Plotting Tony Abbott’s Year of the White-ant
“At every turn Abbott and his loyalists resisted policy change, while also continuing to point out that little was changing. ”
Despite promising there would be no sniping or wrecking, Tony Abbott’s year has been a litany of episodes that undermine his successor.
News
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The next wrecking of Great Keppel Island
“I do not believe it is possible to place some thousands of people on the environmentally sensitive and very beautiful Great Keppel Island without destroying the island and all it has to offer.”
A plan to build a major casino resort on the Great Barrier Reef is a boon for tourism but has left Indigenous owners complaining they were never consulted.
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Remembering Between a Wolf and a Dog author Georgia Blain
A fellow author remembers her friend Georgia Blain, the most unflinching and honest of writers.
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Peace more polarised as terror takes reins
Unholy conflict; China warning shot; Ahok judgement; Euro loses currency
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Investigation into the cause of Scott Johnson’s death, now in its third inquiry, led NSW police into a re-evaluation of 88 other cases, to consider how many might have been gay-hate killings.
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“Trump will be inaugurated in a few weeks. The European Union falters. Inequality rises. Freelance terrorism continues. The close of 2016 might be time for Western liberals to reconsider their priorities.”
In a year of extraordinary upsets, an unlikely candidate triumphed, detention remained a scourge and the world lost a wealth of talents.
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“I don’t feel like a normal human being because I don’t have any power, because I feel like I can’t ever say something and have people listen to me.”
Photojournalist Ashley Gilbertson spent a week on Manus Island photographing the asylum seekers detained there. These are the stories they told.
Opinion
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Ben Quilty
Racism, the death penalty and Myuran Sukumaran
“He made his mistakes, he told me. Simple. He blamed no one else for his crimes. Against unimaginable odds, Myu had become a good man. ”
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Paul Bongiorno
Scott Morrison’s ‘zombie’ budget cuts
“The numbers are in fact worse than when Morrison and the Liberals in opposition railed against “debt and deficit disasters” and a “budget emergency”. ”
Letters, Cartoon & Editorial
Culture
Heather Lawson and Michelle Stevens’ ‘Imagined Touch’
Heather Lawson and Michelle Stevens are deafblind performers whose work allows audiences to experience the world via touch, guided through darkness and silence.
Damien Chazelle’s ‘La La Land’
Whiplash director Damien Chazelle has sought to deliver a classic Hollywood musical, but La La Land fails to spark.
Food
Life
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Summer may not be the most agreeable season to toil in the garden, but a little bit of labour now can bring good results down the track.
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Love for sail: Vanessa Dudley, 58, sailor
Sydney to Hobart yachtie Vanessa Dudley on her passion for the high seas.
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The winner of the inaugural Horne Prize, awarded to an essay on Australian life, is Anna Spargo-Ryan, for her personal story of living with the inheritance of mental illness.
Books
The Quiz
1. Which two South Africans shared the 1993 Nobel peace prize?
2. Which French actress stars with Brad Pitt in the World War II film Allied?
3. What colour is the gemstone peridot?
4. Which male tennis player spent the fewest weeks ranked as world No. 1?
5. Tiger Airways Australia is a fully owned subsidiary of which airline?
6. Which town is closer to the New South Wales–Queensland border: (a) Lightning Ridge; (b) Goondiwindi; or (c) Bourke?
7. What was the scarecrow seeking in The Wizard of Oz?
8. Who is featured on the Australian $20 note?
9. Solid carbon dioxide is commonly called what?
10. Which artist’s single holds the record for the longest consecutive time on the ARIA top 100 chart.
11. Which Australian feminist wrote the book Fight Like a Girl?
12. Who was James Packer’s paternal grandfather?
13. The coastline of Ko Phi Phi Le belongs to which country?
14. Which part of the body is worst affected by tuberculosis?
15. In which year was the Treaty of Versailles signed?
16. Name any one of the three animated films nominated for a Best Picture Oscar.
17. Who was the last man legally executed in Australia?
18. With which sport do you associate Queensberry rules?
19. In which country is the city of Shiraz?
20. What is the name of the family in The Godfather?
21. Which singer was backed by The Heartbreakers?
22. Which cricketer holds the record as the most capped Test match player?
23. Which Canadian province name starts with M?
24. Which city will host the 2022 Commonwealth Games?
25. PVC is the abbreviation for what synthetic material?
26. Which British monarch fought in the Battle of Agincourt?
27. Which nation’s name is an anagram of a city in north-western Tasmania?
28. Singer Norah Jones is the daughter of which Indian musician?
29. Which Formula 1 driver won this year’s world championship before announcing his retirement earlier this month?
30. In the nursery rhyme Cry Baby Bunting what has daddy gone to fetch?
31. What is the first metal on the periodic table?
32. From which port did RMS Titanic begin its ill-fated voyage?
33. Cobalamin is another name for which vitamin?
34. Macau was a territory of which country until sovereignty transferred to China in 1999?
35. Which country won its first Davis Cup this year?
36. The city of Sapporo is on which Japanese island?
37. Where in the body would you find the occipital bone?
38. What word beginning with ‘p’ describes a person who knows and is able to use several languages?
39. What nationality was surrealist artist René Magritte?
40. Which Australian tennis player was honoured with the Newcombe Medal this year?
