March 16 – 22, 2024
News
Comment
Comment
Peter Doherty
The fault lines of society
“Being, at times, an over-aggressive commentator on anthropogenic climate change, I’m sometimes told to ‘butt out, it’s not your field’. But as a biomedical scientist with some public profile, commenting on climate change is not only within my area of expertise, it’s an obligation.”
Comment
Paul Bongiorno
Albanese, Dutton and the ‘crisis of short-term thinking’
“A measure of the success of Albanese’s Top End foray, according to a key strategist, was that no peep was heard – neither criticism nor praise – from Dutton or his nearly invisible shadow minister, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.”
Comment
John Hewson
Treasurer’s challenges shift from inflation to growth
“Treasurer Jim Chalmers faces particularly difficult decisions in the next budget, probably the last before an election in early 2025. How much more can he afford to do to prop up growth, with additional measures to assist with the cost of living, while not worsening the inflation outlook?”
Letters, Cartoon & Editorial
Culture
Profile
Cabaret artist Reuben Kaye
Comedian and cabaret performer Reuben Kaye is a collection of paradoxes, but mostly he’s an introvert pretending to be an extrovert.
The Influence
Dylan Mooney on dancer and activist Malcolm Cole
Rising artist Dylan Mooney is expanding a tradition of queer and Blak art by taking inspiration from role models such as dancer and activist Malcolm Cole, and photographer William Yang, who chronicled his work.
Fiction
Midsummer, night
“It was still light outside, just a little, when the children’s mother lay down in the spare bed with the younger child to help him sleep, their usual kind of tucking-in ritual, just without the sheets. Except that she too was enervated by the heat and when I looked in, half an hour later, she was curled up on her side and snoring gently. The dog, never one to let the barest hint of an opportunity pass her by, snaked around my legs and up onto the mattress in one swift movement, turned her habitual three circles and settled in too. I let them be and returned to my book on the couch downstairs.”
Books
Life
Puzzles
Quotes
Politics
“Difficult to say, but the gay boys are a bit [sic] issue and carry a lot of power.”
The Liberal councillor expresses her concerns over the lack of female representation in the Cook preselection. She didn’t say who the “gay boys” were but everyone sincerely hopes they are not Scott Morrison.
Tourism
“The Chocolate Experience at Cadbury will have the world’s largest chocolate fountain…”
The Tasmanian premier makes an election promise to build “the greatest thing to happen to tourism since MONA”. A real premier would have promised the fountain could also produce hydroelectricity.
Reality
“You don’t have long, the hour is late. Do something while you still can.”
The United Australia Party senator warns that an unspecified “they” is coming for him. Oddly, the rant had nothing to do with the gender binary.
Summer
“Gift: Surfboard & ice-cream. Provided by: Surfrider Foundation Australia. Estimated Cost: Unknown.”
The resources minister updates her register of interests. She’s not the only one who can’t put a price on a surf and a Pine Lime Splice, and nor should she.
Technology
“Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing.”
The Princess of Wales claims responsibility for manipulating an official photograph of herself and her children. With the inbreeding, it’s hard to know which hands are AI and which are congenital defects.
Punishment
“If they want to run away, they have to dodge the king brown and wild dogs.”
The Nationals leader explains his plan for juvenile detention in “outback camps”. If the image of children being attacked by snakes and feral animals gets you excited, you know who to vote for.
