Insulted? You should be, it’s been a lousy week for democracy

For citizens fond of fairness, openness and proper process, it is a grim time.

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It’s been a bumper year, but Australian TV drama is on a knife’s edge

Don’t let the success of The Newsreader, Five Bedrooms, Rosehaven et al. fool you: the future for Australian drama and comedy has never been so uncertain.

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The eccentrically, imperfectly brilliant Bert Newton

The 83-year-old TV legend will be remembered as a sidekick, and a superstar.

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‘He shone brightly to Australia’: Scott Morrison pays tribute to Bert Newton

Prime Minister Scott Morrison paid tribute to the passing of the legendary entertainer while remembering the “crazy skits” that made him so loved.

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‘I love a chunky shoe’: Inside a fashion boutique owner’s wardrobe

“I don’t believe in fashion mistakes – I love to experiment with trends,” says Shannon Thomas.

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Liberals prepare for fierce preselection contest in three-horse race for Willoughby

Former journalist Kellie Sloane this week nominated for the seat of Willoughby, surprising moderate party members who had already thrown their weight behind local mayor Gail Giles-Gidney, while the party’s conservative faction is expected to field Menzies Research Centre executive director Tim James.

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‘Burning bridges on her way out’: MPs divided over Berejiklian’s testimony

One minister said the ICAC had “one day left to demonstrate that this wasn’t the greatest abuse of its power since it was established”.

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NRL backs fresh push for Manly-Souths to take premiership game to US

With Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman likely to lend their heavyweight support, the Rabbitohs and Sea Eagles want to face off in the United States in 2023.

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‘I’ve never seen a better system’: Experts give controversial ‘hippie school’ top marks

Mark Latham wanted it ‘normalised’. But a review commissioned by the government says the Lindfield Learning Village is actually ‘very impressive’.

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The Great Resignation: a sense of possibility allows workers to quit their jobs

The phenomenon has been identified in the US, but there are signs that Australian workers, too, are voting with their feet post-lockdown.

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COP that! We’ll pay for PM to woo global investors to our green future

Scott Morrison will be brandishing a tempting prospectus at the Glasgow climate summit. It will boast of taxpayer-supported projects to reduce carbon emissions, and that should be a lure for international investors.

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‘Incredibly frustrating’: Why Mike Cannon-Brookes is finding it hard to be a proud Australian

Silly climate debates and the federal government’s behaviour on the world stage is getting on the goat of one of the nation’s richest men.

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‘We can’t wait’: The Sydneysiders heading overseas as soon as border reopens

Travellers brave onerous new rules to fly overseas to reunite with family as international borders reopen.

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Two-thirds of voters back federal corruption watchdog with stronger powers

The majority of Australian voters want a federal corruption watchdog with stronger powers than the body proposed by the Morrison government.

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‘We want to minister to all’: Faith leaders welcome capped services for unvaccinated

Some faith leaders are relieved the unvaccinated can now attend small services but concerns remain about a divided community.

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Italy has become the greatest romance of my life

I became infatuated – with the culture, the people, the language, even the beautiful chaos. Italy was a part of me, and I knew one day I would live there.

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Paris thin to the Kardashian butt, it’s boom time for cosmetic ‘cowboys’

The advent of “Instagram face”, and the normalisation of “mummy makeovers”, boob jobs, and now Brazilian butt lifts and “designer vaginas”, has cosmetic surgery being promoted as proudly aspirational - despite the “lack of transparency”.

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Arts ministers watched on as Australian film and television suffered

In A Bloody Good Rant, Thomas Keneally says the arts must again be nurtured, funded and valued as an extension of our country’s identity.

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When Tishiko went home, she found exposed burial sites and empty fishing grounds. Now she’s going to Glasgow

As well as juggling school, university and other commitments, young Australians are also trying to tackle a bigger challenge: climate change.

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Psychiatrists’ college stirs up debate about how to treat trans kids

Australia’s governing body for psychiatrists has moved away from endorsing a “gender-affirmative approach” to treat the growing number of young people identifying as transgender, in its first specific policy on gender dysphoria.

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Victoria records 1355 new cases, 11 deaths amid eased restrictions

Victoria has recorded 1355 new COVID-19 cases and 11 deaths as Melbourne wakes to its first full day of eased restrictions for many retail and entertainment venues and travellers across the state take to the roads.

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Back to work, family and life more likely with rapid antigen tests

People need to be encouraged to manage their own COVID monitoring, with quick testing available in most states from Monday.

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Meet the independent taking on Craig Kelly in ‘wide open’ seat of Hughes

It’s a strange claim to make when you’re running for Federal Parliament, but Georgia Steele says she is no politician.

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Stud career up for grabs in stallion-making Coolmore

Godolphin’s stables will be close to empty on Saturday when they unveil a star-studded assault on Flemington, with 14 runners across the nine-race Derby Day card, half of those in the four group 1s.

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Goodbye, Facebook; Hello, Meta

Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg is betting that turning the focus from its embattled social network to virtual reality will ensure the company’s future. Will it work?

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100,000 Victorians still without power as wind damage clean up continues

The Bureau of Meteorology says Friday morning’s wild winds won’t be repeated across the weekend, with a top of 16 degrees and light winds expected across Melbourne today.

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New suit: Epstein accuser Giuffre sued by another sex abuse victim of financier

Rina Oh said authorities agreed with her that she was a young victim of Epstein 20 years ago and not a co-conspirator or part of his inner circle.

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Australia COVID LIVE updates: Nation nears 80 per cent double dose vaccination rate; cases continue to grow

Victorians celebrated the further loosening of restrictions on Friday night while at least 10 cases have been linked to a COVID-19 cluster at a pub in Sydney’s east. 

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Joe Biden says ‘clumsy’ handling of Australian submarine deal should never have happened

The US President says he “honest to God” was unaware that France had not been given advance notice of Australia’s decision.

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Zero sum game may reward Libs at the ballot box

After all the angst, the Coalition has managed to shift its carbon-reduction policy by just one word - and yet that may be enough to sandbag its most vulnerable Liberal seats and save it from defeat at the forthcoming election.

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Berejiklian lied to hide a private shame, yet at the heart of it was her public duty

It seems to have been Berejiklian’s iron belief in her ability to distinguish between private and public that let her down.

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To pave our parks with gold, put up a parking lot (or convention centre)

The Greater Sydney Parklands Bill presents a clear and present danger to the green spaces bequeathed to the city by our wiser and more generous forbears.

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New pandemic laws to face upper house amendments: so what’s in them?

Victoria’s shift from a technocratic pandemic response to one led by Premier Daniel Andrews will almost certainly be the subject of crossbench amendments when it reaches the upper house in three weeks.

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How the cosmetic cowboys ran free on the wild west of social media

The backlash has been swift after a litany of troubling practices across cosmetic surgeon Dr Daniel Lanzer’s network was uncovered.

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‘Just let kids have fun’: Sydney embraces Halloween

Resistance is futile says western Sydney Halloween tragic Angelyca Dizon, who is going all-out this year to celebrate this year.

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Is the Australian men’s market ready for skirts yet?

The steadily growing refusal to conform can only be a good thing for fashion, for men, and for boys like mine.

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Designer Karen Walker’s most creative partnership is with her husband

“Though we know one another better than anyone else, sometimes he’ll say things I never knew about him. We push one another into the unknown and it works. It’s never stagnant.”

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Roberts says ‘cooee’ from Coolong

Julia Roberts has certainly found lodgings fit for a Hollywood queen at the gracious mansion Coolong in Vaucluse.

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‘Christmas lump of coal’: Long summer of fuel price pain looms

Prices are now almost certain to hit $2 a litre before Christmas and remain at historically high levels until Easter.

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Simon Holmes à Court: ‘If it works, the payoff will be enormous’

The son of Australia’s first billionaire is the face of a growing independents movement some say could herald a tectonic shift in our political landscape.

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Fall in preference shifts pressure on to Labor

The return of Opposition Leader Matthew Guy has halved the gap between the leaders of the state’s two major parties.

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‘More like an Aussie’: Meet the English quick who loves sending down Thunderbolts

Issy Wong is an exciting young fast bowler from England, with an interesting backstory, who is generating plenty of heat for Sydney.

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ASX set to edge higher as Wall Street eyes records

Wall Street makes gains across the board, putting the benchmark S&P 500 on track for a record high.

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State health system fails to meet targets under weight of COVID-19

The government’s own figures reveal hospitals and other vital health services are struggling to cope with demand, and doctors predict the strain will increase.

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‘We don’t charge poofter bashers’: Ex-cop speaks out on homophobia

Mark Higginbotham, a former NSW Police officer, is speaking out for the first time about witnessing other officers bashing gay men in Sydney.

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Night operations months away for problem-plagued Sydney ferries

Sydney’s new River Class ferry fleet won’t be able to operate at night this summer, with the problem-plagued vessels yet to undergo substantial remediation of design faults.

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Collette Dinnigan unveils grand design for Sydney home

Turns out the Celebrity Masterchef contestant has another pot on the boil.

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‘Rewarding’, but four in five teachers consider quitting in pandemic

A survey of teachers has found most believe the job is rewarding, but are unable to maintain work-life balance, leading many to consider leaving the profession.

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Secret Liberal group pushed for net zero to halt the Nationals

Worried about the Nationals’ views on climate change, a group of Liberal MPs mobilised to make it clear they would not accept a climate plan without a zero emissions target.

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Voters would ‘come back at us with baseball bats’: How 18 Libs pushed Morrison to net zero

Now the inside story can be told of a critical Zoom meeting between the Prime Minister and 18 Liberal MPs worried about a voter backlash on climate change.

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