May 28 – June 3, 2022  |  No. 401

May 28 – June 3, 2022

Penny Wong (left), Anthony Albanese (centre) and Richard Marles (right) after being sworn in at Government House, Canberra, this week.

News

Week one: Albanese seeks to build Hawke-like consensus

Karen Middleton Anthony Albanese’s first phone calls as prime minister reveal a man keen to rebuild the parliament and implement an ambitious agenda.

News

Image for article: Coalition loss: ‘The transphobe thing was an absolute disaster’

News

Coalition loss: ‘The transphobe thing was an absolute disaster’

Rick Morton Interviews with more than a dozen senior Liberals show how Scott Morrison’s belief in his own ‘genius’ and self-image as a ‘master strategist’ cost the party government.

Image for article: Claims Coalition colluded in election day boat arrival

News

Claims Coalition colluded in election day boat arrival

Karen Middleton The timing of a report that an asylum-seeker boat had been intercepted on its way to Australia has led to claims of manipulation and concerns over the Coalition’s links to the Sri Lankan government.

Image for article: Labor urged to act to prevent Julian Assange extradition

News

Labor urged to act to prevent Julian Assange extradition

Amy Fallon With a final decision on Julian Assange’s extradition to the US due in coming days, the fate of the WikiLeaks founder could be largely in the hands of Australia’s new prime minister.

Image for article: Adam Bandt on how the Greens triumphed

News

Adam Bandt on how the Greens triumphed

Mike Seccombe

Following unprecedented success in the house and the senate, Adam Bandt explains how the Greens orchestrated their strongest result with a campaign that stretched from doorknocking and community gardens to Grindr and ‘the chaos of the internet’.
Image for article: Albanese pledges climate action at Quad summit

World

Albanese pledges climate action at Quad summit

Jonathan Pearlman New government ponders China relationship. Penny Wong’s message to Pacific Islands. Labor signals a pivot to South-East Asia.

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Opinion

Opinion

Simon Holmes à Court
Lessons from the teal seats

“The phrase was coined by a volunteer for Sophie Scamps in Mackellar, but it was just as fitting in Kooyong or Goldstein or anywhere else that people were experiencing the optimism and satisfaction of engaging for the first time in a political campaign. The phrase was ‘active hope’.”

Opinion

Paul Bongiorno
Labor’s Quad workout

“There has been an earthquake in Australian parliamentary democracy, which has checked the dominance of the two major parties and demonstrated two-thirds of the country were hungry for change.”

Opinion

John Hewson
How the media failed this election

“After such a decisive election outcome, soul-searching about what happened and why is only natural. One of the most conspicuous failures in the campaign was the role played by the media – they certainly tried to undermine our democracy.”

Letters, Cartoon & Editorial

Cartoon

ReadCartoon image, links to full cartoon page

Editorial
On-water martyrs

In one of the first decisions of the new government, the then acting prime minister, Richard Marles, instructed Border Force to continue with the return of a boat of asylum seekers trying to reach Australia from Sri Lanka. He intended this as a lesson.

Letters

The most urgent reform

Kevin Rudd (May 21-27) asks of Labor, “What happens if you win?” Rhetorically he provides five challenges for Labor across foreign and domestic policy but closes with the need for media reform and …

An addition to Rudd’s list

Kevin Rudd asked “What happens if you win?” Well, Labor did win and we have to see soon what the new government decides to do. Rudd’s article includes the following five beneficial …

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Culture

Books

Image for article: Indelible City: Dispossession and Defiance in Hong Kong

Louisa Lim
Indelible City: Dispossession and Defiance in Hong Kong

Image for article: Time Is a Mother

Ocean Vuong
Time Is a Mother

Image for article: My Heart Is a Little Wild Thing

Nigel Featherstone
My Heart Is a Little Wild Thing

Life

Image for article: Apple fritole with calvados crème anglaise

Food

Apple fritole with calvados crème anglaise

O Tama Carey

Image for article: A bonfire of the piano keys

Festival

A bonfire of the piano keys

David Sornig

David Sornig’s piano will be engulfed in flames next month as part of RISING's “Piano Burning”, in a performance resonant with both personal and historical significance.
Image for article: Going home to Biloela

Life

Going home to Biloela

Rebekah Holt For the Nadesalingam family, trapped in community detention in Perth, the election result has provided hope that they can return to their rural Queensland home.

Sport

Skye Nicolson on boxing and resilience

Martin McKenzie-Murray Boxer Skye Nicolson began life knowing the world can be cruel, but every personal and professional blow has helped shape her into the resilient and determined person she is today.

Image for article: Skye Nicolson on boxing and resilience

Puzzles

The Cryptic

link to this week\'s crossword

Crossword No. 401

The Quiz

1. In 1967, the world’s first human-to-human heart transplant was performed in which country? (Bonus point for naming the surgeon who led the transplant team.)
2. Vexillology is the study of: (a) flags; (b) coins; or (c) stamps?
3. What name is given to the coloured part of the eye?
4. Slouch, cloche and boater are all types of what?
5. The headquarters of the European Union are in which national capital?
6. Fugu is a Japanese term for what type of fish?
7. Bob Hawke served as Australia’s 23rd prime minister. What number is Anthony Albanese?
8. Archibald Prize-winning artist Adam Douglas Hill is better known by what name?
9. Which soccer team recently won the 2022 women’s FA Cup final, with Australian Sam Kerr scoring two goals?
10. Which writer–director links the films The French Dispatch, The Grand Budapest Hotel and The Royal Tenenbaums?

Click through for answers.

Quotes

Media

“Welcome to the first meeting of the new resistance.”

Paul MurrayThe Sky News host emotionally declares himself a rebel leader following Scott Morrison’s defeat. His show has always felt like an impotence commercial and now it’s stopped pretending to be anything else.

Succession

“He doesn’t seem to listen. He’s extremely conservative. I actually don’t think he’s that smart.”

Mark McGowanThe West Australian premier offers his view of Peter Dutton, who is favoured to become the next federal opposition leader. Party officials are busy fitting the member for Dickson with eyelashes and working out what to do with his tail.

Bigotry

“Full disclosure: in real life, of course, I support trans rights.”

Ricky GervaisThe comic opens his Netflix special with a string of slurs against trans women. A man who laboured for years under the misapprehension that he invented atheism is now as one with the Catholic Church.

Parties

“There was excessive alcohol consumption … One individual was sick.”

Sue GreyThe senior British civil servant releases her final report into lockdown parties at 10 Downing Street. Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he takes “full responsibility”, which presumably means sending money on birthdays and seeking an injunction to deny paternity.

Colleagues

“Josh, I can’t just call a friend – I can refer to him as a brother. Josh and I have a deep and abiding friendship.”

Scott MorrisonThe former prime minister acknowledges his defeated treasurer during a concession speech. Only family would talk that much about trans athletes at lunch.

Guns

“This isn’t inevitable. These kids weren’t ‘unlucky’. This only happens in this country, and nowhere else.”

Chris MurphyThe Democrat demands gun reform on the floor of the United States senate, a day after his country’s second deadliest school shooting. No joke for this one, only sadness.