AN INSIDER’S OUTSIDE VIEW OF AUSTRALIAN POLITICS AND ECONOMICS.
The Lucky Country is an insider’s outside view of Australia’s most important political and economic debates. Hosted by The Australia Institute’s Chief Economist Richard Denniss, The Lucky Country is a weekly podcast from Schwartz Media which applies common sense to complex issues.
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This week
What went wrong inside Australia Post?
The mail carrier’s chief executive has been asked to stand aside after revelations of luxury watches gifted to executives, but the company is facing much deeper crises.Much of the week’s drama has returned to some form of the same question: Is the national postal service completely out of touch with community expectations?
Queensland teenagers launch legal challenge of Adani mine
Brooklyn O'Hearn and Claire Galvin have lodged a legal request for the Environment minister to revoke approval for the Carmichael mine, citing research linking its associated emissions with damage to up to 18,000 square kilometres of the World Heritage site.
Probe into Western Sydney airport land deal
A scathing audit of the Infrastructure Department’s purchase of land for the Western Sydney airport has led to an AFP investigation. But this is only the latest controversy in a long history of scandals relating to the Badgerys Creek site.
Victoria’s hotel quarantine inquiry
While Victoria’s hotel quarantine inquiry has been marked by the poor recall of some politicians and senior bureaucrats, the seeds of disaster were likely sown several governments ago.
Comedian and actor Rose Matafeo
On the verge of international stardom, Rose Matafeo combines supremely confident ambition with deep personal doubt. “Seeing yourself on screen is the fucking worst thing ever. Your perception of yourself is the best version of yourself that you perform in the mirror, and that is not what other people see.”
After the virus: Radical optimism for the arts
There are two potential futures I can see for the arts in Australia: one in which we emerge from the pandemic strengthened in our purpose, where the arts and cultural economies are valued for their intangible public benefits, where creativity and imagination lead us – and another where the search for financial certainty and economic returns reshapes what artists can make.
Will Scott Morrison go full-term?
It is always fascinating to watch the cat-and-mouse game that Australian prime ministers play with election dates. Unencumbered by fixed terms, convention dictates that the campaign starts whenever the incumbent believes they are in the best position to win.
Gadfly: Not so glad to be Glad
Our Gladys this week played a crowd-pleasing game of Twister. With one hand on the square called “love”, a foot on “insubstantial relationship”, and another on “not really a boyfriend”. With all her might she tried to keep off the tile called “tickle from the top”. The contortion was painful to behold. Yet, there she is – still Our Glad, sort of.
The Australians had seven prisoners. Afghans, captured during a drug raid in the country’s war-torn Helmand province; hogtied, hands bound behind their backs. Their mission complete, the soldiers were awaiting a United States aircraft to pick them up. What happened next remains unproved, but the recollection of one US soldier is chilling.
Failures of the criminal justice system
As politicians play a tough-on-crime game to win votes, pushing Australia’s incarceration rates ever upwards, an initiative led by high-profile patrons aims to reform the justice system and end a narrow-minded reliance on prison sentences.
Biden’s plan to make America’s influence great again
Chinese officials in altercation over Taiwan celebration in Fiji. Protesters killed in anti-police protests in Lagos. Memorial held in Paris for murdered teacher.
Lindy Lee’s powerful MCA retrospective demonstrates both her artistic strength and her vulnerability.
Ben Wheatley’s new adaptation of Rebecca opts for safe nostalgia over du Maurier’s conflicted subtext.
Linear time / is something Settlers brought here / A version of time / that creates distance / Things that happened / a hundred years ago / are further away / than things that happened yesterday / A version of time / weaponised against Indigenous peoples / Our life ways / called ‘backward’ / the past not of the future
An AFL grand final far from the heartland
For footy fans struggling under lockdown in Melbourne, the 2020 AFL season has been both a welcome distraction and a reminder of what has been lost. Now it’s set to culminate with the previously unthinkable – a grand final under lights at the Gabba.
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