June 6 – 12, 2020
News
Comment
Comment
Richard Denniss
Unis must save staff not cash reserves
“It’s easy to avoid a hard question by simply saying the government ‘should’ provide more money to the universities. But there’s a long list of things the Morrison government should do: extend the JobKeeper payment to casuals and temporary residents; permanently boost unemployment benefits; provide support to the arts and entertainment industry; introduce a carbon price. And avoiding hard questions, by focusing on what ‘should’ happen, isn’t going to spare the academics in the vice-chancellors’ firing lines. So, what can be done?”
Comment
Paul Bongiorno
Morrison dragged into Trump’s mire
“As if Scott Morrison hasn’t got enough on his plate, now he has been dragged into the quagmire of Donald Trump’s increasingly ugly campaign to cling to office. The invitation to attend the September summit of G7 world leaders in the United States would normally be a feather in the cap for an Australian prime minister. Now it only complicates Australia’s interests at home and abroad.”
Letters, Cartoon & Editorial
Culture
Profile
Yhonnie Scarce’s art of glass
Using glass as a medium, Yhonnie Scarce makes art that testifies to the trauma enacted on Aboriginal people and communities. She speaks about travelling to memorial sites around the world and the importance of truth-telling. “I don’t like being lied to … They were setting off bombs, and they knew there were blackfullas around in that area, but they didn’t care.”
Fiction
The hole
“None of us were certain when the hole first appeared. Initially, we ignored it and sometimes would forget it was even there, except when we were sitting outside, hanging up our washing, or if we happened to look out of the large bay window above the kitchen sink that faced the backyard. ‘It’s just a hole,’ said Yusuf. Pitch black inside, perfectly circular, about the size of a basketball. It looked improbable and strange. ‘Maybe it will go away,’ said Soraya. But soon it became obvious to us that the hole was growing. Idhil dropped by to finish wrapping presents for her friend Maryam’s birthday. She commandeered my room and turned my desk into an arts and crafts station, attaching little cardboard cutouts of birds to a small gift bag.”
Books
Life
Puzzles
Quotes
MISNOMER
“The death of Lloyd George was a shocking and sickening act.”
The Wentworth MP and noted former diplomat offers his condolences after the killing of George Floyd in the US state of Minnesota.
HISTORY
“Australia is not the United States.”
The prime minister breaks with decades of foreign policy and declares Australia its own country.
EQUIVALENCE
“If the complaint is sustained against him, you would have to say he has had a bad day.”
The New South Wales police commissioner says he’s sympathetic to the police officer who slammed an Indigenous teenager face first into the pavement, which might also constitute a bad day.
MINING
“As a matter of urgency, we are reviewing the plans of all other sites in the Juukan Gorge area.”
The Rio Tinto chief executive apologises for his company’s destruction of two 46,000-year-old Aboriginal rock shelters in Western Australia by not ruling out destroying the rest of the site.
STIMULUS
“It won’t be for everyone, no doubt.”
The Housing minister admits the HomeBuilder scheme will have eligibility restrictions. The package has disappointed social housing advocates, and every renovator who was hoping to add a sauna.
GENEROSITY
“For kids in the streets that need a bail funds for George Floyd protests matching the local energy.”
The Louis Vuitton menswear artistic director and Off-White chief executive shares a screenshot of his $50 donation, which wouldn’t be enough to buy one Off-White sock.
