DECEMBER 22, 2018

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Welcome to the best of Crikey for our final publishing week of 2018,

The year began with allegations of sexual misconduct by actor Craig McLachlan and is ending with another prominent actor, Geoffrey Rush, under a fresh spray of allegations. Our top story for the week unpacks the backroom calculations of both media lawyers and accusers. It’s written by media lawyer and writer Michael Bradley who has ably guided our readers (and us) through a year marked by landmark defamation cases, both actual and threatened.

As this is the last weekender of the year, we’ve also delivered this year’s Crikey awards, all wrapped up for you. Arsehat, person and politician of the year, along with some business and media winners and losers.

And don’t forget, there’s only a couple of days left to make the most of our end-of-year sale:

Give the gift of an annual Crikey gift membership this year. Save $40 when you use the promocode XMAS18.

Have a great new year,

Bhakthi Puvanenthiran
Managing Editor

Yael Stone, Geoffrey Rush and the risky maths of defamation

MICHAEL BRADLEY 4 minute read

As Rush stands accused afresh, each side (and the media) must calculate what to throw at their fight.

What exactly did Labor sell at the 2018 national conference?

ELIZA BERLAGE 3 minute read

Unlike the Liberals or the Greens, Labor runs an open shop during its national conference — but it is more like a display window then a factory floor.

365 days of failure: how Australia’s elites failed us in 2018

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The Liberals themselves ended the year with an invidious list of achievements. A hopelessly out of his depth man-child of a prime minister. Open warfare within its ranks over any number of issues — its treatment of women, factional brawls, the fallout from the dumping of Turnbull. Backbenchers threatening to defect. A Coalition junior partner offering its second sex scandal of the year and on the verge of dumping its own leader. Major issues like climate change are simply ignored because the government is incapable of rationally discussing policy. If this government was the plot of cheap political thriller, you’d mock how absurd it was. — Bernard Keane

The people who run Australia disgraced themselves this year, failing citizens on every level and corroding trust in our whole system of government.

The 2018 Crikey Awards

And the 2018 Person of the Year is…

CHARLIE LEWIS 3 minute read

Australia owes a great deal to the winners of the 2018 Person of the Year.

And the 2018 Arsehat of the Year is…

CHARLIE LEWIS 3 minute read

It was a crowded field, but the year's biggest arsehat stood arse and shoulders above the competition.

The 2018 Pollie of the Year is…

BERNARD KEANE 4 minute read

In a year in which the political class has failed to address the disaffection and contempt so many voters have for our political system, Bill Shorten has been far and away the most effective politician.

Risky business: the 2018 Crikey business awards

ADAM SCHWAB 4 minute read

From Theranos to Snapchat, 2018 was a stand-out year for bad business, but there were some winners.

And the Gold Wankley for 2018 goes to… Seven

EMILY WATKINS 2 minute read

In a year of dodgy journalism, Seven stood head and shoulders above the rest.

A year of insult and injury for job seekers and the unemployed

JEREMY POXON 3 minute read

This year was an annus horribilis for the poor — but the tireless campaigning of low-income advocates offers some hope for the future.

The ABC’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year

EMILY WATKINS 4 minute read

From sackings to political scandals, funding cuts to good old-fashioned cock-ups, the national broadcaster didn't have a great one.

Steven Marshall’s ‘new dawn’ struggles to usher in fresh light

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The government of Steven Marshall was elected in March on the promise of “a new dawn” after a campaign in which the new premier spent much time talking about his “strong plan for real change”. In reality that plan consisted of little more than a slick website and a string of wonkish proposals outlining the agenda for the first 100 days in government before concluding in a firm TBD. — Royce Kurmelovs

From healthcare to drug laws to deregulation, the South Australian government has spent the year keeping a low-profile between disappointments.

Can Morrison turn Jerusalem into a total debacle? He’s giving it a red-hot go

BERNARD KEANE 3 minute read

Scott Morrison's Jerusalem ploy during the Wentworth byelection was a stunt gone badly wrong — now he's trying to turn it into a full-blown disaster.

Nats to Nats, dust to dust: a year in staffer scandals

CHARLIE LEWIS 4 minute read

Staffers should never be the story. Here are all the times in 2018 that went out the window.

The problem with end-of-year lists (and Netflix specials)

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Although now 21, [Malala] Yousafzai is depicted still by Western media as adorably helpless or “The Bravest Girl in the World”. That this Muslim woman who needs no saving doesn’t slap anyone is to her credit, and it is to my unending amazement that anything Yousafzai says that is negative about the West or anything Yousafzai does to end Western economic dominance is routinely overlooked. May Western paternalism long admit this “girl” to its lists of honourees; she is the rare voice who speaks outside what Chomsky called the “bounds of the expressible”. — Helen Razer

The real heroes of our year are elaborating the language of Black Power and standing up to the “logic” of neoliberalism.

Why do the Nats keep behaving badly? Because they can get away with it.

BERNARD KEANE 4 minute read

This is the second time this year that a Nationals leader has kept a sex scandal from the Prime Minister, ensuring it wreaked havoc. Will they ever be held accountable?

How Australia’s governors-general stack up to the rest of the world

KISHOR NAPIER-RAMAN 3 minute read

David Hurley will be the third of the last four governors-general to come from the military top brass. This is not the norm.

The future is 5G, but what the hell is it?

4 minute read

Explaining the who, what, when, and how fast of 5G.

A Christmas without Christmas: on grief and holiday ritual

CHARLOTTE GUEST 5 minute read

You can't escape the idea of family at Christmas — blood or built. So how do you rewrite Christmas when that family changes?

Crikey’s 2018 end-of-year news quiz

CRIKEY 2 minute read

Who, literally and figuratively, had the biggest cow of 2018?