June 17 – 23, 2023

Two women with short hair walk through senate chamber.

News

The late Labor senator at the heart of the Higgins saga

Karen Middleton Kimberley Kitching set up an inquiry intended to expose an incident in Linda Reynolds’ office – although she didn’t know what was alleged to have happened.

News
Two middle-aged politicians in formal dress speak at a press conference with flags behind them.
A middle-aged woman with dark hair sits on a couch, her hand by her face as she gazes at something out of shot.
The side of a University of Melbourne building.
Stacks of boxes in a marble bathroom with a chandelier.
Image for article: ‘Beware the man with nothing to lose’

Comment

Letters, Cartoon & Editorial

Cartoon

ReadCartoon image, links to full cartoon page

Editorial
A coffin of thought

So this is it: the open casket of conservative politics, a coffin of thought in which John Howard and Tony Abbott are nestled alongside Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson. The group calls itself the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship. It is a global collective of anti-globalists, funded by a Dubai-based investment vehicle and a British billionaire.

Letters

Unfair breaks

The government’s proposal to build just 30,000 homes over five years is woefully inadequate when 640,000 people are in need of homes right now (Mike Seccombe, “Inside the Greens’ housing reform …

Emergency status

Ben Abbatangelo lays out clearly the range of issues sabotaging the Voice referendum (“Actions speak louder than the Voice”, June 10-16). How can we move forward when Australian society is in such …

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Culture
Greyscale portrait photograph of a woman with her hair tied into a bun, revealing only one eye as she obscures her face with a bookmark.

Profile

Artist eX de Medici

Miriam Cosic Over four decades, Australian artist eX de Medici has put her surreal Baroque artworks in the service of her anti-capitalist politics.
A superhero in a red outfit kicks a villain.

Film

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Anthony Carew The new animated feature Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is a dizzyingly inventive tribute to the expressive possibilities of the drawn line.
Naked performers on motorbikes that are suspended above the stage, where several other performers dance.

Dance

Florentina Holzinger’s TANZ

Alison Croggon Florentina Holzinger’s ecstatic dance work TANZ is a standout in Melbourne’s winter Rising festival. It is a wild, confronting meditation on care, permission and desire.

A grainy photograph of a man with a dark hair and a thick moustache matched with formal clothing and a red bowtie.

The Influence

Alena Lodkina

Kate Holden Proust’s masterpiece of autofiction, In Search of Lost Time, is a constant literary companion and source of inspiration for Melbourne filmmaker Alena Lodkina.

Fiction

The red esky

“Sally Arnett surveyed the esky as her husband put it down in the centre of their living room rug.

“Maybe we should call the police?” she said.

“You think?”

“I don’t know. What do you think?”

Jack didn’t reply, but instead pulled her to his chest and held her for the first time in months. She felt the quick thud of his heart against her cheek. Then he released her, turned away and went back outside. A moment later Sally heard the echo of his hammering resume. She pushed the esky with her foot. It didn’t budge. She leaned down. Sniffed. The edge of a scent crept through the gaps in the tape. Rot. Decay.”

Anna Snoekstra

Books
Illustration of a pool of oil.

Sophie Bond, Amanda Thomas and Gradon Diprose
Stopping Oil: Climate Justice and Hope

Illustration of pink train doors with a statue of a sombre female woman gazing out the window.

Pip Finkemeyer
Sad Girl Novel

A pool illuminated in the darkness.

Emma Cline
The Guest

Life
Image for article: New England lobster roll

Food

New England lobster roll

David Moyle

Two fruit flies take part in a “courtship dance”.

Technology

Insect studies evolve AI consciousness

Amalyah Hart Neuroscientists are increasingly convinced insects have subjective consciousness. The findings are meaningful for the evolution of artificial intelligence and raise serious ethical questions.

A musician performs onstage with a microphone in their hand.

Festival

Primavera Sound Porto

Shaad D’Souza Portugal’s scaled-down version of a major European summer music festival offers some bold musical choices and the chance to explore the host town’s incongruous aesthetics.

Sport

Emily van Egmond’s high hopes for the World Cup

Sarah Krasnostein Matildas stalwart Emily van Egmond has watched women’s soccer in Australia come into its own, and she hopes this year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup, the first to be played on home soil, will unleash its full potential.

A soccer player in green and gold colours kicks a ball on the pitch.

Puzzles

The Cryptic

link to this week\'s crossword

Crossword No. 454

The Quiz

1. Name the Liberal Party member for the Tasmanian electorate of Bass.
2. The Wiener schnitzel’s name is derived from which city?
3. Which well-known weight loss company will cease trading in Australia after its administrators failed to find a buyer?
4. The flowers of a gardenia are generally which colour?
5. What same word can begin each of the following words to make a new word: marine; plane; lung; culture?
6. Baluchi, dhurrie and killim are all types of what?
7. What is a pair of successive rhyming lines, usually of the same length, called?
8. Which English Premier League team has signed Ange Postecoglou as its new coach?
9. Which author wrote the books The House of the Spirits, Eva Luna and, most recently, The Wind Knows My Name?
10. What is the name given to the dog in the comic strip Footrot Flats? (Bonus point for naming the dog’s breed.)

Click through for answers.

Quotes

Crime

“It was a terrible result and obviously the incorrect result.”

Ben Roberts-SmithThe soldier returns to Australia after a court found reporting of the war crimes he committed was largely accurate. He doesn’t trust judges who aren’t also executioners.

Politics

“While I believe my response to be accurate at the time, I cannot obviously fully discount that her recollection … were the more accurate.”

Scott MorrisonThe member for Cook explains why he misled parliament over aspects of the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins. It almost looks like accountability, in the way he almost looked like a PM.

Harassment

“Fuck off, Pauline.”

Lidia ThorpeThe independent senator talks to Pauline Hanson after detailing her own accusation of sexual harassment. Hanson, who has no feeling from the hair down, later described Thorpe’s accusation as “crocodile tears”.

Media

“I’m pretty flabbergasted.”

Andrew ProbynThe ABC political editor announces he has been made redundant, along with about 100 others at the broadcaster. Apparently Canberra pretty much covers itself.

Britain

“I have always supported Britain leaving the European Union and was very happy when the British public voted in favour of that occurring.”

John HowardThe former prime minister explains that retirement hasn’t dimmed his love for divisive politics. Other people take up woodwork.

Sport

“Is Taiwan not China?”

Lionel MessiThe soccer player is briefly stopped from entering China because of a mix-up with his passport. We did not pick him as an annexation guy but there it is.

ISRAEL–HAMAS WAR

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