Transfield’s $1.1b offshore processing contract farce
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
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‘Lone wolf’ terrorists and community policing
So-called lone wolf attacks make policing terrorism ever more fraught, but recent heroism on a multicultural suburban street shows the community standing together.
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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.”
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.
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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.”
As a recent Queensland case shows, sexual assault complainants are often further traumatised by brutal questioning in court, made worse by enduring rape myths.
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Chris Richardson on how we’re unprepared for the next recession
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.
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Australia to work with Russia in Syria
US buzzes Korea; Cosying up to Brits; Clinton’s ill tidings; Russia’s Trump card
Opinion
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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. ”
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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.”
An insider’s outside view
A new podcast from Schwartz Media
Join Richard Denniss, The Australia Institute’s chief economist, as he tackles Australia’s most important political and economic issues in a new weekly podcast.
Find The Lucky Country on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts.
Letters & Editorial
Culture
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Journalist Prue Clarke and New Narratives
Prue Clarke grew up in rural NSW knowing her calling was to expose injustice. Now the award-winning international journalist has taken her fight to the nations of Africa.
Food
Life
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Spell and the Gypsy Collective
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.
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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.
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Staying strong: Gearoid Towey, 39, rower
World champion rower Gearoid Towey on the challenges facing elite athletes when they retire.
Books
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?
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.”
The 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.”
The 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.”
Hillary 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.”
The 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.”
The 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.”
The 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.
