June 30 – July 6, 2018
News
Comment
Comment
Anonymous
Bureaucratising disability
“When depression stops you getting out of bed and robs you of motivation, energy, confidence and self-worth, how are you meant to proactively seek support? When anxiety stops you from answering phone calls, speaking to people or even leaving the house, how do you interview service providers? If you can’t advocate for yourself, and you have no one else to advocate for you, then I don’t know how you can possibly access the NDIS.”
Comment
Paul Bongiorno
Bases loaded for Frydenberg
“On Wednesday, the government parties in the Senate voted with a Hanson motion calling for the building of new coal-fired power stations and the retrofitting of existing base-load power stations. It failed 34–32, but proved a revealing insight on where the whole energy debate could be heading. There is considerable optimism that the NEG will win majority party room support in the end. But there is a long way to go. The brawl over coal has alarmed the ACT’s minister for climate change and sustainability, Shane Rattenbury. The Greens minister has the capacity to sink the entire NEG as the federal government needs all the states and territories on the east coast to endorse its delivery. ”
Letters, Cartoon & Editorial
Culture
Profile
Artist Yvette Coppersmith on the meaning of self-portraiture
Archibald Prize-winning artist Yvette Coppersmith’s principal subject is herself, in works created with little concession to how they might be perceived by others. “To make a work without an awareness of an audience is virtually impossible, even though I began doing portraits or drawings of faces to hang in my childhood room, and that’s probably what I still want to do. It’s a very private process. It’s really private, actually. It’s only the fact that you’re an artist and part of your role is to share your work.”
Television
‘The Handmaid’s Tale’
As a portrayal of misogyny and violence against women, The Handmaid’s Tale ticks all the boxes. As a piece of empowering feminist storytelling, it couldn’t be more misguided.
Portrait
Author and poet Jenny Zhang
“Jenny Zhang is sitting with her back against the cafe wall, trying to work out the wi-fi password. I am surprised by how unassuming her clothes are. Going by her Instagram, I was expecting violent vintage florals and green ombré hair. In person, she wears a baggy beige jumper and large pink enamel earrings. Jenny later tells me that since being on the publicity circuit she’s started dressing more plainly; she’s nervous about being seen as that quirky girl. ”
Food
“There is something magical about the relationship between flesh, salt and fat. Long before refrigeration and factory farming, there was a time and a place for the life of an animal to end and its flesh to be preserved for the coming months. I have a great fondness for two such types of preserved meat from the Gascony region of France: duck leg confit and ventrèche.”
Books
Life
Life
The best wines of winter 2018
The beverage director for Andrew McConnell’s restaurants gives her recommendations of the best seasonal tipples.
The Quiz
Quotes
COMEDY
“I never saw someone ruin their entire career with one button push. That was fresh.”
The comic weighs in on Roseanne Barr, whose career collapsed in a blaze of racist prejudice and Ambien. Seinfeld has clearly forgotten the career of the racist who played Kramer, but then everyone has.
SPIES
“That’s what happens in a pre-police state, where instead of a royal commission they lock up people who more likely deserve the Order of Australia.”
The independent MP expresses outrage after lawyer Bernard Collaery and his client, Witness K, were charged for their role in exposing Australian bugging during Timor gas talks. They are accused of breaching the ironically named Intelligence Services Act.
POLICE
“At the end of the day, it’s police investigating police.”
The chief executive of the AIDS Council of New South Wales calls for an independent inquiry into police bias over historic gay hate crimes in Sydney. The police response is missing somewhere near South Head.
SENATE
“I told him that he was a creep. His reply was to tell me to ‘F-dot-dot-dot off’.”
The Greens senator asks David Leyonhjelm to apologise for telling her to “stop shagging men” while she was speaking to a motion on violence against women. The difference between a libertarian and a 12-year-old boy narrows by the day.
PRONUNCIATION
“If you can’t get someone’s name right, it says that you’ve got no regard, you haven’t done the work. You haven’t tried.”
The SBS presenter addresses criticism of his co-host Lucy Zelic during the World Cup. Some viewers apparently took issue with Zelic’s decision to pronounce players’ names correctly.
CONSISTENCY
“I haven’t flip-flopped. I said no originally, then I said yes, then I have said no and I’ve stuck to it.”
The One Nation leader clarifies her position on corporate tax cuts. She’s solid on all the important issues, though, such as being a racist.
