Melissa Sweet
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melissasweetdr.bsky.social
Melissa Sweet
@melissasweetdr.bsky.social
5.4K followers 1.8K following 7K posts

Journalist sharing news on health in all policies, First Nations health, health equity, social determinants of health and climate justice. Based in Australia, and providing local, national and global coverage. Editor in Chief, Croakey Health Media (NFP) .. more

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Melissa Sweet is an Australian journalist and nonfiction writer. Formerly employed by The Sydney Morning Herald, The Bulletin magazine, and Australian Associated Press, she specialises in writing about human health and medicine. .. more

Public Health 31%
Medicine 20%
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melissasweetdr.bsky.social
Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 4d
Tackling the far right as a health threat – what will it take? - Croakey Health Media www.croakey.org/tackling-the...

melissasweetdr.bsky.social
Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 12h
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Trump’s decision to ban journalists from the White House – and One Nation’s actions – shows why Australia urgently needs a media freedom bill | Peter Greste
Australians can’t afford to be complacent – Pauline Hanson also thinks it’s OK to shut out reporters she doesn’t like
www.theguardian.com

melissasweetdr.bsky.social
Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 18h
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09...
Cold and flu supplements containing controversial herb to face recall
Australia's medicines regulator flags the future recall of cold and flu supplements containing a herb linked to anaphylaxis and other severe allergic reactions.
www.abc.net.au

Reposted by Melissa Sweet

manjusrii.bsky.social
Belinda Barnet @manjusrii.bsky.social · 18h
I wish the Australian press would stand together when Hanson bans a couple of media outlets here, like networks are starting to do in America.

Suspend all coverage of the event in question if some outlets are banned. Freedom of the press is more important than covering a single event.

melissasweetdr.bsky.social
Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 19h
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Think Australia would be better off with less migration? The numbers tell a different story
The population is ageing and we’re having fewer babies. Labor should keep that in mind as the migration debate rages
www.theguardian.com

melissasweetdr.bsky.social
Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 19h
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
US TV networks suspend White House pool coverage over Trump media ban
ABC, CBS, Fox News and NBC decline to participate after presidential ban that prompted widespread condemnation
www.theguardian.com

melissasweetdr.bsky.social
Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 19h
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
‘Planetary boundaries’ necessary for flourishing of life have been massively breached, scientists warn
New report shows key indicators of Earth’s health are ‘outside the safe operating space’ as climate disaster looms
www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Melissa Sweet

manjusrii.bsky.social
Belinda Barnet @manjusrii.bsky.social · 19h
There’s a serious attempt by Trump right now to curb the freedom of the press. In Australia, Pauline Hanson does this in miniature by banning certain outlets from political events.

It is deeply ironic that these same politicians crow loudly about freedom of speech when it suits them
3 News Outlets Sue Trump in Widening Fight Over Press Freedom
After President Trump barred CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, major TV networks suspended their shared coverage of the president.
www.nytimes.com

melissasweetdr.bsky.social
Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 20h
Treasury must have missed the memo on the climate health crisis - Croakey Health Media www.croakey.org/treasury-mus...
Treasury must have missed the memo on the climate health crisis
The Federal Government's Intergenerational Report 2026 identifies many big-picture challenges facing Australia over the next 40 years but is strangely
www.croakey.org

melissasweetdr.bsky.social
Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 1d
Treasury must have missed the memo on the climate health crisis - Croakey Health Media www.croakey.org/treasury-mus...
By @mariemcinerney.bsky.social
Treasury must have missed the memo on the climate health crisis
The Federal Government's Intergenerational Report 2026 identifies many big-picture challenges facing Australia over the next 40 years but is strangely
www.croakey.org

melissasweetdr.bsky.social
Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 1d
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/ng-i...
Slave-trade wealth was embedded in Britain’s financial system, research finds
Dozens of Bank of England directors and founding subscribers invested in trafficking of enslaved Africans
www.theguardian.com

melissasweetdr.bsky.social
Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 1d
www.theguardian.com/global-devel...
Fifty billion trees by 2030: how Ethiopia is recruiting citizens across the country to plant, plant, plant
After losing much of its forests in recent decades, the country’s people have led the way in planting saplings across the country as part of the government’s Green Legacy Initiative
www.theguardian.com

melissasweetdr.bsky.social
Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 1d
www.theguardian.com/science/ng-i...
‘A map is never neutral’: meet the cartographers who took on centuries of western bias
Equal Earth projection, adopted by the UN last week, provides an alternative to 16th-century Mercator display
www.theguardian.com

melissasweetdr.bsky.social
Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 1d
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
This Israeli election could be the country’s last – this week I saw that for myself | Jonathan Freedland
Spend time on the ground and you see how high the stakes are for next month’s contest – for Israelis and Palestinians alike, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland
www.theguardian.com

melissasweetdr.bsky.social
Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 1d
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/ng-i...
More than 1,000 women invested in companies at heart of Britain’s slave trade
Women used profits from trafficking of enslaved Africans to secure their families’ futures, research reveals
www.theguardian.com

melissasweetdr.bsky.social
Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 1d
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s...
People protecting nature and land set up self-defence units amid threat of murder
Defenders of forests and rivers killed at rate of one every three days in 2025, with 85% of deaths in Latin America
www.theguardian.com

melissasweetdr.bsky.social
Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 1d
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s...
Caribbean nations draft action plan to push UK to redress reparations over slavery
Leaders hope UK will agree to targeted discussions around reparatory justice, but could consider legal options if Britain resists
www.theguardian.com

melissasweetdr.bsky.social
Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 1d
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Can Trump and Xi cooperate to guide humanity through the AI revolution? Humanity might depend on it | Alan Finkel
The CEOs of tech firms issue stark warnings over the rate of change, with AI capability doubling every four months
www.theguardian.com

melissasweetdr.bsky.social
Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 1d
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
US environment agency let Bayer pick regulations for destructive weedkiller, documents show
Environmental Protection Agency asked firm to choose rules it wanted for dicamba, then put the choices in a proposed federal rule
www.theguardian.com

melissasweetdr.bsky.social
Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 1d
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Trump reportedly to form health funding board that could veto ‘woke’ initiatives
President’s latest order expected to bring NIH funding under control of Trump administration to align with agenda
www.theguardian.com

melissasweetdr.bsky.social
Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 1d
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Why Europe has been absent from the great AI safety debate
Though Europe has measures that address how consumers might encounter AI, technology will impact them if the worst scenarios bear
www.theguardian.com

melissasweetdr.bsky.social
Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 1d
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s...
‘I have nothing in the UK at all’: British man torn from his Swedish wife and home
Charles lands at Heathrow with just two bags and nowhere to go as a result of Brexit and Stockholm’s hardline immigration position
www.theguardian.com

melissasweetdr.bsky.social
Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 1d
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
‘It’s transformed the village’: the volunteers greening up Britain’s train stations
Exclusive: Five gardening teams shortlisted for Royal Horticultural Society’s new Railway Stations in Bloom award
www.theguardian.com

melissasweetdr.bsky.social
Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 1d
www.theguardian.com/media/2026/s...
Meta launches legal challenge against UK media regulator over Online Safety Act
Action against Ofcom comes as social media companies are being accused of using courts to slow down implementation
www.theguardian.com

melissasweetdr.bsky.social
Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 1d
www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
Specialist courtrooms to prioritise rape cases in England and Wales
Funding boost for facilities and fixed dates for trials designed to encourage more survivors to come forward
www.theguardian.com

melissasweetdr.bsky.social
Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 1d
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Australia has done precious little to prepare for the dangers of AI. Where is brilliant leadership when you need it? | Zoe Daniel
Australia faces stark choices about the most significant technological development since the splitting of the atom in the 1930s
www.theguardian.com

melissasweetdr.bsky.social
Melissa Sweet @melissasweetdr.bsky.social · 1d
theconversation.com/peptides-are...
Peptides are spreading on social media. Here’s how platforms can better protect public health
Social media platforms are the easiest place for a curious 16-year-old to find someone selling peptides.
theconversation.com

Reposted by Melissa Sweet

aliciajeanking.bsky.social
Alicia King (she/her) @aliciajeanking.bsky.social · 1d
Great to see reporting reflecting the lived experience of migrant aged care workers.

Experiences of racism are, sadly, not isolated.

We owe it to these workers, and the sustainability of this critical workforce, to tackle this issue more openly.

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Nicholas A. Christakis, Brendan Nyhan , and 6 more

crampell.bsky.social
Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 1d
It really is striking how many authoritarian states have ended up in this exact same place, where the leader seizes control of scientific inquiry. Lysenkoism in the Soviet Union, Aryan Physics in the Third Reich, Great Leap Forward (also related to Lysenko) in China.

Reposted by Melissa Sweet

tasinquirer.bsky.social
Tasmanian Inquirer @tasinquirer.bsky.social · 1d
Since the start of 2016, the three #salmon companies operating in #Tasmanian marine areas - Huon Aquaculture, Tassal and Petuna - have deployed 150,488 underwater explosives against seals in their fish farms. #politas

💥 tasmanianinquirer.com.au/news/more-th...
More than 150,000 underwater explosives used against seals at Tasmanian salmon farms since 2016, government data reveals | Tasmanian Inquirer
More than 150,000 underwater explosives have been used against seals at Tasmanian salmon farms since 2016, according to new government data.
tasmanianinquirer.com.au

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Nicholas A. Christakis, Brendan Nyhan , and 7 more

crampell.bsky.social
Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 1d
Lysenkoism lives. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/s...
White House Moves to Take Control of N.I.H. Grants
www.nytimes.com