Issue No.2 November 2002
Letter from a Detention Centre
This letter was sent to Hobart refugee supporter Margaret Crawford from Port Hedland detention centre ...
A Tiger by the Tale
Richard Flanagan may have withdrawn Gould's Book of Fishfrom his island state's own literary prize -- in vehement protest at Forestry Tasmania-associated sponsorship -- but the gongs are still flowing for the Tasmanian literary tiger, most recently in Melbourne in early November where he had plenty of bite in this, his acceptance speech for the Victorian Premier's Literary Award.
The Monarchy Menace
The dirty linen of our Head of State is not simply of a titillating variety worthy of a third rate soap opera, but is much more dangerous, writes GREG BARNS.
Fanatics for Forests
Geoff Law (see Law's Law below) is a fanatic and his fellow travelers are misguided, writes GREG BARNS ... "Just as James McCauley - another Tasmanian literary figure of the 1950s and 1960s, was a fellow traveler of Bob Santamaria. Beware all of them!"
Breeding Positions for Ladies of Manners
The pressure to procreate needn't, in a manner of speaking, be taken lying down, writes NATASHA CICA
A Write Stuff-up
THE PONCE gets to grips with the story behind Robyn Archer's apparent invitation to Forestry Tasmania to be major sponsor of 10 Days on the Island, at a time when Tasmanian literary tiger Richard Flanagan wins another award for Gould, Leonardo DiCaprio lines up to lock himself in a seawater cell as Gould and the "cultural fascists" get shirty...
It's pronounced "Sheesh!" ...
The proposed logging of a pristine corner of Recherche Bay has got the pollies running for the dictionary. Outrage abounds over revelations that his rare slice of Tasmania’s maritime history in the remote south is to be clearfelled. But State Parliament's airing of the issue got a little side-tracked. A Hansard extract reveals all.
The Parochial Attachment
Is Tasmania a state of naysayers? Yes, according to our record at referendums and it may be holding the state back, according ANZ chief economist SAUL ESLAKE -- although he acknowledges, even as an ecomomist, that economic growth rightfully is not everyone's prime objective.
Law's War
Geoff Law is a wilderness warrior ... an environmental activist at the forefront of campaigns fought in Tasmania over the past two decades, most recently high-profile actions against the nation’s biggest woodchipper, Gunns, and associated campaigns against old-growth forest logging, clear-felling, 1080 poisoning. PHILIPPA DUNCAN, a journalism student at the University of Tasmania, interviewed Law for this profile...
New Pacific Prize Shock
Renowned Australian writer TIM WINTON has pulled his novel, the Booker-shortlisted Dirt Music,from the Pacific's richest literary competition, the Tasmania Government sponsored Pacific Region Literary Prize, worth $40,000.
The Ghost of Eric
The Hag takes beer on the fringes of last weekend's ALP conference and discovers that the great Labor tradition of head-kicking from the Halcyon days of Electric Eric Reece is alive and very unwell.
Introducing ... The Plate
"Palate, the hutch of tasty lust" -- Gerard Manley Hopkins
And, first to dine at The Plate's grand table in front of the roaring log fire is The Mercury and The Sunday Tasmanian wine and food writer, GRAEME PHILLIPS, with this cheeky anti-war recipe.
In Defence of Dissent
Conflict may be painful, but the painless solution does not exist in any case and the pursuit of it leads to the painful outcome of mindlessness and pointlessness, GREG BARNS tells a University Graduation Ceremony.
Let History be the Judge
History will be the ultimate judge of Australian policy in its treatment of refugees. It will, irrespective of its verdict, consider three ironies. By PIERRE SLICER Q.C.
Allies
About 30 years ago, a social scientist called Solomon Asch did an experiment. I’ve only heard about it in the last few years but its results have made me stop dead in my tracks, writes TONY RICHARDSON.
Neighbours
Love the story of the Good Samaritan. But just keep it in the Bible, will you. When it gets loose it gets dangerous, and God knows where it might lead. A reflection by JIM YOUNG.
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