News

Vaccines, part two: ‘Is this guy serious?’

“At the end of last year, Australia aborted the University of Queensland’s Covid-19 vaccine trials. The candidate vaccine was returning false positives for HIV. In a single decision the country lost half the “backbone” of its vaccination strategy – more than 50 million doses.”

Rick Morton Australia’s vaccine rollout has been a series of decisions and sliding doors moments, all connected to one original failure.

News

News

Exclusive: How three men stopped China funding Adani

Mike Seccombe Bob Carr and Geoff Cousins led an unlikely coalition to block Chinese funding for Adani. Not a cent has flowed to the company since.

News

Next frontier: The case for vaccinating schoolchildren

Karen Middleton Childhood vaccination has still not been put on the agenda of national cabinet, but it is the next big focus of the pandemic.

News

Covid-19 and immigration detention

Sarah Price During the pandemic, immigration detention centres have become more crowded. Despite many guards living in Covid-19 hotspots, there are no extra precautions for asylum seekers, no distancing and no access to vaccines. Advocates warn of a superspreading event if the virus gets in.

News

The rise and rise of Australian authoritarianism

Brian Toohey As Australia’s security laws become more authoritarian – on the basis of supposed threats from terrorism and China – their lack of oversight threatens our democratic foundations.

News

Leaving Afghanistan

Kate Banville As Australia makes a quiet exit from Afghanistan after 20 years at war there, soldiers and civilians are demanding to know what will happen to the Afghans we have abandoned.

The big story. Every day. Listen now.

7am is a daily news podcast from Schwartz Media. Every day it tells you what you need to know: who's involved, what it means and why it matters. It's news with narrative, every weekday. Follow 7am wherever you get your podcasts.

World

Protests erupt against Cuban government

Jonathan Pearlman

Fiji’s health system is overwhelmed by latest Covid-19 outbreak. The arrest of former president Jacob Zuma leads to growing violence in South Africa. The mystery of Haitian leader Jovenel Moïse’s assassination.

Opinion

Opinion

Bob Brown
Saving Tasmania’s Tarkine rainforest

“Bob Hawke’s first act as prime minister in 1983 was to save the Franklin River in Tasmania. In 1987, he over-rode Queensland’s bull-headed premier, Joh Bjelke-Petersen, to save the Daintree wet tropics. These rainforests faced death by a thousand cuts, from mining, logging and real estate developments. In that way, they were just like Tasmania’s takayna/Tarkine rainforest in 2021. ”

Opinion

Paul Bongiorno
Covid-19 lockdowns and the PM for NSW

“If a picture is worth a thousand words, nothing was more eloquent than the joint news conference of Scott Morrison and Gladys Berejiklian at the prime minister’s Sydney accommodation, Kirribilli House, this week. The Lodge in Canberra has been relegated to temporary digs status, giving reinforcement to accusations from Victoria that Morrison sees himself as ‘prime minister for New South Wales’. Like John Howard, he’s turned Sydney into the capital of Australia. ”

Diary

Gadfly
Kevintervention for your Ruddspiracy theory

Sami Shah We don’t have great conspiracy theories here in Australia. Not compared with Americans, whose conspiracy theories are fantastic in their sheer creativity: an air force base in Nevada is secretly a UFO hangar, the CIA had president John F. Kennedy killed by weaponising grassy knolls, the moon-landing was filmed by Stanley Kubrick on a soundstage, and something metallurgically implausible involving jet fuels and steel beams and 9/11.

Letters, Cartoon & Editorial

Cartoon

Read

Editorial
Getting some answers

By now it is staringly obvious that we need a royal commission into the procurement and rollout of Australia’s vaccine program. This government held one into roof insulation and another into the renovation of an old kitchen, so it should not be too great an ask.

Letters

Calling out Frydenberg

Josh Frydenberg, when minister for the Environment (Mike Seccombe, “Exclusive: Frydenberg pushed AGL to sack boss”, July 10-16), instead of implementing policy, played politics by pressuring …

PM on the subs’ bench

Plaudits are due your editorial (“Bully for you”, July 10-16) for succinctly stating the unsuitability of Scott Morrison as prime minister. Devoid of ambition or action for Australia, there …

Read More

Culture

Books

John Byron
The Tribute

Izumi Suzuki
Terminal Boredom

Mark Brandi
The Others

Life

Food

Duck breasts stuffed with prunes

Annie Smithers

Life

Window gazing

Lucy Treloar As coronavirus entangled us in global horrors, while at the same time confining us to our homes, corners of the internet brought the outside in.

Sport

Ash Barty’s Wimbledon victory

Martin McKenzie-Murray Ash Barty’s win at Wimbledon last weekend was a childhood dream, fulfilled with grace and humility.

Puzzles

The Cryptic

Crossword No. 358

The Quiz

1. Which carnivorous animal has the scientific name Ursus maritimus?
2. What number is diez in Spanish, dieci in Italian, dix in French and zehn in German?
3. Shaun Burgoyne this month became the first Indigenous man to play 400 AFL games. Which two AFL clubs has he played for?
4. Cape Barren Island is in what body of water?
5. Which musical instrument’s name comes from the Hawaiian for “jumping flea”?
6. Which Australian prime minister was born in Bordertown in 1929? (Bonus point for naming which state or territory Bordertown is in.)
7. In relation to the American police unit, what does the acronym SWAT stand for?
8. Name the governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia.
9. What is 17.5 per cent of $140?
10. Is “Smoke on the Water” a song by: (a) Pink Floyd; (b) Black Sabbath; or (c) Deep Purple?

Click through for answers.

Quotes

Race

“Those responsible for this appalling abuse should be ashamed of themselves.”

Boris Johnson The British prime minister condemns the vilification of England’s Black soccer players. For a man expert in racism, he still has little authority on the subject of shame.

Advertising

“…my clinical colleagues tell me that in fact the symptoms she is displaying are not those of a person who would have Covid.”

Bill BowtellThe public health expert responds to the government’s graphic coronavirus advertising. The actor’s symptoms are still significantly more real than the chance of a woman her age getting vaccinated.

Health

“I have the hiccups 24 hours a day.”

Jair BolsonaroThe Brazilian president is admitted to hospital after 10 days of constant hiccuping, possibly connected to an intestinal obstruction. It’s likely his own body is finally rebelling against the misinformation he has spread on coronavirus.

Environment

“It’s important countries that are voting on this need to be able to say they have put their head under the water and have spoken to world experts.”

Warren EntschThe government’s “reef ambassador” prepares a snorkelling trip for UNESCO representatives in the hope of avoiding an “in danger” listing for the Great Barrier Reef. That, or he’s threatening to waterboard them.

Politics

“I did chuckle when I saw the story.”

Greg HuntThe federal Health minister shrugs off reports former prime minister Kevin Rudd helped procure a faster supply of the Pfizer vaccine. It’s nice to know there’s still time for a little chuckle: like, who called it hypoxemic respiratory failure and not Delta airways?

Family

“While I’m humbled by the support, the situation has not changed and I will not be contesting the next election.”

George ChristensenThe member for Dawson resists calls from supporters of Barnaby Joyce to stand for another term, saying he would like to spend more time with his family. Joyce understands the sentiment, just not the concept.