The Saturday Paper

News

The police, the YouTube star and the Labor Party

“Here is a saga that has engulfed politics in New South Wales: a caustic internet personality with a messiah complex and half-a-million followers, at war with the Berejiklian government and the media, cosy with the former state Labor leader Jodi McKay and her team, being sued for defamation by Deputy Premier John Barilaro, and now the target of a police investigation.”

Rick Morton The arrest of a Friendlyjordies producer on an intimidation charge is the latest strange turn in the life of the Labor-aligned YouTube star.

News

Part One: Australia’s big spending on war machines

Karen Middleton Australia is undertaking an extraordinary military expansion, but there are questions about what is being bought and the skills of the people doing the buying. This is part one of a two-part series.

News

Roberts-Smith faces court

Janek Drevikovsky Taking the stand in his defamation case against Nine newspapers, former SAS soldier Ben Roberts-Smith says allegations he assaulted a girlfriend and committed war crimes have ‘ruined’ his life.

News

China and the G7

Michael Clarke The Group of Seven summit in Cornwall has restated America’s priorities with regards to China, but the shift is not necessarily in Australia’s interests.

News

Taxing big land deals

Mike Seccombe Dismayed by huge profits made on rezoned land, a Liberal MP is pushing for the federal government to tax windfall gains at 75 per cent.

News

The effects on women of cashless welfare

Jane Caro Trials of the cashless welfare card are effectively removing an escape path for women who are trying to flee violent and abusive relationships.

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7am is a daily news podcast from Schwartz Media. Every day it tells you what you need to know: who's involved, what it means and why it matters. It's news with narrative, every weekday. Follow 7am wherever you get your podcasts.

World

‘America is back’: Biden flexes muscles over China

Jonathan Pearlman Jacinda Ardern joins critics of the proposed film about Christchurch’s massacre. The International Criminal Court condemns Philippine state policy of attacking civilians in anti-drugs war. Naftali Bennett takes over as Israeli PM.

Opinion

Behrouz Boochani
The Murugappan family and immigration detention

“The decision to transfer one of the daughters of the Murugappan family to Perth Children’s Hospital sent shock waves across Australia and abroad. Growing public pressure forced the Australian government to release the whole family into Perth community detention.”

Opinion

Paul Bongiorno
Scott Morrison and QAnon

“The relationship between the Australian prime minister and the country’s highest-profile devotee of the QAnon conspiracy cult became even more problematic this week for the absent Scott Morrison. The Labor opposition seized on revelations in the much anticipated Four Corners program about Tim Stewart to claim serious questions of national security are involved. The Louise Milligan report showed a number of text messages where Stewart boasted of his access to the prime minister and his ability to influence him. ”

Diary

Gadfly
First they
came for Friendlyjordies…

Sami Shah

A test of one’s commitment to free speech isn’t fighting for the speech you like but the speech you don’t like. It is inevitable that censorship encroaches from the latter to the former. Never has that maxim been tested more, though, than in the case of Friendlyjordies v the State of New South Wales.

Letters, Cartoon & Editorial

Cartoon

Read

Editorial
Guilty of bravery

It is an absurd situation. Witness K has pleaded guilty for his role in exposing wrongdoing by the government. He is being sentenced over a crime Australia committed. In a little room in Canberra, behind black panels to conceal his identity, he spoke his first words in open court: “Guilty, your honour.”

Letters

A fair go for Murugappan family

Rebekah Holt does us a service in elaborating the plight of the Biloela family and the suffering of their young daughters (“Sick, trapped, scared: Priya speaks from Perth hospital”, June …

Stop the persecution

What an absolute disgrace by the federal government. The family who were dragged out of their life at Biloela provided more to that community in a short time than many who have lived there all their lives. …

Culture

Profile

Terri-ann White

Brooke Boland Terri-ann White’s long career has been marked by a certain wildness, but her latest project – starting a new publishing house in the midst of a pandemic – is probably the boldest.

Visual Art

Hilma af Klint

Miriam Cosic The visionary abstractions of Hilma af Klint – now on show in a luminous exhibition at the AGNSW – demand that the history of Modernism be rewritten.

Film

Martin Eden

Christos Tsiolkas Pietro Marcello’s intelligent film adaptation of Jack London’s classic novel Martin Eden investigates the impossible dilemmas faced by a working-class artist.

Theatre

Grand Horizons

Jason Blake The STC’s emotionally nuanced production of Bess Wohl’s Grand Horizons creates a warm evening of traditional boulevard theatre.

The Influence

Bri Lee

Maddee Clark Writer and academic Bri Lee talks about the influence of painter Eugene von Guérard on her work and outlook.

Fiction

Affect training

“For the last class they were asked to bring along a soft toy, but Monica didn’t have one at home. Judy had told them to find something that spoke to their “selves”. At the toyshop was a brown bear in a tutu and a large fluffy dog sitting on its haunches. There were dolls that stared and stared. The only one that appealed to Monica was a round purple ball with a stitched face that looked as though it was pressed against glass. It didn’t resemble any animal she knew. It fitted neatly into her torso when she held it and its strange multicoloured ponytails brushed her face. This creature, in its weirdness, spoke to her.”

Gretchen Shirm

Books

Deborah Levy
Real Estate

Michael Mohammed Ahmad
The Other Half of You

Marwa al-Sabouni
Building for Hope: Towards an Architecture of Belonging

Life

Food

Bee stings

Annie Smithers

Fashion

Keeping up with David Jones

Lucianne Tonti Australia’s biggest retailer has committed to supporting local fashion designers, as part of a reboot prompted by the global pandemic. But at the retail level, their actions are not matching their ideals.

Sport

Sprint champion Hana Basic

Linda Pearce Sprinter Hana Basic launched into the athletics spotlight in 2013 only to retreat again to live her ‘best life’. When Covid-19 put an end to travel and parties, Basic got back to work and has become Australia’s fastest woman.

Puzzles

The Cryptic

Crossword No. 354

The Quiz

1. Which Sigourney Weaver film was released first: Alien or Aliens?

2. Who has been deputy leader of the Australian Labor Party since May 2019?

3. In which war was the Battle of the Bulge fought?

4. Name the winger who scored twice on debut for New South Wales in the State of Origin series opener in Townsville last week. (Bonus point for naming the final score.)

5. In the imperial system of measures, how many inches are in a foot?

6. What is the full name of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s second child?

7. Which three US states have just four letters in their name?

8. What do Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes and Mary Jane Kelly have in common?

9. Which sauce contains butter: hollandaise or mayonnaise?

10. What does the acronym ATAGI stand for?

Click through for answers.

Quotes

Climate

“It pays for a lot of barista machines that produces the coffee that inner-city people sit and talk about the death of coal.”

Michael McCormackThe acting prime minister pushes back against the Group of Seven’s position on coalmines. Just to be clear: they’re not called “barista machines”.

Refugees

“It only encourages more to do it. And it says in big bright neon lights to those who do the right thing: ‘Suckers’.”

Amanda VanstoneThe former Immigration minister takes a brave stand against the Murugappan family. This is a family newspaper, so we can’t say what’s written on the neon sign attached to her.

Truth

“As a woman of faith, as a mother of baby Blake, as a person who meticulously prepared at some of the world’s hardest institutions, I never lied.”

Kayleigh McEnanyThe former press secretary for Donald Trump claims that her faith prevented her from ever lying in the role. There were definitely a million people at the rally.

Celebrations

“Yesterday was not my birthday.”

Pauline HansonAfter telling the senate she turned 67 on June 16, the One Nation leader acknowledges that her birthday was in fact last month. It’s possible what she’s said about the Family Court is also untrue.

Mining

“It’s a duty that my moral compass does not allow me to avoid.”

Clive PalmerThe mining magnate fights to overturn a Western Australian law that blocks a damages claim he has for $30 billion. He chose to represent himself, which is more than he did for the voters of Fairfax.

Vaccines

“Please do not wait. There could not be a simpler, clearer message.”

Greg HuntThe Health minister announces Pfizer will be the preferred coronavirus vaccine for anyone under the age of 60. He encouraged all people to rush the take-up of the program his government has been stalling.

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