January 10 – 16, 2026 | The Saturday Paper

News

‘Self-indulgent and narcissistic’: Inside Hastie’s Liberal Party

Jason Koutsoukis As Andrew Hastie continues to freelance on immigration policy, Liberal MPs from various factions say he is only hurting his leadership aspirations.

News

Health and Disability Minister Mark Butler.

News

Exclusive: One third of reassessed NDIS plans see cuts to funding

Rick Morton As parliament considers another bill to boost the NDIA’s power to cut costs, tens of thousands of participants are now on reduced plans and many more have lost flexibility due to restructured payments.

Donald Trump poses for a photo with several women who have their faces redacted.

News

What is missing from the Epstein files?

Lucia Osborne-Crowley The heavily, if poorly, redacted Epstein files released by the US Department of Justice have flouted an Act of congress that demands all offenders be revealed.

World

Trump’s Venezuela snatch and grab upends rule of law

Jonathan Pearlman As deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro faces criminal charges in the US, Donald Trump vows to revitalise the South American nation’s oil industry, and issues warnings to Cuba, Colombia and Greenland.

US federal agents escort Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, to detention in New York.

Comment

Marcia Langton
A royal commission must lead to change

“The demands for a royal commission to investigate the massacre of Jews at the annual Chabad Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach on December 14 are an understandable response to the tragedy that killed 15 people and wounded 40 others.”

Comment

Chris Wallace
What the royal commission says about Albanese’s character

“An extraordinary opening week in Australian politics in 2026 has seen a full-court press of business, sporting, security and political figures force Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to embrace a federal royal commission into the Bondi terror attack.”

Comment

John Hewson
Has Trump learnt nothing from George W. Bush’s disaster in Iraq?

“The new year opens on an explosion of global uncertainty, with Donald Trump yet again at the epicentre. Why this extraordinary invasion of Venezuela, and where will it lead?”

Letters, Cartoon & Editorial

Cartoon

Read

Editorial
Mock orange

Australia’s most significant military ally is now a rogue state. This fact should be more startling than it is. It should be cause for serious reconsideration of the country’s position.

Letters

No peace in sight

The anger and fear experienced by the Jewish community following recent events is palpable, poignant and evocative (Martin McKenzie-Murray, “ ‘It’s unimaginable what we as a community have …

Moral threshold

In the aftermath of anti-Semitic violence, a familiar reflex now dominates some public commentary: to explain attacks on Jews by reference to Israel. However cautiously phrased, this framing performs a moral …

Culture

Profile

Hamnet director Chloé Zhao

Andy Hazel Academy Award-winner Chloé Zhao’s adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s Shakespearean novel, Hamnet, is a film about the collective expression of grief.

Visual Art

Ron Mueck: Encounter at AGNSW

Patrick Lau A retrospective of Ron Mueck’s hyperreal sculptures reveals the discomfort of voyeurism, while two recent sculptures herald a new phase in the artist’s work.

Fiction

Smiley face

“The dementia ward door was tucked behind the cheerful little cafe, sporting salt-and-vinegar chips and paper-thin birthday cards on wire-frame racks. Rosie turned right and trudged down the other corridor, following the faint-but-growing scent of wee and lemon disinfectant.”

Rebecca Douglas

Life

Food

Zucchini and ricotta tart

Jo Barrett

Sport

Daria Kasatkina and the state of Australian women’s tennis

Linda Pearce More than seven years after her victory over an up-and-coming Ash Barty at Wimbledon, Russian-born Daria Kasatkina will fly the Australian flag in her first home grand slam.

Puzzles

The Cryptic

$link to this week\'s crossword$

Crossword No. 582

The Quiz

1. Which team last month won their first WBBL Championship 10-and-a-half months after their male counterparts claimed their first BBL title?

2. The second book in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series is titled The [What] at the End of the Universe?

3. Name two of the three countries whose name begins with ‘R’.

4. From 1983 until his death in 2019, Karl Lagerfeld designed for which fashion house?

5. Which song, written by John Fogerty, begins: “Left a good job in the city...”?

6. In botany, what is the opposite of evergreen?

7. Which recently released film stars Brendan Fraser as an American actor based in Japan?

8. Does the prefix nano mean one millionth, one billionth or one trillionth?

9. True or false: United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres was formerly prime minister of Portugal.

10. Which is smaller: a vein or a capillary? (Bonus point for naming whether veins carry blood towards or away from your heart.)

Click through for answers.

Quotes

Health

“… alcohol is a social lubricant that brings people together … And there’s probably nothing healthier than having a good time with friends in a safe way.”

Dr Mehmet OzThe head of the United States Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services fronts the press after diluting the country’s alcohol consumption guidelines. Honestly, drinking is probably the only way to work with the Trump White House.

Sport

“I think I’m most scared of the unknown.”

Mack HortonThe champion Australian swimmer responds after wetting himself during the British reality television series Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins. Most likely, he thought he was in a pool.

Law

“The primary judge inappropriately conducted research and obtained extraneous materials.”

Zali BurrowsBruce Lehrmann’s legal team, led by Burrows, lodges an application to have his defamation case taken to the High Court. It must have been some hat.