Karen Middleton While Labor faces a raft of legislation intended to split the party’s loyalties, the opposition leader has dismissed critics in his ranks who say he is capitulating to Scott Morrison’s agenda.

Mike Seccombe Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe is flouting convention, publicly calling on the government and business to do more to save Australia’s foundering economy.

John Martinkus The roots of the tension between the Australian government and the Timorese stretch far beyond the bugging scandal exposed by Witness K. Many believe John Howard’s peacekeeping initiatives at the end of the ’90s were too little and too late.

Kate Holden As the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s principal violin, Satu Vänskä teases astonishing music from her centuries-old instrument. But away from the stage, Vänskä’s musical tastes march to a very different beat. “You know what’s really sad? You can go through your whole life without ever hearing ’90s grunge. Not to mention Bach or Mozart. Or 1970s popular music. If we want to keep our art form alive … we try to bring back music in everyday conversation, so you can encounter something and awake that curiosity.”

Shaminda Kanapathi As the government of Papua New Guinea has vowed to remove all refugees from Manus Island, most of us who have been detained there for almost seven years are being transported to Port Moresby. It is a big change for us: disturbing and disruptive in many ways. I am in the Granville Motel. It has been fully booked for the Manus refugees. We have to use our boat ID numbers here too for all our needs. Our identity continues to be stripped away from us in PNG.

Paul Bongiorno The Morrison government is running away from a national integrity commission at breakneck speed. Its reluctance is made all the starker by its unrestrained willingness to seize on the embarrassment caused to its Labor opponents by Australia’s toughest anti-corruption body, the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption.

Richard Ackland It was a star-encrusted night on Tuesday as the New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties held its annual knees-up at Sky Phoenix in Sydney. This was not just a few lefties munching on dim sum around a lazy Susan in a Chinese restaurant. Rather, it was a grand affair bursting with judges, lawyers, politicians, scientists, captains of industry, academics, public administrators, journalists and other worthies.

This is what happens when your chief climate policy is prayer. Rainforests burn in the spring. Bushfires rage in two states before it is even summer. Rivers are silted with dead fish. Drought wrecks the inland.

Madeline Hayman-Reber Last weekend, Yorta Yorta grandmother Tanya Day would have turned 57. As the inquest into her death in police custody continues, her family is pushing for justice and holding the Andrews government to its promises for change.

Jonathan Pearlman Donald Trump cancels Taliban summit at Camp David. New Zealand TV’s plans to broadcast into Pacific. Boris Johnson’s options ahead of Brexit deadline. India’s attempted lunar landing.

Steve Dow In Avalanche: A Love Story, Maxine Peake’s powerful and personal performance charts the pain and yearning – but also the wry humour – found in writer Julia Leigh’s account  of undergoing IVF.

Eugene Yiu Nam Cheung In looking back at the 34 works commissioned by Kaldor Public Art Projects over the past 50 years, Making art public captures neither the energy of this medium nor the debate about its value.

Martin McKenzie-Murray The full life, troubled mind and untimely death of AFL icon Danny Frawley.

David Moyle

Cat Rodie In Britain, a new treatment has given women the opportunity to delay menopause. But does this risk demonising a natural part of the ageing process?

Brendan O’Keefe It’s been a roller-coaster Rugby World Cup preparation for the Wallabies – first came the sacking of star player Israel Folau, then a glorious victory against their nemesis, quickly followed by an ignominious defeat. So what are their prospects?

Cindy MacDonald Test your general knowledge with our weekly quiz.