August 15 – 21, 2020 | The Saturday Paper

News

Exclusive: The phone call that denied elderly patients access to hospital

Rick Morton Two months ago the government set its response for Covid-19 outbreaks in aged care – controversially, it was ‘about keeping the hospitals for the young’.

News

Daniel Harvey’s death in detention

Karen Middleton The death of a man in immigration detention has raised questions about the length of time people are being held onshore, and the impact of coronavirus on visiting and other rights.

News

Politics and messaging across borders

“Bottom line, says Kosmos Samaras, is that the conservatives badly misread the public mood. Most people are more concerned about contagion – ‘literally a life and death issue’ – than about the economy.”

Mike Seccombe The politics of dealing with coronavirus are beginning to come into view, as the stakes in each state become clearer.

News

Dissent in press freedom inquiries

“The longer it is since people were shocked at the raids on the ABC, the less people will care. I think that’s part of the government’s strategy.”

Paddy Manning Divisions inside the parliament’s intelligence committee will ultimately decide where the government goes on the question of press freedom – but even Coalition members are split.

News

The international search for a vaccine

Rick Morton As the world doubts Russia’s Covid-19 vaccine announcement, there have been promising developments in trials from China and Britain.

World

Government quits as Lebanon smoulders

Jonathan Pearlman Beirut’s port blast adds to economic problems and chronic corruption. Parliamentary and presidential elections begin in Bougainville. Senator Kamala Harris chosen as VP candidate by Joe Biden.

Comment

Bri Lee
The old guard preventing reform to consent laws

“Community standards, particularly around gendered and sexual violence, have progressed to the point that, arguably, the older a law is, the less it is likely to represent the interests of the people it is supposed to protect. Yet this perspective runs counter to a profession built on hierarchical deference to precedent.”

Comment

Paul Bongiorno
Our hands-off prime minister

“Scott Morrison could have picked up the phone to two members of his much-vaunted national cabinet this week, to sort out what was truly a bizarre situation. But he didn’t, and his decision not to says a lot about his approach to the pandemic. Morrison’s reluctance to get involved in the six-day border standoff between New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory betrays a style of governance that oscillates between the passive and the reactive, always with an eye to quarantining himself from culpability.”

Diary

Gadfly
Recurring pipe dreams

Richard Ackland The ghost of Rex (The Strangler) Connor lives and breathes. Gough Whitlam’s hulking Minerals and Energy minister, who slept by the telex machine waiting for news of Tirath Khemlani’s $4 billion loan, has been reborn as a modern-day inspiration. The Strangler’s plan more than 45 years ago was for a nation crisscrossed with gas pipelines. It was believed his vision went further, and that he saw a future for a massive pipeline between Australia and Japan.

Letters, Cartoon & Editorial

Cartoon

Read

Editorial
Instead they saved the Dish

The same week Sussan Ley refused to give protection to the Djab Wurrung trees, she gave special heritage status to the Parkes radio telescope. This is how culture is preserved in Australia.

Letters

Financial mistake of early access

One of the original reasons for the establishment of superannuation funds in Australia was to encourage individuals to build a safety net for retirement, which not only protected the retiree but also …

Not the time for tough approach

The highly punitive coronavirus response in Australia is indeed alarming, and Osman Faruqi should be commended for his article “A nation of cops” (August 8-14). By identifying the parallels …

Culture

James Nguyen (top right), Victoria Pham and the Đông Sơn drum they acquired for RE:SOUNDING.

Profile

James Nguyen and Victoria Pham

Andy Butler Through their new work for BLEED 2020, artists James Nguyen and Victoria Pham reanimate the Đông Sơn drum, an ancient instrument with great cultural significance for their Vietnamese heritage. “We wanted to build a body of knowledge around this instrument in a way that just isn’t possible in academia or museums.”

Film

First Cow

Christos Tsiolkas MIFF opening night film First Cow follows the austere and sophisticated path of director Kelly Reichardt’s previous works but is stymied by its small-screen showing and the underdeveloped ‘buddy’ relationship at its core.

The Guaia

“The Guaia is three-and-a-half feet tall, with arms as long as she is high. The pads of her fingers are as dark and shiny as wet wood, and splayed like a tree frog’s. Her face is forever young yet strafed, all hollow and crag, sexless. She sleeps behind a screen of holy trees, away from the people. These trees are lacquered black and glistening, even in the lush damp sunlight that strains through the forest canopy above and dusts the groves with golden velvet. The black trees sway in a breeze that no one else can feel. At night the rancid scent of their leaves breathes from her skin. Her body is tattooed with these leaves, tendrils knotting around her skin like veins. In her hut she keeps wooden bowls of different leaves, crushed, pooling at the bottom with toxins. The walls are plaited branches, woven through with black feathers. There is a sleeping mat of reeds, a hanging tangle of bone charms over the door, and, in a corner, the rusted chainsaw she took from the last woodchopper she killed.”

Kate Holden

Books

Masha Gessen
Surviving Autocracy

Kathleen Jennings
Flyaway

Evelyn Araluen and Jonathan Dunk (eds)
Overland, #238

Life

Food

Vegan cauliflower pie

Annie Smithers

Chronic pain scientist Professor Lorimer Moseley.

Health

Chronic pain and Covid-19

Manuela Callari For sufferers of chronic pain the uncertainty and stress surrounding the Covid-19 crisis is exacerbating their anxiety and contributing to their torment.

Puzzles

The Cryptic

$link to this week\'s crossword$

Crossword No. 314

The Quiz

1. Mecca is in which country?

2. Which band sang in 1987, “It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine”? (Bonus point for naming the American comedian mentioned at the start of the song.)

3. Which fashion designer was born with the given names Gabrielle Bonheur?

4. Which English soccer team are the 2020 FA Cup champions?

5. What is Scout Finch’s real name in To Kill a Mockingbird?

6. How many bones are in an adult human skeleton: (a) 184; (b) 195; or (c) 206?

7. Penelope Pitstop was the lone female character in which Hanna-Barbera animated television series?

8. Elon Musk founded what aerospace manufacturer and space transportation services company in 2002?

9. Who once declared, “I was the Errol Flynn of B movies”?

10. How many labours did Hercules reputedly perform?

Click through for answers.

Quotes

Politics

“He’s an assistant librarian ... The camera is bored by him.”

Liberal figureSenior Victorian Liberals say they are considering rolling leader Michael O’Brien over his tepid performance during the pandemic. The Liberals are even considering a return to Matthew Guy, whose tough stance on crime includes only taking mobsters to bad restaurants.

Moods

“If you raise an issue of relevance now you are as irrelevant as you will ever be.”

Brad HazzardThe New South Wales Health minister begins a tirade against Labor leader Jodi McKay. He later apologised, saying he was tired.

Education

“These measures will ensure students can’t take on a study load they won’t complete, leaving them without a qualification but a large debt.”

Dan TehanThe minister for Education outlines a policy that will cut government loans from university students who fail more than half their subjects. He’s not saying education is just for rich people, except that’s exactly what he’s saying.

Pressure

“My hair – I don’t know about you, but it has to be perfect.”

Donald TrumpThe United States president complains about a lack of water pressure in American showers. The Trump administration has now proposed regulatory changes – truly – that will allow showerheads to boost water pressure.

Immigration

“Exclusive footage of beach landing by migrants. Shocking invasion on the Kent Coast taken this morning.”

Nigel FarageThe former UKIP leader shares footage of a couple of asylum seekers, including babies, invading the British coast from a dinghy. The image is conclusive proof that racism is connected to an inability to count.

Dinosaurs

“These new specimens we’ve examined reveal a bizarre, monstrous predator with teeth the size of bananas.”

Dr Adam CossetteThe vertebrate palaeobiologist describes his research that has identified three species of “terror crocodiles”. The animals weighed up to 5000 kilograms and had extremely large noses. Co-author Christopher Brochu says: “The reason for its enlarged nose is unknown. It was a strange animal.”