Latest Articles
ABCers know their jobs are safe and that, for all Dutton’s fulminations, no government will insist on reform, let alone cut the broadcaster loose
Oct 12 2024
5 mins
Companies, universities, law societies and other bodies cast a Yes vote as the only decent thing to do. Equality of all citizens be damned
Oct 12 2024
15 mins
The man behind X has been obliged to bow before a censorship regime we may soon see in Australia
Oct 10 2024
11 mins
Diversion
Water won’t be told,
having all the answers:
spill, overflow, current
sluice, level, torrent
farmsaving phreatic.
Today, it’s bellowing
Inundate! down our track
dust-and-lizard all summer
but from deluging skies
a dangerous drunk.
Offered options
that don’t mention uphill
bottle or dam
water is sometimes persuaded
so here I am, outside-in
as cold rain meets sweat.
I dig and call, cajole
eventually it comes
barking into diversion
scenting the rock-rolling creek.
I squelch to the generator
umbilical cord it to loud life,
peel to skinsmoke in the kitchen,
hit up the shower’s hot needles.
Water won’t be told
but sometimes will sidestep
rather than kick arse.
Many will disagree, but World War III is too great a risk to run by involving ourselves in a distant border conflict
Sep 25 2024
5 mins
To claim Aborigines have the world's oldest continuous culture is to misunderstand the meaning of culture, which continuously changes over time and location. For a culture not to change over time would be a reproach and certainly not a cause for celebration, for it would indicate that there had been no capacity to adapt. Clearly this has not been the case
Aug 20 2024
23 mins
A friend and longtime supporter of Quadrant, Clive James sent us a poem in 2010, which we published in our December issue. Like the Taronga Park Aquarium he recalls in its 'mocked-up sandstone cave' it's not to be forgotten
Aug 16 2024
2 mins
