June 3 – 9, 2023

Tax Practitioners Board chief executive secretary Michael O’Neill during a senate budget estimates hearing in Canberra on Wednesday.

News

Tax office accused of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ culture on PwC breach

Karen Middleton New questions are raised over the tax office’s insistence it was prohibited from telling Treasury and other departments when it discovered PwC was profiteering from confidential information.

News
A middle-aged man speaks into microphones that surround him on the street.
A young woman smokes an e-cigarette.
A man wearing glasses and a badge of the Australian Aboriginal flag speaks on a panel.
A man collects rubbish by a river filled with plastic.
A woman stands with a blanket wrapped around her and a dog in her arms. City apartments surround her, with debris scattered across the street.

Comment

Letters, Cartoon & Editorial

Cartoon

ReadCartoon image, links to full cartoon page

Editorial
Country mouse politics

Bridget Archer has a modest proposal. The Liberal Party and the Nationals should dissolve their coalition agreement and formulate individual policies while in opposition. She can see her own party’s drift from relevance. She can see the way Peter Dutton has quickly given up the values she thought were inherent.

Letters

Stay true

As the racial underbelly of the future referendum rises, a huge thanks to Daniel James for underlining the two questions at the heart of our vote (“Road without a horizon”, May 27–June 2). Besides the key …

Not my democracy

How extraordinary that Peter Dutton could insinuate through referencing Orwell’s Animal Farm that the Voice will somehow be the end of democracy as we know it (Paul Bongiorno, “Licensed to ill-inform”, …

Read More

Culture

Books
Book cover: a mouse cursor with a blue background.

Guillaume Pitron
The Dark Cloud: How the Digital World is Costing the Earth

Image for article: Wall

Jen Craig
Wall

Book cover: a photograph of a middle-aged woman between the title and author name.

Helen Elliott
Eleven Letters to You: A Memoir

Life
Image for article: Fungi salad with celery, walnuts and parsnip

Food

Fungi salad with celery, walnuts and parsnip

Karen Martini

Portrait image of a woman in a brown shirt and wide-brim hat standing in a forest.

Life

Quitting the energy sector to fight climate change

Kurt Johnson The climate crisis is forcing a rethink among workers who feel their employers are part of the problem, and many are switching careers, at some personal cost, to fight for solutions.

A goanna with its mouth open basks on a rock under a clear sky.

Environment

Saving Canberra’s goannas

Suzannah Marshall Macbeth At certain times of the year, volunteers can be found roaming Canberra’s bush reserves bearing raw chicken carcasses – all in the name of saving the local apex predator.

Sport

Jack White’s journey from country Victoria to the NBA

Peter Mitchell He may be warming the bench for the Denver Nuggets in the NBA finals series, but Australian Jack White is happy to soak up the experience as he patiently awaits his next big break.

Basketball players running on court.

Puzzles

The Cryptic

link to this week\'s crossword

Crossword No. 452

The Quiz

1. Tina Turner sang the theme song to which Bond film? (Bonus point for naming the Tennessee town in which the 12-time Grammy Award-winner grew up.)
2. The French term prêt-à-porter means what in English?
3. Slammer, MyDoom, Sasser and Netsky are all types of what?
4. Who was British prime minister from July 2016 until July 2019?
5. In which city was the first game of the 2023 State of Origin rugby league series played?
6. Africa is home to the game animal “Big Five”, comprising lion, leopard, rhinoceros, buffalo and what?
7. In the Mona Lisa, can we see one, neither or both of the portrait sitter’s hands?
8. Who plays private detective Philip Marlowe in the newly released film Marlowe?
9. To be detached or distinct from others is to be discrete or discreet?
10. If the value of the Roman numeral C is halved, what is the new value in Roman numerals?

Click through for answers.

Quotes

Law

“Justice.”

Nick McKenzieThe investigative reporter celebrates after Ben Roberts-Smith loses his defamation case. You would have thought they’d have trained the Victoria Cross recipient not to shoot directly and repeatedly at his own feet.

Housing

“People decide not to move out of home, or you don’t have that home office, you [get] a flatmate. ”

Philip LoweThe Reserve Bank governor suggests share houses are a solution to the rental crisis. It’s amazing how the problem is always people and never policy settings.

Race

“There is one word that is rarely heard in this discussion and it is a simple word: thank you.”

Bev McArthurThe Victorian Liberal says Indigenous people should be grateful for the “wonderful things that have been enabled via colonisation”. Bev, “thank you” is two words and also you’re an idiot.

Literature

“Royalties advance from HarperCollins Christian Publishing.”

Scott MorrisonThe former prime minister updates his register of interests, revealing he has signed a book deal. The contract is with Rupert Murdoch’s Christian publishing division, a literal partnership between God and the devil.

Politics

“The truth is, I’m tired, extremely tired. In fact, I’m exhausted.”

Mark McGowanThe premier of Western Australian announces his retirement. It will be interesting to see how much of the rest and recovery involves taking a job at Woodside.

Media

“We thank Ms Brittany Higgins for telling her story and for all that she has endured…”

Lisa MuxworthyThe editor-in-chief of news.com.au responds after Bruce Lehrmann dropped his defamation case against the website. This is where the joke usually goes but instead we will note Lehrmann maintains his innocence.

ISRAEL–HAMAS WAR

Open table of contents