December 14 – 20, 2024
News
Comment
Comment
Ramona Koval
The fight against anti-Semitism
“Ten days before Christmas and the usual carols, jolly Santas and decorated trees colour my local Balaclava shopping strip in inner Melbourne. But this year they coincide with the aftermath of the terrorist attack on the nearby Adass Israel Synagogue in Ripponlea, a ‘fuck Israel’ sign on the gazebo in my local park, ‘fuck jews’ on a lamppost and, further afield, cars set alight and messages of hate scrawled on fences in Jewish areas of Sydney. Welcome to Australia in 2024.”
Comment
Paul Bongiorno
Murdoch, Dutton and the campaign against Albanese
“It has been very rare for the Albanese cabinet to leak, but that changed this week. On Monday, December 9, a story emerged saying the prime minister had warned his senior colleagues that the Murdoch media was openly working to install Peter Dutton as prime minister.”
Comment
John Hewson
America’s next crisis
“It’s likely that financial markets will be the final arbiter of the Trump presidency. As the reality of unfolding economic numbers fails to match his promises, amid the constant disruption and uncertainty of his administration, financial markets will react, most likely with significant pressure on stocks, interest rates and exchange rates.”
Letters, Cartoon & Editorial
Culture
Profile
Anora writer and director Sean Baker
With his Palme d’Or-winning film Anora in Oscars contention, independent director Sean Baker is cutting a path that could take him to the very top.
Games
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
After a decade-long wait, the latest instalment of the Dragon Age franchise answers a lot of questions – maybe even too many – about this rich and complex world.
Fiction
Rubbish
“Ma grabs hold of the dashboard. Her fingers are white with wanting to see that thing on the footpath, but she’s not driving and it’s hard to stop a car you’re not driving. Ma likes to drive. When Jonah has soccer after school and it’s just us, she puts the windows down and the music up and sometimes we sing together and go over the speed limit and her hair flies wild and she tells me things like how she once wanted to be an astronaut. I don’t believe her, because you have to fly to the moon for that and who would look after us then? ”
Books
Life
Puzzles
Quotes
Media
“A carefully crafted charade.”
The Nevada commissioner describes Rupert Murdoch’s attempt to change his family trust to consolidate his eldest son Lachlan’s control of his media empire. Rupert’s normally very lazy at charades – the kids know it’s always Succession.
Flags
“We’re asking people to identify with different flags. No other country does that.”
The opposition leader says he won’t speak in front of the Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander flags if he becomes prime minister. Sadly, fear of more than one flag has ruined many of Dutton’s beach holidays.
Social media
“Despite that, the social media tsunami, the grubby phone calls continued unabated.”
Queensland’s premier blames the opposition for forcing him to rush through a motion to ban parliament from debating abortion for four years. It’s unclear what the grubby phone calls might be, but perhaps he should stop posting on TikTok.
Supermarkets
“We know how frustrating it has been to shop with us in recent weeks…”
The supermarket giant apologises to customers following a 17-day warehouse workers’ strike over the use of algorithms to improve efficiency. Senior executives will presumably have to forgo toilet breaks until the shelves are restocked.
Childcare
“Clogging up childcare centres with parents dropping off their kids so they can play golf or go to a Pilates class is the antithesis of a productivity measure.”
The Liberal senator criticises Labor’s plans to expand childcare. We’re not sure who he’s been talking to, but the kids of those parents will definitely be better off.
Law
“Moira Deeming has been vindicated .... She should now swiftly be readmitted to the party room.”
The former prime minister posts on X in support of Moira Deeming, who has won her defamation case stating the Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto portrayed her as a Nazi sympathiser. He has vowed to fight any leadership challenge.
