NOVEMBER 17, 2018

GIVE THE GIFT OF CRIKEY | TIP OFF | VIEW IN BROWSER

Welcome to the best of Crikey for the week,

Scott Morrison might love baseball caps, but he’s struggling to hit a home run. This week, we discussed Morrison’s headwear, his mounting attacks on the press, and his policy failures, at home and abroad.

Elsewhere, we looked at the controversial national security law at the heart of the Witness K and Bernard Collaery trial. Guy Rundle explains how, despite the horrifying attack in Bourke Street, Melbourne retained a spirit lost to other cities. And Foxtel brings the Christmas cheer by sacking staff.

As ever, we’re keen to hear what you think. Write to us at boss@crikey.com.au.

Have a great weekend,

Anonymous
Whistleblower

Scott Morrison ramps up Trumpian rhetoric against journalists

CHRISTOPHER WARREN 3 minute read

Scott Morrison's suggestion that an ABC reporter was a Labor partisan is just one the ways he's been channelling Trumpism.

A light extinguished at the end of a quiet street, in a city at the end of the world

GUY RUNDLE 7 minute read

Despite the provocation of an attack on what we love, of the killing of a man who was, in a small way, in our souls, we have retained a spirit lost to other cities.

The controversial law that will decide the future of the Witness K trial

MADELEINE MILLER 5 minute read

The Witness K and Bernard Collaery case could well continue behind closed doors, prompting great concern over their right to a fair trial. But who gets to make the decision?

2018 Victorian election

What are Dan Andrews’ chances of retaining the premiership?

CHARLIE LEWIS 4 minute read

With the Victorian state election just around the corner, Crikey is taking a deep dive into the major players' histories.

The man who wants Dan Andrews’ job

CHARLIE LEWIS 4 minute read

While Labor are favourites in the upcoming state election, the outcome is far from certain. Let's look at the opposition leader they're up against.

While others abandon preference whispering, Victoria persists

WILLIAM BOWE 3 minute read

Victorian Labor has been fairly consistent in its reticence to let go of group voting tickets.

The latest Victorian candidate to be felled by a questionable history

CHARLIE LEWIS 2 minute read

The Victorian Liberals candidate is just the latest political hopeful whose questionable history has brought them down, leading to the question: do none of these parties have access to a search engine?

Bloated Home Affairs is keeping alive the industry of counter-terrorism

HELEN RAZER 4 minute read

Giving more power to an ineffective Home Affairs department will do nothing to assuage livid Australians after another Bourke Street tragedy.

Abbott’s vision for remote education has been tried, and failed

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If there is anything Tony Abbott wants out of his consolation prize as Special Envoy for Indigenous Affairs — aside from publicity — it is to reinforce English-only instruction for remote Aboriginal kids. It began with his declaration on Sky News that Aboriginal kids must “learn to think in the national language”: a message he has reproduced, just as ham-fistedly, everywhere in his fly-in fly-out tour of remote schools. — Amy Thomas

Stigmatising Aboriginal languages — and by extension, their speakers — is still in vogue despite the many complex realities on the ground.

Will ScoMo ever cut through in irreligious Australia?

GUY RUNDLE 5 minute read

Scott Morrison is trying to find the right balance between his dual image as a devout Christian, and a daggy but relatable suburban dad.

Foxtel posts Christmas party invites, redundancy notices on same day

CRIKEY 4 minute read

Foxtel gives the Christmas gift of redundancy, Chris Smith is set to rejoin Nine Entertainment, and the Nine-Fairfax merger is less valuable than ever.

Amateurish Morrison pays the price for trade stupidity

BERNARD KEANE 3 minute read

Australia's foolish protectionism, when accompanied by base political calculation, makes for a policy mess.

And the Wankley goes to…

EMILY WATKINS 3 minute read

...Sydney radio station 2GB for bringing back the "Fake Sheikh".

A man who wears many hats

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Whether worn ironically by hipsters, pugnaciously by rappers or boorishly by fratboys, baseball caps also evoke a perma-boyhood of consequence-free play. Holden Caulfield, the juvenile antihero of The Catcher in the Rye, wears his cap backwards, catcher-style; so does slobby sports writer Oscar Madison in Neil Simon’s 1965 play The Odd Couple (later a TV sitcom). Meanwhile, Lleyton Hewitt spearheaded a perplexing trend of tennis bros who refuse to use sunhats for their intended purpose. — Mel Campbell

Baseball caps have always sent a simple message: they show whose side you’re on. That’s awful handy for a politician like Scott Morrison.

Confused, contradictory, incompetent: Morrison and Co just aren’t up to it

BERNARD KEANE 3 minute read

The Morrison government is stuffing up everything it touches, domestically and diplomatically.

When Harry Met Sally is not a scientific study of male-female friendships

HELEN RAZER 4 minute read

Don't listen to Nora Ephron. And definitely don't listen to Gwenyth Paltrow. Men and women can be friends.

It’s time for real oversight on intelligence and counter-terrorism

BERNARD KEANE 3 minute read

There is no reason why the failures around Man Haron Monis, Hassan Khalif Shire Ali, and the Khayat brothers won't continue to happen. If they do, politicians have a lot to answer for.