August 3 – 9, 2019
News
Comment
Comment
Nevo Zisin
Rewriting society’s binary code
“The sociopolitical climate of being transgender in this country is a mess. It feels like no matter what transgender activists, advocates and allies do, we are taking one step forward as a nation and then turning and sprinting in the opposite direction. Every single day, I have to convince myself that it is worth getting out of bed and fighting to simply live my life.”
Comment
Russell Marks
Rough justice in the Northern Territory
“Sources close to the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) say its lawyers were surprised to learn neither the Department of Justice nor the Territory’s chief judge had received a formal complaint from the agency about Alice Springs Local Court judge Greg Borchers. That news came via media reports last month, which publicised the bewildering comments Borchers has made in court regarding Aboriginal defendants.”
Comment
Paul Bongiorno
Prisoners of the Crown
“Tasmanian independent Jacqui Lambie has returned to the senate convinced that people don’t trust politicians. That’s the message she received anywhere she went in the island state during her enforced exile from parliament over citizenship eligibility, she says. And that’s why she and other crossbenchers in both the house of representatives and the senate are calling for the urgent establishment of a national integrity commission.”
Letters, Poem & Editorial
Culture
Profile
Conductor Simone Young
Back in Australia for a series of concerts around the country, Sydney-born conductor Simone Young discusses her storied career, the jewel-like music of Richard Strauss and the portrayal of women in 19th-century opera. “The composers, however appallingly these women might be treated, clothed these figures in some of the most glorious music ever written. And that’s what Strauss does. Strauss takes these difficult situations and creates compassion for the women in the audience by giving them music that is deeply moving.”
Film
Diego Maradona
After his excellent documentaries Senna and Amy, Asif Kapadia has turned his attention to another modern icon, Diego Maradona. But this new film is inhibited by its narrow vision.
Portrait
Artist Guy Warren
“One wants to make a mark – I don’t mean a mark in society. Literally making a mark I suspect is a primal urge. When some man or woman picked up a stick from a fire and made a mark on a cave wall – it started from there. At the same time it is the most abstract of things and the most human of things. On one hand it means no more than ‘this is a mark’, and on the other hand it means ‘I am here, I am alive, I am human. Perhaps there are other people also like me here.’ ”
Books
Life
Puzzles
Quotes
LITERATURE
“It fills you with rage to be poor in a rich country and I think that’s perfectly legitimate. We need a revolution.”
The novelist wins the Miles Franklin Literary Award for her book Too Much Lip. Of course, only a fiction writer could tell Australia the truth about itself.
POLITICS
“The reality is he was part of this world for some time and was merely passing from one room to another.”
The Nationals MP uses his infant son to challenge the decriminalisation of abortion in New South Wales. To extend the metaphor, Joyce’s reasoning suggests he has very little in the attic.
SOCIAL MEDIA
“We do not agree that [it] is our role to remove content that one side of a political debate considers to be false.”
The Asia-Pacific vice-president of Facebook denies it’s their responsibility to remove fake news during the Australian election. Every pollster in the country breathed a sigh of relief.
ACADEMIA
“Continuing her long list of firsts, Julie will be our university’s first female chancellor.”
The pro-chancellor of the Australian National University announces Julie Bishop as the university’s next chancellor. Maybe next year publicists will realise that never having a female leader before shouldn’t be your main selling point.
NEWSTART
“New figures have been released showing just how many dole bludgers are trying to take advantage of the welfare system.”
The newsreader offers up Sunrise’s nuanced addition to the Newstart debate. No doubt the show’s welfare expert panel features a hedge fund manager, a tradie with a dozen investment properties and Tony Abbott.
BUSINESS
“That’s the anecdotal information I received.”
The administrator for Queensland Nickel confirms that Clive Palmer paid $1 to buy the company. Still more than his employees have been paid for working there.
