Issues and policies
Penny Wong’s next big fight
Does the foreign minister believe AUKUS positions Australia for an inevitable Pacific war, or does she still think we needn’t choose between the US and China?

Climate justice in the Pacific
The lack of global action on the climate crisis has left grassroots groups leading the fight against catastrophe in PNG
The Sydney-based fashion label Ellery collapsed in 2019, leaving creditors owed millions, so why is the brand, now in Paris, still feted as an Australian success story?
The idea that governments must not pursue policy they didn’t take to an election is political nonsense
How lockdowns and personal struggles led Jess McGuire to her new gig as a host of ABC Western Plains radio
Taciturn letters to the author’s family, written by his grandfather on World War One battlefields, prompt consideration of intergenerational trauma
Sovereignty of imagination: Alexis Wright
A new novel from the acclaimed Indigenous writer occasions a survey of her work, immersed in Country and the ongoing experience of colonisation
Slide and the family stone: Mike Hewson
The artist playing with risk and constructing public spaces that make wry observations of how we treat nature in our urban environments
Donkey gong: Jerzy Skolimowski’s ‘EO’
The venerable Polish director’s latest film follows a donkey on a moving yet unsentimental journey
Rebecca Makkai’s ‘I Have Some Questions for You’
In this sharp campus novel about memory and abuse, a woman returns to the boarding school where her friend was murdered
Pip Williams’ ‘The Bookbinder of Jericho’
The Australian author’s second novel returns to World War One England to consider the significance of meaningful work for women
‘When in doubt, make a fool of yourself’
The inspirational advice from a book that emboldened the author to pursue a career in writing and cartooning, and to approach life with joy