By this author
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 …
One angry state, inept One Nation
Today
Western Australians have spoken, and loudly
Editor’s Note April 2017
blog
Pauline Hanson has never struggled to attract attention. And she’s never managed to hold on to it. Her regular returns to public life are often blamed on “the media”, for giving her too much oxygen – as if denying her a voice might assuage others’ …
Editor’s Note March 2017
blog
“A scam artist, an ignoramus, a professional liar, a colossal and malignant narcissist, a vulgarian, a casino operator, a serial bankrupt – a Roy Cohn–mentored billionaire with deep Mob connections – is in the White House. Has there ever been …
Defining clean to include dirty
Today
The Turnbull government is peddling energy myths and climate denialism
Editor’s Note February 2017
blog
The first week of Donald Trump’s presidency may not have revealed anything new about the man, but it did confirm the worst fears for his rule. Any doubts over whether he meant what he said – about immigration bans, voter fraud, building a wall, trade …
The Centrelink summer
blog
The government will be scorched unless it acts soon
Editor’s Note December 2016 – January 2017
blog
The American people elected a candidate who promised to upend their political system. As with Brexit, it was a political result that seemed to come out of nowhere. The politics of rage, of populism, of protest, are overwhelming Western nations. In the …
Editor’s Note November 2016
blog
The election of the most powerful person in the world was always going to be dramatic, but the fascination and disgust generated by Donald Trump has led to democratic effects that few predicted. The campaign has been a circus, and no one, it seems, can …
Editor’s Note October 2016
blog
“In 2016,” writes Alison Croggon in the new issue of the Monthly, “it became clear that Australian arts are facing the worst crisis since before the Australia Council was founded in 1967.” For several years, the Monthly’s …
Editor’s Note September 2016
blog
What is the role of the ABC? This question has never been more important. As commercial newsrooms struggle amid collapsing revenue – as jobs are lost, desks are closed – and their very existence comes under threat, the public will look to the …
Playing charades
Politics
From the census debacle to the Don Dale scandal, politicians and the public have short memories
Editor’s Note July 2016
blog
This month in a landmark essay, the great indigenous leader Galarrwuy Yunupingu writes about his history and culture, and sums up a lifetime of his thinking about relations between settler and Aboriginal cultures. “My father had to sacrifice much, …
