The taxpayer’s billions spent on government advertising
“ I thought we had stopped the boats. So why do we need to spend $6 million to persuade people not to get on the boats?”
The government’s $70m budget for border protection propaganda is the latest in a long line of taxpayer-funded “messaging” exercises.
News
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Australia’s Indigenous youth suicide crisis
“The chairman of the Prime Minister’s Indigenous Advisory Council, Warren Mundine, says the policy is a failure. ‘We’ve got to sit down with Indigenous leaders on the ground and say, “How do we deal with this?” ’ ”
The death last month of a 10-year-old Indigenous girl in a remote WA community intensifies the need for a clearer approach to suicide prevention.
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Jacques Stella masterpiece discovered in Melbourne
A Baroque painting by a French master has hidden in plain sight for more than 160 years, in Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral.
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Cutting the climbing chains at Uluru
Despite the cutting of safety chains and the ongoing protests of traditional landowners, tourists continue to climb Uluru. Now the call has gone out to Malcolm Turnbull to enforce respect of the rock.
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Family violence royal commission finds patterns of failure
“It was an insidious creep of abuse. So slow that I just thought it was a normal part of a relationship.”
In its report, the Royal Commission into Family Violence, having heard myriad stories of institutional failure, calls for systemic change, from funding arrangements to intervention responses and rehabilitation.
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Pakistan army ploys come back to haunt
Syria conundrum; HK publishers brought to book; Fishy business in South China Sea; GOP gunning for an Ohio showdown
Opinion
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Rob Oakeshott
The case for a bipartisan accord on reform
“There is nothing stopping Turnbull and Shorten from meeting pre-election and agreeing to work together on a list of issues to be brought to parliament, regardless of who wins. ”
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Paul Bongiorno
Malcolm Turnbull’s tax reform plan a work in progress
“Curiously, Scott Morrison says ‘you can’t tax your way to surplus’. Tell that to Peter Costello. The revenue that gave him his surpluses was just that: revenue. ”
Letters, Poem & Editorial
Culture
‘The High Places’ author Fiona McFarlane settles in
“Literary nomad” author Fiona McFarlane now seeks solitudes and inspiration back home.
Summer Flake’s ‘Hello Friends’
Summer Flake’s Stephanie Crase has made good on all the promises of her first album with a sound that is pensive and intricate.
Carolyn Burns and Simon Phillips
A seat side stage with theatre production pair Carolyn Burns and Simon Phillips.
Food
Life
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Memories fade but linger in Andijan, Uzbekistan
Conspicuous construction cannot erase the troubled history of Andijan, nor suppress the soul of old Uzbekistan.
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The Wanderer: Dario Vidošić, 28, soccer player
Western Sydney Wanderers marquee player Dario Vidošić on the privileges of playing all over the world.
Books
The Quiz
1. What is the world’s biggest island that is not a continent?
2. What starting with “c” is the name of a V-shaped line or stripe, especially one indicating rank on the sleeve of a uniform?
3. Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz was born in which country?
4. Which French journalist and revolutionary was assassinated in his bath by Charlotte Corday?
5. What colour are the stars on the Chinese flag?
6. On what date will the 2016 Australian budget be presented?
7. American virologist Dr Jonas Salk developed a vaccine to prevent which infectious disease? (Bonus point for naming the decade in which the discovery was made.)
8. True or false: 2 is a prime number.
9. Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne founded which tech company?
10. Which team’s cars finished first and second in the 2016 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix?
Quotes
DELUSION
“Unlike France or Britain, we lack a colonial past to complicate the present.”
The former prime minister writes an essay for Quadrant on the merits of the former prime minister. Publishing in Quadrant is the very last check a person can make of their relevance, like holding a mirror to the mouth of a corpse to test for breath.
LEISURE
“I wasn’t going to call him off, like, ‘That’s my wave!’ You can’t do that to an ex-prime minister.”
The 17-year-old surfer forgives Tony Abbott for dropping in on her at Noosa. Let’s be honest: the Australian people wanted him to have that wave; it was the party room that took it off him.
SPORT
“In our sport that is called improvement of extreme range. Extreme range stops at four metres so she was well off the chart for improvement in a short space of time.”
The chief steward for the Stawell Gift criticises 15-year-old Talia Martin for running very fast to win it. She was fined and agreed to let Tony Abbott beat her in a future race.
LITERATURE
“Yasmine didn’t believe in wearing bras; in fact, she really didn’t need to wear them as her breasts were still as firm as they had been in her late teens.”
The Liberal MP pens an abandoned novel imagining a war between Australia and Indonesia. The sex scenes are still only half as weird as his views on climate change.
POLITICS
“Here I remind you that persuasion is not the only talent you want in a president. But on this one dimension, Trump is in a league of his own.”
The creator of Dilbert predicts Donald Trump will win the US presidency. His expertise here are a life spent drawing two-dimensional characters and the fact the world made more sense to him in the late 1980s.
MUSIC
“I used to love Kanye.”
The musician continues his free-form appraisal of the self. Soon after, he said: “We still love Kanye” and “I love you like Kanye loves Kanye”.
