Fresh documents in Morrison’s sacking
“The documents put a time line to the growing concern within government in 2005 and 2006 about the way Tourism Australia was handling these large contracts and about how the dismissal of its managing director was managed.”
New documents show the clearest picture yet of Scott Morrison’s dismissal at Tourism Australia, including scathing correspondence from Fran Bailey.
News
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George Pell’s days of reckoning
“Secrecy has long been the theme of the case against Pell, even before charges were laid.”
The two-day hearing of Cardinal George Pell’s appeal against child sexual assault convictions ended on Thursday. The most senior Catholic to be found guilty of child abuse now waits to see if he will be freed.
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“It’s now accepted by everyone that balancing China versus America is Australia’s biggest foreign policy challenge. You can sum it up in two sentences. We want to avoid offending China. We want to avoid offending the United States. And that’s getting ever harder.”
As Sino–American relations further fracture, Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s visit to the Solomon Islands exemplifies Australia’s commitment to strengthening Pacific bonds and pushing back against Chinese influence in the region.
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Man charged over Darwin shootings
After four people died and another was injured in a shooting spree on Tuesday, the close-knit population of Darwin is reckoning with the tragedy.
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Divisions over religious freedom
“The Ruddock report did two things. There’s a need to tweak exceptions in the Sex Discrimination Act, and we see the need to have a religious discrimination act. Turnbull wanted the tweaks, not the act. The Morrison wing wanted the act, not the tweaks.”
With the Coalition’s ‘miracle election’ and Israel Folau’s wrongful dismissal claim, religious freedom is back in the news. But resolution between progressives and conservatives on the matter remains unlikely.
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Remembering the Tiananmen massacre
Trump’s visit to Britain. Pacific stopover for Morrison. Bans on religious head coverings in Europe. The 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre.
Opinion
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Jane Caro and Lyndsay Connors
Flaws in Coalition’s schools funding
“The Coalition won the recent federal election at least in part on its reputation as the better economic manager. It claimed it could be trusted to take care of taxpayer dollars. But does this stand up to scrutiny? Frankly, not when it comes to the way the government funds our schools.”
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Paul Bongiorno
Morrison goes from royals to rate cuts to raids
“Scott Morrison and his treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, don’t intend to repeat the Keating government’s mistake of crab-walking away from their key pre-election promises, not that they made many. Frydenberg still trumpets the $100 billion promise over 10 years for infrastructure, but is just as adamant he won’t be bringing any of it forward. He says half of it will be spent during the next four years. The RBA governor is looking for more stimulus now. ”
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Gadfly
Morris dances to many tunes
Poor Gaven Morris, the man in charge of “news, analysis and investigations” at Your Aunty. No sooner was he having to bat away allegations he closed down a radio current affairs story about the loss-leading economics of Adani’s Carmichael coalmine than he had Constable Plod of the Australian Federal Police at his door, saying, “Ullo, ullo, ullo, wot’s going on here, then?” With a breathtakingly broad warrant, Plod was hunting for the sources connected to ABC stories published in 2017 about Australia’s clandestine special forces operations in Afghanistan.
Letters, Poem & Editorial
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baked redbrick,
in the darwin heat
dry palms whisper,
in the stifling breeze
bloke says
mate, we were sure it was fireworks
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Editorial
Getting to the truth
It is important to remember that these stories did not risk national security. They invited criticism, not danger. The raids on the ABC and the home of a News Corp reporter were about government embarrassment.
Culture
After achieving significant success as the director of two major New Zealand galleries, Rhana Devenport brings her ambitious vision to the Art Gallery of South Australia. Here, she talks about building relationships with artists and creating a safe space for audiences to explore challenging ideas. “I think that it is our role, working in a cultural organisation, to love our audience, to be as absolutely in love with our audience, to be thinking in multiple ways about how to be as expansive and open as humanly possible.”
Patricia Cornelius’s Love and Shit
Love and Shit, an exhilarating double bill by Patricia Cornelius at fortyfivedownstairs, expose the uncomfortable realities of Australia’s underclass. In doing so, these plays remind us how vital theatre can be.
Terracotta Warriors and Cai Guo-Qiang
At the National Gallery of Victoria, the ancient terracotta warriors of Xi’an are exhibited with the work of contemporary artist Cai Guo-Qiang, provoking a conversation about history, legacy and immortality.
“The name Jack River, which Holly Rankin adopted while picking ‘pirate’ alter egos with childhood friends, has served, when needed, as a costume and a character. More than just an alias, it became an escape hatch from reality to a place where things are limitless. You hear that in the songs: airy and vast, with a fixation on space and infinity.”
Life
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Tropical Islands Resort, Berlin
The transformation of a one-time Nazi airbase into faux Tropical Islands is a spectacle on a scale that must be seen to be believed.
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Skateboarder Aimee Massie’s Olympic dreams
While her sights are firmly set on a spot in the Australian Olympic team for Tokyo 2020, skateboarder Aimee Massie is also using her sporting talents to assist local community projects.
Books
Puzzles
1. Nazi Germany’s “lightning war” strategy was known as what starting with ‘b’?
2. Name the protagonist of a short story about a man who falls asleep in America’s Catskill Mountains and wakes up 20 years later.
3. In Australia, the short-tailed shearwater is commonly known as a … bird?
4. Tim Cook is the chief executive of which multinational tech company?
5. Horse trainer Gai Waterhouse is the daughter of which leading trainer?
6. How many seasons were there of the TV series Game of Thrones?
7. In what year did then prime minister Bob Hawke proclaim, “Any boss who sacks anyone for not turning up today is a bum”? (Bonus point for naming what event he said it after.)
8. What nationality was champion Formula 1 driver Niki Lauda?
9. Who has recently released a new album of original music titled My Criminal Record?
10. Which Australian city hosts a yearly jacaranda festival?
Quotes
POLICE
“The AFP is a strong supporter of press freedom.”
The acting commissioner defends the actions of the federal police. This week, that support extended to raiding the home of a News Corp journalist and the headquarters of the ABC, while threatening to raid 2GB host Ben Fordham.
SIN
“It’s Satan who leads us into temptation, that’s his department.”
The pontiff explains why he has changed the wording of the Lord’s Prayer from “lead us not into temptation” to “do not let us fall into temptation”. Which is apparently the most pressing issue facing the Catholic Church right now.
MINING
“We weren’t prepared to say that. People will come to their own conclusions about why we weren’t prepared to say that.”
The shadow energy minister says he regrets that Labor didn’t announce its support for coal and Adani before the election. It’s rare to save your cowardice for opposition, but here we are.
MUSIC
“The difference between a terrorist and a refugee, we all know it. But it was rammed down our throats that they were all the same, and they were coming to get our jobs, coming to kill us. And it just wasn’t right. It was very, very, very uncool.”
The singer takes issue with Peter Dutton. A 63-year-old man touring with Jet and Eskimo Joe knows a lot about being very, very, very uncool.
REALITY
“Where are the protests? I don’t see any protests.”
The US president denies the existence of protests in London, while 75,000 protesters could literally be heard chanting during the press conference in which he made these statements.
FAITH
“The heavens mock the false prophet.”
The News Corp columnist notes that Al Gore’s arrival in Australia coincides with a cold snap. She ignores the difference between weather and climate and faith and reality.
