August 12 – 18, 2017 | The Saturday Paper

News

Driven to death on Manus Island

“Imagine you are living in a place with no water and power. Disease start spreading and every day more people are getting sick. And all of this is happening by the orders of ABF and DIBP from Canberra.”

Martin McKenzie-Murray As the eighth asylum seeker dies in offshore processing, conditions decline further and the situation worsens for refugees.

News

Crime and terror in the banks

“The bank claims its failure to report suspicious transactions stems from a ‘coding error’ in smart ATMs dating back to 2012 … Machines make mistakes, but it takes systemic human failings to compound them into something as serious as this.”

Alex McKinnon While profits continue to soar for Commonwealth Bank, a laundering scandal makes the case for a banking royal commission grow stronger.

News

The same-sex marriage postal vote

Karen Middleton The methodology being used to test the public mood on same-sex marriage is dividing both the Liberal Party and constitutional experts – and further diminishing the prime minister’s standing among his own.

News

Australia’s human rights disgraces

Mike Seccombe After leaving her post as president of the Australian Human Rights Commission, Gillian Triggs is as forthright as ever in describing the country’s slide backwards in its social policies and treatment of the vulnerable.

News

PaTH and unpaid internships

“The PaTH program has now been implemented and young jobseekers are being encouraged to work in retail and hospitality roles for free.”

Catherine Bouris With young jobseekers being encouraged to sign up to the PaTH internship program, companies are benefiting from free labour and a government subsidy. The question is, what are the interns gaining?

World

Trump threatens ‘fire and fury’ against North Korea

Hamish McDonald US cautious on Marawi action; Sara Netanyahu facing indictment for misusing funds.

Comment

Clover Moore
Responding to Martin Place’s tent city

“Earlier this year, the city’s biannual street count identified 433 people sleeping rough in the City of Sydney and 489 people in crisis or temporary accommodation centres that are operating at 91 per cent capacity.”

Comment

Paul Bongiorno
Why Tony Abbott can’t be ignored

“The Abbott grab bag of alt-right grievances amply demonstrates his crusade against same-sex marriage is merely a proxy against the sort of modernity he identifies with Malcolm Turnbull and contemporary Australia.”

Gadfly

Richard Ackland
Gadfly: Shelf analysis

Letters, Cartoon & Editorial

Cartoon

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Editorial
The killing of Hamed Shamshiripour

The very last picture to be taken of Hamed Shamshiripour is too distressing to publish. It looks like the scene of a lynching. In many respects, it is. Hamed’s face is held in great anguish. Blackness fills the sockets of his eyes. His shoulders hang as if responding to a question for which there is no answer. In death there is the silence that follows great trauma. This last image, this tableau of jungle and resignation, is frozen in violent stillness.

Letters

On rights and obligations

Voluntary assisted dying is strongly opposed by Right To Life Australia through its tried and tested tactics of political intimidation and by framing compassion as “killing” (John Power, “Unwritten …

Economics brought to a head

Thomas Piketty’s acclaimed research links high inequality with low growth, but I continue to be surprised at the absence of discussion of its obvious corollary: that a free capitalist economy, …

Culture

Anthony LaPaglia in Annabelle: Creation.

Profile

Anthony LaPaglia’s pioneer spirit

Donna Walker-Mitchell Long before Australian actors were celebrated in the US, Anthony LaPaglia was forging a solid career in theatre and movies. But, he says, his rise to stardom could not have been more unexpected.

Television

Jane Campion’s Top of the Lake: China Girl

Helen Razer Jane Campion’s latest foray into television, while featuring admirable performances, sees the writer–director stray too far from what she does best.

Portrait

A day in home daycare

Kate Holden Daycare operator Eliza and her life committed to children.

Food

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Food

Blood orange fool and Madeira cake

“Blood orange season encourages me to make a fool. Fools are synonymous with the English summer, but the lush creamy texture has a comfort factor that is right at home in any season. Here, I have paired it with a Madeira cake, another plain English classic.”

Annie Smithers

Books

Nick Brodie
The Vandemonian War

Anna George
The Lone Child

Shaun Prescott
The Town

Life

Fashion

Kit Willow Podgornik’s Kitx

Alyx Gorman With a focus on sustainable materials, Kit Willow Podgornik’s label, Kitx, is producing flowing garments so popular they push their handmade manufacturing to the limit.

Health

Noise and aviation safety

Michele Tydd Studies into the serious effects of noise on health are now being applied to aviation safety, with concerning results.

Sport

Trading options: Paige Hadley, 24, netballer

Richard Cooke Australian Diamonds and NSW Swifts centre courter Paige Hadley on the roller-coaster ride of injuries and World Cup wins.

The Quiz

1. A painting of which TV celebrity won this year’s Archibald Packing Room Prize?

2. O3 is the chemical formula for what?

3. Where was Britain’s first escalator installed?

4. The poet Robert Service is associated with which country?

5. What does the acronym SCUBA stand for?

6. Australian Rhiannan Iffland is a world champion in which sport?

7. Michael Cunningham wrote which novel that was turned into a film starring Meryl Streep?

8. Anthony Scaramucci was removed from which White House position after holding it for just a matter of days?

9. Which contagious disease was also known as “the red plague”?

10. What is the first name of Sherlock Holmes’ friend Dr Watson? (Bonus point for naming the London street on which the fictional pair lived.)

Click through for answers.

Quotes

DINNER

“If I was supposedly out there to conduct a meeting with Melbourne’s underworld would I have done it in public in the middle of the Lobster Cave?”

Matthew GuyThe Victorian opposition leader explains he didn’t expect an alleged mafia boss to be at a dinner he attended with donors. He remains tough on crime and even refuses to split the bill sometimes.

ANIMALS

“No one had seen anything like this before and they’re all pretty fascinated by it.”

Jarrod KanizayThe father of a boy mauled by sea lice at Brighton Beach in Melbourne explains the response of hospital staff to his son’s bloody legs. In the medical profession, “fascinated” and “disgusted” are more or less the same thing.

TAX

“Personally, I’m not very good at tax avoidance. I’ve paid a lot of tax.”

Malcolm TurnbullThe prime minister offers his view on discretionary trusts. Presumably he only sends his money to the Cayman Islands when it needs a holiday.

MARRIAGE

“I am confident that the campaign will be respectful of all Australians.”

Eric AbetzThe Tasmanian senator voices his support for a postal vote on same-sex marriage. Respectfully, his own colleagues liken gays to paedophiles and link their unions to bestiality, and the thought that this campaign might be anything other than a licence for the most vile bigotry is complete bullshit.

MISSILES

“Sound dialogue is not possible with such a guy bereft of reason and only absolute force can work on him.”

Kim Rak-gyomThe North Korean general explains that United States President Donald Trump is “extremely getting on the nerves” of the rogue state. War is a short finger away.

COURTS

“I know this trial has been very difficult, not only for me, but also for others, and for family and friends.”

Jean Claude PerrottetThe brother of the NSW treasurer responds to a verdict of not guilty in his trial for rape.