Remembering to forget: Anzac Day 2017

Cartoon: Anzac Day 2017

(The Canberra Times, 22 April 2017 | Gallery of most recent cartoons)

 

Historian Paul Daley reminds us the Indigenous ‘Great War’ was in Australia.

If Evans and Ørsted-Jensen are to be taken seriously (and on the basis of their research, first made public at the 2014 Australian Historical Association conference, they ought to be) that is another reason why Australia should engage in a mature discussion about the conflicts that raged across the frontier and perhaps cost some 65,000 lives in Queensland alone – more than the 61,000 Australian deaths in World War I, the conflict that has so embedded itself in Australian consciousness. If settler Australia is ever to deal properly with frontier conflict and its continuing legacy, that body-count comparison would be a good place to start.

Cartoon: lest we forget the frontier wars
Cartoon for Overland: 2001

The Adani coalmine and the Great Barrier Reef

Back-to-back coral bleaching events on the Great Barrier Reef has left scientists in a state of despair.“I don’t really know what else the reef needs to do to signify that it’s in serious trouble.”

And a vast new coalmine planned nearby is set to contribute to the warming that makes those bleaching events more common.

Cartoon: fate of the Great Barrier Reef

“It’s either Adani or the Great Barrier Reef. Are we willing to fight for a wonder of the world?”

Cartoon: Adani wheel of fortune

(The Canberra Times, 12 April 2017 | Gallery of most recent cartoons)

All aboard the Omnibus

The government is making hard work of getting its childcare package through Parliament, having stuffed it into an Omnishambles Omnibus Bill that contains various “zombie measures” from the 2014 Federal Budget that the government refuses to let die.

Cartoon: the Omnibus childcare/welfare cuts Bill

Blackmailing the Senate to get onboard, with threats to NDIS funding, seems to have backfired.

Cartoon: the Australian Political Football League

(The Canberra Times, 11 and 16 February 2017 | Gallery of most recent cartoons)

Stick a fork in the myth of Moderate Mal, it’s done

Cartoon: PM blames failure of National Electricity Market on renewable energy

The government is trying to blame failures in the National Electricity Market on renewable energy. Ross Gittins sees the sleight of hand; Richard Denniss deploys a nice metaphor using prawns to completely demolish the stage.

Inside Parliament, ministers brandished a lump of coal; outside, Professor Clive Hamilton resigned from the Climate Change Authority. It is “crystal clear that the Government has no interest in sensible climate change policy”:

Letter: Clive Hamilton resigns from the Climate Change Authority

Cartoon: political climate change affecting the Liberal Party

(The Canberra Times, 11 and 7 January 2017 | Gallery of most recent cartoons)