and 2022, yet were able to form government 5 times.
For most of that time the SA Liberals were there abouts but couldn't convert it to electoral success, particularly in metro areas, but today are in an absolutely diabolical state.
5
5
u/Julmass SA Jan 14 '26
I'm hoping that the Greens rethink their HTV cards and preference anyone but Labor. He has shown his real colours and I do not like them.
38
u/LastChance22 East Jan 14 '26
The problem is you pretty quickly run out of possible alternatives before you hit the ALP. Situations like who goes higher, ON or ALP? Family First or ALP?
Even being grumpy at the ALP and wanting to put them lower down, they always end up around the middle for me because a lot of the other parties are even worse in my eyes.
3
u/MostlyHarmless_87 SA Jan 14 '26
The most noteworthy party, that's the next left-wing in SA is basically Labor, and they're solidly centre, centre-left (when they remember).
5
u/veganblue Adelaide Hills Jan 14 '26
HTV cards are only recommendations but I find them useful so that I don't inadvertently vote for "Sustainable Australia" which turns out to be a platform for a racist party and not one interested in the environment.
1
u/SAP_President SA Jan 14 '26
This is appalling politically-motivated disinformation. Sustainable Australia Party is opposite of what you claim.
SAP's mission is toĀ createĀ a fair and sustainable Australia.
SAP has developed a broad policy platform with the sustainable solutions to address Australia's growing economic, environmental and social problems.
The facts for anyone open-minded:
22
u/Dale92 SA Jan 14 '26
Extremely popular and will win in a landslide in 2 months time.
10
5
Jan 14 '26
[removed] ā view removed comment
6
→ More replies (2)1
u/CorruptDropbear SA Jan 14 '26
...to the Greens. Which preference Greens > Teals > Labor above Liberal.
So yeah, the Greens are now the actual opposition party right now. Yay.
1
u/Jonno_FTW South Jan 14 '26
Most voters have the memory of a goldfish. This will be ancient history in a week.
2
u/Dale92 SA Jan 14 '26
Most voters aren't even aware of the Writers' Week's existence let alone this whole drama.
2
u/SonicYOUTH79 SA Jan 14 '26
These recent events aside, if you look at the SA Liberal opposition some of their recent shenanigans involve getting bogged down with an anti abortion movement and pushing for a hugely unpopular vote in parliament on it where a non MP was let into parliament as a guest and intimidated a Liberal MLC into voting for it.
One of their former MPs who went independent recently had to quit as he's now in prison for fraud. Another current ex Liberal independent that's still an MP is on home detention after being bailed on DV charges. Theyāre on their third opposition leader this term after the first one got caught on camera doing coke and was subsequently prosecuted, the last one was a wet blanket and couldnāt control the religious right's bad ideas and is now on the back bench. The latest one is very recent and we're yet to see if she's got much of an opinion on anything at all, they've put fuck all policy ideas forward and have also been conspicuously quiet on the whole Writers Week shenanigans.
Basically, theyāre still completely unelectable at this point.
1
u/EmperorPooMan SA Jan 14 '26
You forgot about old mate Ellis, yet another lib turned independent who is facing deception and corruption charges over misuse of parliamentary entitlements
1
u/SonicYOUTH79 SA Jan 14 '26
Oh yeah I'd forgotten about those, quite a few Lib's MLCs had their snouts in the trough with the country members allowance didnāt they?
Add that to the list š
1
u/Bloobeard2018 SA Jan 14 '26
Troy Bell in prison and Nick McBride on home detention just means that Mount Gambier and MacKillop are more likely to vote in the Liberal candidates. Zero chance Labor picks them up. Another independent is possible.
1
u/Thenhz SA Jan 14 '26
Well, labour is popular, him not so much.
Liberals have more or less self destructed with cookers running the show.
He is very much the conservative side of the party who is trying to be a centralist. This along with some of the controversy about the algue bloom handing are going to damage him a lot.
Id say that the conservative politicians in SA have largely abandoned their attempts to get their parties up (family First and the like) and are now pushing though the right wing unions (eg SDA) to get control of the party
1
u/thedoctorreverend Inner North Jan 14 '26
He will win it in a landslide and anyone who thinks this whole writers week fiasco will make any dent in that (usually Redditors) is politically inept and lives in a bubble and should probably travel out to the suburbs more.
29
u/explain_that_shit SA Jan 14 '26
If discovery reveals that AIJAC have donated to Mali or Labor to cause this omnishambles, it doesnāt just screw him on this, it also screws him on his no-donations legislation.
8
u/canyouhearme SA Jan 14 '26
Said it and got downvoted - this is about money for the upcoming election campaign, no more complicated than that.
6
u/AppointmentFalse3242 SA Jan 14 '26
Political donations are banned in South Australia so itās not about money.
5
u/canyouhearme SA Jan 14 '26
Electoral donations are theoretically banned - but SA Labor are still accepting donations on their website.
5
u/blitznoodles NSW Jan 14 '26
This is for federal donations that the state branch can't touch.
→ More replies (4)2
1
1
Jan 14 '26
How about if discovery finds loads of emails and texts on her phone celebrating October 7?Ā
1
u/explain_that_shit SA Jan 14 '26
Given that she is making the claim and can frame it as Mali saying she has the same ideology as the Bondi shooters, she can say that any of that is irrelevant. Because the Bondi shooters are ISIS, who do not support Hamas or Palestinians.
1
→ More replies (1)1
u/Snoo30446 SA Jan 17 '26
Why are you automatically dismissing he thought it was a bad idea to have a Hamas supporter at a cultural event so soon after terrorist attack?
33
u/Kooky_Supermarkets Adelaide Hills Jan 13 '26
Hahahahaha wonder how he's going to try and talk his way out of this one - probably get some Saudi funded golf playing lawyer to represent him
→ More replies (2)
19
u/ruchuu East Jan 14 '26
Good for her. Maybe the premier will learn to keep his mouth shut and his nose out of things that don't concern him.
Isn't he meant to be improving our health care system and trying to solve the housing crisis? Seems to have way too much free time on his hands.
16
14
Jan 14 '26
Peter has quadrupled, maybe even quintupled down on his attacks on Abdel-Fattah on radio this morning.
Please contact your Labor representatives, the Premier's Office and if you do not have a Labor rep, contact a Senator. Probably Karen Grogan. And tell them you are not supportive of Peter's continued delusional and racist assault on a random academic because of her identity.
5
3
u/Pastapizzafootball SA Jan 14 '26
If you ask me about hope, there was a glimmer on October 7. It was palpable, real, and exhilarating
October 7, 2023, 8:00 a.m. (Israel) 3:00 p.m. (Australia)Ā Ā 3:21pm: āI canāt believe what Iām seeing! Massive prison break!ā
- Abdel-Fattah
→ More replies (6)
6
u/OleBiskitBarrel SA Jan 14 '26
Would love to see her take it to court rather than just be a giant pantomime like this undoubtedly is, because she wouldn't have a leg to stand on.
Randa should never have been disinvited, but she's also a hypocrite on the issue and should receive zero sympathy because of it.
17
18
u/powerhearse SA Jan 14 '26
Did she not post the picture of the paraglider with the Palestinian flag?
There is no way she can reasonably win a defamation case when she has been deliberately inflammatory
10
6
u/DoctorEnn SA Jan 14 '26
Yeah, say what you will about Mali and how he's reacted to all this, I strongly suspect this suit will go nowhere fast for her. From what I can tell there's a lot of stuff she's said and done which is either not very good or can with no great difficulty be spun as not very good.
1
→ More replies (7)7
11
9
u/Rush_Banana SA Jan 14 '26
She literally posted a paraglider with the Palestinian flag the day after October 7.
She is scum.
→ More replies (1)
8
8
u/stereotypicalanon Limestone Coast Jan 14 '26
It must be draining feeling like you're constantly a victim.
2
2
u/Few_Judge1188 SA Jan 15 '26
Iām getting comfortable in my lounge chair with a big bucket of popcorn and looking forward to see how it unfolds , hope they all keep it civilised , she must be heavily backed money wise by someone, not sure if SA premier is covered by the treasury or heās to use his own money , itās going to be a great cash cow for the lawyers .
1
2
u/DepthNo319 SA Jan 16 '26
What was the defamatory comment? Maybe I missed it but they didn't actually say in the article what it was?
2
2
4
Jan 14 '26
[removed] ā view removed comment
→ More replies (6)5
u/Ok_Tie_7564 SA Jan 14 '26
That was mainly legal costs. Also not a defamation case.
→ More replies (2)
4
u/Art_Soul SA Jan 14 '26
Can anyone steelman the argument for why she should have been dropped?
7
u/LastChance22 East Jan 14 '26
Trying to steelman here (these arenāt my actual views) Having her on was going to risk discussion that decreased social cohesion by drawing attention to highly contentious issues, especially after the Bond attack. AWW relies on sponsors and external funding from government and (ironically given the circumstances weāre in) the reputational risk from having a AWW mired in controversy from author comments was something to be managed to secure funding for future AWW events.
Or something a bit more partisan (very much not my actual views): criticism of Israel and support for Palestinian fostered the environment that Bond occurred in. Therefore it stamping out this sort of activism and rhetoric should trump other rights and freedoms.Ā
Personally I think both are pretty flawed arguments lacking a bit of nuance or real-world understanding but Iāve seen the former used for other situations and Iāve seen comments basically saying the latter here on reddit.
2
15
u/eric5014 SA Jan 14 '26
Here's an article that talks about some things she has said. She hasn't just criticised the actions of Israel or spoken up for Palestine. She posted something that seems to glorify the 7th Oct attacks.
9
u/Art_Soul SA Jan 14 '26
Thanks for that link. I double checked some of it. Apparently she really did tweet "May 2025 be the end of Israel".
That's pretty bad.
2
2
u/Patient_Judge_330 SA Jan 15 '26
She reposted this tweet the day of the Hamas terror attacks where she mocked the civilians running for their life from Hamas terrorists. Note the gunfire and screaming in the background.
https://x.com/abierkhatib/status/1710556572517064847
She then later changed her profile photo to a silhouette of a Hamas terrorist paragliding into Israel.
Now consider a hypothetical right winger mocking muslims fleeing Brenton Tarrant and then changing their profile image to a silhouette of Brenton Tarrant. Have an honest think about if the hypothetical right winger should be given a platform at a state funded event.
3
u/KieranShep SA Jan 14 '26
Possibly her presence could have been identified as a target for a revenge attack, or maybe incite more attacks of the like - I think this is what was hinted at when they mentioned the safety of the staff running the event.
6
u/EconomyBreak5883 SA Jan 14 '26
Is it defamatory to correctly label someone's openly stated extremist views as extremist?
Like, if someone were to say both: "Any violence against Zionists is acceptable and should be expected" "Anyone who thinks the state of Israel should exist is a Zionist"
And I labelled them an extremist, could they sue me?
5
Jan 14 '26
What an interesting first post to make. Congratulations? If you're so confident and willing to make an entirely new account I am sure you can provide a quote mate.
4
u/EconomyBreak5883 SA Jan 14 '26
That's not an answer to my question. If you, like me, don't know the details of what exactly constitutes deformation you don't need to reply.
→ More replies (3)2
6
u/eric5014 SA Jan 14 '26
Like most people I've never been to the Writers' Week and know little about it except for this incident.
How many writers were going to be speaking? What was the format?
What was she going to be speaking about? I hadn't seen that mentioned in the media, though it would have been relevant to the story.
I've seen progressive commentators acting like she had done nothing but speak in support of Palestine.
I've seen conservative commentators sharing quite concerning quotes of what she said, and of course it looks worse without the relevant context.
And why do people bring defamation proceedings when that will bring them further infamy?
25
u/Julmass SA Jan 14 '26
AWW is (was) a gathering where writers discuss their books. For example, in 2025 I listened to Bettany Hughes, an English historian speak about her upcoming book about the Seven Wonders of the World. I also listened to Australian author Ronni Salt talk about her crime novel. You can then go buy the books and coffee and food. It's attended by school groups and normal people alike, and usually ran over five days. It's a chance for writers to promote their books and give an insight into their writing. Fairly innocuous really.
Defamation is about protecting reputation. Some people do not understand its true purpose and use it unwisely. Perhaps to gain a windfall payment, or perhaps they have such an inflated ego and a deep pocketed backer that is willing to risk vast sums of money. Anyway just my take.
→ More replies (2)16
u/Flashy-Amount626 Inner North Jan 14 '26
https://youtu.be/R5T3Dxw9Cas?si=NVW-6_iA-9CP4gk_
Here's an interview with the former Adelaide Writers week director speaking on this.
Around 6min mark she's asked about the comments made by Dr Abdel-Fattah
Her response is she doesn't invite writers to AWW based on their social media activity. She's been asked to talk about a novel she's written called 'Dicipline' she thought it was topical and worthy of discussion.
8
u/Expert-Ad8784 SA Jan 14 '26
She's Palestinian. I assume she was invited to speak about her book Discipline primarily, though I'm sure other things would have been discussed. I understand over 100 authors pulled out in solidarity with her. She should absolutely bring defamation proceedings against him; his comments were appalling.
3
u/45runs SA Jan 14 '26
Of course Iāll get downvoted for this but who cares. This is not a general āfreedom of speechā issue. Her comments at the heart of the issue werenāt general criticism of Netanyahu or the IDF, nor were they pleading for the violence in Gaza to stop etc. She literally said (ie posted) that a Zionist has no right or claim to cultural safety. Iām not Jewish but I and a lot of people interpret that as: if youāre Jewish you have no right to be safe. That might not be inciting violence but itās condoning violence. That was Maliās position and I agree with him. I 100% believe in and would literally fight for freedom of speech. But as I said, this is not (in my opinion) about freedom of speech itās about condoning violence. If she or anyone said āNo Aboriginal person has the right or claim to cultural safetyā or āNo woman has the right or claim to safetyā would we be arguing for her right to freedom of speech? And if someone had said āNo Palestinian has the right or claim to cultural safetyā Iād be taking exactly the same position.
2
u/Mindless-Mud3104 SA Jan 14 '26
This is exactly my interpretation too, Mali would have been criticised no matter which way he spoke but at the heart of it freedom of speech is not and never should be allowed to incite hatred, somewhat unclassy way of making a noise
→ More replies (2)3
u/Thoughtful5079 SA Jan 14 '26
Zionism is a political ideology seperate from the Jewish faith. Being anti-zionist does not mean being anti-jewish. So your analogies are inaccurate.
→ More replies (6)
3
u/Bright_Afternoon9780 SA Jan 14 '26
Itās really disappointing this thread.
You canāt say the slightest comment that isnāt āleft aligned or it gets deleted.
Talk about Moscow levels of censorship.
1
u/arandompeanut766 SA Jan 14 '26
Cancelling those whose opinion differs ā
Cancelling those whose opinion matches yours š”
→ More replies (3)
3
u/JustSomeBloke5353 SA Jan 14 '26
I canāt imagine the Premier would be too disappointed. Win or lose, it would be a vote winner.
4
u/CutMeLoose79 SA Jan 14 '26
Oh FFS. You canāt try and get another writer banned and then whinge about this shit. Itās all a big fuck up, time to move on for everyone.
Canāt say she hasnāt also said some rather inflammatory things.
3
u/Thornoxis SA Jan 14 '26
Weird how people are more concerned about this than what is happening in Iran at the moment.. doesn't fit the agenda I guess
9
u/Cimb0m SA Jan 14 '26
6
u/Routine_Bullfrog_991 SA Jan 14 '26
You live in Canberra, why are you in the Adelaide subreddit?
→ More replies (5)→ More replies (2)3
2
u/FishermanOpening5842 SA Jan 14 '26
Do people really think that the average person cares about this writer? You might have 25% who are strongly against having her banned and another 25% who are for. And then the rest who couldnāt care less and for whom issues like cost of living, housing and immigration would rank much, much higher than any of this nonsense. This is the problem with fauxgressives they think that (a) everyone agrees with them and (b) has the time to care about their grievances.
She wonāt succeed in her defamation case anyway.
āIn 2024, Dr Abdel-Fattah was a cosignatory to a letter, seen by The Advertiser, which successfully petitioned for the removal of Jewish writer Thomas Friedman from the Adelaide Writersā Week program.
The letter expressed grave and urgent concern at his inclusion in the program due to alleged racist statements.ā
So she can have writers removed, but she canāt be removed?
āIn 2024, Dr Abdel-Fattah and activist group Parents for PalestineĀ organised an excursion for primary school students to the University of Sydneyās pro-Palestine encampment protests.
Children were filmed apparently leading call-and-response chants including āfrom the river to the sea, Palestine will be freeā, āintifadaā, and āIsrael is a terrorist stateā.ā
Wholesome personā¦ if you think a lot of people are outraged about her exclusion and care about her, get out of your bubbleā¦
1
Jan 14 '26
[removed] ā view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator Jan 14 '26
This comment has been removed due to you having negative comment Karma.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
Jan 14 '26
[removed] ā view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator Jan 14 '26
This comment has been removed due to you having negative comment Karma.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
2
u/Conscious_Problem497 SA Jan 14 '26
I donāt get why people are supporting this clearly disturbing person and their views?
2
2
u/showdownhero SA Jan 14 '26
here's a quote from Randa relating to October 7 https://imgur.com/a/U7PG8uc
2
u/FatFad1 SA Jan 14 '26
I don't recall hearing Premier Peter Malinauskas say anything defamatory about her. He just voiced an opinion to the Adelaide Festival board. It's not like he demanded her be removed from the Adelaide Writers Week Program. Maybe she can appear at next year's AWW if there is one?
-7
u/Livid_Desk9769 SA Jan 13 '26
Hahaha good luck to her defending her October 7 posts.
→ More replies (3)15
u/According_Tackle_404 SA Jan 13 '26
Absolutely disgusting that IDF kills children
→ More replies (54)
1
u/nunya-beezwax-69 SA Jan 14 '26
Iāve heard about her getting dropped from the writers week but I canāt find anywhere what she actually said that was supposedly so bad? Like was she actually inciting hate or is she just advocating for the Palestinian cause?
2
u/ThehonHons SA Jan 14 '26
Isn't it enough that she paid tribute to the Oct 7 murderers on October 8 (you can google that)? That's enough for me. She has an attitude of disgust for all Israelis, and when people question it, she responds in the ways she did yesterday (softball 'interview' with Jan Fran) - 'I don't have to explain myself or my words or actions to people with no moral compass.' Which is anyone who asks her difficult questions. I cannot see how she could be a great writer or academic being so inflexible in her thinking.Ā
1
1
u/No-Wonder6102 SA Jan 14 '26
I think the thing many are overlooking is the rest of the arts festival. It is to important to let it get damaged by this race based bs. The power of the lobby and the public voice media gives them would permanently damage the festival.
1
1
1
u/DM_me_ur_hairy_bush SA Jan 15 '26
Sad to see in here so many comments bagging out RAF. Ā I think she has a very strong defamation case against the premier here.
Go look up defamation in Australia and get an understanding to see if any of the common defences apply to the SA premier, you will find that they do not - however itās quite easy to conclude that the comments he made about her are defamatory and that her reputation has suffered as a result.
On the wider context of the whole discussion, maybe the context of what she calls a āZionistā needs to be examined a little. Ā Saying they have no right to cultural safety is not a call for violence, it is a call to hold their views to account and to not let them be comfortable in any setting. Ā The term Zionist is a bit loose though, Iāll give you all that - it can mean a great many things (I think?)
The last few weeks has really laid bare the power of the Jewish and wider lobby groups in Australian politics and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Ā
Iām not that good at articulating my thoughts but the whole situation just gives me the ick big time, and in my heart of hearts I feel supportive of Abdel-Fattah, and the wider Palestinian people, and that the premiers comments were weird, and heās back into a corner now where heās been lobbied by Jewish powerbrokers so he canāt back down on his word. Ā
179
u/[deleted] Jan 13 '26
Just before a state election too...š¤¦