Jonathan Green

Thirty-eight Australian women have been killed this year in violent acts. And on Monday nights we tune in to Game of Thrones to witness rape as entertainment. The issue isn’t that we should shy from the difficult or confronting problems in society. But that it’s a quietly disturbing thing to have such ugly human extremity reduced to a deftly filmed narrative device. Just another plot point.

It says a lot about our politics that the key issue of social inclusion and equity being championed politically, capturing the undivided attention of our Parliament, is same-sex marriage. Not equal pay. Not offshore detention. Not domestic violence and murder. Not Indigenous recognition and chronic disadvantage. Not even abortion law reform. Same-sex marriage is an unambitious no-brainer that will become a reality soon enough, but not before politics has slowed the pace of change, if only to m…

This week in Australian politics and media was a wreck: a rolling, muddy scuffle of buffoonery, self-interest, score settling and fear. Yes the whole Zaky Mallah farrago, from thoughtless Q&A troll casting, to the grotesquely inflated hypocrisy of the tabloid response and the censorious, red-cheeked, blustering outrage of government. Put it all together and you might just give way to despair.

The differences between Australia and the United States might appear too great right now, but it’s not difficult to see how we could be tumbled out of our comfort zone. We could yet be trumped.

We can be thankful this current election campaign has been remarkably free of appeals to the more visceral fears. That we haven’t seen the violent responses experienced elsewhere. And yet...

“He wasn’t just playing with jokes, he was playing with everything.” RN presenter Jonathan Green, John Clarke’s friend and collaborator, looks back on what made the satirist tick.

When Yindjibarndi leader Michael Woodley said ‘no’ to Andrew Forrest’s proposal for his company FMG to mine on Yindjibarndi land, it led to a legal tussle that went on for 12 years. FMG’s tactics in the battle irrevocably split the community and led to the destruction of many heritages sites. The High Court’s acknowledgement of their Native Title claim over the land opens up the door for them to sue FMG for compensation.

A new five year research project will explore, in part, the historical and cultural links between desert and coastal Aboriginal people in northern WA, from the Western Desert to the coastal Pilbara. It’s called ‘From the Desert to the Sea: Managing Rock Art, Country and Culture’ The multiple partners include academics, Aboriginal organisations, and mining companies.

A discussion about fashion in the era of AIDS - from the way in which it was used as a tool for political action, its role in shaping, concealing and articulating the masculine body, and the impact of AIDS on the fashion industry and a generation of international designers.

Lauren Oyler, author and essayist, recounts her reluctant journey into Goop at sea, featuring dry skin brushing, holistic skin care, and a searching moral inventory with a psychological astrologer.