How seniors became our most fierce lobby
“In the end, the election was not a referendum on wages, as Bill Shorten predicted. Nor was it the climate change election, as progressives hoped and science demanded. Instead, it became a generational contest between the aged and the rest.”
Organised, connected and efficient, older voters have campaigned hard for concessions from the government and won time and again.
News
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Coalition divided on First Nations voice
“ ‘The Uluru Statement from the Heart was issued to the Australian people because it was understood that this reform needed the Australian people’s support to have momentum, like 1967,’ Professor Megan Davis told The Saturday Paper. ”
While Ken Wyatt tries to find a model for recognition that will appease his party, a grassroots movement is hoping to win public support for a voice to parliament.
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The broken private health insurance system
While a new report claims Australia’s private health system is in a ‘death spiral’, the crisis actually began with the introduction of Medicare in 1984.
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As the NSW deputy state coroner examines the MDMA-linked deaths of six young music festival-goers, security precautions, pill testing and overdose procedures come under scrutiny.
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Boris Johnson feels bite of Brexit trade unease
Boris Johnson aligns with Trump over leaks. Tribal killings in PNG. Staying shtum on China abuses. India aborts moon mission.
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Gadfly
Reinventing their spiel
“Cry Freedom” echoes through the wide, brown land as reptiles and hacks try to throw off the shackles of oppression. Some of them have been, or still are, Moloch employees whose newspapers cheered on the slate of overwrought post-September 11 national security laws that bit by bit tightened the noose around the reporting of politically sensitive matters that had received the green elephant stamp of “top secret”.
Opinion
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Jess Hill
Stopping coercive control and family violence
“Many of the most dangerous coercive controllers use physical violence sparingly, or not at all. Their system of fear and control requires only the believable threat of violence – to the victim or her loved ones. Savvy perpetrators know to avoid physical violence because while “incidents” of domestic violence are a crime, the system of coercive control is not.”
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Bob Brown
The Robbins Island wind farm debate
“The Australian moved in for the kill last week. Back-to-back front pages, on Monday and Tuesday, after I sounded the alarm about the impact on endangered birds if the Robbins Island wind farm in Tasmania’s north-west goes ahead. Backed up by the usual cronies at Sky News, the boilover raised a question about the impending extinction of measured public debate.”
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Chris Wallace
Scott Morrison faces Trump test
“Remember this quiet week. It is the origin moment of the biggest test of national character Australia has faced in 50 years. Some may have sensed it, others deduced it. But before 2020 arrives, anyone with contemporary historical perspective will know, understand and have had to take a position on the United States and its president. The choices are appeasement or action, with little scope to hover in between.”
Letters, Poem & Editorial
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caught skint
at the iga counter
frantic hands searching threadbare jeans
sorry, guess i’m short on change today
forgot my card
as you put the tampons, washing liquid,
and your pride
away
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No dessert has entered the Australian public consciousness more aggressively than the towering croquembouche. George Calombaris called it one of the hardest challenges ever put to MasterChef contestants. Built on little more than air and sleight of hand, it foiled many an aspiring chef and seems to have inspired the Melbourne business operations of the celebrity chef’s sprawling restaurant empire.
Culture
Novelist and playwright Peter Polites
In his second novel, The Pillars, Peter Polites uses Australia’s fixation on home ownership to explore the intersection of race, class and sexuality – as well as a growing conservatism within the queer community. “If you look at the generic images coming out of the queer community, there is a very specific aesthetic going on that’s obviously tied to race and class … You can be a total slut monster but still operate within a hegemonic discursive framework. There’s nothing radical about reinforcing dominant discourse. To me, that’s the opposite of sexual liberation.”
Although Stanisław Lem’s classic novel Solaris provides rich source material for a stage adaptation, there’s a disappointing banality to Malthouse Theatre’s production.
Mark Ronson’s Late Night Feelings
On his new album, Late Night Feelings, Mark Ronson has put his mega-hit ‘Uptown Funk’ behind him, choosing instead to make a pop album with surprising emotional depth.
Life
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The Johannine Library and Mafra Palace
A journey to see the majestic libraries of Coimbra, Portugal, may make the visitor wonder at the hand of fate.
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The fans and freedom of speech
While sporting bodies vow to embrace diversity and uphold a policy of maximal inclusion, the fans cheering from the sidelines may have very different priorities.
Books
Puzzles
1. Which organisation publishes the magazine Warcry?
2. What nationality is Agatha Christie’s fictional detective Hercule Poirot?
3. Which river flows through the Grand Canyon?
4. What type of animal is a capuchin: (a) a rodent; (b) an antelope; or (c) a monkey?
5. Which three colourful bands were respectively fronted by Ozzy Osbourne, Ian Gillan and David Gilmour?
6. In which city did the 2019 Tour de France begin?
7. What nut flavour is the liqueur Frangelico?
8. Hermana is the Spanish word for which relative?
9. Where on the moon did the Apollo 11 lunar module land? (Bonus point for naming the nickname of the module.)
10. The actor born Eric Marlon Bishop is better known by what name?
Quotes
TRANSPORT
“No more gate barriers – just a smooth journey.”
The New South Wales transport minister spruiks the introduction of face-recognition technology on Sydney’s public transport system. Like Minority Report, this is sure to have a satisfying ending.
HOUSING
“The Commonwealth is not an ATM for the states.”
The industry minister says the government will not pay to remove combustible cladding from Victorian high-rise apartments. To recap, the government will only be an ATM for high-income earners, the Big Four accounting firms, self-funded retirees, mining giants, Lockheed Martin, French submarine manufacturers and George Christensen’s love life.
COURTS
“I have enough to have you go bye bye.”
The son of winemaker Wolf Blass responds to questions about his income during his Gold Coast trial. He faces charges over allegedly punching a woman – always a good time to threaten a prosecutor.
HOSPITALITY
“It is our priority to ensure all of our employees feel respected, rewarded and supported in their roles.”
The restaurateur is fined by the Fair Work Commission for underpaying his staff to the tune of $7.8 million. It’s a shame that paying his employees wasn’t one of his priorities.
VALUES
“I just don’t get it; I really don’t get it.”
The One Nation leader describes her expertise as part of an all-white panel assembled by Channel Nine to discuss the Uluru climbing ban. Hanson has no problem with being places she shouldn’t, as her multiple runs for parliament attest.
DIPLOMACY
“You simply cannot use that kind of language.”
The future British prime minister scolds the United States president for telling four female Democrats of colour to “go back where you came from”. The Brit prefers a more diplomatic turn of phrase, such as describing women who wear burqas as “looking like letterboxes”.
