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Editor’s Note October 2014
blog
It’s no simple task to mount a survey of the arts in Australia. By what criteria do we judge success and worth? Increasingly, the critical and popular response to artistic works is governed by financial considerations and other basic metrics. What was …
Editor’s Note September 2014
blog
In September, the Abbott government will celebrate its first birthday. Perhaps “celebrate” isn’t the right word. Most government MPs would give quiet thanks that the year is over, and concede it hasn’t been the one they expected. Voters are more …
The year of ruling dangerously
nation_reviewed
The Abbott government has achieved only chaos in its first year
Editor’s Note August 2014
blog
Malcolm Knox’s essay this month explores an issue that affects almost every Australian: the unchecked power of the country’s two biggest supermarket chains. Coles and Woolworths together have become an unstoppable retail juggernaut. Their behaviour …
Editor’s Note July 2014
blog
When the Monthly published Richard Flanagan’s magisterial essay on Gunns in May 2007, the logging behemoth seemed as powerful in Tasmania as a company could get. Flanagan’s essay was a catalyst for much broader discussion of the company and …
Editor’s Note June 2014
blog
Have Australians ever felt so shunned by politicians as they do today? The recent budget may have brazenly disregarded common voters, but the blame doesn’t all belong to the Abbott government. In his essay ‘A Class of Their Own’, Richard …
FRAMING THE BUDGET CRISIS
politicoz
The federal government's Commission of Audit report will at last be released this afternoon. Dubbed Fightback Mk II by some in the Coalition (after the huge and politically unpalatable document John Hewson took to the "unloseable" …
’GILLARD MOMENT’ HIGHLIGHTS BACKBENCH FEARS
politicoz
Prime Minister Tony Abbott appears to be facing a backbench revolt over some of his government's big-ticket items. The proposal for a 'deficit levy' has been described as 'electoral suicide' by at least one senior Liberal …
ICAC EXPLODES ON NSW LIBERALS
politicoz
In a new inquiry, ICAC heard yesterday that the Liberal Party is alleged to have received donations of at least $165,000 from property developers, who have been banned from donating to any political party in NSW since 2009, by funnelling cash through …
Editor’s Note May 2014
blog
Welcome to the 100th issue of the Monthly. As the new editor, it is my good fortune to announce this landmark, but the honour really belongs to others. The magazine’s reputation and success has been earnt by the gifted previous editors, by …
MEANS AND ENDS
politicoz
Tonight's Four Corners will air an interview with Immigration Minister Scott Morrison, during which he backs down from a guarantee he had previously given for the safety of asylum seekers inside the Manus Island Detention Centre. He'd …
The ties that bind
politicoz
…
Royal tour of Australia is all about creation of soft propaganda
politicoz
"This is succession planning. It's about laying down memories in Australia against the time the Queen dies. The first tour is the one that matters – the tour with the young couple and the baby, the gloss not worn off their marriage and …
