
"Walk the land so it will remember you." Indigenous saying.
"We grant you the gift of eternal life." Spiritual convocation.
"He's not as powerful as we thought he'd be," they said, and he just shrugged. Sometimes he didn't understand the process any more than anyone else did.
Sometimes it all made perfect sense.
There was turbulence beyond the horizon, not invisible, just gathering. "We are here because you are here. I am here and you are where you are."
There were drifts from the local police station: "Minor property damage". But that night was quiet in Oak Flats, just as quiet, if not censorious, as everywhere these days, bunkered down, people struggling to make ends meet. Another circus of an election.
The problem was: Australians had lost all faith in each other, and the decency of each other. In such circumstances, when the entire edifice of state was rotten, people turned if not inward then towards their closest circles, family, old friends.
Vittorio who had graced the Piccolo Bar, well it was a café in the day, where drag queens and every hero of the Kings Cross demimonde would gather late at night, where tragedies and loves were born and scandals erupted out the door of the tiny café, while others smoked joints on the low wall opposite.
Where he had celebrated his 16th birthday in the company of a now long dead lover who had later been arrested for his fascination with under age boys, such as himself.
It was a place to be seen and born and loved, as crazy as they were, for their bohemian nature and their destined, for their fortuned fabled lives to take over, for characters who could never survive in Sydney's unforgiving suburbs could bloom.
The day before he had sat on a Sydney train opposite a tranny, well, what was the right word these days, as she groomed herself in the mirror, laughed to herself and put on a wig, her entire life consumed by identity and transition.
Everything had changed.
LEGACY MEDIA
SKY NEWS
Millions of dollars wasted on ‘virtue signalling’ government grants
As soon as you include, if you’re looking for a grant, words like decolonisation, anti-racism, misogyny, any sort of woke buzzword you can think of, any sort of virtue signalling catchphrase, they just throw money at you.”
GUARDIAN AUSTRALIA
Guardian Essential poll: Albanese scores highest approval rating in almost 18 months as support for Dutton slips
PM’s approval rating increases to 46%, up four percentage points since the last poll, as Labor and Coalition run neck-and-neck on a two-party preferred basis
ABC
When it comes to ending gendered violence, Jess Hill says we're 'tinkering at the edges'
A restless period of cancer treatment gave Jess Hill the clarity and courage to finally voice her ideas about why Australia's National Plan for Ending Gender Based Violence is failing.
SBS
The government's Welcome to Country spending has been heavily criticised but some believe the cultural protocol is being used as a "political football".
A Freedom of Information Request submitted by the Coalition exposed the almost $450,000 spent by 21 federal government departments across two years.
The spending was heavily criticised by the Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs and Government Efficiency Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.
"Spending over half a million dollars on Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremonies by government departments is not an appropriate use of taxpayer funds when they deliver no discernible benefit to marginalised Indigenous Australians," she told SBS Examines.
NEWS
‘NON-NEGOTIABLES’: Trump, Putin to make major announcement
The White House and The Kremlin have confirmed the two leaders will talk – but it remains to be seen if Moscow will agree to a ceasefire.
THE NEW DAILY
AUKUS ‘such a bad deal’ for Australia: Turnbull
Former Liberal PM lashes trilateral security pact, warning Australia won't get the submarines it has been promised
MACRO BUSINESS
The human face of Australia’s rental crisis

Tuesday 18 March 2025
MacroBusiness has been vocal about Australia’s immigration-driven housing crisis for years.
The data is unmistakable. Australia’s rental affordability has collapsed to a record low, with households required to dedicate a record share of their income to secure a rental home.
SPECTATOR AUSTRALIA
Trump has elevated the Houthis as an opponent
So much for President Donald J. Trump’s serial vows to extricate America from the Middle East’s seemingly endless wars and…
CRIKEY
It’s the constitution, it’s the vibe: Explaining the Yunupingu High Court decision
The Yunupingu case has delivered the most significant Native Title decision since Mabo. We clarify what it means.