Election 2016: less Michael Bay, more arthouse
Adam Gartrell Not so long ago federal election campaigns were like Hollywood blockbusters: big budget extravaganzas where people didn't have time to pick up on all the glaring inconsistencies.
Killing us softly with crackpot cures
![Lauryn Hill kept concert fans waiting because she was 'aligning her energies with the time'.](/web/20160515171440im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/z/r/q/a/h/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gosg9s.11nabt.png/1463296863058.jpg)
Andrew Masterson The vain pursuit of unproven medical 'treatments' harms the gullible.
How to help prevent sexual abuse in schools
!["For some students, for far too long, their experience has been a cruel, appalling secret, a burden beggaring belief..."](/web/20160515171440im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/k/f/p/8/8/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gosmeh.11nabt.png/1463296863058.jpg)
John Whelen It's time to re-examine and broaden teachers' duty of care.
Culture
Colour outside the lines - or draw your own
![Collective madness: boom in sales of adult colouring-in books shows no sign of slowing.](/web/20160515171440im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/i/g/3/4/4/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gou7nw.11nabt.png/1463296863058.jpg)
Susan Neiman Colouring-in books for adults prove how infantile we've become, so ignore all distractions and start thinking for yourself.
Multiculturalism: not an ideal, but a reality
![By walking a middle path in Aboriginal Australia that is aimed at creating a new social equilibrium, Stan Grant will cop ...](/web/20160515171440im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/o/t/b/h/o/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gotrlc.11nabt.png/1463296863058.jpg)
Martin Flanagan We need to create human societies from people of many different backgrounds.
Parental bleating drowns out cries for help
![The backlash against the doctors in schools program masks a wider issue.](/web/20160515171440im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/o/7/8/h/r/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gotqei.11nabt.png/1463296863058.jpg)
Wendy Squires Fears about doctors prescribing the pill to children in schools are masking bigger issues that the program could remedy.
Ensnared by a siren and her song of seduction
![Delta. The Delta. Our Delta.](/web/20160515171440im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/o/b/s/t/0/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gotfpo.11nabt.png/1463296863058.jpg)
Danny Katz It was a slow night in front of the TV, but somehow the off-button proved elusive.
MPs must decriminalise abortion
![Illustration: Simon Bosch](/web/20160515171440im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/o/u/e/z/b/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gottzj.11nabt.png/1463296863058.jpg)
Anne Summers Surely the vast majority who want women to have access to legal abortion override a minority of MPs?
Paying tax doesn't make you more important
![Duncan Storrar on Q&A this week.](/web/20160515171440im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/o/u/b/i/9/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gotfla.11nabt.png/1463296863058.jpg)
Jacqueline Maley The great hero/villain of the campaign this week was the non-politician Duncan Storrar, the 45-year-old audience member on the ABC's Q&A.
Forgotten voters could decide this election
![Taking issue: Restoring the Minister for Youth would help ensure the concerns of young Australians are taken into ...](/web/20160515171440im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/z/q/z/f/p/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gou11k.11nabt.png/1463296863058.jpg)
Katie Acheson At the last federal election, hundreds of thousands of young Australians were not enrolled to vote.
Friday the 13th isn't a big deal, is it?
![Friday the 13th is considered unlucky by many cultures, so you may want to avoid black cats and walking under ladders.](/web/20160515171440im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/o/u/2/b/6/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gou9md.11nabt.png/1463296863058.jpg)
Andrew P Street The date does carry a lot of cultural baggage. After all, the hockey mask-sporting Jason Voorhees wouldn't have become the pop-culture figure he has if the film were called Wednesday the 5th.
NDIS generosity a fiscal time bomb
![Alan Moir colour cartoon / illo / illustration / toon / artwork
editorial cartoon for 27 April 2016
Captioned: PRICE ...](/web/20160515171440im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/o/u/7/d/y/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gopliq.11nabt.png/1463296863058.jpg)
Mikayla Novak Troubles with the National Disability Insurance Scheme's affordability are uncannily reflective of Australia's fiscal management problems as a whole.
Can Trudeau see the forest fire for the trees?
![<p>](/web/20160515171440im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/o/u/6/v/e/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.got5ib.11nabt.png/1463296863058.jpg)
Andrew Nikiforuk The wildfire that is consuming large swathes ofAlberta has broken Canadian records for calamities fuelled by climate change.
Campaign brings promises on the never-never
![Opposition treasurer Chris Bowen claims school spending will deliver a "clear and unmistakeable economic dividend". But ...](/web/20160515171440im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/o/q/m/8/l/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gotfaz.11nabt.png/1463296863058.jpg)
Mark Kenny Both sides are promising to boost the economy - but do the maths and the figures look increasingly rubbery
Returns from better education are hard to beat
![Improving education outcomes would boost Australia's economy by 11 per cent by 2095, according to the Organisation for ...](/web/20160515171440im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/o/q/u/p/2/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gotdnm.11nabt.png/1463296863058.jpg)
Jessica Irvine Don't look now, but this election is being fought on actual policy grounds.
Albo's toughest battle
![The proposed changes have prompted Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese to consider switching from the neighbouring seat ...](/web/20160515171440im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/i/j/r/m/n/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.got84v.11nabt.png/1463296863058.jpg)
George Morgan The line between the inner and outer cities now increasingly marks out the plate tectonics of Australian political life.