December 1 – 7, 2018
News
Comment
Comment
Steve Bracks
The duel in the Liberal crown
“What is now happening to the Liberal Party – at least at the state level in Victoria – is reminiscent of the split Victorian Labor went through after the 1950s, which resulted in 27 years of continuous opposition. The split radicalised Victorian Labor and hampered our ability to speak to Victorians on mainstream issues. Sounds familiar. Sixty years later, it is the Liberal Party suffering the same internal tensions – between their alt-right and small “l” liberal members, atrophying their party, narrowing their base and hindering their ability to speak to mainstream Victorians.”
Comment
Paul Bongiorno
Julia Banks and the Coalition’s loss of a sensible centre
“The day the Morrison government sank deeper into minority with the desertion of backbencher Julia Banks, the Opposition leader went for the jugular. Bill Shorten asked, ‘Given that his minority government is consumed by division, dysfunction and chaos, was it a mistake for the current prime minister to replace Malcolm Turnbull?’ Scott Morrison denied the premise by asserting his government was getting on with the job followed by a long, detailed list of achievements. One member of the visibly forlorn Liberal backbench later said: ‘The trouble is the voters have stopped listening.’”
Letters, Cartoon & Editorial
Culture
Profile
Boots Riley’s latest coup
Boots Riley has turned from music to film to raise consciousness of the need for collective struggle against capitalism, as seen in Sorry to Bother You, his satire set in the dispiriting world of telemarketing. “Unless you engage in collective class struggle, you’re not making things better. You’re not making things better by making some art that exposes the way things are. You’re not making things better by not buying Starbucks and buying this other thing instead. The way you make things better is by being involved in class struggle, which is kept out of so many films. Any rebellion, especially class struggle, is just not in that world.”
Visual Art
9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art
The 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art in Brisbane eschews the Western art world’s reliance on checkbox diversity in favour of genuine immersion in our region.
Portrait
Big hART’s Scott Rankin
“The feeling of isolation, or of being separate from the community, is familiar to Rankin. He grew up on a Chinese junk on Sydney Harbour. As a child living “gently illegally” on a boat, he had to be quiet. He wasn’t able to have visits from friends, or birthday parties. His family, he says, were outsiders. To appease the council, Rankin’s parents said they lived on the boat; to appease the water police, in the boat shed. For 16 years Rankin lived on the boat with his family, until they were “chucked out”. The chucking out involved six squad cars of police. I ask Rankin about Big hART’s focus on culture and about the importance of cultural rights. Before answering, he apologises. ‘I’m probably going to rant,’ he says.”
Books
Life
The Quiz
Quotes
REMUNERATION
“We sincerely apologise for the error.”
The company apologises for leaking the salary and redundancy entitlements of staff, including the $357,000 annual wage for Judith Sloan. That works out to about $357,000 for every good opinion Judith Sloan has.
SILVER LINING
“Homophobic, anti-women, climate-change deniers.”
The minister for women explains the public image of the party to her colleagues during Victorian crisis talks. On the upside, Jim Chalmers’ description of the government as “a dumpster fire of cuts, chaos, disunity and division” now seems a glowing reference by comparison.
CANBERRA
“We are lost.”
The Australian Conservatives party member bemoans new crosswalk lights in Canberra’s Braddon that depict same-sex couples. Presumably he’s still standing on that suburban street corner, straining to think of a way to cross the road without letting the gays win.
SCHOOL
“What we want is more learning in schools and less activism in schools.”
The prime minister lambasts students striking this week for action on climate change. If politicians acted on everything kids skipped class for, smoking marijuana in the toilets would have been legalised decades ago.
JOURNALISM
“The big cow is a lie.”
The newsroom that broke Watergate lands what may well prove to be its scoop of the year. Knickers, the internet’s favourite giant cow, is reportedly “too big to be slaughtered” and, according to The Post, which contests that the cow is not really that big, is the same weight as 14-and-a-half Danny DeVitos.
DEFAMATION
“Due to Federal Court ruling a few months ago, it’s basically a win for lawyers, as lawfare always tends to be.”
The former Labor leader settles a defamation action brought against him by ABC journalist Osman Faruqi. It’s weird that members of One Nation have to comprehensively embarrass themselves in court as part of the preselection process, but those are the party rules.
