Wednesday, March 03, 2021

A Morrison government cabinet minister will today publicly identify himself as the politician at the centre of rape allegations, but he is not expected to step down. The minister, who has engaged the services …

February 27 – March 5, 2021  |  No. 338

News

Aged Care Royal Commission report lashes failing sector

Rick Morton More than two years after it was first established, the final report of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety has called for systemic overhaul of an underfunded and under-regulated sector.

News

News

Exclusive: Crown report referred to the Federal Police

Rick Morton The AFP is investigating a report referred by Justice Patricia Bergin in the wake of her explosive inquiry into Crown Casino, as ASIC begins looking into the company’s current and former board appointees.

News

Tracing the Brittany Higgins case

Karen Middleton As more details emerge of how the government handled Brittany Higgins’ alleged rape, crossbenchers are calling for a permanent independent body to examine abuse accusations.

News

The rise of Afterpay

Rick Morton Afterpay produced Australia’s youngest self-made billionaire. The company is yet to report a profit, but has ambitious plans to grow overseas and outrun regulators here.

News

Facebook and the news

Mike Seccombe When Facebook flexed its muscles and temporarily banned Australian news content, negotiations around the media bargaining code took a dramatic turn.

News

John Setka and the Covid-19 truce

Jon Faine Victoria’s construction industry managed to stay open and productive during the long, hard lockdown of 2020, thanks to compromises made by unlikely allies.

News

JobSeeker increase ‘a disgrace’

Rachel Withers The government announced this week it would boost the base rate of JobSeeker by $50 a fortnight once the Covid-19 supplement ends. Welfare advocacy groups warn such a token amount will only throw the unemployed into abject poverty.

Opinion

Opinion

Siyavash Doostkhah
Children’s rights suffer in Queensland

“As Queensland reels from the deaths of a number of innocent people as a result of car theft by teenagers in recent weeks, community members are, understandably, desperately seeking answers to how such needless deaths can be prevented. But the Queensland Liberal National Party and the Queensland Police Service have successfully used the community anger and grief associated with the recent tragic road incidents to once again push their antiquated ideas on to the government.”

Opinion

Paul Bongiorno
Morrison in survival mode

“Craig Kelly’s fulsome praise of Scott Morrison as Kelly quit the Liberal Party this week was akin to the Mafia sending roses to its next victim. Kelly said he sincerely hoped Morrison would ‘go on to be one of Australia’s greatest and longest-serving prime ministers’. Make no mistake, though, the departure to the crossbench of the outspoken salesman of Covid-19 snake oil remedies is a sickening blow to the Morrison government’s stability and authority.”

Diary

Gadfly
Kelly rocks the boat then jumps ship

Sami Shah Prime Minister Scott Morrison has a complicated relationship with boats. We all know he loves stopping them. He even has a trophy on his desk shaped like a boat with “I stopped these” written on it, lest he ever forgets how much he loves stopping boats. But he also likes making boats go faster, it seems. Once the boat is moving, if he hasn’t stopped it already, he hates things that slow down the boat. Or at least that’s the impression hydroxychloroquine spokesperson Craig Kelly got, as evidenced in his resignation letter handed to the PM this week, which read, “Some of my conduct over recent months has not helped the boat go faster.”

 

Letters, Cartoon & Editorial

Cartoon

Read

Editorial
Denial enables abuse

The prime minister says he didn’t know that Brittany Higgins had accused a colleague of sexually assaulting her. He says he didn’t know until February 15 this year, three days after a media inquiry came into his office. But he knows now. This is the moment when a leader would stand up, take responsibility and then face the questions that need to be answered. Instead Scott Morrison’s only concern, it seems, is to avoid at all costs any of this sticking to him.

Letters

Other daughters

As Dhanya Mani speculated that the reaction to her allegation of rape was conditioned by the fact that she is a woman of colour, I wondered whether the paternal concern of the prime minister towards Brittany Higgins …

Men have to make changes

In her story on sexual abuse in the country’s parliaments, Dhanya Mani writes that in media interviews in the past week she’s “been repeatedly asked why this happened to us” and …

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Culture

Books

Jenny Erpenbeck
Not a Novel

Melissa Broder
Milk Fed

Gary Lonesborough
The Boy from the Mish

Life

Food

Summer tarts

Annie Smithers

Travel

A haircut in Marrakech

Andy Hazel For a visitor to Marrakech, one good trick deserves another, but the lesson learnt when dealing with the locals is sometimes it pays to walk away – especially when scissors are involved.

Sport

Athletes and mental health

Daniel Herborn Where once elite athletes were encouraged to show no chinks in their armour, today’s sporting heroes are keen to share their vulnerabilities in the hope of reducing the stigma surrounding mental health challenges.

Puzzles

The Cryptic

Crossword No. 338

The Quiz

1. Which band links the songs “History Never Repeats”, “I See Red” and “I Got You”?
2. True or false: There are more chickens in the world than any other bird species?
3. What is the arboreal setting for a series of books by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton?
4. The Queen Anne style of furniture dates from which century?
5. Nitmiluk National Park is in which Australian state or territory?
6. Which NFL team won Super Bowl LV this month? (Bonus point for naming the veteran MVP.)
7. Ten years ago, at the 83rd Academy Awards, which film from British–Australian director Tom Hooper won the Best Picture gong?
8. Which Chinese soldier and statesman died in Taiwan in 1975?
9. In which city is the opera Carmen set?
10. Which Covid-19 vaccine is being administered first in Australia: Pfizer/BioNTech or AstraZeneca?

Click through for answers.

Quotes

Snitch

“If they don’t have a valid reason, they will be breached.”

Michaelia CashThe Employment minister announces a new tips line for employers to report if jobseekers refuse an offer of employment. Cash hasn’t confirmed whether the line can also be used to call in tips to the media about police raids on the Australian Workers’ Union.

Competition

“A beautiful beacon on the hill for all Australians to look towards.”

Josephine SukkarThe Australian Sports Commission chair outlines the inspirational value of a successful Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games bid for 2032. It would appear that she’s never been to Brisbane.

Reputation

“Rowan Dean picking a fight with Sam Neill is like food poisoning demanding a popularity contest against Santa.”

Van BadhamThe columnist wades into a stoush launched by the Sky News host, who claimed a documentary hosted by the actor failed to fact-check historian Bruce Pascoe. Unfortunately Dean didn’t fact-check his own claim it was an ABC doco when in fact it aired on Foxtel.

Pragmatism

“I have to be real with the people of Western Australia, and they are telling me that they expect Mark McGowan will still be premier.”

Zak KirkupThe WA Liberal leader effectively concedes defeat to the incumbent Labor government, two weeks out from the state election. Anyone surprised by Kirkup setting expectations deliberately low has clearly not met many millennial men.

J’accuse

“I wasn’t provided with the ‘she said/he said’ details of the allegation.”

Peter DuttonThe Home Affairs minister confirms the Federal Police informed him of Brittany Higgins’ allegations of sexual assault days before the prime minister was told. Devaluing human suffering, as only a Queensland police officer could.

Safety

“Now we have two elderly people that could be anyone’s mother or father, or aunt or uncle, that are now in hospital.”

Annastacia PalaszczukThe Queensland premier emphasises her disdain over the Covid-19 vaccine bungle. Luckily Craig Kelly’s page is still up on Facebook, ready to give concerned Australians all the news they could want about unproven alternatives to the vaccine.