Exclusive: Morrison set reef grant terms
“This is about the revenue windfall. The money can only be expensed in government if the money has left the government.”
The terms of Malcolm Turnbull’s $444 million Barrier Reef grant were set by Scott Morrison, who as treasurer insisted the money not go to a Commonwealth agency.
News
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Guthrie dismissal triggers chaos at the ABC
“The rest of the ABC board is still there. This is the group that backed Milne against Guthrie, even after she shared with them the evidence of his political interference. ”
As former managing director Michelle Guthrie considers legal action against the ABC, leaked details of Justin Milne’s conduct may aid her fight.
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The passing of the fifth anniversary of offshore detention on Manus has seen those incarcerated on the island sink further into mental despair and physical surrender.
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“In the wake of the Sydney University protests, Arndt has gone further than the regular culture war back and forth. This week, she set up a page on the website Change.org, naming five female students as the ‘key organisers of the protest’.”
Commentator Bettina Arndt is publicly petitioning to have Sydney University take action against five students who demonstrated outside a speech on her “Fake Rape Crisis Campus Tour”.
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Inquest on Wayne Fella Morrison
As an inquest into the death in custody of Wayne Fella Morrison continues, his family hopes for justice while the South Australian government cuts funding to key Aboriginal legal services.
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Trump’s Iran stance silences UN laughter
Russia upgrades air defences. UN warns of famine in Yemen. EU seeking sanctions on Poland.
Opinion
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Jane Caro
Enemies of public schooling
“It is the secular nature of public education that Morrison and his fellow conservative believers don’t like. It’s why conservative prime ministers from John Howard onwards have sneered at the lack of values in public schools. What they really mean is the lack of their particular brand of rigid Christian values. It’s the greatest strength of public education that they reject – inclusivity, the fundamental belief that there are as many ways to live a good life as there are people living lives.”
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Paul Bongiorno
Morrison raises the flag again
“The Scott Morrison version of the Liberal government continues to be one of relentless activity and half-baked ideas. Morrison’s hand-waving, an early feature of his prime ministership, became flag-waving during the week as he replanted the Union Jack on the shores of Botany Bay. The arrival of the First Fleet on January 26, 1788 was, the PM proclaimed, “the birthday of modern Australia”. He also raised the prospect of another national day to celebrate the first 60,000 years of the continent’s history. ”
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If ever there were a business riddled with log-rollers with access to the top levels of government, it is the aged “care” industry. And what fabulous credentials are on offer. Take The Guild, a name straight out of the Middle Ages, which represents eight of the biggest for-profit providers. The chief executive is Matthew Richter, who describes himself on LinkedIn as, “a dynamic results-oriented strategist … I operate not only as a leader, but also as an agent of change. I motivate and inspires [sic] a sense of purpose in those around me …”
Letters, Poem & Editorial
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The chaos at the ABC this week is not simply one of personalities. It is the result of five years of concerted interference by government, of public criticism and censure. Perhaps the Coalition did not direct former chairman Justin Milne to “shoot” ABC political editor Andrew Probyn or “get rid of” chief economics correspondent Emma Alberici. They didn’t need to.
Culture
Choreographer Liam Scarlett, a former dancer with the Royal Ballet whose Midsummer Night’s Dream will soon tour China, seems destined to join the ranks of the all-time greats. “With every premiere you sit back and watch it for what it is. You think I could tweak this or I could tweak that. But I was happy with it, it was such a relief when it was over but it’s probably the thing I’ve done which I felt most proud of.”
Bruce Beresford’s Ladies in Black is not just a homage to classical filmmaking and 1950s Sydney, it is also a window into the cultural richness brought by post-World War II refugees. If only it had pushed darker themes further.
“‘I was eight. At the end of the year they made this piece, and they were tying fabric and they were rolling this woman, and they were doing moves on the floor and they had bare feet – and it was one of those real classic moments of what have we got here? And he, the teacher, one night said, you can get up and join in. I remember taking off the tights and the ballet shoes and the feeling of the floor, and not rotating the feet, and going to parallel,’ she demonstrates this with her hands, and in fact, her hands are never still. ‘It was a distinct moment. I hate to be corny, but it was.’”
Life
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South Korea reacts to ‘Aim High in Creation!’
When an Australian filmmaker visited South Korea for the release of her controversial documentary film Aim High in Creation! – which she made in North Korea – she heard starkly different views on the future relationship of the two countries.
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Game changer: Michael Dickson, 22, American football player
He’s the Aussie sensation punting up a storm in the NFL. Here, Michael Dickson talks about his road from Australian rules to the Seattle Seahawks.
Books
The Quiz
1. Li Cunxin is renowned in which field of the arts?
2. Which British royal is currently fourth in line to the throne?
3. Queso is the Spanish word for what?
4. Where in the human body is the humerus bone?
5. Helsinki is the capital of which country? (Bonus points for naming which country’s capital city lies nearest to it and the name of that city.)
6. American Eli Whitney is best known for inventing what during the Industrial Revolution?
7. The name of which animal signifies a sharemarket in which prices are rising?
8. Activist Malala Yousafzai was born and raised in which country?
9. Which cricketer this month became the most successful fast bowler in Test history?
10. Who were named outstanding lead actress and actor in a drama series at the 2018 Emmy Awards?
Quotes
COMMEMORATION
“A few scars, a few mistakes, a few things you could have done better.”
The prime minister offers his take on the colonisation of Australia, which sounds less like violent frontier wars and more like an attempt to assemble Ikea furniture.
REGRET
“He’ll be having nightmares tonight.”
The Borroloola school council member explains why Indigenous envoy Tony Abbott was booted out of the Northern Territory community. In Abbott’s recurring nightmare, he wastes his prime years in politics stoking infighting and effecting little to no meaningful policy change. And then he wakes up and realises that’s exactly what happened.
ABC
“I think I do it to try to relax people.”
The former ABC chairman insists he only calls women “chicks” in a colloquial way, not in an “oh gosh, your shoulders are so tense” way.
AFL
“We’re in 2018, not in 1942.”
The AFLW star slams comments made by Mick Malthouse. The former Collingwood coach’s commitment to that moustache–soul patch combination would suggest he cares little what year it is.
OPINION
“This is a real danger of #MeToo. That people start making wild accusations, unproven accusations, they destroy people’s lives without due process.”
The commentator weighs in on the allegations levelled against United States Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, on The Drum, a show that highlights the real danger of letting people espouse their loosely formed opinions on subjects they know little about, five nights a week.
DIPLOMACY
“They were laughing with me.”
Blurring the line between optimism and delusion a little further, the US president insists his derided United Nations speech was actually warmly received by his fellow world leaders.
