Pauline Hanson’s senate chances aided by voting reforms
“If the people vote correctly and put independents like myself [in]… we can actually be their insurance policy for good government. You will only get good government if you get good opposition.”
Aided by voting reforms and the quirks of a double-dissolution election, Pauline Hanson is in a seat-winning position for the first time in more than a decade.
News
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Inside the $100b charities bubble
“Generosity also declines as societies become less equal. Apparently when people are scrambling to keep up with the rich Joneses, they are less likely to see the need of others.”
The first reports on the charity sector reveal staggering duplication and a nation less willing to give than it likes to imagine.
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60 Minutes crew released in Beirut
A TV crew’s botched child recovery bid has left a trail of damaged reputations and questions of how far is too far in journalism.
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The Gallipoli lie and other tall tales from the front
The version of history presented each Anzac Day holds up those who fought as heroes. As the author ’s family can attest, the reality can be less flattering.
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Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs speaks out
In an Abbott government attack Gillian Triggs was very publicly upbraided in a senate estimates hearing last year. But despite the battering, the Human Rights Commission president has vowed to stay true to her cause.
Opinion
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Clem Bastow
Housing affordability and the irrelevant generational war
“Once the smoke of the false intergenerational spat clears, we’re still left with a policy mix that has engineered the current housing affordability issue.”
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Paul Bongiorno
Turnbull leaves nation in twilight zone before election call
“For the first time since Turnbull replaced Abbott, the government did not lead in a single poll … this election will be hard-fought trench warfare in the marginals.”
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Gadfly
Three characters in search of an author
Diarist-at-large Richard Ackland flies about the nation.
Letters, Poem & Editorial
Culture
Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes
Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes hobnobs with the wealthy and titled. His social status, however, wasn’t always so polished.
Food
Life
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As well as its important place in ancient Greek mythology and history, Kythera has an association with Australia going back a hundred years.
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All fired up: Ruan Sims, 34, rugby union/league player
Ruan Sims on the similarities between football and fighting fires.
Books
The Quiz
1. In which country is the opera Lucia di Lammermoor set?
2. In computer terminology, the abbreviation URL stands for…?
3. True or false: sugar is a carbohydrate.
4. What, starting with ‘l’, is the name of a maker of stringed instruments?
5. In Einstein’s equation E = mc², what does the ‘c’ stand for?
6. Myanmar was previously known by what name? (Bonus point for naming the decade in which the official name change occurred.)
7. What does a lepidopterist collect?
8. How many sixes did Don Bradman hit in his Test cricket career: (a) six; (b) 36; or (c) 106?
9. Which city in New Mexico is famous for its alleged links to UFOs?
10. What 2000-2007 television series featured Spy and The Boss star Melissa McCarthy?
Quotes
SCIENCE
“It doesn’t seem to me that the science is settled at all. But I’m not a scientist. I’m agnostic, really, on that.”
The attorney-general continues his rhetorical departure from reality on the subject of climate change, the right to be a bigot being a subset of the larger right to be wrong.
POLITICS
“I think it’s because they were born with a silver spoon up their rear end.”
The senator explains her poor working relationship with the Coalition. And with cutlery generally.
BIOSECURITY
“He looked like he was auditioning for The Godfather … It’s going off like a frog in a sock telling people that if you come into this nation and you don’t obey our laws, you’re in trouble.”
The deputy prime minister enthuses over the pro-quarantine video made by Johnny Depp and his wife, Amber Heard, after Heard escaped conviction for illegally importing two terriers. As a deterrent, the video was a poor second to Joyce’s initial plan, which centred around killing the dogs.
CAMPAIGNS
“I emphatically reject reports I pushed Cathy McGowan.”
The former member for Indi categorically denies pushing the current member for Indi. Nor did she call her names or write mean things about her in the bathrooms.
SEXUALITY
“A quick question to all my left wing friends out there… is it wrong for two homosexual men who are brothers to sleep with eachother?”
The NSW Liberal staffer uses Facebook as a “training ground” for arguments against marriage equality. In answer to his question, it’s quite wrong to spell it “eachother”.
COURT
“I bear in mind that in sentencing these two prisoners, I do not make them guinea pigs to bear the brunt of punishment for those who are not here and have not been prosecuted.”
The judge in the Reza Barati case sentences Joshua Kaluvia and Louie Efi to 10 years in prison for murdering the asylum seeker. They will both be out in three.
