Politics
The stunted country
There can be no republic without constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians
The Monthly | Australian politics, society & culture
DAILY OPINION
If Novak Djokovic is “a talisman of anti-vaccination sentiment”, what does that make George Christensen?
FEATURED
Weaving Bob Dylan songs into a story of Depression-era hardship, Conor McPherson’s musical speaks to the broken America of today
If Novak Djokovic is “a talisman of anti-vaccination sentiment”, what does that make George Christensen?
The fossil-fuel industry’s grip on Australian hearts and minds
Is there hope that public misconceptions of the importance of coal and gas can be overcome?
Echidna poo has changed our understanding of human evolution
Citizen science is not only helping echidna conservation, but changing how we think about evolution
Final sentence: Gerald Murnane’s ‘Last Letter to a Reader’
The essay anthology that will be the final book from one of Australia’s most idiosyncratic authors
On Her Majesty’s secret disservice
The reporter who uncovered the truth about Kim Philby, the 20th century’s most infamous spy, and his warnings for democratic society
Resources
The fossil-fuel industry’s grip on Australian hearts and minds
Is there hope that public misconceptions of the importance of coal and gas can be overcome?
Politics
The unhinged pursuit of profit is destroying us
To undo the worst of neoliberalism we need to target need, rather than race or identity
National security
On Her Majesty’s secret disservice
The reporter who uncovered the truth about Kim Philby, the 20th century’s most infamous spy, and his warnings for democratic society
Art
The artist making sculpture for penguins
How creating sculpture for animals is transforming wildlife conservation and the art world
Theatre
Weaving Bob Dylan songs into a story of Depression-era hardship, Conor McPherson’s musical speaks to the broken America of today
Film
‘The Worst Person in the World’
Renate Reinsve is exceptional in Joachim Trier’s satisfying Nordic rom-com
State politics
Family’s grief compounded by WA’s hard border
The awful predicament of a Melbourne family unable to bring home their son’s body shows the callousness of WA’s border policy
Film
This year may have been difficult to live through, but it produced an extraordinary crop of films
Indigenous rights
Revisiting trauma is not the road to justice for Aboriginal people
History of Australia
Did Federation compromise our democracy?
How the advent of Australia’s national government separated power from people and place
Politics
The success of Indi MP Helen Haines points to more non-aligned voices in parliament
Environment
Echidna poo has changed our understanding of human evolution
Citizen science is not only helping echidna conservation, but changing how we think about evolution
A homemade algorithm chooses every book I read
How a monumental to-read list turned into a spreadsheet that randomly selects books
Books
Final sentence: Gerald Murnane’s ‘Last Letter to a Reader’
The essay anthology that will be the final book from one of Australia’s most idiosyncratic authors
Music
New kid on the block: The Kid Laroi
How Australia has overlooked its biggest global music star, an Indigenous hip-hop prodigy
Film
The Bond market: ‘Dune’ and ‘No Time To Die’
Blockbuster season begins with a middling 007 and a must-see sci-fi epic
Books
‘Crossroads’ by Jonathan Franzen
The acclaimed US author’s latest novel is a 1971 church drama modelled on ‘Middlemarch’
Television
The US drama about teen plane-crash survivors is a heady mix of folk horror and high-school betrayal
Today, we look back at the news events that defined 2021 - in sound.
HOST
GUEST
Australia detained him, but these Australians are trying to set him free
Assistant professor Dr Laura Beth Bugg on the campaign to free refugees from Manus Island and find them a permanent home.
HOST Ruby Jones
GUEST Laura Beth Bugg
Scott Morrison vs. the Liberal Party
Mike Seccombe on the real reason Scott Morrison wanted to enlist Gladys Berejiklian, and what it reveals about the Prime Minister’s weakening authority in his home state.
HOST Ruby Jones
GUEST Mike Seccombe