Comment

Ten days before Christmas and the usual carols, jolly Santas and decorated trees colour my local Balaclava shopping strip in inner Melbourne. But this year they coincide with the aftermath of the terrorist attack on the nearby Adass Israel Synagogue in Ripponlea, a ‘fuck Israel’ sign on the gazebo in my local park, ‘fuck jews’ on a lamppost and, further afield, cars set alight and messages of hate scrawled on fences in Jewish areas of Sydney. Welcome to Australia in 2024.

It’s likely that financial markets will be the final arbiter of the Trump presidency. As the reality of unfolding economic numbers fails to match his promises, amid the constant disruption and uncertainty of his administration, financial markets will react, most likely with significant pressure on stocks, interest rates and exchange rates.

The Future Fund is Australia’s version of a sovereign wealth fund. Established in 2006 from the proceeds of Telstra’s sale and boosted by budget surpluses, it represents our national savings. Why then should Australians be content to see it support the damaging industries of tobacco, pokies and weapons manufacturers, and fossil fuels?… Why shouldn’t the government make Australia’s Future Fund a genuine sovereign wealth fund, to ensure the benefits of our resource developments and budget discipline are realised for all Australians?

The prospect of the Dutton-led Coalition finishing a nose ahead of Labor raises fascinating possibilities on how it would get enough of the cross bench to support it in minority. Midweek, Dutton warned ‘a vote for the teal independents is a vote for Anthony Albanese’. More likely it would be a vote against Dutton and his policies, particularly on climate action. So far he has made no discernible effort to win back those voters who deserted the Liberals for the socially progressive independents.

I work at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and on this day I was supposed to talk about Magritte – the exhibition that’s on at the moment. I had a half-hour break time and was getting ready for my talk when I looked at my phone. I saw a message from a friend that parliament was going to pass the new migration laws. I was shocked when I saw the news. It is heartbreaking.

Sources in Canberra say Albanese was looking for a big bang start to 2025, similar to his stage three tax cuts announcement this year. The idea was to provide a springboard into an early poll, but Trump’s economic policies are an added motivation.

Identity is a shroud. It conceals contradiction, complexity and soul-affirming idiosyncrasy.

The world watched as Jimmy Lai, Hong Kong’s oldest and most prominent political prisoner, finally took the stand last week to give evidence in his trial under the controversial and far-reaching National Security Law.

The Albanese government may tout its solid economic achievements but it must remember what decided the election in the United States: the disconnect between the data and the lived experience of most Americans.

There is a sad irony in the fact that vicar and vicarious share the same root, that they both trace back to the Latin for substitute. It is within this grim, shared meaning that the church now argues it is not responsible for the actions of its priests.