May 13 – 19, 2023

Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher at Parliament House on Tuesday.

News

Image for article: Shorten’s kill list: Morrison, Tudge and Robert
Image for article: WA police raid journalists
An aerial view of the Bluff coalmine in Queensland.
Image for article: The Lehrmann inquiry grills DPP
A family sits in a truck, a man's machine gun hanging out the window.

Comment

Letters, Cartoon & Editorial

Cartoon

ReadCartoon image, links to full cartoon page

Editorial
The export of perversity

On Wednesday morning, as Britain’s House of Lords considered a second reading of the country’s Illegal Migration Bill, a man named Abolfath Gheitasi walked into an office in Port Moresby and doused himself in petrol.

Letters

Circus politics

The reported exchange between Senator Matt Canavan, objecting to reforms to curb pork-barrelling, and Professor Anne Twomey is dispiriting (Mike Seccombe, “ ‘Clearly absurd’: A fresh account …

Out of balance

Mike Seccombe’s article on pork-barrelling was an excellent piece of well-balanced journalism that got to the very heart of the Australian dilemma – the balance between state and federal responsibilities. …

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Culture

Books

Image for article: Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives

Siddharth Kara
Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives

Image for article: Revealing Secrets

John Blaxland and Clare Birgin
Revealing Secrets

Image for article: She and Her Pretty Friend

Danielle Scrimshaw
She and Her Pretty Friend

Life

Image for article: Pumpkin kola kanda

Food

Pumpkin kola kanda

An MRI scan of a brain.

Life

MRI – Live at the Royal Prince Alfred

An encounter with magnetic resonance imaging prompts the writer to expound on the musical genres that are its antecedents, and those that are, perhaps, its legacy.

Researchers in an underground laboratory wearing helmet and hi-vis vests

Science

The search for dark matter

In an underground laboratory in the goldfields of Victoria, the search for evidence of dark matter connects with cutting-edge research in the mountains of Italy.

Sport

Interpreting the lores of war and football

When the author feared his four-year-old daughter would never share his love of the AFL, he didn’t anticipate that her allegiance might fixate on a club he loathed during a commemoration of something he could not explain.

A soldier stands in uniform and with a rifle on his hip, head bowed in the middle of a football field with fans in striped jerseys in the stands.

Puzzles

Quotes

Royals

“I was quite surprised that some people thought I was Meghan Markle in disguise.”

Sir Karl JenkinsThe Welsh composer addresses rumours that he was Meghan Markle in a bad wig and moustache. He just looks like that.

Economics

“I’ve brought in the budget surplus. The test for the prime minister and the treasurer is will they recognise that?”

Matt CanavanThe Nationals MP brings a lump of coal to a Sky News interview, to indicate that the budget surplus is a result of mining. It is not.

Fruit

“Bananus.”

Bob KatterThe member for Kennedy uses a banana to illustrate how the Heavy Vehicle Road User charge will affect farmers. In his telling, the bananus is the farmer’s profit – and also good eating.

Law

“These accusations … have caused serious and potentially irreparable harm to her reputation.”

Patrick GeorgeThe lawyer launches defamation proceedings on behalf of Moira Deeming, following attempts to expel her from the Liberal Party after she attended an anti-trans rally. She’s not a bigot, she’s just bigot-curious.

Lights

“Of course I respect the new king but I’m mindful of where and when we spend taxpayers’ money.”

Chris MinnsThe New South Wales premier explains that the Opera House was not lit up for King Charles III because it costs too much to do so. Really, the unadorned white sails better remind the king of the boats that stole the country for him.

America

“We’re very happy.”

E. Jean CarrollThe advice columnist responds after Donald Trump was found guilty of sexually abusing and defaming her. The former president denies the assault but he also denies losing the election and his hair.

ISRAEL–HAMAS WAR