Comment

According to Julie Bishop, she didn’t lobby for Greensill Capital. She did call Josh Frydenberg while he was treasurer, but that was only to set up a briefing. She did introduce the company’s founder to Mathias Cormann on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, too, but she promises she didn’t make any representations.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has been waxing eloquent about his strategy to reclaim seats lost in the last election and to prevent the loss of more. Yet he has consistently failed to address any of the Coalition policy failings behind those losses – principally the issues of integrity in government, gender equality and the need for urgent and substantive climate action.

Federal cabinet concluded its wide-ranging discussion on the government’s electoral prospects on Monday with the consensus that the most opportune time for the prime minister to call the election would be this Sunday, for April 12. There was, however, one big caveat: the gathering menace of Cyclone Alfred.

Australia should expect Chinese activity near its shores and airspace to become more frequent. Still, there are sound military and political reasons for Australia not to make too much of this affair.

This week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reassured us he has complete faith in America’s security guarantee. That is not a big surprise. In recent years, as China has challenged the familiar and agreeable American-led order in Asia, both sides of politics have lazily assumed we could depend on the United States to defend that order.

Eleven years ago today, the first issue of The Saturday Paper arrived on front lawns, as small and pale as a duckling. Anthony Albanese was shadow minister for transport and Peter Dutton was underperforming in health. They weren’t much and they still aren’t.

Darkness is not to be scorned. Darkness has its illumination. Saint John of the Cross called it the ray of darkness. We are called into the night, the abyss, to reckon with the things of the soul, to reach God. In the dark is a light of hope.

A flurry of major announcements in the past two weeks, taking full advantage of incumbency, has provided the launching pad for Anthony Albanese to call the election within days.

Our education system is built for white knowledge and our workplaces elevate white people into leadership by default. This is not just a mere inconvenience for people who experience racism – these systems cause harm to communities, so that those who benefit can thrive.

A ‘crisis’ in democracy is the framing we’ve come to continually hear – often from the media, which has a tendency to escalate our legitimate fears at times when we most need a sober, reflective and constructive approach to grappling with what are very real threats to our social and democratic compact.