May 17 – 23, 2025
News
Comment
Comment
Monique Ryan
Inside the battle for Kooyong
“Politics shouldn’t be like this in Australia. We have a vision of the democratic process being joyful – of democracy sausages and primary school bake sales – but we’re on the edge, in some respects. We must do better to protect the process, to protect candidates and to protect voters.”
Comment
Barry Jones
My last election
“I will turn 93 in October. On the balance of probabilities, the federal election of May 3, 2025, will be my last. Going into the poll, I predicted this would be the last victory for a hegemonic party: a small majority for Labor, with the possibility of a hung parliament. I was far too cautious.”
Comment
John Hewson
The Coalition split: ‘It’s not me, it’s you’
“The memes began with, ‘We need to talk.’ Then the internet lit up with a flood of break-up staples … ‘We’ve grown apart.’ ‘We want different things.’ And of course, frighteningly, ‘I think we should start seeing other people.’ By Thursday, the 80-year relationship could be best described as ‘off again, on again’. What does this all mean?”
Letters, Cartoon & Editorial
Culture
Visual Art
Push/Pull at Adelaide Contemporary Experimental
New artistic director Danni Zuvela’s first exhibition at Adelaide Contemporary Experimental is both a statement of intent and a renewal of vows.
Fiction
The cull
“Riding his pushy fast out of town, really upset after arguing with his best friend, Angus almost rides into a bloke with a shotgun. Watch where you’re going kid, says the large man. He’s wearing a jacket that isn’t suited to the burning hot day, a green peaked hat that looks crisp and shiny, a bandolier and shotgun broken open and crooked over his arm. I’m doing some shooting here, he says.”
Books
Life
Puzzles
Quotes
Court
“She said that she’d found it in a RecipeTin cookbook, and that she wanted to do something new and special.”
The child protection worker testifies in the Erin Patterson trial. It is alleged Patterson did more to personalise a Nagi Maehashi recipe than other celebrity cooks.
Factions
“I do not accept that.”
The deputy prime minister responds to the suggestion he is a “factional assassin”. Assassins don’t generally collect snow domes.
Politics
“Sadly, this is something I am extremely good at doing, but I am legally prohibited from doing on this vote because I am a candidate.”
The Liberal candidate for Goldstein describes his ability to scrutinise votes. The man can spot a dick on a ballot a mile off.
Council
“A rude fellow, and he swears.”
The lawyer argues his client, Andrew Thaler, should not have been suspended from Snowy Monaro Regional Council for abusive behaviour. Thaler had previously called the mayor a “dog arse cunt” but that was a separate matter.
Media
“If the Liberals are to be a credible alternative to Labor, they need to do better than electing Sussan Ley aka Malcolm Turnbull in a skirt as leader.”
The News Corp columnist claims the Liberals lost because they were not right-wing enough. That said, Malcolm Turnbull would look great in a skirt.
Health
“I don’t think people should be taking advice, medical advice, from me.”
The United States secretary of health says his views on vaccinations are irrelevant. That would be true, if he wasn’t the United States secretary of health.
