MARCH 23, 2019

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

On Monday this week, we thought it might be possible Australian media could reflect on itself. There was Kochie himself having a go at Pauline Hanson herself, asking her if she felt complicit in the atrocity in Christchurch, in stoking Islamophobia.

By Friday, the world had realigned, reflection was clearly not going to happen. Kochie spoke to Kiss FM: “I did go a bit hard,” he said with contrition.

In the intervening days, New Zealand was putting its heart back together. Two Crikey reporters, Rebekah Holt and Kishor Napier-Raman spent the week bringing us stories and insight from the heaving city of Christchurch.

Have a great weekend,

Bhakthi Puvanenthiran
Managing Editor

Terror in New Zealand

The gap between Australia and New Zealand is now a chasm

REBEKAH HOLT 4 minute read

On one side, government is showing compassion, strength and action. On the other, a tsunami of fear-mongering rolls on.

The call is coming from inside the house

RUBY HAMAD 5 minute read

A white supremacist killer has again shown us the violent hatred that lurks inside us. Don’t turn away without acknowledging it.

Jacinda Ardern battles history to reform New Zealand’s gun laws

KISHOR NAPIER-RAMAN 5 minute read

For years, politicians have tried and failed to reform New Zealand's gun laws. After Christchurch, Ardern may finally be able to do it.

The coverage of Christchurch will lead to more shootings

CHARLIE LEWIS 4 minute read

"If he knew in advance that no one would have published or discussed his manifesto, would that have changed things?"

The ‘far left’ and ‘far right’ moral equivalence game no longer works

GUY RUNDLE 4 minute read

The far-right is desperately trying to create a symmetrical world in which the far-left is seen as equally dangerous. They are failing.

Across the Tasman and into a land of common sense and kindness

REBEKAH HOLT 4 minute read

As a Crikey reporter battled a tight stopover in the rush to get to Christchurch, New Zealanders helped her get home to tell their story.

Not lone wolf nor automaton: the Christchurch terrorist doesn’t fit old narratives

GUY RUNDLE 5 minute read

It's time to abandon old assumptions to see clearly what’s happened, and what’s coming.

A hung parliament is a very real possibility for NSW

WILLIAM BOWE 3 minute read

The only other likely outcome is an outright Coalition win, despite the problems Gladys Berejiklian has in regional areas.

The Coalition is addicted to race-baiting. Don’t expect it to stop.

“	Scott Morrison can run but he can’t hide from his record of cynically exploiting race and Islamophobia for political gain, however much his political circumstances now demand he pretend to be some sort of agent of national unity. — Bernard Keane

The Coalition is desperate to pretend it hasn’t been engaged in race-baiting and Islamophobia for two decades — but it is now deeply embedded in the way its MPs communicate.

In Liberal heartland, a fight for the Liberals’ heart

GUY RUNDLE 6 minute read

A personal look at how the residents of Liberal heartland territory Kooyong, dissatisfied with Josh Frydenberg, are getting political and taking action.

The time-honoured Australian tradition of egging politicians

KARA SCHLEGL 4 minute read

This isn't the first time a politician has been egged, and it won't be the last.

Suicide among First Nations youth is at crisis point

NATALIE CROMB 4 minute read

Until we have a conversation about the systemic problems that are driving suicides among First Nations children, we cannot pretend we are a country that comes together in crisis.

Telstra streaming subscribers leave Foxtel jealous

GLENN DYER and EMILY WATKINS 3 minute read

Foxtel will be hard pressed to make up the numbers after former partner Telstra's streaming services have overtaken it in total subscribers

How the media turned far-right racist talking points mainstream

EMILY WATKINS 3 minute read

The media has a lot to answer for in its mainstreaming of racist and anti-Muslim commentary, and it's not just the far-right outlets that are to blame.

Finding peace in the decaying remains of America’s malls

GUY RUNDLE 10 minute read

This is an extract from Guy Rundle’s new book Practice: Journalism, essays and criticism, and was originally published in Crikey. Practice is available now from Black Inc.

Security agencies warned us about right-wing terrorism. We ignored them.

BERNARD KEANE 4 minute read

White supremacists have the same agenda of terror as jihadists but have operated with the indulgence of the media and politicians, even as security agencies warned us about them.

Panic (and confusion) on the streets of London

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Staggered, bleary-eyed, through the gates at Heathrow this morning — we landed at terminal three, my favourite, the very worst, a ’60s concrete pile — and into the WHSmith. The headlines screamed from the paper trays: 'Dismay at May', 'An insult to the whole of parliament' and worse. Together with that standby, a photo of UK PM Theresa May looking haggard and desperate. She looked like I felt. Something bad must have happened while I was in the air. — Guy Rundle

Crikey‘s correspondent at large, now on the ground in London, shares some street scenes from the unfolding Brexit catastrophe.

The party of open borders now says it will close the door? Unlikely.

BERNARD KEANE 4 minute read

For nearly two decades the Coalition has been committed to an open-door policy for workers and foreign students in service to a neoliberal agenda. Now this, too, has backfired on them.

Who’s who: the ‘faceless’ men and women pulling the strings at the NSW National Party

KISHOR NAPIER-RAMAN 3 minute read

Crikey takes a look at the players managing the chaos at NSW Nationals HQ in the lead-up to the state election.

Why did Erdoğan invoke Gallipoli after the Christchurch attack?

CHARLIE LEWIS 4 minute read

It seems an odd move for an ostensible ally to provoke Australia on a sensitive subject like that. So why do it?

Mark Latham’s new defamation case could prompt religious hate speech laws

EMILY WATKINS 3 minute read

Mark Latham is facing another defamation case after tweeting about a UNSW student incorrectly suspected of plotting a terror attack. The result could be far-reaching.