May 8 – 14, 2021  |  No. 348

Hugh White on China

News

News

Exclusive: Howard minister slams ban on India returnees

Karen Middleton Following the prime minister’s ban on Australian citizens returning from India, Fran Bailey has called the decision abhorrent and an indictment on the government.

News

Clive Palmer’s method of attack

Mike Seccombe Clive Palmer is running a multimillion-dollar campaign against the corporate regulator. The only question is: What does he hope to achieve?

News

Our Watch and respectful relationships

Kristine Ziwica Leaked documents show the Morrison government is actively undermining respectful relationships education and preventing expert materials from being taught.

News

McKinsey and the NDIA

“This is a story about how a company whose own associates call it ‘the Firm’ is slowly reshaping Australia’s welfare agencies. Those familiar with the Firm say its strategy of ‘corporate imperialism’ is deliberately subtle. Its reach is wide, powerful and, in Australia at least, gaining influence in the public service.”

Rick Morton While the government works to reform the disability insurance agency and restart robo-debt, management consultancy McKinsey has amassed significant influence.

News

Inquest into death of Wayne Fella Morrison

Royce Kurmelovs Five years after his death in custody, the inquest into how Wayne Fella Morrison died has been slowed by legal argument and a campaign to protect prison officers.

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World

Modi punished at polls after Covid-19 resurgence

Jonathan Pearlman Jacinda Ardern pledges to continue to denounce Chinese human rights abuses. German philosopher declines UAE book award. Why China’s population is shrinking.

Opinion

Opinion

James Boyce
Scott Morrison and Pentecostalism

“Commentators who have discounted the political significance of Morrison’s faith, because of his ambivalent commitment to narrowly defined ‘religious issues’, have been shown that the man himself does not do the same. Of course, there never can be a direct connection between the prime minister’s beliefs and government action. Public policy is always determined by a range of influences. Yet how a leader interprets the world and frames experience remains profoundly important.”

Opinion

Paul Bongiorno
PM budgeting on an election

“Next Tuesday the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, will up-end 40 years of Liberal Party ideology with a budget that will hugely increase spending and create deficits as far as the eye can see. The small government, ‘trickle down’ prescriptions championed by United States President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, and zealously advocated by Australia’s conservatives right up until March 2020, will be consigned to history.”

Diary

Gadfly
Currying favour

Sami Shah If there’s one thing our prime minister loves at the same level that he loves Pentecostal evangelism, it’s Indian food. In fact, I might even wager Scott Morrison loves a curry more than he loves Jesus, given how much more he talks about curries. Over the years, he’s found more uses for curry than MacGyver would have, from an image softener on LinkedIn to a metaphor for multiculturalism in a speech to the armed forces. The man’s never met a pinch of garam masala that he didn’t love.

Letters, Cartoon & Editorial

Cartoon

Read

Editorial
War games

All prime ministers are focused to some degree on being returned to office, but for Morrison it is everything. The time between polling days is a nowhere space to him. There are no great, animating policy issues; there is just winning. It is through this blinkeredness that we might understand Morrison’s approach to China.

Letters

Seeking solutions

Tim Flannery’s timely piece (“US carbon tariff offers opportunity for Australia”, May 1-7) describes the stupidity of the Morrison government’s pretence that it can somehow withstand the …

Carbon price supported

Tim Flannery is right. A carbon price that lets industries pick emission-reduction winners is far more efficient than the Morrison government’s approach, with too many lifelines to fossil fuels. The …

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Culture

Culture

Schubert’s nightingale

George Szirtes To mark the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s performances of Schubert’s ‘perfect’ quintet, British poet George Szirtes explores how the work generates meaning from disruption and mortality.

Theatre

Fun Home

Cassie Tongue The STC’s Australian premiere brings a sense of compassion to the musical adaptation of Alison Bechdel’s groundbreaking graphic novel Fun Home.

Architecture

Australian War Memorial

Naomi Stead The proposed redevelopment of the Australian War Memorial not only compromises Charles Bean’s original vision for a ‘simple, solemn, exquisite building’, it calls into question our processes of public governance.

Books

James Boyce (ed.)
Inga Clendinnen: Selected Writings

Rachel Cusk
Second Place

Scott Ludlam
Full Circle: a search for the world that comes next

Life

Food

Pistachio and raspberry mille-feuille

Annie Smithers

Life

Spain begins to open up

Robert Kidd With Spain about to end its official ‘state of alarm’ over Covid-19, an Australian resident of Valencia reflects on a year of the pandemic.

Sport

Shyla Heal looks to WNBA future

Daniel Herborn Point guard Shyla Heal, who started in the WNBL at 14 and has just become a top 10 WNBA pick for Chicago Sky, is ready to step up her game.

Puzzles

The Cryptic

Crossword No. 348

The Quiz

1. In which city is the historic Reichstag building?
2. Which AFL club had the most members for the 2020 season?
3. For which category did Youn Yuh-jung win an Academy Award last month?
4. In centimetres, what is closest to a hand measurement (used to measure horses): (a) 8.5 centimetres; (b) 9.1 centimetres; or (c) 10.2 centimetres?
5. Who was president of the United States from 1933-45?
6. What breed of dog was the international box-office success Rin Tin Tin?
7. Name the daughter of Michael Jackson, who released her debut album, Wilted, last November?
8. Heath Ledger’s 1999 teen romcom, 10 Things I Hate About You, was loosely based on which Shakespeare play?
9. What is the correct spelling of the New South Wales premier’s surname? (Bonus point for naming the former Soviet republic from which her parents emigrated.)
10. True or false: the Roland TR-808 is a make and model of motorcycle?

Click through for answers.

Quotes

Politics

“I’m saying to myself, ‘Wow, these people need to read my book.’ ”

George W. BushThe former United States president despairs at the state of the Republican Party. Once again, a man who was almost outwitted by a pretzel he was eating is the best thing the GOP has going.

Gender

“At the start of the meeting he made a concession that he was sorry for my feelings, but it was a qualified apology. It doesn’t really mean much.”

Brittany HigginsThe former Liberal staffer recounts her meeting with Scott Morrison. He is likely very sorry that she feels this way.

Court

“It is sufficient to observe at this point that he was an unreliable witness whose evidence was at times incredible.”

Anna KatzmannThe judge shares her opinion of Clive Palmer’s performance in court, in a ruling over copyright infringement. Palmer was quite chuffed she thought of him as “incredible”.

Feelings

“I am a very compassionate person by nature. I will never walk away from that. But compassion takes many different forms.”

Karen AndrewsThe new Home Affairs minister speaks on the possible future of the Murugappan family from Biloela, currently detained on Christmas Island. As is often observed, you can’t spell “compassionate” without also spelling “ass” – as in, “a foolish or stupid person”.

Fairness

“The publicity here was so pervasive and so prejudicial ... that it amounted to a structural defect in the proceedings.”

Eric NelsonThe attorney representing Derek Chauvin complains that the officer couldn’t get a fair trial for the murder of George Floyd. And to the degree that half the world has watched the video of his client ruthlessly killing an innocent man, that’s correct.

Crime

“I didn’t do it.”

Jarryd HayneThe former rugby league star is jailed for at least three years and eight months after raping a woman in 2018. He left a taxi running outside as he committed the crime – which, for added damages, hopefully he’ll also do while in jail.