The Weight

Cartoonist Alan Moir in the Sydney Morning Herald, Monday 25 October.

Ballard Street: Troy

Another glance at Jerry Van Amerongen's Ballard Street.

Other Ballard Street posts here.

Ballard Street: Sparky's portraits

From Jerry Van Amerongen's Ballard Street.

Please forgive me, I've been away...

Please accept my apologies for neglecting you, most grievously. Let's just say that my professional obligations rolled over the top of every other aspect of life (almost), but I'm happy to say that the outcome was rather positive. Like, pinch me in case I'm dreaming positive.

Anyway, that's all outside the mission of this blog, and cultural life does not grind to a halt just because of a measly election. "On", as Beckett might succinctly put it.

For no reason other than that I like it and I want to see it on this page, here is a stunning caricature that appeared in The Australian's Literary Review this morning. It is of course V S Naipaul, who is called "a prig, a prick and a pig" by Peter Craven, a man not generally given to beating about the bush, as you might tell from the headline.


Anyway, it's by Eric Lobbecke, and it is a stunningly dynamic drawing, especially the hair and the confluence of features around those doleful eyes.

What tax cuts?

One of the most succinct comments on the federal budget last week was from Ron Tandberg of The Age.


What more needs to be said about tax cuts?

"When I hear the word 'culture'..."

Now kids, who said "Whenever I hear the word culture, I reach for my revolver!"? Answer below.


I have previously commented on the sedition provisions of the Anti-Terror Bill which last night the federal government jammed through the Senate after cutting debate short once again. So now we have the whole ugly mess in law whether we like it or not.

Even Ruddock agrees that the sedition schedules are badly worded and has already promised to review them next year. So you pass laws that you know are inadequate,
then review them, then come back to Parliament to make changes? As John Faulkner had it on Monday:

These are bad laws written for bad reasons. The government acknowledge that these laws are flawed. They have admitted that they need to be reviewed. But, rather than allow proper legislative process with adequate scrutiny and amendments, the government propose passing the laws first and fixing them later. A responsible government one might think would get the laws right before they got them passed. A responsible government might try to fix the problems in the laws before innocent people's rights and liberties are unnecessarily infringed.

Contradicting Philip Ruddock, Peter Garrett released legal opinion on the sedition clauses which found that they could lead to artists being prosecuted for free expression. Confronted with this, Ruddock simply asks us to trust him.

Far more interesting than attempting to read the actual bill, is having a look at the Bills Digest from the Parliamentary Library on the proposed legislation. Bills Digests are prepared by staff of the Parliamentary Library who are experts in their particular fields. They contain histories of the issues, discussion of various points of view and conclusions about their probable effect.

The National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA) have been extremely active in elucidating the effect the sedition clauses could have on artists and journalists, and actively campaigning against the measures.

Now Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre in Sydney have issued an open invitation to all artists concerned about the implications of the legislation to make a work that expresses the right to freedom of expression as a means of protesting against the Federal Government's legislation.

Artists Against Sedition Laws Exhibition will open on Monday 12 December at 6pm. All work submitted will be exhibited.

Most developed nations have long since withdrawn sedition clauses from their statute books on the grounds that they can and have been used by unscrupulous governments to silence dissent. Countries that still retain active sedition laws include China, Cuba, North Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Syria, Zimbabwe and now Australia.

Now is it just me or is there a pattern here?

ANSWER: it was Hermann Goering.

The threat we denied creating

See Scratch! Media

Cynical? Moi?

Who let that in?

Somehow, it's the hand on the hip that does it for me...

Nicholson on Latham

Saddened and profoundly depressed by the pathetic spectacle of Mark Latham all over our media recently, I was determined not to say anything about it here. However, this cartoon by the wonderful Peter Nicholson manages to say so much so economically, I thought it deserved to be praised. That's all.

Cartoonists: The art of Pryor

I think Geoff Pryor in the Canberra Times is one of the two or three best political cartoonists in this country, and would be among the best in the world.

We tend to think of cartoons as light hearted and disposable, and it would be very rare to hear one of our professional opinionists admit that their political view of some issue had been influenced or even changed by a cartoon. Particularly over the last decade when the media has been generally lazy and complacent in this country, cartoonists like Ron Tanberg, Cathy Wilcox and Bill Leak, have been consistently incisive and challenging.

I look forward to the day when they have an episode of the Insiders on the ABC with a panel consisting entirely of cartoonists.

If you have a favourite cartoonist, please send me their name and say why you think they're so good.

Painter's Block