April 29 – May 5, 2023

Portrait image of Rachel Perkins wearing an orange blazer.

News

Richard Marles is dressed in a suit as he speaks at a press conference.
A doctor leans over a patient who is receiving an MRI.
A group of protestors with signs relating to the student debt crisis stand for a photograph, many with their fists in the air.
Environmental activist Joana Partyka outside the Central Law Courts in Perth.
US President Joe Biden smiling with his hands in the air in celebration.

Comment

Letters, Cartoon & Editorial

Cartoon

ReadCartoon image, links to full cartoon page

Editorial
The heart of the nation

The headline crawled across the front of The Australian like a Warren Zevon song: “ ‘Lawyers backing Yes for money’, may it please the court”. This is the latest argument in what is now a concerted campaign in the paper against the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

Letters

Selective detail

It seems Mr Dutton’s modus operandi is to continually demand more detail on the Voice while remaining loath to identify any of those Indigenous Elders he claims to have consulted (Rick Morton, “Dutton refuses …

Lack of power

Peter Dutton and friends may well be throwing up nonsensical arguments against the Voice, but this doesn’t mean there aren’t serious questions that are not being addressed. For one: the lack of obligation …

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Culture

Books

Illustration of a lone figure sitting on a beach with a chair beside them. They are watching another person swim in the ocean.

Susan Johnson
Aphrodite’s Breath: A mother and daughter’s Greek Island adventure

A woman in a red dress underwater.

Claire Fuller
The Memory of Animals

Illustration of a dice, ship, car, plane and man in suit as pieces on a game board.

The Rebel Accountant
Taxtopia: How I discovered the injustices, scams and guilty secrets of the tax evasion game

Life

Image for article: Merguez meatballs with yoghurt sauce and parsley salad

Food

Merguez meatballs with yoghurt sauce and parsley salad

A cleaner wearing a face mask stands in the forecourt of Parliament House, Canberra They are surrounded by an orange haze caused by bushfires.

Environment

The high cost of poor air quality

The case for cleaner indoor air is hampered by high up-front costs, but after years of pandemic and the pollution caused by bushfires, the need should be clearer than ever.

Rupert Murdoch and Donald Trump walk beside one another.

Media

The Fox decision and Australian media control

Rupert Murdoch’s defamation settlement in the US is a reminder of how concentrated his influence is in Australia – and of the inadequacies of local media regulation.

Sport

From the ashes

A sports ground may seem fitting as a resting place for our loved ones, though it’s hardly final. And some of our more complicated losses can never truly be laid to rest.

A crowd of people are scattered across the MCG, a blue sky above them.

Puzzles

Quotes

Media

“Retirement is going great so far.”

Tucker CarlsonThe former Fox News host speaks to press outside his house in Florida. He is said to have been shocked by his sacking, which seems surprising from someone who goes on and on about the great replacement.

Politics

“I am the führer. I’m the king who takes the decisions.”

Boris JohnsonThe former British prime minister is quoted in a new book by colleague Michael Gove. Say what you will about Hitler, at least he combed his hair.

Housing

“His understanding of economics is basically terrible.”

Tom ElliottThe broadcaster mocks Adam Bandt’s suggestion for a rent freeze. If you want to really understand economics and rental stress, it helps to be born to a Liberal Party treasurer and go to a grammar school in Kew.

Immigration

“It is a mess ... so complicated that if I drew you a diagram it would look like a tangled bowl of spaghetti.”

Clare O’NeilThe Home Affairs minister announces a major overhaul of the migration system. It is wild how much Australians can’t talk about multiculturalism without talking about food.

Crime

“I am not Nicholas Alahverdian. I do not know how to make this clearer.”

Nicholas Alahverdian

An American man who faked his own death to avoid sexual assault charges is found living in Scotland. He now speaks with an inexplicable British accent and dresses more or less like Mole from The Wind in the Willows.

Deaths

“A great wit, satirist, writer and an absolute one-of-kind, he was both gifted and a gift.”

Anthony Albanese

The prime minister notes the death of Barry Humphries, aged 89. The Saturday Paper would have commissioned an obituary but everyone we went to was already doing six pieces for The Australian.

ISRAEL–HAMAS WAR