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The Monthly | Australian politics, society & culture

The April issue


Essays  Right arrow

Federal politics

How Morrison changed politics

Does the former prime minister’s departure from parliament signal the end of an era, or will his empty approach live on?

How Morrison changed politics
The cost of care

Health

The cost of care

Pressures on our public hospitals can result in long waits for treatment and elective procedures – but is the answer to let patients pay to jump the queue?

The head of the house

International politics

The head of the house

Samoa’s formidable prime minister Fiamē Naomi Mata‘afa, a traditional leader exercising modern power

Thinker, tailor, Tesla, sphere

Society

Thinker, tailor, Tesla, sphere

How menswear retailer Fletcher Jones built a factory, a community and an idea of the future in Warrnambool, Victoria


Online Latest  Right arrow

Naomi Watts as Babe Paley in ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans’

Television

‘Feud – Capote vs. The Swans’ delivers camp absurdity

Plus, Ukraine through its people’s eyes, new Australian comedy on show, and ‘Shōgun’ returns in full gory glory

Osamah Sami with members of his local mosque

Television

In ‘House of Gods’, Sydney’s Muslim community gets to be complicated

Plus, Barnaby Joyce shines in ‘Nemesis’, Emma Seligman and Rachel Sennott deliver ‘Bottoms’, and Chloë Sevigny and Molly Ringwald step up for ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans’.

International Film Festival Rotterdam highlights

Film

International Film Festival Rotterdam highlights

Films from Iran, Ukraine and Bundaberg were deserving winners at this year’s festival

Two women on a train smile and shake hands

Television

‘Expats’ drills down on Hong Kong’s class divide

Plus, Netflix swallows Trent Dalton, Deborah Mailman remains in ‘Total Control’ and ‘Vanderpump Rules’ returns for another season

The Nation Reviewed  Right arrow

Minister for Finance and Women Katy Gallagher at Parliament House, December 2023

Industrial relations

Coming to the parity

Closing the gender pay gap will require more than just platitudes, and will ultimately benefit everyone

Illustration by Jeff Fisher

International politics

Presidential care

Victory for Biden or Trump will depend on who loses the fewest undecided, apathetic or alienated voters

Illustration by Jeff Fisher

Television

The TV man

Remembering Australian film and TV great Michael Jenkins, creator of ‘Scales of Justice’ and ‘Blue Murder’, and the Ned Kelly film that got away

Illustration by Jeff Fisher

Family and relationships

Fledglings

The parent’s dilemma of helping their children become independent while not wanting to let them go

Arts & Letters  Right arrow

Gabriel García Márquez surrounded by reporters at Mexico City airport, after arriving from Colombia in 1981, with only his head visible at the centre of outstretched arms holding audio recorders

Books

The persistence of memory: Gabriel García Márquez’s ‘Until August’

The decision to posthumously publish the Colombian master’s final novel, written while suffering dementia, is vindicated by its qualities

Einstürzende Neubauten, clockwise from left: Alexander Hacke, Blixa Bargeld, Jochen Arbeit, N.U. Unruh, Rudolph Moser

Music

Heady metal: Einstürzende Neubauten’s ‘Rampen: apm (alien pop music)’

Forty-four years on, the German experimentalists continue to forge an unconventional path, delivering a double album of works improvised on tour

Still from ‘La Chimera’

Film

The quirk and the dead: ‘La Chimera’ and ‘Perfect Days’

Alice Rohrwacher’s tale of love and graverobbery is transcendent, while Wim Wenders delivers a steady, meditative film from the Tokyo streets

Noted  Right arrow

Cover of ‘Brooklyn Crime Novel’

Books

Jonathan Lethem’s ‘Brooklyn Crime Novel’

The American author of ’70s New York classic ‘The Fortress of Solitude’ reckons with changes in ideas around identity and authenticity

Still image from ‘3 Body Problem’

Television

‘3 Body Problem’

Netflix’s adaptation of Liu Cixin’s hard sci-fi novel, from the creators of ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘True Blood’, is sentimentalised but easily digestible

Life sentences Right arrow

Podcasts  Right arrow

Read This

Friends, Mary Beard Fans, Countrymen, Lend Me Your Ears

Mary Beard joins Michael to discuss her life sentence — the half dozen words that set her on the path to becoming Britain’s best-known classicist — and why the Roman Empire is so misunderstood.

HOST Michael Williams
GUEST Mary Beard

7am

What to know about the biggest Covid wave since Omicron

Applied mathematician, expert in respiratory diseases, and contributor to The Saturday Paper, Dr James Wood, on the latest Covid wave and what could be in store this year.

HOST Ange McCormack
GUEST Dr James Wood

7am

Labor’s ‘shameful’ last-minute immigration bill

National correspondent for The Saturday Paper Mike Seccombe on whether Labor is attempting to one up Peter Dutton on immigration.

HOST Ange McCormack
GUEST Mike Seccombe