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The Booklist
A weekly newsletter for book lovers from books editor Jason Steger.
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Fascinating answers to perplexing questions delivered to your inbox.
‘Peace of mind’: TGA approves jabs for kids, leaving one more hurdle
Australian children aged five to 11 will finally begin receiving COVID-19 jabs within weeks, with the Therapeutic Goods Administration to grant provisional approval on Sunday.
Seven new COVID-19 cases in Qld as Greater Adelaide declared hotspot
Greater Adelaide declared a hotspot from Sunday morning and masks may return as new Queensland COVID-19 cases give the state a sign of what it might expect as borders open.
Free TAFE, more uni places in $1.1 billion Labor promise for post-pandemic skills training
Labor is promising to make TAFE free for critical jobs across a range of sectors, as well as funding more university places, if it wins the next election.
Opinion
Political leadership
Expect an implosion if the Morrison government loses the next election
The government’s year ended badly, with key policies shelved and a raft of frontbenchers announcing their departures.
Jon Faine
Columnist
Opinion
Parliament House
Shocking but not surprising: sexism in Parliament is ‘the usual’
Scott Morrison seeks to portray Parliament’s “woman problem” as gloriously bipartisan, like ANZUS, only with more crying in toilets.
Jacqueline Maley
Columnist and senior journalist
IVF coral spawns for first time, paving way for Great Barrier Reef repair
Replanted corals at Queensland’s Heron Island grown from spawn collected in 2016 and planted on damaged corals have spawned - proving a trial to repair damaged coral could work on the Great Barrier Reef.
‘Without our country, we don’t have life’: A new era for Great Keppel Island
The Native Title determination includes areas coveted by developers and close to a resort proposed by billionaire miner Gina Rinehart.
Uncovered: the mysterious journey of the short-finned eel
It’s the first time anywhere in the world that an eel migration has been tracked from the freshwater river, where they spend years maturing, to the oceans, where they go to spawn and die.
Opinion
Cosmetic Cowboys
Controversial cosmetic surgeon Dr Daniel Lanzer quits as regulators circle
Just over a month after an investigation by this masthead revealed a series of disturbing allegations, celebrity cosmetic surgeon Dr Daniel Lanzer has retired.
Adele Ferguson
Investigative journalist and columnist
Exclusive
Hospitals
Shake up for maternity care, joint replacements in hospital reforms
A key health agency has approved the most significant change to hospital funding in a decade, allowing the states to experiment with service delivery.
Updated
Mass shooting
Parents of Michigan school shooter ‘found in basement’ after police hunt
Prosecutors said the couple appear to have bought him the weapon as a Christmas present.
Opinion
Sharemarket
What Omicron? Why (and how) I bought shares this week
This week I found myself having to live out the famous advice of legendary US investor Warren Buffet: To “be greedy when others are fearful.”
Jessica Irvine
Senior economics writer
Christmas gift guide: best fashion, tech and home ideas
Looking for perfect presents for your loved ones? Our bumper Christmas gift guide has all the inspiration you need.
Opinion
Private Sydney
The armchair critics keep doubting Nicole Kidman, but she’ll have the last laugh
Kidman ignited a firestorm of criticism on social media, with critics piling on amid claims she was either too pretty, too prissy, too tall, in fact too anything to play Lucille Ball.
Andrew Hornery
Private Sydney Columnist
Why the best thing the Beatles ever did was break up
Theirs remains a classic of the genre: the break-up that all other break-ups must measure themselves against.
★★★★
Review
Eye-opening doco reveals surprising history of female stunt performers
Narrated by and featuring Michelle Rodriguez, Stuntwomen features interviews with some of the industry’s leading stunt performers.
Queensland
Investigators lift lid on Defence Force ‘culture of silence’
The policy of “not jacking on your mate” has been a major theme in the first week of royal commission hearings.
Updated
Tragedy
‘Made those around him smile’: Top jockey’s body found after water search off Gold Coast
Police said the body of jockey Chris Caserta had been found about 200 metres offshore near the sand pumping jetty at Main Beach.
Analysis
Annastacia Palaszczuk
Rules aren’t being broken but they need fixing to bring true transparency
A reading of Labor ministers’ diaries on the days they attended a cash-for-access party fundraiser does not elicit much information - and that’s fine according to the current rules.
Hotel quarantine escapee pleads guilty, but walks free from court
The woman forced open the glass door of her Gold Coast room and fled on August 3. She was arrested four days later in Caboolture.
Updated
Coronavirus pandemic
NSW ‘incursion’ suspected for mystery Gold Coast COVID case
The Gold Coast is again on high alert after genomic testing confirmed a COVID-19 case detected this week is not linked to other recent cases, suggesting hidden spread.
WEEKEND READS
Rad times: Rip Curl’s new CEO and the wipeout of surfing’s boys’ club
The first female Rip Curl boss, Brooke Farris is riding a COVID-inspired surfing boom that’s seen more people than ever, not least women, take to the water.
PE Nation’s Pip Edwards: ‘Be interested, not interesting’
The co-founder of the activewear brand discusses the art of conversation, staying alive in the fashion industry, astrology – and why she can’t talk politics.
Politics
A year of reckoning over the treatment of women, so what hope is there for politics?
After a year of painful conversations about the treatment of women and traumatic disclosures of appalling incidents, the federal government has a blueprint to fix things.
Business
Magellan’s Hamish Douglass on the fight of his career as markets turn against him
Hamish Douglass lost his billionaire status this year, as investors punished his funds management business Magellan for underperforming the market. Can the man who likes to fast for 16 hours every day turn it around?
World
Divide and rule: Myanmar junta ‘weaponising’ racial tensions
Security forces are distributing inflammatory leaflets, stoking anti-Muslim tension, more atrocities are committed in the strife-torn south-east Asian nation.
Opinion
Grotty week for PM as Parliament’s noxious culture is laid bare
Michelle Grattan
Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
We saw Omicron coming, but we didn’t think to act
Waleed Aly
Columnist, co-host of Ten's The Project and academic
Now we even outsource our civic life to Facebook. Then why not use the trusty ABC
Peter Lewis
Former journalist and director of the Centre for Responsible Technology.
Explore
Property
Game, set and match as Lleyton Hewitt sells grand slam home
Aussie tennis ace Lleyton Hewitt and his TV-star wife Bec have sold the Toorak home they lived in for five years for between $15 million and $16 million.
Architect ‘taken aback’ by reaction to Norfolk pine-inspired building
When the scaffolding came down from a new apartment building on the Gold Coast, social media was flooded with photos taken by awestruck locals.
Lifestyle
Christmas Gift guide: best fashion, tech, home
Looking for perfect presents for your loved ones? Our bumper Christmas gift guide has all the inspiration you need.
Culture
‘I hope this movie helps me to change’: the personal story behind director’s new film
Paolo Sorrentino’s new film, if not quite the story of his life, is certainly a story of his life.
Sport
Analysis
Supercars
The sliding doors moment that made Jamie Whincup
Jamie Whincup is a bona fide legend of the Supercars championship, but his career trajectory was not smooth, certainly at the start.
Light prep no obstacle to heavy-duty series for Australia’s quicks
Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc may be light on for match practice, having not played a first-class game since April, but they face heavy-duty workloads with five Tests across six weeks.
Exclusive
FIBA World Cup
Cambage says she has ‘zero’ interest in home World Cup after reports she would be left out of Opals
On Monday the Australian Opals will name their preliminary squad for next year’s FIBA World Cup in Sydney, and Liz Cambage will not be among them.
‘You’ll know very soon’: Djokovic close to Australian Open decision
Novak Djokovic is still uncertain whether he will take part in the 2022 Australian Open but will soon decide, he said after Serbia’s Davis Cup defeat.
New kid on The Block: Rising Indigenous Kings star Bayles set to make a difference
For some, pursuing your dreams means getting out of Redfern but, in rising Sydney Kings star Biwali Bayles’ case, it meant coming home.
FA Cup history awaits as Arsenal’s Matildas face Sam Kerr’s Chelsea
An Australian will lift the women’s FA Cup on Monday morning when Arsenal play Chelsea at Wembley.
How targeting England’s skipper can give Australia the upper hand
In the first part of a series into the strategies and showdowns that will shape the Ashes, we examine the battle of the captains, and who has the edge, with exclusive data from Opta.
Have Your Say
The gloves are off for these Ashes and Australia will be better without Paine
Though nobody would recommend it as a solution to a looming problem, the sad ending to Tim Paine’s career should have a positive impact on Australia’s cricket.
Malcolm Knox
Journalist, author and columnist
