July 1 – 7, 2023

A middle-aged man sits in parliament with an open book raised in his hand.

News

Inside the Stuart Robert file

Karen Middleton An explosive submission details allegations of corruption against Stuart Robert, which the former minister strongly denies.

News
A woman with long grey hair speaks at a press conference, flanked by supporters and with the Australian flag in the background.
A middle-aged woman on a street footpath and tailed by journalists holding cameras and microphones.
A building with a Tri-Care sign beside it.
A politician with grey hair speaks in parliament.
A middle-aged man dressed in a camo outfit sits in the back of a car with the window down.

Comment

Letters, Cartoon & Editorial

Cartoon

ReadCartoon image, links to full cartoon page

Editorial
The hole

It is telling that Peter Dutton’s letter on the Voice was sent only to his electorate. Partly, this is about printing allowances. His convictions always have a budget. Partly, it is a reminder that Dutton’s concern is not about the Voice but the people who vote for him. He sees this as a winner.

Letters

Misguided focus

Rick Morton (“Insiders expose ‘bullshit’ at CSIRO”, June 24-30) quotes outgoing CSIRO chief Larry Marshall as saying the organisation’s first purpose is “assisting industry”. …

Risky money

I’m afraid the “bullshit” was evident at CSIRO long before Larry Marshall got there. During the Gillard era the Australian Solar Institute and later ARENA awarded large swaths of public funds to manifestly …

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Culture
Black & white photograph of a woman playing a piano as she is surrounded by listening admirers.

The Influence

Paul Kildea

Kate Holden Not only did Chopin’s Preludes intrigue Musica Viva’s artistic director Paul Kildea, the piano the composer completed them on captured his imagination as well.

Fiction

The Tree Song

“Walking slowly around the tree, the man looked for a face in the trunk, but he couldn’t find any cavity from which a voice might emerge. I’m not imagining it, thought the soldier. Truly this thing is talking.

The man said he’d come on foot from a nearby town, where he’d failed to find continuing work of any kind. And while someone had offered him a few nights of accommodation –  a blanket on the floor of an outbuilding – today they had asked him to leave.

“Do you have any friends?” asked the tree.

The soldier said he did not have anyone.

“A person without a single friend? That must be unusual,” said the tree.”

Andrew Pippos

Books
Image for article: Chinese Fish

Grace Yee
Chinese Fish

Book cover: A monkey standing on a rock and overlooking valleys in the background.

Robert Skinner
I’d Rather Not

Image for article: The Year My Family Unravelled

Cynthia Dearborn
The Year My Family Unravelled

Life
Image for article: Tuna crudo, kohlrabi pickle, mint and burnt garlic oil

Food

Tuna crudo, kohlrabi pickle, mint and burnt garlic oil

Karen Martini

An outfit from Adeju Thompson’s collection “Cloth as a Queer Archive”.

Fashion

Adeju Thompson at Paris Fashion Week

Lucianne Tonti Paris Fashion Week has just had its first glimpse of Nigerian designer Adeju Thompson, whose gender-fluid designs blend traditional adire, Eurocentric styles and the anti-fashion avant-garde.

A sculpture on the ocean floor.

Environment

Underwater sculptures preserving the Great Barrier Reef

Mark Dapin Eco-artist Jason deCaires Taylor’s latest underwater sculptures are helping to preserve the Great Barrier Reef, and constantly evolving as hosts for corals and other sea creatures.

Puzzles

The Cryptic

link to this week\'s crossword

Crossword No. 456

The Quiz

1. What date is the middle day of a non-leap year?
2. What percentage of all water on and in the Earth is saline: (a) about 97 per cent; (b) about 87 per cent; (c) about 77 per cent; or (d) about 67 per cent?
3. The initials of the colour model RGB stand for what?
4. In cartoons, who is the archenemy of Bugs Bunny?
5. Above which number on a standard keyboard would you find the asterisk symbol?
6. Who was the youngest of the Brontë sisters?
7. Ichthyology is the scientific study of what?
8. In which century did the art movement Dadaism begin?
9. What was the name of the submersible that catastrophically imploded near the Titanic shipwreck last month, killing the pilot and his four passengers?
10. Bazball, the aggressive brand of cricket played by the English men’s Test team, is named after their coach. Who is he? (Bonus points for naming where the second Ashes Test is being played and the Australian player who scored the winning runs in the first Test.)

Click through for answers.

Quotes

Media

“If the CEO fucks a goat and everyone was piling on then surely I would not be precluded from doing the same?”

Peter van OnselenThe former political editor at Network Ten complains that a non-disparagement clause prevents him from doing his job. This at least explains the total lack of goat-fucking in his recent columns.

Politics

“At all times I have worked my hardest in the public interest.”

Gladys BerejiklianThe former New South Wales premier responds to an Independent Commission Against Corruption report that found she engaged in serious corrupt conduct. The report recommended no charges, presumably because dating Daryl Maguire was punishment enough.

Law

“Mr Roberts-Smith accepts he should pay costs of the proceedings.”

Nicholas Owens, SCThe barrister for Nine Entertainment notes Ben Roberts-Smith has agreed to pay costs in his failed defamation case. Looking back, it probably would have been cheaper not to kill any civilians.

Sport

“Is there not a world in which one can be supportive of the transgender community and curious about the fairness of Trans athletes in sport…”

Lance ArmstrongThe disgraced cyclist questions the participation of trans athletes in elite sport. For those following closely, oestrogen was basically the only substance he wasn’t taking.

Gangs

“I would like to thank Geoffrey Nettle for his work and wish him well for the future.”

Jaclyn SymesThe Victorian attorney-general announces she will disband the office set up to investigate the Lawyer X scandal, after the state repeatedly refused to prosecute police misconduct. The whole process has been about as convincing as Tony Mokbel’s wig.

Tech

“No joking. Fight with words only.”

Maye MuskThe mother of Elon Musk forbids her son from participating in a planned cage fight with Mark Zuckerberg. We’re not sure if this is relevant, but in terms of looking like axolotls there are few people in the world as evenly matched.

ISRAEL–HAMAS WAR

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