April 5 – 11, 2025
News
Comment
Comment
Tim Flannery
A coalition of climate vandals
“As a scientist, I’ve watched climate change be kicked around Australia’s parliament like a political football for decades, with mounting frustration. It’s a history marked by denial, distraction and delay – and Australians are already paying dearly for the failure of former governments to take climate change seriously.”
Comment
Paul Bongiorno
Dutton off to a poor start
“There is not a politician in the country who isn’t nervous about May 3, but there are growing concerns in the Coalition in particular about its disheartening start to the campaign. Peter Dutton, who has mostly managed not to make the opposition the issue, has been caught wanting as the spotlight turns on him as the alternative prime minister.”
Comment
John Hewson
Memories from the campaign trail
“The launch of the campaign for the May 3 federal election brings back many memories, laughs and cautionary tales of my experiences on the trail in the 1990s. As opposition leader, I had embarked on a big-picture strategy. I released the Fightback policy package designed to deliver the kind of country and economy we would want in 2000. The pressure was really on – what I had to do was to sell it.”
Letters, Cartoon & Editorial
Culture
Profile
Actor Richard Roxburgh
The role of journalist Peter Greste in a new film about his imprisonment in Egypt challenged Richard Roxburgh to evoke the humanity in a dehumanising experience.
Dance
Sydney Dance Company’s Somos
In Rafael Bonachela’s reworked production of Somos for Sydney Dance Company, the force and frailty of the flesh is on full display.
Fiction
Timbrell
“I had forgotten the name of the park, and its general location: neither of those had mattered much four years ago. There was the jolt of recognition when I pulled up, though, a scree of it over my next movements, unloading the boys from the back seat and their enormous cricket bags from the boot, walking them across the dew-damp oval where two coaches, barely more than adolescent themselves, stood waiting beside a pile of stumps. I stood back while their mother did the talking, wiped wet blades of grass out of my sandals.”
Books
Life
Puzzles
Quotes
Electioneering
“Any media enquiries need to go through Liberal Party headquarters.”
The campaign worker declines to comment on his resemblance to a tradesman featured in advertising for his boss, Tim Wilson. Really, the only difference between tradies and Young Liberals is where the Southern Cross tattoos are positioned.
Campaigning
“I didn’t fall … Just one leg went down, but I was sweet.”
The prime minister responds after falling off a podium at a union meeting in New South Wales. It’s the Hays Code of political campaigning: if you have one foot still on the floor, you’re good.
Stamina
“I want to go a little bit past this and then I’m going to deal with some of the biological urgencies I’m feeling.”
The New Jersey Democrat sets the record for the longest speech to the US Senate. After 24 hours of filibuster, it’s safe to assume he was referring to piss.
Sport
“To be chosen … is an incredible opportunity to harness the power of the rings to inspire and advance our nation.”
The former senator celebrates after being made head of the Australian Olympic Committee. He does sound a little like Gollum, but a lifetime as a Labor powerbroker will do that to a man.
Family
“She’s always been my role model, and I share and live by the same values of honesty, integrity and tenacity.”
The daughter of Pauline Hanson announces she will run for One Nation in Tasmania. No child is born racist, but some households probably instil it a little earlier than others.
Law
“While I give weight to the delegate’s decision ... I am required to approach the matter afresh.”
The Federal Court judge responds to Daryl Somers’ claim he invented the game Celebrity Head on Hey Hey It’s Saturday. A number of the original cast now spend their days trying to guess who they are.
