September 3 – 9, 2022
News
Comment
Comment
Brian Toohey
Albanese needs to take his Gough medicine
“As the Albanese government marks its first 100 days, 50 years after the election of the Whitlam government, it’s time for Labor to drop the outdated assumption that it has nothing positive to learn from Gough. The idea that Whitlam tried to do too much has been used since as an excuse to do too little.”
Comment
Paul Bongiorno
The view from the jobs summit
“Anthony Albanese is looking to foster ‘a new culture of co-operation’ for the future, rather than pitting unions against business. What’s good for the worker should always be good for the employer. It’s a guiding light he has followed during his senior political career.”
Comment
John Hewson
Buzzwords, bullshit and mockery
“The worst of what we’ve observed of the Murdoch media globally has made its way back into Australia. This is its tested ‘success’ formula. We should expect better from our media. We should be able to demand fair play, transparency and accountability.”
Letters, Cartoon & Editorial
Culture
The Influence
Edward Burtynsky
Caspar David Friedrich’s unsettling vision of the sublime is a key inspiration for Edward Burtynsky’s chronicles of human destruction of the natural world.
Fiction
Sanctum
“Some humans only do it with other humans. But not mine.
It is early evening when he enters. The timing is his decision, but I am ready. Tonight he wants it straight. He is going out, he says, he doesn’t have much time. I animate two of my dolls and send them staggering over to embrace him. I’ve utilised a pair of default skins: the actress and the news presenter. He greets them by name but if he checked the readme he would understand that any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The effort is trivial.”
Books
Life
Puzzles
Quotes
Royalty
“Mr Abetz … will bring to the monarchist cause the same fighting spirit that has characterised his entire political career for nearly three decades.”
The chair of the Australian Monarchist League announces Eric Abetz has been appointed to the body. If they get one more vampire they should be able to raise King James.
Priorities
“I wish I could fund every good idea that had merit.”
The minister for Finance and Women points to the budget deficit as a hurdle to extending paid parental leave. If only there were a spare $243 billion somewhere…
World
“Mikhail Gorbachev was a politician and statesman who had a huge impact on the course of global history.”
The Russian president notes the passing of Mikhail Gorbachev. Putin probably had more energetic things to say about the man he blames for losing the Soviet Union, but was too busy attempting to destroy Ukraine.
Police
“We live in a great country where a justice system can finally bring a predator like Chris Dawson to account for his disgusting actions and treatment of his wife.”
The opposition leader opines on the sentencing of the infamous subject of a true crime podcast. If only there were a wildly popular 14-part series on the horrors of climate change…
Acting
“There are no bad feelings between them. It just came to a natural conclusion.”
An unnamed person confirms the actor has broken up with Camila Morrone, continuing a streak of only dating women under the age of 25. People joke but he’s had trust issues ever since the door thing with Kate Winslet.
Labour
“An ideal model would be one where we allow 13- to 15-year-olds to work…”
The head of the Australian Retailers Association calls for a decrease in the legal working age. It sounds extreme, but when was the last time you heard about a good rug made in this country?
