March 2 – 8, 2019
News
Comment
Comment
Robert Manne
The myth of the great wave
“The lives of the 1000 are being destroyed not as a means to an end but for no reason. If the offshore processing and turnback policies are retained, both John Howard’s settlement policy and the Turnbull–Obama deal have revealed that the people sent to Nauru and Manus Island can be brought to Australia without any prospect of a new wave of asylum seeker boats.”
Comment
Paul Bongiorno
Climate of fear as election campaign begins
“The 2019 election campaign began in earnest last Sunday. There is a feeling among government politicians that Morrison will go to the polls on May 11. If he does, that’s an 11-week campaign. Liberal MPs need no persuading they are in the fight of their lives. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, facing a challenge from independent Liberal climate change advocate Oliver Yates, already has his posters up in prominent places around his electorate, Kooyong. ”
Letters, Poem & Editorial
Culture
Profile
Sohaila Abdulali on survival
In 2012, a prominently reported rape and murder of an Indian student revived interest in Sohaila Abdulali’s 33-year-old account of surviving her own attack. Since then the author has used her new platform to encourage unflinching debate about violence against women. “When I started writing this book, nobody was talking about rape. And even in that short time, people are now starting to want to speak about their experiences and understand them. That people want to understand and talk about it – makes me feel hopeful. There’s a lot in the world to feel hopeless about too, but there’s still hope.”
Theatre
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child succeeds in furthering J. K. Rowling’s remarkable canon, with a greater dramatic thrust than the films but all the heart of the books that seduced young and old alike.
Portrait
Korean chef Peter Jo
“We both arrive early, even though it’s a Sunday morning and the restaurant won’t be open today. ‘I’d have been here anyway,’ he says with a small laugh as he strides towards the door. Peter Jo is so familiar with this place, it’s like seeing him arrive home. I watch him put the key in the lock, slide the door across, and follow him up the stairs. Everything is dim, just for a moment, before the lights flick on. ‘Water?’ he asks, heading behind the bar. I select a table and look around. Tucked down Melbourne CBD’s Niagara Lane, Shik isn’t a place you’d likely stumble across by accident – you need to seek it out.”
Books
Life
Puzzles
Quotes
LOYALTY
“When it comes down to it, you always seem to either fold, stay silent or betray your allies.”
The far-right polemicist asks a video question on Q&A. This comment was actually directed at controversial professor Jordan Peterson and not at host Tony Jones.
COURTS
“Cardinal Pell is a lively conversationalist who maintains a deep and objective interest in contemporary social and political issues.”
The former prime minister offers a character reference for the disgraced priest. Child abuse, it seems, is only a horrifying national emergency when it’s being used to justify an intervention in the Northern Territory.
APPOINTMENTS
“I respect the independence of the ABC as our government always has.”
The prime minister appoints Ita Buttrose as the new chair of the national broadcaster. As Donald Trump’s presidency has shown, being famous is the best quality in a leader required to fix a troubled bureaucracy.
FILMMAKING
“The ref made a bad call.”
The director responds to Green Book’s best picture Oscar win. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ lack of judgement is only eclipsed by that of the film’s writer, Nick Vallelonga, who tweeted that “Muslims in Jersey City [were] cheering when towers went down” on 9/11. And that of its director, Peter Farrelly, who used to think it was funny to get his penis out during production meetings.
AMERICA
“It’s absurd on its face.”
The White House press secretary responds to former Trump staffer Alva Johnson’s allegations that the president kissed her against her will in 2016. Some would say it’s absurd a president can be accused of sexual misconduct by 23 women and still remain in office.
NEGOTIATION
“Then he should vote for a deal. Simples!”
The British prime minister argues for her Brexit deal by quoting a meerkat from a popular 2009 insurance commercial. No doubt an attempt to invoke a happier time for Britain, when the country was only facing the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
