Teething on the 2016 election campaign trail
“The government remains committed to some $13 billion of cuts proposed in the 2014 budget, but that were blocked in the senate. They are things that would have affected people on low incomes, like reductions to family payments, that would increase child poverty.”
In any ordinary circumstances, Malcolm Turnbull would be out selling last week’s budget. Instead, he’s on the hustings, largely ignoring it.
News
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Seeking justice in the Bowraville slain children case
Police racism and legal flaws stymied the investigation into the murders of three Indigenous children in Bowraville. Finally, 25 years later, a conviction is possible.
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Libs plan preference deals with Greens to wedge Labor
By masterminding a preference strategy favouring the Greens in five key seats, the Coalition aims to divide and rule the progressive side of politics.
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The bureaucratic threat to endangered species
“For many of the most poorly known and most restricted species, there’s simply not enough knowledge to satisfy the onus for listing.”
With taxonomists themselves a threatened species, endangered fauna risks going unnoticed and unlisted for protection – particularly if it isn’t cute and furry.
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Indonesian crackdown on West Papuan independence protest
The harassment, beating and jailing of independence protesters by Indonesian authorities in Papua continues, while Australia turns a blind eye.
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Rodrigo Duterte election amid South China Sea volatility
Tense times over nuclear deterrence; Hong Kong closing ranks on financial transparency; Kalashnikov to have a clothing line.
Opinion
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Brigid Delaney
Why our public lives need privacy protections
“For many of us, this type of privacy – ridding the internet of yourself – is out of reach. We need this public part of the internet – or feel as if we need it. The true elites do not need the internet. The true expression of elitism is privacy.”
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Paul Bongiorno
Labor’s hopes to win back ’Q&A vote’
“It is 85 years since a first-term government was thrown out. But Victoria and Queensland state elections show that voters are more interested in performance than in precedent. ”
Letters, Poem & Editorial
Culture
Rake actor Richard Roxburgh’s adult themes
While there might once have been similarities between Rake's Richard Roxburgh and his dissolute character Cleaver Greene, family has grounded the actor.
Fear and compromise in ‘Bastille Day’
In trying to be everything to everyone, the emasculated thriller Bastille Day typifies the fearful filmmaking of our time.
Food
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Steamed Chinese sponge cake with custard
A dessert designed for comfort, with just a hint of spice.
Life
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With one friend dead after setting himself alight, a teenage Iranian held on Nauru has all but lost hope of starting a new life in Australia.
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An app offering an in-house butler service is the latest business promising more free time. But is time really the problem?
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Taking stock: Dakota Brandenburg, 20, bull rider
Professional bull rider Dakota Brandenburg on her love for the beasts beneath.
Books
The Quiz
1. Which US states border Alaska?
2. Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu is traditionally credited as the author of The Art of …?
3. Would you play, eat or wear a hurdy-gurdy?
4. Which book of the New Testament directly follows the Gospels? (Bonus points for naming the Gospels.)
5. Name the soccer team that defied the odds to win this year’s English Premier League?
6. Chiefly used in the United States, the term “sophomore” refers to students undergoing what year of a course?
7. Pecorino cheese is traditionally made using the milk of which animal?
8. Which British author wrote The Woodlanders, The Return of the Native and Jude the Obscure?
9. Rachel Bloom is the co-creator and star of which television dark comedy?
10. What is the chemical symbol for chlorine?
Quotes
IMMIGRATION
“Mr Shorten now has … to come out and condemn the comments of these seven backbenchers and members of the Labor Party who are obviously opposed to the Labor Party policy.”
The immigration minister challenges the Labor leader to condemn the seven party members who were found to have a trace of decency on the issue of asylum.
CHALLENGES
“I am making a stand against the faceless men and women in the Liberal party who pervert the process.”
The former Liberal says he will run as an independent to stare down secrecy and misprocess. This is the same Dennis Jensen who wrote a book under a pseudonym, used office letterhead to lobby a literary agent, and then got upset when all this was reported.
GUNS
“What I’ve decided to do is not cower. I’m a free American, I can do what I want with my possessions.”
The man who shot Trayvon Martin announces he will sell the firearm he used. America decided he was free to do what he wants with his guns, including kill innocent black men.
ANIMALS
“I had the local Landcare group in my office with long maps ... and we were discussing how we were going to rehabilitate the river.”
The member for Lindsay hits back at suggestions she was disloyal during the leadership ballot, explaining she was in a carp eradication meeting when Abbott was challenged. The carp got herpes; the Liberals got Turnbull.
LAWS
“It will prevent the undeserved trashing of reputations and will still permit a proper focus ... [without] the temptation for flamboyance and theatre.”
The NSW government’s independent inspector recommends ICAC cease holding public hearings. Transparency is distracting in clothes and the law.
DETENTION
“He was receiving ongoing treatment in hospital, but died early today after a series of cardiac arrests.”
The department of immigration confirms on Wednesday that another refugee has died on Nauru. He was 26.
