October 31 – November 6, 2020
News
Comment
Comment
Kevin Rudd
After the virus: A green recovery
“Australia cannot afford to simply meander through to the other side of this Covid-19 crisis … If the government had the capacity to see this moment for what it is, it would find a vast majority of the country, across the political spectrum, supportive of real progress towards a green economy.”
Comment
Paul Bongiorno
Keeping the government honest
“During senate estimates in the past fortnight, Labor has not squandered any chance to call the government to account. Its senators have seized on the forensic work carried out by the auditor-general and indeed their own ferreting to reveal disturbing extravagance, misguided entitlement and incompetence, if not corruption.”
Letters, Cartoon & Editorial
Culture
Profile
Badtjala visual artist Fiona Foley
Fiona Foley’s groundbreaking new book Biting the Clouds traces a hidden colonial history of addiction and slavery. “None of the information in this book was ever taught to me in a classroom setting … We have no critical race studies in the curriculum in this country.”
Fiction
For the perishable body
“Look, a dead great-uncle. He is staring straight ahead through a black-and-white film as his boat carves through the waves. He is standing on a beach all scratched up and flickering. He is wearing war medals stored in a box I can’t find in the shed. He is meeting me as a toddler in a car park, though I’m told he was long gone then. He is speaking through my father on a dull day with the sky sunk deep in its own pool or the sky padded with clouds or the sky a painted cream ceiling with the cracks all dark and starting to leak; a day where the air is gusting with sun or the afternoon streaming with rain – do I look outside, are the curtains closed all day to hug our chill rooms? – and this great-uncle tells of working at auctions in the old Burns Mart, the excitement of the crowd bidding over boxes from lucky dip estates. ‘The Huon pine tables were popular,’ he says.”
Books
Life
Puzzles
Quotes
Property
“Now, we’re sitting in a miracle. God can make a way even through impossible circumstances.”
The Hillsong pastor announces the megachurch has purchased Melbourne’s Festival Hall. Once host to The Beatles and Muhammad Ali, the venue will now be the site of countless appearances by Scott Morrison.
Aspiration
“He can’t want them to be more successful than they want to be successful.”
The senior White House adviser blames Black Americans for being in poverty because they don’t want to be successful. While Paris Hilton was content to simply wear a shirt that said “stop being poor”, the Trump administration has decided to run an entire country according to the mantra.
Diplomacy
“Did you think about calling, speaking directly to the ambassador yourself?”
The Labor senator asks Marise Payne why it was left to bureaucrats to inform the Qatari government of Australia’s concerns about the treatment of female passengers at Doha airport. Just for the Foreign minister’s reference, the calling code for Doha is +974.
Covid-19
“I don’t know that I’ll be drinking a beer tonight. I might go a little higher up the shelf.”
The premier announces the easing of Covid-19 restrictions in Victoria after three months of lockdown. On Twitter, a war immediately broke out over whether this was an “un-Australian” celebration.
Birthdays
“In moments like these, I am humbly reminded of how privileged my life is.”
The multimillionaire business mogul astutely reads the room as she posts photos from her luxury 40th birthday on a private island. As of last month, a quarter of American households reported struggling to pay their bills due to the pandemic.
Innovation
“This year more than ever we have turned to our scientists in the face of one of our biggest challenges in recent memory …”
The prime minister announces his $250,000 annual prize for science. The challenge he referred to was, of course, climate change. Just kidding, it was Covid-19 – he didn’t mention climate change once.
