May 8, 2018
Budget 2018: expect the expected
Today
Morrison will predict great things for the economy and spend accordingly
Nick Feik
By this author
March 1, 2018
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 …
April 27, 2018
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 …
January 26, 2018
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 …
December 1, 2017
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 …
October 27, 2017
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 …
October 1, 2017
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, …
September 1, 2017
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 …
August 1, 2017
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, …
June 29, 2017
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 …
July 1, 2017
Killing our media
Society
The impact of Facebook and the tech giants
May 25, 2017
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 …
April 28, 2017
Editor’s Note May 2017
blog
“Malcolm Turnbull, approaching two years in the job, has seemingly utterly failed to find favour with the Australian public,” writes Laura Tingle in her essay this month. “His major crimes? He isn’t who we thought he was. He …