March 6 – 12, 2021 | The Saturday Paper

Opinion

Why our media and politics fail trauma survivors

Rick Morton

Media commentators were quick to attack mention of a widely read self-help book in the dossier of Christian Porter's accuser. But the science of trauma is complicated, and we lack the nuance needed to understand it or its treatments.

News

Australia’s attorney-general, Christian Porter, leaves a press conference in Perth this week.

News

Porter denial fails to end calls for an independent inquiry

“[This] cannot be the standard that we adopt, particularly when the alleged perpetrator is the first law officer of the country. ”

Karen Middleton As Christian Porter names himself as the cabinet minister accused of rape, and denies the allegation, his office walks back the attorney-general’s claim that the last time he saw his accuser was in January 1988.

News

Experts: Vaccine rollout deadline impossible at current rates

Mike Seccombe The government’s rollout plans have been stymied by untrained doctors, spoiled doses and communication failures with the states.

News

Victoria Police and extremism

Osman Faruqi

Experts say Victoria Police is out of step as it likens the threat of right-wing extremism to its left-wing counterparts in its submission to the federal parliamentary inquiry on radicalism.

News

Santiniketan Lodge and The Family

Chris Johnston

Melbourne’s notorious cult The Family – the subject of a Supreme Court class action by survivors – has bequeathed the site of its former headquarters to Victoria’s Tibetans.

World

Isolation breach forces another lockdown for NZ

Jonathan Pearlman China malware theory on Mumbai blackout. Myanmar security forces continue violent crackdown. More charges for Aung San Suu Kyi as she appears in court via video link.

News

Aged-care royal commission final report

Rick Morton After two-and-a-half years, the report of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety has landed. Its findings are clear: without a major overhaul and more resources, our elderly will continue to receive substandard care.

Opinion

Bruce Pascoe
Bringing back Aboriginal industries

“By 2030, nobody was surprised that the farm machinery sector was holding up. Demand was through the roof from farmers who needed smaller, more flexible harvesters and threshing machines suited for differential seed sizes. Those in the know had seen this shift before when the chemical industry had seamlessly moved away from artificial fertilisers towards more organic supplies. ”

Opinion

Paul Bongiorno
Christian Porter, accusations and denials

“It took one week for Australia’s first law officer, Christian Porter, to come out of hiding. In those seven days, he and his prime minister did everything to minimise the grave allegations of a violent historic rape. Porter has issued vehement denials and attempted the demolition of the claims against him. A dark cloud still enshrouds the government of the nation.”

Diary

Gadfly
Bursting the Canberra bubble

Sami Shah

This is how it should have gone: When allegations of a historical rape made against a cabinet minister come to light, the prime minister steps up and says he’s doing everything in his power to find out what’s alleged to have happened. The accused parliamentarian has been asked to step down until the police decide about an investigation. The prime minister demands an overhaul of the toxic culture of Canberra.

Letters, Cartoon & Editorial

Cartoon

Read

Editorial
Upholding a broken law

The instinct of our country’s first law officer, when accused of a terrible crime, is to seek the advice of a lawyer, one renowned for his skill in defamation proceedings. To the media, the message is clear. And so the country waits, for days, for the cabinet minister to name himself.

Letters

No empathy for jobless

Why would Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his ministers, who decided on the JobSeeker increase of about $3.60 a day, worry about whether it is adequate or not to live on? (Rachel Withers, “More is less”, …

A nightmare scenario

Imagine a workplace dystopia in which, if the boss bullies or sexually assaults a member of his staff, the matter is referred back to him for investigation (Karen Middleton, “Full account: Tracing the …

Culture

Profile

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Việt Thanh Nguyễn

Leah Jing McIntosh

With the release of the much anticipated sequel to his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Sympathiser, writer Việt Thanh Nguyễn reflects on his 20-year struggle with fiction.

Film

Another Round

Christos Tsiolkas Thomas Vinterberg’s remarkable new film Another Round harks back to his earlier work in Dogme 95.

Theatre

Adelaide Festival

Alison Croggon From turgid opera to contemporary dance in bowling alleys, this year’s Adelaide Festival runs the gamut from dull to delightful.

Theatre

Playing Beatie Bow

Bri Lee Kate Mulvany’s adaptation of Ruth Park’s Playing Beatie Bow throws a sinister enchantment over contemporary Sydney.

In Progress

Bella Li

Maddee Clark The poet and artist Bella Li says that if it weren’t for deadlines – and the inspiration provided by tennis players – she would never finish her work.

Poetry

Psalms of sleep

“The house won’t stand without foundations of trust / and the town won’t work if people guard only their own. / The insomnia that racks your life is a strange greed of wakefulness / so difficult to shake in the lateness where body eats dark and light alike. / And children are the gift that is the tree of life, O Lord, / growing through wakefulness and sleep alike. /In laying down their weapons the once powerful become more powerful / in claiming no more than the rights of their own consciences, in not owning their offspring. / For the children are peacefully and strongly marching against the violence / and rapacity of those who rule over them, and they ask for a chance to be heard. ”

John Kinsella

Books

Te-Ping Chen
Land of Big Numbers

Leanne Hall
The Gaps

Fiona McGregor
Buried Not Dead

Life

Food

Nectarine and thyme granita with plums and ice-cream

David Moyle

Life

Feminism now

Stephanie Dowrick In the ’70s, staunch feminists led the charge towards equality – not just for women but for people of colour and the LGBTQIA+ community. Fifty years on, are the systems of power and constraint they railed against actually getting worse?

Sport

Australian Sports Commission chair Josephine Sukkar

Kieran Pender She may not have played much sport as a kid, but Josephine Sukkar has always been a keen sideline supporter. Now the Sydney businesswoman has jumped in the ring as the first female chair of the Australian Sports Commission.

Puzzles

The Cryptic

$link to this week\'s crossword$

Crossword No. 339

The Quiz

1. The Elena Ferrante novel series that begins with My Brilliant Friend is set in which Italian city?

2. The abbreviation FOMO stands for which anxiety-inducing condition?

3. Canadian singer–songwriter Abel Tesfaye is better known by what stage name?

4. Who became prime minister of Australia first: (a) John Gorton; (b) Harold Holt; or (c) Gough Whitlam?

5. What beginning with ‘L’ is the collective noun for leopards?

6. Which soccer team currently sits at the top of the English Premier League ladder?

7. True or false: On the hit ABC children’s show Bluey, Chilli is Bluey’s little sister?

8. What is the name for a triangle with two sides of equal length?

9. A Sunday on La Grande Jatte – 1884 is a work by which French Post-Impressionist artist? (Bonus point for naming which American art museum’s collection it belongs to.)

10. Tennis Australia chair Jayne Hrdlicka became the chief executive of which Australian-based company last November?

Click through for answers.

Quotes

Theatre

“I thought his performance was quite remarkable.”

Peter DuttonThe Home Affairs minister returns a positive review of Christian Porter’s press conference, in which the cabinet minister denied a rape allegation against him. He was silent on the terrible lighting design.

Law

“We run the rule of law based on police. On courts. On judicial systems. On rules of evidence. On presumption of innocence.”

Scott MorrisonThe prime minister defends his decision not to hold an inquiry into the allegations levelled against Christian Porter. If it’s good enough for the comment pages of The Australian, it’s good enough for him.

Rhetoric

“I did, however, comment on news reports regarding surrounding circumstances that I felt had been misrepresented.”

Linda ReynoldsThe Defence minister responds to reports that she referred to her former staffer, Brittany Higgins, as a “lying cow”. The prime minister later clarified that it had been a stressful week.

Celebrity

“Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine...”

Dolly PartonThe singer gets vaccinated and serenades the doctor who administered the dose, her friend Dr Naji Abumrad, to the tune of her hit “Jolene”. Consider this your one bright spot in this punch-in-the-face of a week.

Resignation

“I contacted him to seek his resignation as a minister and he has duly resigned.”

Gladys BerejiklianThe New South Wales premier announces that her sports minister, John Sidoti, will step down before a public Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry. It makes you nostalgic for those days when actions had consequences.

A-okay

“I am aware that my comments have been interpreted by some in a way that I did not intend.”

Angus CampbellThe Defence Force chief apologises for suggesting female cadets should avoid the “Four As” – alcohol and being out after midnight, alone and attractive. For those still reading, the year is 2021.

March 6 – 12, 2021

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