THE NATION REVIEWED

“It seems unfair. Stephen Smith is one of the nicest people in politics. What did he do to deserve defence?”

In the Monthly Comment, Hugh White looks at the challenges Stephen Smith will face as defence minister. The government’s policy on Afghanistan is under intense public scrutiny, while years of ministerial neglect has left Australia with a serious defence policy deficit. The question is: can Smith do better?

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Plus, in “The Price of Parenthood”, Lisa Pryor reflects on the laws of surrogacy; and in “Bad Old Days”, Jack Marx unleashes the Sydney identity and man-about-town Charles Waterstreet.

THE MONTHLY ESSAYS

“An intriguing aspect of [Julia] Gillard’s character is her failure to participate in the debate on Labor’s identity. Intelligent, feisty and at times irreverent, she is the type of person you would normally expect to have made a contribution. Yet she has not written books, essays or even newspaper articles on this subject. It is a striking gap in her political CV.”

In “No Exit”, Mark Latham advances three proposals for the renewal of the ALP. He assesses by turns the problem of Labor’s identity, the failure of Rudd’s technocratic model of government and the sterilisation of policy-making in a culture of committees and summits. Latham asks: is there no exit from the dilemmas of the Labor movement?

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“Our intelligence agencies are far more secretive than those overseas, employing an air of subterfuge that sometimes borders on the comical.”

In “Hidden Agendas”, Sally Neighbour pries open the gates to our complex intelligence agencies, on which Australia now spends around $1.4 billion per annum. Neighbour looks at amended counterterrorism laws, court-sanctioned secrecy by ASIO in matters of national security, conflicts between police and intelligence operations, and the failure of independent inquiries to keep our secret services in check.

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“Ask anyone: What is the state of the state of New South Wales? Lousy. MPs dancing in underpants. MPs rorting expenses. MPs impregnating parliamentary staffers. MPs in their offices watching porn.”

In “A Matter of Faith”, Jana Wendt traces the – rather athletic – steps of Kristina Keneally, premier of NSW. Keneally discusses her Ohio upbringing and political ambitions, Catholicism, and what it means to be the leader of a reviled state government. Whether Keneally can save NSW is yet to be seen – but, as one party insider puts it, “at least she stopped the laughter and the ridicule.”

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“Many international students have good experiences. Many return to their home countries happy with their study, and facing better futures because of their Australian qualification. But there is also a dark side.”

In “Exodus”, Margaret Simons uncovers the desiccation of the international student sector in Australia, a multibillion-dollar industry. Recent changes in government policy have led to sudden closures of educational colleges, decreases in international student enrolments and widespread uncertainty among students from overseas. Simons assesses the financial and human cost of the government’s backflips on education and migration policy.

ARTS & LETTERS

“It was a more troubling return [to Sydney] than usual because, actually, when it comes right down to it, I’m not at all sure I like the city I’ve lived in for the better part of 40 years.”

In “Under the Bridge”, Drusilla Modjeska reviews Delia Falconer’s Sydney, sharing the author’s ambivalent feelings for a city both “under the spell of natural beauty” and “addicted to the ugly”. Modjeska, like Falconer in her book, balances her yearning for a lost past with the enduring pull of a city she ultimately admires. 

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“The more fondly Lunn fantasises about an Australia hunched inside its rabbit-proof fence, the more unidyllic it seems. ‘Most people in Australia kept chooks,’ Lunn authoritatively declares. Yes, my parents did; that’s exactly why I am happy to buy eggs from the supermarket, confident that the chooky cack has been washed off them in advance.”

In “Lest We Forget”, Peter Conrad briefly surrenders to the nostalgia of Hugh Lunn’s compilation of Australian lingo, Words Fail Me. But beneath the colloquialisms and anecdotes of yesteryear, Conrad recalls a more unpalatable, sometimes nasty, way of life.

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Plus, in “Shadow Play”, Sebastian Smee takes a look at Peter Robb’s book Street Fight in Naples: A Book of Art and Insurrection; Robert Forster reviews Allo Darlin’s debut album; and Luke Davies writes on two not-for-the-faint-hearted films: Machete, by Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis, and The Loved Ones, by Australian director Sean Byrne.