News

Transfield’s $1.1b offshore processing contract farce

Karen Middleton A blistering audit of the offshore detention program reveals a system defined by untendered contracts and preferential deals raises billions of dollars’ worth of questions.

News

News

‘Lone wolf’ terrorists and community policing

Martin McKenzie-Murray So-called lone wolf attacks make policing terrorism ever more fraught, but recent heroism on a multicultural suburban street shows the community standing together.

News

Battlelines drawn on same-sex marriage plebiscite

“It’s dishonest and it’s misleading and it’s deliberate fearmongering. We see it with Safe Schools, we see it with surrogacy, we see it with transgender people and whether they are allowed to go to a public bathroom.”

Mike Seccombe In the face of consistent public support for same-sex marriage, the right is pushing the prime minister to delay, obfuscate and ultimately scupper reform.

News

Sexual assault victims and a flawed justice system

“Disproving a rape victim as a credible witness usually involves more than casting doubt on her story, often it becomes about casting doubt on her character.”

Jane Gilmore As a recent Queensland case shows, sexual assault complainants are often further traumatised by brutal questioning in court, made worse by enduring rape myths.

Opinion

Chris Richardson on how we’re unprepared for the next recession

Karen Middleton Chris Richardson, Partner at Deloitte Access Economics, explains how even when economic reports show Australia in good shape, people can feel as though things are getting worse.

World

Australia to work with Russia in Syria

Hamish McDonald US buzzes Korea; Cosying up to Brits; Clinton’s ill tidings; Russia’s Trump card

Opinion

Opinion

Paddy Manning
Malcolm Turnbull’s biographer turns on the PM

“Who could have predicted the gutlessness, vacuity and incompetence that this prime minister has delivered? Malcolm Turnbull was not meant to be a short-lived, bumbling, forgettable PM. ”

Opinion

Paul Bongiorno
Running repairs on the budget omnibus

“One of the most significant concessions was the dropping of the baby bonus. The $367 million payment was a condition of the Coalition agreement and a key promise of the Nationals.”

Diary

Gadfly
Eyebrow television

Richard Ackland Diarist-at-large Richard Ackland flies about the nation.

Letters, Cartoon & Editorial

Cartoon

Read

Editorial
Hanson cad

Letters

Swisse stands by products

We stand behind our products, business ethics and company culture and are proud of building an Australian success story and world leader in the development of scientifically validated products to maintain …

Real ways to improve health

Shortly after reading Martin McKenzie-Murray’s excellent report on Swisse using the ABC and celebrities to market its ineffective supplements, I listened to the Boyer Lectures, delivered by Sir …

Read More

Food

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Food

The flower and the glory

Andrew McConnell A sensational vegetarian salad – with just a hint of flower power.

Books

Steve Cannane
Fair Game

iO Tillett Wright
Darling Days

Madeleine O’Dea
The Phoenix Years

Life

Fashion

Spell and the Gypsy Collective

Alyx Gorman An escape from city pressures to Byron Bay provided the inspiration – and the perfect picturesque backdrop – for a savvy label deemed Australian Business of the Year.

Life

The toll of caring

Maggie MacKellar In an effort to repel the relentlessness of death, the author becomes a carer for broken, struggling animals, and a companion to her fading father.

Sport

Staying strong: Gearoid Towey, 39, rower

Richard Cooke World champion rower Gearoid Towey on the challenges facing elite athletes when they retire.

The Quiz

1. Who, according to The Beatles song “Eleanor Rigby”, was “writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear”? (Bonus point for naming the album on which the song appeared.)
2. Which Sydney Harbour beach shares its name with a Scottish residence of the British royal family?
3. Captain Wentworth and Anne Elliot are characters in which Jane Austen novel?
4. Name the German-Australian photographer killed in a 2004 car accident in Los Angeles?
5. In what year was the Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior bombed in Auckland Harbour?
6. What is the capital of Italy’s Veneto region?
7. Which 19-year-old swimmer won four gold medals and set two world records at the 2016 Rio Olympics?
8. Who plays a dreadlocked Ilderim in the latest film iteration of Ben-Hur?
9. Name the CEO of Facebook.
10. What, beginning with ‘p’, is a natural setting agent for jam?

Click through for answers.

Quotes

POLITICS

“Australia’s values and way of life are also at risk from insidious institutions such as the unelected swill that is the United Nations.”

Malcolm RobertsThe One Nation senator uses his maiden speech to call for an exit from the “unelected swill” of the United Nations. Roberts was elected to the crossbench with 77 first-preference personal votes, three fewer people than are blind copied on his major policy document, “Fwd: Fwd: Fwd: Re: Halal climate truth”.

ABUSE

“His attitude and the culture he fostered at the school were dismissive of allegations of child sexual abuse.”

reportThe Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse finds former Knox Grammar headmaster Ian Paterson covered up allegations of molestation and “failed to prioritise the welfare of the boys at Knox over the reputation of the school”.

AMERICA

“I have just examined her and she is now rehydrated and recovering nicely.”

Dr Lisa R. BardackHillary Clinton’s physician explains that pneumonia led to the presidential candidate’s departure from a September 11 memorial. Donald Trump’s doctor, by comparison, spent the better part of this week thatching his candidate’s hair.

CELEBRITY

“It’s great to come back and visit my grandparents, but there is no home connection.”

Iggy AzaleaThe Mullumbimby-raised rapper returns to Australia for a private gig, reportedly for Google staff, the only people who can be relied upon to quickly look up who she is.

IDENTITY

“Raising your children, paying off your home and providing for yourself in your retirement. They are a trifecta of Australian dreams that we believe in.”

Scott MorrisonThe treasurer explains the Australian dream. It is called a trifecta because as a gamble it is extremely unlikely. The Australian quinella is a better bet: crippling debt and stagnant wages, in no particular order.

SPORT

“I have never fixed a match in my life. Never. I have never bribed a player or even attempted to interfere with the result of an NRL match.”

Eddie HaysonThe gambling figure denies claims of match fixing. He did offer free sex to footballers, but only because he’s a good guy and he happened to own a brothel.