January 26 – February 1, 2019
News
Comment
Comment
Claire G. Coleman
Bloody Australia Day
“No other colonised country celebrates its national day on the anniversary of the day its invasion, colonisation and genocide began. At the very least, January 26 as Australia Day should be understood as disrespectful to First Nations people. When looked at less charitably, the choice of the date looks downright white supremacist.”
Comment
Paul Bongiorno
Foolish Endeavours
“Callers to the prime minister’s Radio 4CA interview weren’t distracted by quibbles about who did what centuries ago, they were more exercised over what’s happening now – to them and their businesses. A businesswoman named Linda rang in to complain about the cost of insurance in extreme-weather-prone Far North Queensland. ‘The flow-on effect,’ she said, is that ‘our economy is going nowhere. It’s been going nowhere since the GFC, which is a decade now.’ The prime minister had nothing much to offer except sympathy.”
Letters, Poem & Editorial
Culture
Profile
Wiradjuri dancer Joel Bray’s platypus identity
As a gay Aboriginal Australian who grew up in a largely white world, Joel Bray found purpose and identity through dance. His latest work – the intimate solo performance Biladurang – blends choreography and theatre in a raw exploration of his own very personal journey. “I’ve had people hug me, I’ve had people crying, I’ve had people share their stories of discovering their Aboriginality late in life.”
Film
Roma
The unequal but loving relationships in Roma, Alfonso Cuarón’s film set amid the political turmoil of 1970s Mexico, deliver some of the most powerful scenes in recent cinema.
Portrait
Sydney Lunar Festival’s Valerie Khoo
“We sit under paperbark trees at the door to the cafe and listen as the opera notes fade inside. A teen, bare-chested with bronzed skin and a surfboard under his arm, walks past our table. Sitting on a stool inside, a man wearing a singlet begins to play a guitar as the child beside him bobs and spins and claps her hands. Three years ago Valerie Khoo traded full-time corporate life in the city to move here with her partner and focus on her art. There is something about Sydney’s northern beaches environment that nurtures your creativity, she tells me. ‘It might be the space … but I think it’s the water. Being so near the water all the time – there is something very calming about that; it gives your brain the space to work out where it is meant to go.’”
Books
Life
The Quiz
Quotes
BIRTHS
“I’m sick of these social expansionists from the left who come up with a whole list of reasons to do whatever they can to change Australian society.”
The Nationals MP accuses those calling for an Australia Day date change of engaging in social expansionism or, as some might call it, having a sixth child.
CAMPAIGNING
“You don’t get to bully your way into a seat in the Liberal party.”
The prime minister explains why MP Grant Schultz was dumped from the seat of Gilmore in favour of Warren Mundine. The only way to get a seat in the party, it seems, is to be repeatedly deemed unfit for preselection by the party of which you were once president.
AWARDS
“In line with community expectations, our winner is young, female and non-white.”
The News Corp columnist announces The Daily Telegraph has awarded its Australian of the Year honour to Winx, a horse. Proof the only thing stalling progress on gender equality is the average woman’s inability to run 1600 metres in a minute-thirty while carrying a small man on her back.
ROYALTY
“I know the Queen is a busy lady but I was really excited at the idea she might phone me.”
The Briton laments the royal family’s lack of empathy after she was involved in a car crash with Prince Philip, 97. There was a time the Queen would call everyone her family members almost killed, but it quickly became far too much of a time commitment.
FESTIVALS
“I too was hustled, scammed, bamboozled.”
The rapper responds to Netflix’s new documentary about the disastrous Fyre Festival. He was clearly late to the realisation the headliner for the $12,000-a-ticket festival was the mid-2000s pop punk band Blink-182.
TENNIS
“Intolerance has no place in tennis.”
The Vogue editor singles out the politics of Margaret Court and the prime minister during a speech during the Australian Open. No one understands the proper place for intolerance like the editor-in-chief of a magazine that waited until last year to hire its first black cover photographer.
