April 29 – May 5, 2017
News
Brandis reverses community legal centres funding cut
The government’s reversal of funding cuts to community legal centres came after a campaign from across the legal sector and within parliament.
Land clearing and climate change
“A comprehensive analysis noted that more than 80 per cent of emissions are from industry, but 80 per cent of abatement through the fund is from the land sector. Only 4 per cent is from the energy and industrial processes sectors, which produce most of the emissions.”
The majority of the Emissions Reduction Fund is poured into questionable abatement schemes to discourage land clearing, while mass deforestation cancels out any climate gains.
Scott Ludlam and the appeal of the Australian Greens
He is popular and has a burning desire to champion equality and opportunity. But while Senator Scott Ludlam is a poster boy for the Greens, he’s no career politician.
Donald Trump’s grandiose Mexico promise hits a wall
China calls for US restraint; Macron and Le Pen into election second round; Turnbull committed on Afghanistan.
Comment
Comment
Guy Rundle
Abbott and Latham, the masters of delusion
“With both Abbott and Latham seemingly determined to alienate as many as possible who had supported or believed in them, the start and end points of their parabolic rise and fall neatly contain a period of Australian history in which we lost belief that our existing institutions and structures could produce the sort of movements and figures that had driven earlier political eras. ”
Comment
Paul Bongiorno
Turnbull adopts a war footing
“Malcolm Turnbull has put his prime ministership on a war footing. It worked for a similarly besieged Liberal PM 16 years ago, and it’s definitely worth a shot now. The image of a helmet-wearing, Kevlar-vested Australian leader scurrying out of an RAAF Hercules in Kabul was the perfect visual accompaniment. It nicely reinforced his conflation of migrant workers visas and citizenship with fighting terrorists and national security just five days earlier.”
Letters, Cartoon & Editorial
Culture
Profile
Composer and Oscar winner Hans Zimmer finds new audiences
Composer Hans Zimmer’s monumental soundscapes have won him an Oscar for The Lion King and powered Christopher Nolan’s films, but their rapturous reception at rock music festival Coachella took even him by surprise.
Music
Sylvan Esso’s ‘What Now’
On What Now, North Carolinian electronic duo Sylvan Esso successfully meld voice and instruments in a way that dissolves the distinction.
Portrait
Documentary filmmaker Hollie Fifer
“The handheld camera lurches and settles on the demolition. Hungry machines scrape away at houses. Evicted residents watch on, struck mute with horror. Armed police officers guard the scene to ensure the machines can do their work. Great sheets of corrugated iron and palm leaves fall to the ground. “This was my house,” says a man. “I am the owner of this house.” ”
Books
Life
Life
Hair and social inclusivity
For a society to be progressive and inclusive, cultural differences must be accepted and celebrated. And that includes hair.
The Quiz
Quotes
RACE
“I have said it once and I’ll say it again: this world has come so far but yet we have so much further to go.”
The world No. 1 responds to Ilie Nastase’s musings on her unborn child: “Let’s see what colour it has. Chocolate with milk?” Nastase played pretty well in 1970, but then so did racism.
CELEBRITY
“If I want to buy 15,000 cotton balls a day, it’s my thing.”
The actor explains the source of a disagreement with his financial advisers over mismanagement of his fortune. It is an expensive but undeniably fluffy way to fill the hole left by two dogs.
POLITICS
“I’ve moved on from that. It’s probably time you guys did, too.”
The One Nation candidate and member of the Pinkenba Six says he is over traumatising Indigenous children. He moved on to shaving swastikas into his lawn and threatening to kill his employees.
MERGERS
“It’s a no.”
A spokesman for One Nation confirms the party will not answer Cory Bernardi’s call for an amalgamation. Which must hurt when you look at the child-stealing neo-Nazis with whom they’re willing to associate.
DISABILITY
“Of course, it was the wrong choice of words.”
The president of the Australian Olympic Committee apologises for using the term “sheltered workshop” in reference to an employee with cancer. He is fighting for his job and, presumably, a machine to get back to 2017.
SPORT
“It seems bizarre behaviour.”
The magistrate muses on the phone call in which police were alerted to the erratic driving of drunk Canberra Raiders player Josh Papalii. The phone call was made anonymously, by Papalii.
