Martin McKenzie-Murray After last week’s AFP raids, public servants speak out about Mike Pezzullo’s hypocrisy, the government’s culture of secrecy and whistleblower protections.

Karen Middleton As the government works to get its tax cuts through the upper house, Centre Alliance senators Rex Patrick and Stirling Griff have put a condition on their support, calling for adjustments to the domestic gas security mechanism.

Nina Funnell At the University of New England – reputedly the ‘most dangerous university for women’ in Australia – college student leaders have been themselves accused of sexual offences.

Drew Rooke Paul Mac has gone from playing the organ at church to forming a band with Daniel Johns, remixing tracks by Kylie Minogue and recording his latest album, Mesmerism. Here, he discusses his art, his love of trains and his political activism. “Unless we are continuously vigilant about the rights that we’ve gained, they can quite easily disappear again.”

Richard Cooke The Australian Federal Police raids on the offices of the ABC and the home of a News Corp journalist keep being described as ‘unprecedented’. They are certainly a degeneration, though these goonish interventions have always been there. Only their targets and locations have changed. An unbroken chain of raids, prosecutions, bannings, destructions, libel suits, intimidation and blacklistings drags its way through our history, all the way to the early colony.

Paul Bongiorno Scott Morrison is assiduously doing nothing much of consequence. In fact, this week he appeared to have taken a leaf out of the opposition leader’s book and, like Anthony Albanese, is doing a lot of listening. He has apparently decided this is the safest way of dealing with the press freedom brouhaha that has engulfed his government since its unexpected return to power.

Richard Ackland Senior members of the Commonwealth’s cop squad have been working overtime on coming up with fresh meanings for the phrase “national security”. To paraphrase Humpty Dumpty, it really means just what the government chooses it to mean, neither more nor less. Certainly it covers things such as bugging the Timor-Leste ministerial offices, or soldiers shooting the wrong people in Afghanistan, or plans by spooky public servants to spy on the entire population. All of that comes under the Humpty Dumpty definition, which really has nothing to do with national security at all, but more to do with government embarrassment.

The first missive from Sally McManus was brief. So veiled in its construction, the statement obscured the deeper issue with Setka. And in pushing to expel the union boss from the Labor Party, Anthony Albanese skirted the detail entirely.

Richard Ackland Since retiring from the judiciary, former High Court justice Michael Kirby has been busier than ever – lending his lofty intellect to, among other things, campaigns for a bill of rights and an Indigenous voice to parliament.

Jonathan Pearlman Hong Kong protests. Macron messages unheeded. Samoa sinks Rocketman. Military raids Sudan camp.

Andy Butler The Tangible Trace, the TarraWarra Museum of Art’s new exhibition, has works of subtle beauty, but ultimately asks too few challenging questions of its audience.

Shaad D’Souza Beyond the thrills, the glamour and the sexual tension, Killing Eve’s second season asks viewers to confront their own ambiguous morals – and therein lies the series’ greatest strength.

Kirsten Krauth Talking The Wife, The Female Persuasion and the female gaze with novelist Meg Wolitzer.

David Moyle

Sophia Auld When natural disasters strike, their impact on people with disability is even more diabolical. So what measures are being put in place to assist those affected?

Martin McKenzie-Murray Soldier turned prison guard Damien Brown is a man used to staring down danger. But his bid to become a UFC fighter posed one of his greatest challenges.

Cindy MacDonald Test your general knowledge with our weekly quiz.