March 5 – 11, 2022
News
Comment
Comment
Tim Winton
Big Daddy Gas
“From the beach at night, at Ningaloo, you can see the pluming flares offshore. That’s the rigs. It’s been like that for a few years now. On the horizon, getting closer, more visible over time, like the very danger they signify. Ningaloo Reef is physically and politically encircled by oil and gas. The fossil fuel industry hasn’t simply occupied vast tracts of our seaway; it’s effectively colonised every level of our society.”
Comment
Paul Bongiorno
Scott no friends
“Scott Morrison’s isolation this week with Covid-19 is a pertinent metaphor for the political malaise besetting him. Always a loner, he is again friendless. This is a severe impediment for any chance he has of saving his government. If the opinion polls are any guide, it is a task increasingly beyond reach.”
Comment
John Hewson
False sense of security
“I am finding it difficult to accept that Scott Morrison is now so desperate to win a second term he is prepared to run a scare campaign in an attempt to frighten voters on national security, clearly against reason, hoping to wedge Anthony Albanese and the opposition. This is reckless, the worst sort of opportunism, placing his personal interests ahead of our nation at a time of such significant uncertainty here and globally, and perhaps doing irreparable damage in the longer term.”
Letters, Cartoon & Editorial
Culture
Profile
Musician and author Eliza Hull
When she had her daughter, musician Eliza Hull couldn’t find any books about parenting with disability – so she created her own.
The Influence
Katie Sfetkidis
For visual artist and theatre lighting designer Katie Sfetkidis, a photograph of a 1970 gay rights protester is a continuing inspiration.
Fiction
Mantle
“I find every address I’ve ever lived at. They are written on old envelopes, her address on the front, ripped open, it’s not like she has a bone letter opener that lives on an oak desk. They are not in any order, they are not together or placed with care, but I find them as I go through the boxes and boxes of papers that seem hidden all over the house, to taunt me. Each time I think I’ve finished them, there will be another. 48 Archibald Street, who was I there? That house was so hot, I’d just wear a scrap of silk scarf for a top, tied in a tight knot at the back. Where the ceiling was spotted with squashed mosquitoes and my blood. Where my neighbour, whose window was but two metres from my own, had a thing for spanking and filled my nights with the sound of a hand-hitting, fleshing. ”
Books
Life
Puzzles
Quotes
Disaster
“We are raising money from all across the country to support residents and business owners in Pine Rivers whose lives and livelihoods have been affected.”
The Defence minister announces a floods support program. Unfortunately it’s a GoFundMe page and not the little-known “tax system” for which his government is responsible.
Military
“Winged penis kicking an individual off a ... cliff.”
The former SAS soldier describes a drawing on a whiteboard, which he believes referenced the incident in which Ben Roberts-Smith allegedly kicked a handcuffed prisoner off a cliff. The trial continues.
Motoring
“I did not buy Hitler’s car.”
The mining magnate responds to reports he bought Adolf Hitler’s Mercedes-Benz 770 Grosser Offener Tourenwagen at auction. It’s not clear what Godwin’s law says about this sort of thing, but it’s probably not good.
Politics
“We just want a consistent rule, not one that rewards opponents for breaking the law.”
The member for Goldstein continues to back council rules that prevent his political opponent, Zoe Daniel, from putting up signs for her campaign. Not since Tim Smith drunkenly crashed his Jag into a fence has a Victorian Liberal cared this much about being hammered on a front lawn.
Regulation
“My job is to be dispassionate and objective.”
The chair of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission explains why he will not prosecute the former directors of Crown Resorts over sensational findings against them in a royal commission. Finally, someone with the courage to do nothing.
Parking
“The federal government has decided not to proceed with funding for the proposed car parks at Canterbury, Glenferrie and Camberwell.”
The treasurer scraps $65 million worth of car parks in his own electorate, paid out of the Commuter Car Park Fund. If it goes on like this, he’ll have to win the seat on his party’s record.
