March 20 – 26, 2021
News
Comment
Comment
Osman Faruqi
A deadly silence on Christchurch
“We are now two years on from the massacre of 51 Muslims in Christchurch, a terrorist attack perpetrated by an Australian man. And once again the responsibility has fallen on members of the community who were targeted to remind Australia that this horrific incident occurred and is still to be reckoned with.”
Comment
Paul Bongiorno
Morrison’s problem with women
“All of a sudden, the Morrison government is looking very vulnerable. And the prime minister knows it. Like all governments staggering towards the political abyss, it is not only events beyond their control at play but also, more importantly, their misreading of what needs to be done.”
Letters, Cartoon & Editorial
Culture
Profile
American playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Branden Jacobs-Jenkins – whose play Appropriate has just opened at the STC – takes the tropes of white playwriting and turns them into Black comedy.
In Progress
Patricia Cornelius
Multi-award-winning playwright Patricia Cornelius is working on an adaptation of her novel about the fallout of the Vietnam War, My Sister Jill – when she’s not gardening.
Fiction
Two stories
“She was a bad dog. She couldn’t be told. She ate nothing but touched everything with her mouth, her snout – chewing, sniffing, licking, breathing. She had no respect for objects of value or concepts of hygiene or punctuality or personal space. She stole handkerchiefs. She tore up shoes. She put her paws on the kitchen counter and her nose in the coffee cups and water glasses and left a smear with her tongue on the rim. She slipped between our legs as we moved from one part of the house to another, leaving clumps of brittle white fur in the most unlikely of rooms. She disrupted our daydreams and quiet acts of domestic reverie by barking and whining and sitting unnaturally still on the floor beside us with eyes that said I want I want I want. She didn’t belong in our world of narrow-mindedness and decorum, of carpet and sliding doors. ”
Books
Life
Puzzles
Quotes
Technology
“It might be the worst idea I have all year.”
The New South Wales police commissioner walks back his brainwave for an app that would allow sexual partners to sign “digital contracts” giving consent for intercourse. Luckily, with an annual salary of $649,500, Fuller probably doesn’t need to go on Shark Tank.
Grammar
“Stop demonising men.”
The One Nation senator offers her criticism of women generally, while lashing out at Brittany Higgins personally for waiting two years to report her alleged assault. Not to be pedantic, but the One Nation leader did forget the comma after “demonising”.
Elections
“We did the heavy lifting.”
The acting attorney-general credits the federal Coalition for Labor’s landslide win in the Western Australian state election. And yet, as hard as they tried, the Morrison government just wasn’t able to lift the state’s hugely popular border closure.
Opportunity
“The fact you’ve been invited is really, really exciting. Grasp the nettle and take the opportunity.”
The Liberal MP implores March 4 Justice organiser Janine Hendry to meet with the prime minister. “Grasp the nettle” is probably an overly glowing way to describe meeting with Scott Morrison.
Honour
“I am proud of this government for the way in which we have kicked these people out of our country.”
The Home Affairs minister says Australia is ramping up the deportation of non-citizens accused of crimes. For the crime of repeatedly violating the human rights of refugees, Dutton has been given more power than almost any minister in history.
Solidarity
“I look forward to similar support from Ms Flint the next time I am subject to abuse for being Asian, gay or a woman.”
The Labor senator rebukes Liberal Nicolle Flint, who said Wong hadn’t condemned a strange man who stalked her during the 2019 election. A sure thing, no doubt.
