The Saturday Paper

News

Exclusive: Harassment claims against another Liberal MP

Karen Middleton As a former government staffer moves to settle a $500,000 complaint over mistreatment, new details emerge of sexual harassment she allegedly suffered from another Liberal MP.

News

The plot to destroy the Human Rights Commission

Mike Seccombe After a decade in which the Coalition has attempted to undermine and abolish the Human Rights Commission, the body is almost broke and facing international sanctions.

News

Hillsong after the Houstons

Rick Morton With founder Brian Houston resigning from Hillsong amid scandal and allegations, and his wife, Bobbie, being pushed out, the global megachurch is now facing its own day of reckoning.

News

Can Albanese overcome a messy start to the election campaign?

Karen Middleton After a messy first week, it’s increasingly clear that the election campaign will be about the authenticity of the leaders.

News

Pine Gap’s role in China–US arms race makes Australia a target

Brian Toohey The Pine Gap base near Alice Springs is expanding, and so is its importance to the US military. It also means Australia is becoming a more obvious global target, whether we realise it or not.

News

What is Lismore’s future after the floods?

J.J. Rose As the people of Lismore attempt to rebuild following the second major flood this year, residents are divided over what to do next and whether to relocate the entire town.

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World

Russian forces ready for new offensive in eastern Ukraine

Jonathan Pearlman Indonesians protest against plan to delay 2024 election. Shehbaz Sharif becomes Pakistan’s leader. Emmanuel Macron holds slim lead heading into presidential runoff election.

A woman walks down a street of bombed houses in Mariupol, Ukraine.

Opinion

Alison Croggon
The campaign to destroy the arts

“For state and religious authorities, art has often been the enemy. It’s easy to see why. Art tends to be anti-authoritarian. It argues against the simplistic. It opens possibilities. It values freedom. It imagines. Worst of all, it destabilises the idea of authority itself.”

Opinion

Paul Bongiorno
Nobody likes a bad dentist

“A shock, a self-inflicted wound on day one of the six-week formal election campaign has put Anthony Albanese on the back foot. That has to be the biggest takeout of week one, making the next five even more fraught for the Labor leader as he tries to persuade voters to give him a go in the top job.”

Opinion

John Hewson
Independents vs a broken system

“Despite the efforts of the media to discredit the independents’ movement, attempting to tag them as ‘fake independents’ and otherwise minimising their coverage, there should be little doubt that many conservative members sitting in what they had thought were ‘safe’ seats are already recognising the strength of the contest.”

Letters, Cartoon & Editorial

Cartoon

Read

Editorial
The incredible shrinking country

Scott Morrison will effectively dump his commitment to establish an integrity commission, which he had promised to deliver before this election: “I am not going to introduce a kangaroo court. I am not going to introduce a policy that I don’t think is in the nation’s best interests …”

Letters

A coup in the party machine

Stephen Mutch’s piece (“How Scott Morrison became a tin-pot dictator”, April 9-15) on the origins and current state of the Liberal Party’s “moderate” faction should be …

Something is rotten …

While I am sympathetic to disenfranchised Liberals such as Stephen Mutch and Catherine Cusack, the party was rotten long, long before Scott Morrison showed up on the scene. I am reminded of the classic …

Culture

Katrina Sedgwick, the new chief executive of the Melbourne Arts Precinct.

Profile

Melbourne Arts Precinct head Katrina Sedgwick

Romy Ash Katrina Sedgwick brings a rich background in performance and civic life to her new job as chief executive of the Melbourne Arts Precinct.

Film

Everything Everywhere All at Once

Anthony Carew Everything Everywhere All at Once – a serious exploration of a wacky multiverse concept – is an instant classic.

Visual Art

4th National Indigenous Art Triennial

Miriam Cosic The 4th National Indigenous Art Triennial offers an overview of the aesthetic, intellectual and political power of contemporary Indigenous art.

Visual Art

Speak the Wind

Esther Linder Hoda Afshar’s remarkable work questions whether photography and film can ever be truthful documents of reality.

Image for article: <em>Hamilton</em>’s Alex Lacamoire

The Influence

Hamilton’s Alex Lacamoire

Neha Kale Hamilton’s Cuban–American musical director, Alex Lacamoire, has drawn inspiration from Frédéric Chopin since he was a child.

Poetry

Three poems

“Colorbondage:

fences edging the raw lowness.

On this street

Google maps can’t find yet

a full moon

has just been released.

Seems no one else saw it

jump the rooftops –

all the TV lights

through curtain cracks.

Over waste ground

winter green,

a moon

on parole.”

Mike Ladd

Books

Douglas Stuart
Young Mungo

Ennis Ćehić
Sadvertising

Sean Rabin
The Good Captain

Life

Food

Deep-fried snapper wings with red curry sauce

O Tama Carey

Life

The library sheltering queer refugees fleeing Ukraine

Fiona Kelly McGregor A queer library being built in Poland has pivoted to offer support and shelter for LGBTQIA+ refugees fleeing conflict in Ukraine.

Cities

NSW scraps flood laws to benefit developers

Elizabeth Farrelly New sustainable planning policies are being repealed in NSW, which benefits developers and scraps restrictions on building in vulnerable places such as flood plains.

Sport

Welcoming back the Australian Grand Prix

Martin McKenzie-Murray Following the last-minute cancellation of the 2020 Australian F1 Grand Prix, calls went out for the race to be dumped altogether. But rather than fall victim to Covid-19 and naysayers, the event is now well and truly back on track.

Puzzles

The Cryptic

$link to this week\'s crossword$

Crossword No. 395

The Quiz

1. Which musician is playing in Australian stadiums next year as part of his + – = ÷ x Tour (pronounced The Mathematics Tour)?

2. Just Joey, Iceberg and Buff Beauty are all varieties of what?

3. Who is the new premier of Tasmania?

4. In which country is the 2006 film Blood Diamond set?

5. True or false: 32 is a perfect number?

6. What is the name of the brother of children’s doll Raggedy Ann?

7. Which Australian cricketer was named player of the tournament in the 2022 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup?

8. Which English author coined the phrase “cold war” in a 1945 essay titled “You and the Atomic Bomb”?

9. There are two species of camel. One is the Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus). What is the other?

10. “The whole rhythm section was the Purple Gang” is a line from which Elvis Presley song? (Bonus point for naming the New South Wales regional centre that hosts a yearly Elvis Festival.)

Click through for answers.

Quotes

Politics

“It has come as no surprise to many people that, for a long while, I have diverged with the views of the government.”

George ChristensenThe National Party defector announces he is running for One Nation in the senate. His spot on the ticket is regarded as unwinnable, even before he was announced as the candidate.The National Party defector announces he is running for One Nation in the senate. His spot on the ticket is regarded as unwinnable, even before he was announced as the candidate.

Consequences

“Now I feel an even greater sense of obligation to deliver on the priorities of the British people.”

Boris JohnsonThe British prime minister is fined £50 for attending a party at Downing Street for his birthday, in violation of lockdown laws. This will be his single greatest contribution to paying down government debt.

Election

“I get it, that people are tired of politics.”

Scott MorrisonThe prime minister announces he has called an election. The empathy coach might be working.

Campaigning

“Google it, mate.”

Adam BandtThe Greens leader responds to a journalist asking if he can quote the wage price index. Another example of the tech giants taking reporters’ jobs.

Living

“Ultimately, in government, you have to make these choices.”

Penny WongThe shadow Foreign minister defends Labor’s plan not to raise the rate of JobSeeker. Those choices include keeping tax cuts in place for the nation’s richest.

Region

“We have asked Solomon Islands respectfully to consider not signing the agreement and to consult the Pacific family in the spirit of regional openness…”

Zed SeseljaThe Liberal senator urges the island nation not to sign a defence agreement with China. Speaking of family, the climate change his government refuses to address will affect the Pacific first.

April 16 – 22, 2022