February 19 — 25, 2022
News
Comment
Comment
Michael Costello
Speak loudly and carry a big twig
“During the Cold War, fear of serried rows of Russian tanks rolling through the Fulda Gap kept European and American leaders awake at night. How is it the West finds itself back in a place it thought in the 21st century it had left far behind?”
Comment
Paul Bongiorno
At home with the Morrisons
“The raucous, shambolic penultimate sitting of federal parliament this year is all the evidence you need to know Scott Morrison is running very scared. Governments can find parliament a political killing field and never relish the scrutiny its opponents may apply. This aversion becomes all the more acute with the clock ticking down to a general election.”
Comment
John Hewson
Morrison’s two-faced approach to religious freedom
“It’s rather odd that this government is running on the idea that people want the government out of their lives, yet they seem intent on doing the opposite and restricting individual choices. The Religious Discrimination Bill opens up other interesting questions, for instance on superannuation.”
Letters, Cartoon & Editorial
Culture
The Influence
Kip Williams
Sydney Theatre Company artistic director Kip Williams says Sally Potter’s radical film Orlando has influenced all his work – especially his acclaimed production of The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Fiction
Brainworm
“My boy glees, his face rounding and his hair feathery and fair. He stares at the TV from his high chair, his gums sweet and his eyes large. He is a bundle of soft, folded skin. He raises his arms in the air and brings them down strongly like a baby bird thrashing its wings, his fat fingers winding tight around my own. I kiss the tips of his nails. The man on the news has his face blurred. They say he killed a girl in Brunswick. My son looks past me, watches the TV with a fuzzy sense of familiarity, his eyes wet like a fish’s. I recognise the street, I think. I think I was walking down that street last week.”
Books
Life
Puzzles
Quotes
Apathy
“Sorry is not the hardest word to say. The hardest is ‘I forgive you.’ ”
The prime minister marks the anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations. Apparently it’s their turn to make him feel better.
Memories
“Alright, I confess, we were doing a cover of ‘April Sun in Cuba’. On the oboe.”
The former Australian of the Year responds to a picture published of her as a teenager holding a very large bong. Advice is being taken on whether the award can be given to the same person twice or if they can take Alan Bond’s back and sling it her way.
Courts
“A lying, cheating cunt of a human.”
The former wife of Ben Roberts-Smith describes her then husband in text messages read out during his defamation case. Just a reminder: the lawsuit, brought by him, is about repairing his reputation.
Poverty
“You make it sound like there’s some magical number.”
The Social Services minister objects to questioning in senate estimates about whether there should be a minimum level of income that people need not to be in poverty. Fact check: there is a number and it’s not magic, it’s decency.
Politics
“First and foremost we are elected to come here in this chamber as law makers, that’s our first job.”
The outgoing Labor grifter delivers his final speech. The second job, presumably, is shilling for a coal company or whatever venal, regressive future awaits the member for Hunter.
China
“They see a weakness in Anthony Albanese and his frontbench.”
The Defence minister compares Labor’s relationship with China to the appeasement of Nazi Germany before World War II. There are a lot of serious points to be made, but if I had Dutton’s chin I wouldn’t be talking about weakness.
