Journal
Articles
The failure of law and order
‘TWO-MINUTE NOODLES!’ Lee is leaning forward on the edge of her sofa, animated. She’d recently visited an old jail-mate...
Stuff
WE GET TO vote just once every few years, but every single day we consume, we buy, we acquire....
A half-formed nation
HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLLIE! I thought I’d drop you a line about life, the state of the planet and the future...
Captains don’t always know best
AMONG THE MANY slights and injustices Australia’s most recently deposed prime minister now has time to mull over, the...
Delivering on the grand bargain
IT WAS A lack of recognition and respect for Eddie Mabo’s Torres Strait Islander customs and traditions that drove him to take on the might of the Joh Bjelke-Petersen government. Mabo was a Queenslander from a humble background, though his legacy extraordinary and its consequences immeasurable.
Taking credit
IN 2012 I was approached by Egon Zehnder, the world’s most successful privately owned executive-search firm, to write a...
Snow dome
IT LOOKED LIKE beer o’clock in a city pub on a Friday afternoon. Suits, noise, movement. But it wasn’t....
Teaching Australia
I AM THIRTY-EIGHT and tired. I’m only a third of the way through my class roll, a list that hurts my heart if I study it for too long. But I know what to do with these students. I’m an excellent teacher. I know how to bring them together. I am able to create a feeling of family and safety and security. In my classroom they know they can take risks and try new things and experience failure while being supported by me and by each other.
No permit for dignity
EARLY IN MY life in Australia, during the year I spent on a bridging visa that included no work...
On being Australian
MY FATHER, ALEX Carey, a fourth-generation Australian, was a lefty and an activist, who worked long hours as a...
Caius Atlas
THE BABY-NAME BOOK is the size of a pack of cards, left on top of a bin outside the...
I n t e r e s t i n g
NOT MANY PEOPLE like me. I have no friends. And I would like to know why. People begin friendly...
