July 20 – 26, 2024

News

A beach on North East Island, which is off Groote Eylandt in the Groote Archipelago.

‘Everything was going wrong’: the white executive, the mine and the corruption referral

Ben Abbatangelo and Rachel Hoffman A chief executive’s plan to take a personal stake in a multimillion-dollar mining project has drawn attention to the running of one of Australia’s most remote land councils.

News
The under-construction John Cunningham Student Centre at The Scots College in Sydney.
Image for article: Jobseeker glitch cuts more than 1300 incomes
CFMEU national secretary Zach Smith at a union rally in Sydney.
Sex Discrimination Commissioner Anna Cody.
The Salesforce headquarters in San Francisco.
Katta O’Donnell protests at the Glennies Creek rail bridge, Newcastle, on July 5, 2024.
Secret Service agents surround former US president Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention.

Comment

Letters, Cartoon & Editorial

Cartoon

ReadCartoon image, links to full cartoon page

Editorial
Salting the mines

Most of the people who signed the letter sought to have their names redacted before it was released. They are hidden under a long, grey stele: not too ashamed to lobby for mining concessions, but ashamed enough to keep it secret.

Letters

Perspective on ASIC

The Senate Economics References Committee’s ASIC investigation and enforcement report highlights ASIC’s alleged failings, as have the many other inquiries/reviews over more than a decade. Mike Seccombe’s …

Harsh policies

Danielle Wood is correct when she reports there are “poverty traps” that detrimentally affect those at the lower end of the socio-economic spectrum in Australia (“Is this still the land of the fair …

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Culture
Countertenor Iestyn Davies.

Profile

Countertenor Iestyn Davies

Fiona Wright Acclaimed countertenor Iestyn Davies – who tours next month with the Australian Chamber Orchestra – was originally inspired by Rowan Atkinson in Blackadder, and still has a keen sense of the absurd.

Singer-songwriter Clairo.

Music

Clairo’s new album Charm

Shaad D’Souza Teen internet sensation Clairo’s third album, Charm, demonstrates the value of growing up in her own way.
Nikki Shiels in A Streetcar Named Desire

Theatre

MTC’s A Streetcar Named Desire

Alison Croggon Melbourne Theatre Company’s production of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire is a nuanced departure from the blueprint created by Elia Kazan’s classic film.

Books
Image for article: The Fists of the Father

Daniel Tamone
The Fists of the Father

Image for article: The Shortest History of Music

Andrew Ford
The Shortest History of Music

Image for article: If You Go

Alice Robinson
If You Go

Life
Image for article: Cotton-soft cheesecake

Food

Cotton-soft cheesecake

Andrew McConnell

A Victoria Police mugshot of alleged art thief Sky Blue from 1979.

Art

The untold story of Sky Blue and Australia’s art heist

Mark Dapin Fifty years ago, an ‘ordinary left-wing Melbourne hippie’ became embroiled in a daring and politically motivated burglary that made her Victoria’s most-wanted criminal.

Donald Sterling, right, with V. Stiviano at a Clippers game in Los Angeles in 2011.

Sport

Donald Sterling: NBA’s erratic billionaire boss

Martin McKenzie-Murray A new miniseries exposes the ‘plantation mentality’ of billionaire landlord and former LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling, who also liked naming buildings after himself.

Puzzles

The Cryptic

link to this week\'s crossword

Crossword No. 509

The Quiz

1. In what year did man first walk on the moon?
2. Which European capital city is also known as Baile Átha Cliath?
3. Name the first Australian male swimmer to compete at four Olympic Games. (Bronte Campbell will also become a four-time Olympian in Paris. Bonus points for naming the three other Australian swimmers to achieve this honour.)
4. True or false: the first rabbits in Australia arrived with the First Fleet.
5. Which clothing item received its name after being worn to an 1886 ball at a private country club in New York: (a) tuxedo; (b) fedora; or (c) cravat?
6. What part of the human body is the hallux?
7. The author of the bestselling 1990 novel Jurassic Park is Michael [who]?
8. The Gaza Strip lies on the coast of which sea?
9. Would you blow, strum or beat a mandola?
10. Belladonna is also known as deadly [what]?

Click through for answers.

Quotes

America

“The idea that there’s violence in America like this is just unheard of.”

Joe BidenThe US president responds after an assassination attempt on Donald Trump. At his age, it’s easy to forget he’s been alive for every attempted presidential assassination since Andrew Jackson’s in 1835.

Sport

“It’s sweet and wonderful and the result of a lot of work.”

Anne HidalgoThe mayor of Paris swims in the Seine to prove the river is safe ahead of the Olympics. This comes after French activists threatened to defecate in the river en masse, to protest against the cost of hosting the games.

Police

“I don’t understand how he would have been standing, let alone driving.”

officerA NSW police officer comments after a police inspector crashed his unmarked car into a tunnel, having consumed more than 20 drinks at a work function. His name was suppressed for 40 years, presumably on the basis he couldn’t remember it.

Music

“Would these people just grow up and find a decent job.”

Kevin RuddThe Australian ambassador to the United States comments on a joke about Donald Trump, made at a Tenacious D concert in Sydney. Rudd knows more than most how serious political assassinations can be.

Diplomacy

“Every North Korean thinks at least once about living in South Korea.”

Ri Il-kyuThe North Korean diplomat announces his defection after a posting to Cuba. Fair enough, too.

Technology

“It was crazy. I was so angry.”

Scarlett JohanssonThe actor responds after OpenAI appeared to have appropriated her voice for its ChatGPT system Sky. Another view says a robot should be allowed to play whoever it wants.

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