Brandis ties NGO funding to non-advocacy
The Abbott government is using money and law to close down criticism and gag the community’s most trusted voices.
News
Read
Adelaide child asylum seekers on the run
Fifteen children fled community detention during a ministerial review. A month later, they are still missing.
Read
Security council ties that bind
The pragmatic approach and active diplomacy of Australia’s UN ambassador are paying huge dividends in the wake of MH17.
Read
How Section 19A stigmatises HIV/AIDS in murder law
“In the early ’90s we were terrified of “syringe bandits” – fiends wielding blood infected with HIV. ”
International AIDS Conference delegates were surprised by a Victorian government announcement to amend a law targeting murder by infection.
Read
Life after debt with payday lending
“It was a very faceless transaction. Being able to do everything online, that was the deciding factor … They gave me enough rope to hang myself.”
In the booming payday lending sector, dubious new tactics are hooking the poor and the desperate.
Read
Yudhoyono flexes muscles one last time
Bishop's UN move an adroit gambit; Hanoi ponders oil rig removal tactics; North Korea airs China frustration.
Opinion
Read
Tony Windsor
Why Hockey’s budget rhetoric doesn’t stick
“Kicking to death a few aged-care workers on $16 to $20 an hour is hardly the stuff of major reform.”
Read
James Brown
MH17 and our place in the world
“The image of Australian bodies loaded into an industrial train in Eastern Europe forces us to confront questions about what kind of power we want to be.”
Letters, Cartoon & Editorial
Culture
Poet Jang Jin-sung’s secrets and lines
As a beloved propagandist of North Korea’s dictatorship, poet Jang Jin-sung lived to serve his leader. Then the bubble burst.
Missing Bisley takes shine off MTC’s Glengarry Glen Ross
Mamet’s monster of a play is given a mousy rendition, save for its star.
Up close and personal with A.M. Homes
American writer A.M. Homes on family, awakenings and human behaviour.
Food
Life
Read
Climbing with tigers at Bhutan’s Taktshang Goemba
Perched above the forests of Bhutan, the Tiger’s Nest Monastery offers determined tourists the chance to ascend to a higher spiritual plane.
Read
Are Soylent’s square meals a bit hard to swallow?
A Silicon Valley company claims it can solve world hunger and obesity with just an oily thickshake.
Books
The Quiz
1. In which city did this year’s Tour de France begin?
2. Which actress links the films Mean Girls, The Family Stone and State of Play?
3. The liqueur Kirsch has the flavour of which fruit? (Bonus points for naming the flavour of Chambord, Kahlúa, Cointreau and Frangelico.)
4. Gout is a type of arthritis characterised by high levels of what in the blood?
5. Name the highest city in Australia.
6. What is the name given to a style of Japanese comic books and graphic novels, aimed at adults as well as children, and featuring highly stylised art?
7. What was the other occupation of writer and Sherlock Holmes creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle?
8. What is the codename given to the police investigation into sexual offences by British media personality Jimmy Savile and others?
9. Zaha Hadid is well known for her work in which field?
10. Beleaguered Espirito Santo Bank is which nation’s second-largest lender?
Quotes
POLITICS
“They must have heaps of cash and they’ve got to have a package between their legs, let’s be honest.”
The Tasmanian senator explains her perfect man, who helpfully calls into the breakfast radio show where she is talking and offers that he is hung “like a donkey”.
MEDICINE
“Med Board carries out dirty little midnight political de-registration.”
The euthanasia advocate (nee doctor) marks his suspension by the Medical Board of Australia over his involvement in the suicide of a 45-year-old who was not terminally ill. The board believes he “presents a serious risk to public health and safety”.
CRIME
“You are a disgraceful person to even mention that of someone who is dead. God rest his soul.”
At yet another underworld inquest, Carl Williams’ widow responds poorly to the suggestion her crime boss husband was a “disgraceful and despicable” person.
DETENTION
“Approximately three hours outside during the day in natural light for meals.”
A document filed in the High Court explains the conditions in which 157 asylum seekers are being detained on a Customs hulk at sea.
ROYALS
“Prince George was very lively and very sure of himself and confident – a very determined young boy.”
The photographer who took the first public pictures of Prince “Boy” George walking on his first birthday explains the stoicism of our future ruler.
SPORT
“I never thought I’d be able to stand in the Celtic Board Room in front of the trophy case... with no pants.”
The tuneful leather good muses backstage at the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony, held at his favourite football club’s stadium. Photographic evidence of his pantlessness was duly released.
