September 16 – 22, 2023

‘I am in robust health’: Rupert Murdoch hands the empire to Lachlan

Rick Morton At the age of 92, Rupert Murdoch has finally stepped down as chair of News Corp. The ‘most dangerous man in the world’ has put his son in charge.

Lachlan Murdoch and Rupert Murdoch sit in the stands of an arena.

A portrait photograph of a woman with black hair and dressed in a red blazer.

News

‘They price it in’: The woman taking on corporate Australia

Rick Morton In an interview with The Saturday Paper, the ACCC chair details her plans to aggressively litigate major companies, with a particular focus on cost of living.

News
Stuart Robert wearing a blue blazer in Parliament.
A police officer shows a document to a woman in a floral robe.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has ochre smeared on his forehead by a man in a blue blazer at Parliament House.
A lithium hydroxide processing plant.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un surrounded by bodyguards.

Comment

Letters, Cartoon & Editorial

Cartoon

ReadCartoon image, links to full cartoon page

Editorial
In defence of Marcia Langton

It is no coincidence that in the campaign against the Voice this is happening again. Forbidding words from usage is a powerful form of disenfranchisement. The rule now is that a “Yes” campaigner cannot say the “No” case is racist, even when it is.

Letters

Betrayal of principle

It is distressing to read backbenchers are being gagged if they cannot actively support the “No” campaign (Karen Middleton, “Liberal ‘Yes’ supporters threatened with losing preselection”, …

Not a contest of ideas

Revelations that Coalition MPs in support of the “No” campaign have greatly outspent others on social media advertising raises a disturbing question. Is this campaign more about rebooting political …

Read More

Culture
Greyscale portrait photograph of a young woman with dark hair and a nose piercing.

Profile

Director Noora Niasari

Stephen A. Russell Director Noora Niasari’s debut feature film Shayda – Australia’s official nomination for the international Oscar – is driven by dark childhood memories.
Two performers on stage.

Theatre

Death of a Salesman

Ben Brooker Anthony LaPaglia powerfully portrays a man of crumbling illusions in Neil Armfield’s vital production of Death of a Salesman.
A woman in a colourful dress stands on a beach and rests her head on a man in a white blazer beside her.

Film

Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera

Christos Tsiolkas La Chimera is a transcendent film that blurs the boundaries of the ancient and the modern and recalls the greatest artists of Italian cinema.
A scene from The Ren & Stimpy Show.

The Influence

Sarah Giles on the cartoon Ren & Stimpy

Neha Kale A childhood love of Ren & Stimpy allowed award-winning theatre director Sarah Giles to see that creating art from the silly and absurd is an act of bravery.

Fiction

Nipples

“In front of Gabrielle d’Estrées et une de ses soeurs, an older woman is pinching a younger woman’s right nipple. Another woman is photographing them. The women are clothed. They are obviously imitating the painting but it is unclear if they’re culture jamming or creating a memorable moment for themselves. Other gallery-goers wanting to study the painting hold back, wondering, disturbed, intrigued. Some wish the women were naked like the two foregrounded women in the painting taking a bath, washing down whiteness with the king’s blessing. ”

John Kinsella

Books
Book cover: the title and and author name in black text across a yellow and green background.

Zadie Smith
The Fraud

Book cover: A man in speedos jumping into a suburban swimming pool.

Joel Deane
Judas Boys

Image for article: The Tour

π.O.
The Tour

Life
Image for article: Steamed clams with black bean sauce

Food

Steamed clams with black bean sauce

Andrew McConnell

A woman wearing a wide-bream hat plays miniature golf as a truck passes on the highway behind her.

Travel

Crossing the Nullarbor Plain

Dave Tacon The Nullarbor Plain is more than a long road trip – for the author it was a chance to re-establish a family tradition and reconnect with the Australian landscape.

A pair of ALFL players check their teammate, who is sprawled unconscious on a football pitch.

Sport

The battleground of sports concussion

Martin McKenzie-Murray Controversy in the AFL Tribunal follows a Senate report into head trauma in sport, and raises further questions about the willingness to risk bodies – and minds – for the sake of victory.

Puzzles

The Cryptic

link to this week\'s crossword

Crossword No. 467

The Quiz

1. The first Indigenous Australian to become a federal member of parliament was Neville [who]?
2. Wentletraps, strombs, cowries and dogwhelks are all types of what?
3. True or false: Charles Kingsford Smith served as a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps during World War II.
4. Which three-time Melbourne Cup-winning jockey has announced he will retire later this year? (Bonus points for naming the horses he rode to Melbourne Cup wins.)
5. The song “Ben”, a 1972 hit for Michael Jackson, is about what type of animal?
6. Krk, Hvar, Rab and Cres are all islands of which nation?
7. Where in the human body would you find the medial meniscus?
8. Pālak is the romanised Hindi word for what vegetable?
9. Based on Agatha Christie’s Hallowe’en Party, the latest film starring Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot is titled A Haunting in [where]?
10. On Boxing Day of what year did a deadly tsunami strike the coast of several countries of South and South-East Asia?

Click through for answers.

Quotes

Legacy

“I can make no sense of why he would do that and I was so disappointed that that was going to overshadow everything …”

Karen AndrewsThe ex-home affairs minister reflects on learning that Scott Morrison had secretly sworn himself into her own ministry. She should relax: there’s no way he could overshadow her involvement in the systematic torture of refugees.

Referendum

“Forget the confected outrage. It’s unbecoming.”

Peter DuttonThe opposition leader criticises Labor’s reaction to his approach on the referendum. It must hurt to be called “unbecoming” by a man who wakes up every morning and is still Peter Dutton.

Culture

“I take a step forward to start season 4 once again with an astute humility.”

Drew BarrymoreThe actor announces her show The Talk will return to air, crossing the picket line on the writers’ strike. Sure, it’s scabbing, but at least two of the films she did with Adam Sandler appear to have been made without writers, too.

Politics

“Well, one said I was very handsome.”

Mark SpeakmanThe New South Wales opposition leader responds to news that only 9 per cent of surveyed voters could identify him. It would help if his name didn’t seem like it had been generated by an AI tasked with writing a mid-tier political drama.

Faith

“Certainly, for Presbyterians, the question of what you do in church as public worship is a particularly sensitive issue.”

John McCleanA Presbyterian spokesman explains why his church has banned acknowledgements of Country. In fairness, their active involvement in the Stolen Generations doesn’t get acknowledged enough, either.

War

“They can be melted down to bullets they can shoot at the Russians.”

Sean PennThe actor decides to give his two Academy Awards to Ukraine, apparently for the purpose of arms manufacture. “Shoot at the Russians” has been Hollywood’s answer to everything for at least 50 years.

ISRAEL–HAMAS WAR

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