The real reason our shelves were empty
“It is true that Australia produces more food than we can eat, but it is also true that we are not self-sufficient in groceries – if by that we mean the contents of the average supermarket trolley.”
Australian supermarkets are vulnerable to shocks, as lockdown panic buying showed, but the government has known about these weaknesses since at least 2012.
News
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JobKeeper: The inner workings of the bailout
“The big question to Kennedy, then, was why the JobKeeper scheme was not announced in the second package, particularly given that he knew a tighter lockdown was set to be announced, which would inevitably cost jobs.”
As Treasury secretary Steven Kennedy seeks to explain the rollout of Australia’s three-phase relief package, questions mount about timings and exclusions.
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How the COVIDSafe data could be used
While the government has been at pains to address privacy concerns about the COVIDSafe app, cybersecurity analysts believe the data could be mined for other uses.
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Angus Taylor’s bioenergy plans
“On Tuesday, Taylor followed up with another announcement – the promise of a fuel source produced in Australia, which would generate regional jobs and offer the long-term security of a renewable resource.”
As the Covid-19 disruption pushes Australia to rethink its energy security, minister Angus Taylor is championing a national bioenergy road map. But is this plan as green as he claims?
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Black Summer bushfire inquiries begin
Many are still waiting to rebuild their homes that were destroyed during the Black Summer, but experts have told the bushfire royal commission and parliamentary inquiry that the climate crisis will leave more people vulnerable to disaster.
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Kim Jong-un’s absence prompts successor speculation
Falling approval ratings for Donald Trump. Fiji uses pandemic to argue for crackdown on free speech. Growing calls to impeach Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro. Mysterious absence of Kim Jong-un raises speculation on successor.
Opinion
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Jane Caro
How schools have become political pawns
“As a long-term campaigner for disadvantaged students and the schools that overwhelmingly enrol them – public schools – I was gobsmacked this week by the sudden concern our federal government expressed for these students, and the risk they are getting left behind during the Covid-19 lockdown.”
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Paul Bongiorno
Covid-19 inquiry call infuriates Beijing
“Australia’s relationship with its biggest trading partner, China, has plunged to depths not seen since formal recognition of the Communist-governed state 48 years ago. The stakes for Canberra could not be higher, with business leaders and exporters privately furious at the government’s bumbling diplomatic performance over China and coronavirus.”
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Gadfly
Trumble in the Moloch jungle
Lord Moloch’s press is leaving no stone unturned in letting a couple of confirmed Trumble detractors give a vigorous “welcome” to the former PM’s book A Bigger Picture. Last Thursday, The Daily Smellograph treated us to an analysis by Peter King, a former member for Wentworth, trounced by Trumble in a bitter preselection in 2003, amid accusations of branch stacking and branch stripping.
Letters, Cartoon & Editorial
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The worst part of madness is that it hurts other people. These are the kindest words that can be said about Clive Palmer’s newspaper ads, claiming he has bought 32.9 million doses of hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid-19.
Culture
Author Jess Hill’s inner power
Jess Hill’s incisive examination of domestic violence saw the journalist win the coveted Stella Prize last month. But the four-year project also took an immense personal toll. “All that advice about self-care … I didn’t do any of it. I almost pointedly didn’t do it. I thought: ‘You need to feel, even just one iota of the pain and suffering the people you are talking to are feeling.’ If I was feeling really relaxed and detached from it, I wouldn’t be able to write about it in the way I wanted to … I sort of had to inhabit it.”
Sydney Chamber Opera’s Breaking Glass
Sydney Chamber Opera’s Breaking Glass comprises four exciting new works, in which Australian women composers reimagine the myth of Odysseus, the story of the night parrot, and works by Sylvia Plath and Margaret Atwood.
“The sun had barely rotated out of bed by the time the bakers had begun rolling croissants, the baristas singing out orders, and the second-hand bookstore owners prudently applying dust to their first editions. It was just another morning in a suburb of restored heritage properties, and the air, having been buttered and brewed into a naturally occurring atmosphere, made the moustached men strolling around Redfern feel as though they could be anywhere at all, excluding where they actually were.”
Life
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Greenberg’s and Castle’s losing battles
The demise of the chief executives of Rugby Australia and the NRL came in quick succession on the back of the Covid-19 catastrophe. But the pandemic may have just given the sports’ governing bodies the excuse they were looking for.
Books
Puzzles
1. Which American singer–songwriter recorded the 1985 album Who’s Zoomin’ Who ?
2. What colour is the current Australian $100 note? (Bonus points for naming the two famous Australians featured on it.)
3. People with anosmia have lost which sense?
4. @Pontifex is whose official Twitter page?
5. In healthcare, what does the abbreviation PPE stand for?
6. Before the English Premier League was “suspended indefinitely” in early April, which team was 25 points clear at the top of the ladder?
7. Is Romanian a Romance or Slavic language?
8. Who painted 1962’s 210 Coca-Cola Bottles?
9. What phrase is used by the eponymous host on RuPaul’s Drag Race to eliminate a contestant?
10. What is the southernmost state of the United States?
Quotes
BUGLES
“I would feel much better if I was a bugle blower last December and January. I would feel better sitting here today saying, ‘I blew the bugle about Wuhan province in January.’ I can’t say that.”
The New York governor appears to express regret that he didn’t act faster on Covid-19, or something about bugles.
AFFIRMATION
“Wooo! Mark McGowan, I fuckin’ love ya’ buddy! Y’boy Jacko! Wooo!”
The Auslan interpreter for Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan faithfully translates comments from a car full of wellwishers as it passes his press conference.
ETIQUETTE
“I thought it’d be a good opportunity for me to be here, to be able to speak to these researchers, these incredible healthcare personnel and look them in the eye and say thank you.”
The United States vice-president explains why he was not wearing a face mask during a visit to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, going against the express requests of his hosts.
MODERATION
“Establishments like Crown need to be held to high standards regarding the responsible service of alcohol.”
The lawyer speaks on behalf of her client, a man who suffered a fractured hip and debilitating injuries after slipping in someone else’s vomit while on a night out at Crown Casino.
RATIONALE
“The idea that you wouldn’t have an investigation like that is irrational, illogical, unreasonable, and the response suggesting that that style of investigation is not warranted and necessary, to me is an emotional response.”
The attorney-general provides a strong argument for a federal Independent Commission Against Corruption, while responding to China’s criticism of the Australian government push for an investigation into the origins of Covid-19.
