By this author
Editor’s Note June 2018
blog
“The writer, like the murderer, needs a motive,” Janet Malcolm once wrote. For good reason, a savvy writer is wary of being written about. Knowing what’s involved, why should she submit herself to the motives – and the savage scrutiny – of …
Editor’s Note May 2018
blog
In Australia, according to the latest census figures, the average woman does 14 hours of housework and family organisation per week; the average man does fewer than five. Women do three quarters of the child care, and 70 per cent of caring for elderly …
Budget 2018: expect the expected
Today
Morrison will predict great things for the economy and spend accordingly
Editor’s Note March 2018
blog
Looking at the news over the past fortnight (or year, or decade), you might reasonably wonder what on earth is the matter with Parliament House. What happens to people when they spend a lot of time there, and why? Luckily, we have a recent escapee …
Editor’s Note February 2018
blog
What does it mean to be Australian? Perhaps it means not understanding much about our history. The celebration of Australia Day on January 26 would certainly seem to suggest there’s a strong strain of willed ignorance in our national culture. How else …
Editor’s Note December 2017 – January 2018
blog
Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership has moved from merely ineffectual to disastrous, and he appears incapable of righting the ship. (This would require, at the very least, an acknowledgement of error – a developmental step beyond the prime minister to this …
Editor’s Note November 2017
blog
The November issue of the Monthly looks a little different. In fact, the magazine has been given a full redesign – the first one in its 12-year history – from the masthead right through to the final page number. Our design partners, Public …
Editor’s Note October 2017
blog
Australians may take satisfaction in their egalitarianism and scepticism towards authority, and are undoubtedly happy to cut down tall poppies. But when it comes to public criticism of historical icons and national narratives, or dissecting shared prejudices, …
Editor’s Note September 2017
blog
This isn’t the first and won’t be the last federal government to take refuge in Anglocentric patriotism. When the Coalition passed new laws limiting the ability of immigrants to gain citizenship unless they have near-perfect English, it was harking …
Editor’s Note August 2017
blog
Many months ago, Paddy Manning began planning an essay about the Australian Greens for our August issue to coincide with the party’s 25th birthday. Week by week, it became clearer that tensions which had existed from the start, but had never been resolved, …
Editor’s Note July 2017
blog
The Indigenous community spoke as one at the recent Uluru constitutional convention. “It was decisive and left no doubt about what people wanted,” writes Megan Davis in this month’s issue. It also brought “clarity and coherence to a discursive …
Killing our media
Society
The impact of Facebook and the tech giants
Editor’s Note June 2017
blog
“She had driven back and forth along the lake several times and chosen the only possible entry point,” writes Helen Garner. “Once in the water she accelerated. She did nothing to save her children or to help strangers who rushed to the scene, but …
