December 6 – 12, 2025
News
Comment
Comment
Michael G. Smith
How to restore Australia’s national security
“A new word has recently been added to Australia’s Macquarie Dictionary, which means it can be used officially in our lexicon – even by the ABC. ‘Enshittification’ is self-explanatory. Coined to describe the modus operandi of the high-tech IT sector, the word certainly also applies to Australia’s current national security policies.”
Comment
Paul Bongiorno
The PM’s backyard wedding
“Anthony Albanese’s official honeymoon ends this weekend, but his honeymoon with the electorate is continuing, according to the latest opinion polls, boosted by his opponents’ disarray and the government’s significant wins since the May election. Albanese has successfully kept the balance between China and the United States, Australia’s biggest trading partner and its most important strategic ally respectively. He has also succeeded in passing the biggest environmental reforms in three decades.”
Comment
Stan Grant
Understanding what separates Russia from the West
“I make it a rule to try to look beyond orthodoxy, to eschew certainty. In my experience, certainty is for fascists and fools. Even that which I hold dear and true, such as my faith, I enrich with doubt and struggle. I believe a questioning, open mind nourishes a beautiful soul.”
Letters, Cartoon & Editorial
Culture
Profile
Director Constantine Costi
For director Constantine Costi, all the world’s a stage, whether it’s an opera production or a porridge-making competition in a Scottish village.
Music
Pinchgut Opera’s Messiah
Pinchgut Opera’s new realisation of Handel’s Messiah strips it back to its first scoring in 1742 – and it is an undiluted joy.
Poetry
Three poems
“Fish do not have hands but do
display a breathless, almost
childlike, quality, even in emails.
Everyday activities can often be
the most meaningful signifiers.
I want to create that exclamation
mark balloon & “DING” sound
to occur during a cutscene, but
my browser can’t play the video.”
Books
Life
Puzzles
Quotes
Court
“We hope Bruce is seen as an inspiration to those who say they’ve been wrongly accused.”
The lawyer for Bruce Lehrmann responds after he lost his defamation appeal. It’s hard to imagine Lehrmann inspiring anything more than an episode of Law & Order.
Employment
“All too often these appointments have looked like forms of patronage and nepotism that should have no place in the modern Australian society.”
The former public service commissioner comments after her report into jobs for mates was finally released. The government has already indicated it won’t take up her recommendations.
Libraries
“They bring disgrace on the name of our city.”
The celebrated writer condemns State Library Victoria for a plan to cut librarian numbers and focus on digital projects. Never forget that the reading room is an octagon.
Money
“I’ll continue to be transparent about what that cost, what it looks like, what we did, in the usual way.”
The communications minister addresses questions over $95,000 spent on travel to New York. You won’t believe what the hot dogs there cost these days.
Books
“You’re talking about a book, senator … that is for sale in the Australian War Memorial bookshop.”
The Australian War Memorial director rejects a suggestion he intervened to stop Chris Masters’ book on war crimes winning a prize. Having said that, the memorial’s gift shop is the perfect place to put something you didn’t want anyone to see.
Crime
“We want courts to treat these violent children like adults, so jail is more likely and sentences are longer.”
The Victorian premier introduces new laws to give adult sentences to children as young as 14. Victoria might not have Queensland’s weather, but now it has its backwards justice.
