April 5 – 11, 2014

Politics

Tony Abbott launching the Liberal senate campaign in WA.

Minor-party senators need deft negotiation

“They cannot take me totally for granted — David Leyonhjelm”

Sophie Morris The government’s agenda hinges on the crossbench from the WA senate election re-run. A report on its poor attempts to negotiate.

News
Members of the Hammerskins proudly pose for a photo with their flag. Their insignia features the goose-stepping claw hammers from Pink Floyd’s animated film The Wall.
A minke whale is captured off Kushiro, in northern Japan, last year.
Clive Palmer on a break from campaigning in the 2013 federal election.
The Sierra Madre, in the South China Sea, at the centre of the standoff between China and the Philippines.

Comment

Letters, Cartoon & Editorial

Cartoon

ReadCartoon image, links to full cartoon page

Editorial
Climate warnings falling on deaf ears

Letters

Look to Merkel’s Germany

Senator Abetz’s assertion (Sophie Morris, “The Queen’s Guard”, March 29-April 4) that his royalist views are an appropriate response to the disastrous course of German …

Dumping is the problem

Thank you for the article on the Great Barrier Reef. However, I wish to expand on the point: “He said the dredged material would not be toxic.” In many respects this is irrelevant. Sand is not …

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Food
Read
Image for article: Rustic rhubarb tarts

Food

Rustic rhubarb tarts

Andrew McConnell Treated sweetly, rhubarb delivers great desserts.

Books
Image for article: Tree Palace

Craig Sherborne
Tree Palace

Image for article: Stronger

Jeff Bauman
Stronger

Image for article: Northanger Abbey

Val McDermid
Northanger Abbey

Life
Image for article: Apps that guide living as a quantified self

Technology

Apps that guide living as a quantified self

Gillian Terzis Can statistical analysis about our habits and moods provide tools for better living? The Quantified Self movement is counting on it.

Image for article: Ozzie Wright and Mylee Grace Fitzgerald’s Newport home

Interiors

Ozzie Wright and Mylee Grace Fitzgerald’s Newport home

Lucy Feagins Surf’s always up at this epitome of Aussie digs.

Image for article: The hard hitter: Bec Rawlings, 25, mixed martial arts

Sport

The hard hitter: Bec Rawlings, 25, mixed martial arts

Richard Cooke Describing herself as an "inflictor of ridiculously stylish violence", Bec Rawlings is the first Australian female fighter to sign with the Invicta Fighting Championships.

The Quiz
1. Which actor links the films Seven, Superman Returns and Margin Call?
2. The troops of which nation were defeated in the Battle of Dien
Bien Phu?
3. The leader of an orchestra plays which instrument?
4. Where were the 2010 Winter Olympics held?
5. The Malaysian Airlines flight that mysteriously disappeared last month bore what number?
6. Name the US National Security Agency’s former contractor turned whistleblower who is currently avoiding arrest in a secret location
in Russia.
7. The Earth’s atmosphere mainly comprises which gas? (Bonus points for naming the three other key gases.)
8. Name the 1940 animated film that was produced by Walt Disney and, in one segment, features Mickey Mouse as an aspiring magician.
9. The term “taikonauts” is given to space travellers from which country?
10. Which Australian author of the novels Johnno and Ransom recently celebrated his 80th birthday?

Click through for answers.

Quotes

CORRUPTION

We did not have investor relations with that company.

Moses ObeidThe son of disgraced former NSW MP Eddie Obeid gives what he calls the “Bill Clinton answer” during an ICAC hearing into his involvement with a company called Australian Water Holdings.

IMPRISONMENT

It was a very cordial conversation. I was grateful that the president gave me so much of his time. It was about a 20-minute conversation.

Tony AbbottThe prime minister recalls his conversation with acting Egyptian president Adly Mansour, lobbying for the release of Australian journalist Peter Greste.

THRILLERS

Our printers are in China and in India and we work to their rules. I absolutely would not call it censorship.

Walter Beyleveldt The managing director of Reader’s Digest Australia explains why pulling an L.A. Larkin novel because Chinese printers would not print the words “Falun Gong” and “torture” is not censorship.

LAW

If they have acted as registered informer since 1996 and proceeded to represent people, people will be asking, ‘Have I been compromised?’

Rob StaryThe lawyer who represented Tony Mokbel questions the ethics of “Lawyer X”, who has apparently worked as both a criminal lawyer and police informant.

MEDIA

The reason it feels like the media battle is being waged as though it’s winner takes all is because that’s exactly what it is.

Mark ScottThe ABC chairman talks about the power of News Corp and the assertiveness of its mastheads in his address “New Journalism for a New Public”.

CULTURE

It’s hardly hyperbole to build that into the title.

Daniel Scharf

The producer defends the working title for his John Howard biopic, Man of Steel, which has garnered Hollywood backing and rumours Philip Seymour Hoffman was to play the title role before his death. Russell Crowe was reportedly filling the five-foot breach before it was revealed as an April Fools’ joke.

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