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The Saturday Paper

@thesaturdaypaper.com.au
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An independent weekly newspaper, from the publisher of @themonthly.com.au 📨 Newsletters: satpa.pe/4Yzr3gJ 🗞️ Subscriptions: satpa.pe/pNZhFij

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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 50m
“How does Australia, one of the world's largest exporters of fossil fuels, rate as a neighbour?" asks Tuvalu's climate minister Maina Talia. "We cannot just put money on the table and then do the opposite." trib.al/LCjWjQ9
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Tuvalu criticises its ‘good neighbour’
In a scathing interview, Tuvalu’s climate minister criticises Australia’s inaction on phasing out fossil fuels, and the ‘unacceptable’ absence of global leaders at the Pacific talks.
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 4h
Fiction: The door to my brother’s garage was rolled open. He was wearing his overalls and had gloves in his back pocket. It looked as if he hadn’t showered in a week... “I... I… don’t know how to explain this,” he said. trib.al/z6IRr9D
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O brother
I received word that my father’s tombstone had been defaced. My twin brother told me the news. He had been to the cemetery every morning since the funeral and called on the drive home.
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 7h
The story of industrial-scale conman Sanjeev Gupta is one that needs a teller with a nose for bullshit. Someone who can render its strange characters and trace its complex financial transactions. In Paul Barry, it has found it. trib.al/a78FU0V
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The Big Steal
The Saturday Paper is a quality weekly newspaper, dedicated to narrative long-form journalism.
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 9h
"What happens in 2028 if, as seems likely, national Labor doesn’t secure an outright victory? Albanese won’t like it and may step down. Alternatively, he’ll need to negotiate a government with the independents or the Greens.” | Bob Brown trib.al/JizGt01
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Why Anthony Albanese hates the Greens
Unlike Julia Gillard’s joint signing of the agreement on the Clean Energy Act in 2011, Albanese has never held a meeting in public with the Greens. He routinely meets Greens leader Larissa Waters, but you wouldn’t know it. It’s as if Labor won the last election outright and the Greens don’t exist.
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 10h
"Because Cruise, at 64, is uncannily youthful – or so he’s led many to believe – much has been made of his physical transformation to a man of his actual age.” Luke Goodsell reviews Alejandro González Iñárritu’s relentless satire Digger. trib.al/5cvgcPs
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Cartoonish Cruise ends up in a ham-fisted hole in Digger
The biggest offence of Alejandro González Iñárritu’s relentless satire Digger is squandering what might have been a great performance from Tom Cruise.
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 11h
“I think we've been pretty lucky for the last few years in terms of the sort of broader climate has been relatively benign, and that's going to change this time.” trib.al/MbOsAIe
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Australia trails UN peers on climate national security
As the Bureau of Meteorology forecasts a record El Niño will push global heating beyond 1.5 degrees this year, the government still refuses to publicly detail the national security threat.
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 13h
“I keep running into people, inside and outside the party, who still manage, despite everything, to underestimate Anthony. Not just his ability to deliver policy wins, but electoral wins too.” trib.al/GKtt7st
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Inside Albanese’s factional dominance: ‘They’ve all been executed, except one’
Through brutal calculation, Anthony Albanese has achieved complete control over Labor’s faction system – a fact reflected in the party’s cautious approach to policy.
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 14h
Bob Brown on why Labor's most intense vitriol is reserved for the Greens: trib.al/up6DzTI
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Why Anthony Albanese hates the Greens
Unlike Julia Gillard’s joint signing of the agreement on the Clean Energy Act in 2011, Albanese has never held a meeting in public with the Greens. He routinely meets Greens leader Larissa Waters, but you wouldn’t know it. It’s as if Labor won the last election outright and the Greens don’t exist.
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 15h
In a scathing interview, Tuvalu’s climate minister criticises Australia’s inaction on phasing out fossil fuels, and the ‘unacceptable’ absence of global leaders at the Pacific talks. trib.al/DtsUrQ1
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Tuvalu criticises its ‘good neighbour’
In a scathing interview, Tuvalu’s climate minister criticises Australia’s inaction on phasing out fossil fuels, and the ‘unacceptable’ absence of global leaders at the Pacific talks.
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 15h
A long-gestating passion project for Alejandro González Iñárritu – who has two Best Director Oscars, for 2014’s Birdman and 2016’s The Revenant – Digger bears all the hallmarks of the Mexican auteur at his best and worst. trib.al/HM7RbZt
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Cartoonish Cruise ends up in a ham-fisted hole in Digger
The biggest offence of Alejandro González Iñárritu’s relentless satire Digger is squandering what might have been a great performance from Tom Cruise.
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 15h
The latest intergenerational report predicts a decline in the number of working Australians available to support retired Australians. The Treasury expects AI to make that task easier, and it also expects far more Australians to join the workforce.trib.al/ppZc8FX
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The big flaw in Australia’s intergenerational growth story
Buried deep in the government’s latest long-term economic projections are fleeting references to the debilitating cost of climate inaction.
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 16h
Editorial: As Albanese says he supports coordinated principles for AI, he is considering an opt-out copyright system in the hope of luring AI companies to Australia to train their slavering models. This is called being part of the supply chain. trib.al/nmsB6bx
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Misaligned model activity
Sam Altman is the son of a dermatologist and a real estate broker, which is why he makes your skin crawl. Three years ago, he was sacked as chief executive of OpenAI. The board had concluded he was not trustworthy. He withheld information and was dishonest.
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 16h
When one steps back to examine the big picture of the Ukraine war, the parallels between that war and a prospective conflict over Taiwan are ominous, writes Sam Roggeveen. trib.al/rpJ8uUS
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What would happen in a China–Taiwan war
There is today only one question that matters for Taiwan’s security: will the United States defend the island if it comes under attack from China?
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 16h
"If the Taiwanese were looking for a signal about what the US might do in response to a Chinese invasion, Ukraine offers a chilling lesson," writes Sam Roggeveen. trib.al/YvdydQj
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What would happen in a China–Taiwan war
There is today only one question that matters for Taiwan’s security: will the United States defend the island if it comes under attack from China?
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 17h
A briefing to ministers at the United Nations this week by the British foreign secretary offered a sharp contrast to the Australian government’s refusal to publicly engage with the security threat posed by climate change. trib.al/VrUv8UZ
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Australia trails UN peers on climate national security
As the Bureau of Meteorology forecasts a record El Niño will push global heating beyond 1.5 degrees this year, the government still refuses to publicly detail the national security threat.
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 17h
"The 'weight of fire' that China can now direct at Taiwan – that is, the amount of high explosive it could fire at the island to suppress its defences – has grown sharply through the modernisation of its air and missile forces," writes Sam Roggeveen. trib.al/Rh9AEfV
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What would happen in a China–Taiwan war
There is today only one question that matters for Taiwan’s security: will the United States defend the island if it comes under attack from China?
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 18h
Read more: trib.al/1YheuJP
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 18h
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 18h
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 18h
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 18h
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 18h
As Anthony Albanese took to the podium at the United Nations to press Australia’s bid for a seat on the Security Council, he said “Australia punches above our weight”. At the same time, he made a very different, and more telling, bid for influence. trib.al/bWf0URj
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Murdoch ally appointed next consul general in New York
The appointment of a senior Murdoch executive to a plum diplomatic posting in New York has raised questions about Anthony Albanese’s judgement and his relationship with the right-wing mogul.
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 18h
With Labor's national Left more united than at any other stage in its modern history, it has become clear that the faction’s pick to succeed Albanese – whenever that moment arrives – will be Health Minister Mark Butler. Jason Koutsoukis reports. trib.al/angQxsv
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Inside Albanese’s factional dominance: ‘They’ve all been executed, except one’
Through brutal calculation, Anthony Albanese has achieved complete control over Labor’s faction system – a fact reflected in the party’s cautious approach to policy.
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 19h
As Trump’s America discards support for human rights and a liberal international order, the prospects for gender equality, reproductive rights and sexual freedom all look increasingly uncertain. trib.al/22617nN
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Queer rights in global retreat
In a trailer for the new British television drama Tip Toe, one gay man reflects: ‘I used to walk into a room and just go, Ta-da! Now I tiptoe – just in case.’ It’s a portrayal of the depressingly common recognition that queer rights, once assumed to be on an upward trajectory, are now under siege.
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 19h
Almost two decades on, the legacy of former prime minister Kevin Rudd’s multibillion-dollar rollout of individual laptops to schools is a sustained decline in literacy and numeracy rates among Australian students. trib.al/74r8LxP
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The legacy of Rudd’s digital revolution in schools
As Australian students record historically poor results on key cognitive measures, states are moving to reduce screen time in classrooms, unwinding a key initiative of the Rudd era.
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 19h
“I said 12 months ago that the Left have been defanged, and I've now come to the conclusion that I wasn't strong enough, because the Left have not only been defanged but lobotomised." How Albanese became the most dominant leader in Labor history: trib.al/eYgCeR4
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Inside Albanese’s factional dominance: ‘They’ve all been executed, except one’
Through brutal calculation, Anthony Albanese has achieved complete control over Labor’s faction system – a fact reflected in the party’s cautious approach to policy.
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 20h
“Most Australians have a very dim view of Trump and increasing concerns about his reliability as an ally,” writes Paul Bongiorno. “Hobnobbing in New York at this time, with inflation rising and the cost-of-living crisis worsening, is at best a mixed blessing.” trib.al/AFd12JJ
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Anthony Albanese’s third term
A smiling selfie with United States President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York won’t do much to reassure Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s growing number of critics back in Australia.
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 20h
The first intergenerational report included only two mentions of climate change, writes Peter Martin. Chalmers’ first, in 2023, had a whole appendix on it. This one sprinkles them throughout the report, mainly in the chapter on energy. trib.al/bjpOq5V
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The big flaw in Australia’s intergenerational growth story
Buried deep in the government’s latest long-term economic projections are fleeting references to the debilitating cost of climate inaction.
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 23h
Anthony Albanese's meeting with Apple chair Tim Cook ran an hour over time with the prime minister saying that Cook regards Australia's initiatives to make social media a safer place as world leading. trib.al/vGKRSTo
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Anthony Albanese’s third term
A smiling selfie with United States President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York won’t do much to reassure Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s growing number of critics back in Australia.
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 30/09/2026
This week’s cartoon, by Oslo Davis: trib.al/t3BkEYj
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Oslo Davis cartoon, September 26, 2026
The Saturday Paper is a quality weekly newspaper, dedicated to narrative long-form journalism.
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 30/09/2026
"He will seek a third term and I reckon he will get one.” Paul Bongiorno on Anthony Albanese’s electoral planning: trib.al/lzhFJbZ
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Anthony Albanese’s third term
A smiling selfie with United States President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York won’t do much to reassure Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s growing number of critics back in Australia.
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 30/09/2026
​​"I will be frank with the prime minister," says Maina Talia. "It is about the survival of my people. We can be very diplomatic and be problematic at the same time." trib.al/hhLssU9
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Tuvalu criticises its ‘good neighbour’
In a scathing interview, Tuvalu’s climate minister criticises Australia’s inaction on phasing out fossil fuels, and the ‘unacceptable’ absence of global leaders at the Pacific talks.
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 30/09/2026
“It's important that we remind people about what we're doing, and that we can be part of a global effort to prevent uncontrolled climate change. You give people hope.” Pat Conroy on how he is balancing climate change and national security concerns: trib.al/l7ylhlO
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Australia trails UN peers on climate national security
As the Bureau of Meteorology forecasts a record El Niño will push global heating beyond 1.5 degrees this year, the government still refuses to publicly detail the national security threat.
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 30/09/2026
If the film’s point is to illustrate the limits of satire – I’m not sure it is – then mission accomplished, albeit in the most aggressively nauseating, least entertaining way imaginable. Luke Goodsell reviews the Tom Cruise-starring 'Digger'. trib.al/Vak2wXl
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Cartoonish Cruise ends up in a ham-fisted hole in Digger
The biggest offence of Alejandro González Iñárritu’s relentless satire Digger is squandering what might have been a great performance from Tom Cruise.
041
The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 30/09/2026
Twentieth-century Australian drama was uniquely concerned with class politics and putting working-class characters on stage, writes Julian Meyrick. After 2000, you have to look hard to find class politics in Australian drama. trib.al/LjYQ6fP
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Class system ignored in modern Australian theatre
One of the jobs of art, and drama in particular, is to focus on what ails society, so why have our playwrights lost interest in the class system?
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 30/09/2026
“It's important that we remind people about what we're doing, and that we can be part of a global effort to prevent uncontrolled climate change. You give people hope.” Pat Conroy on how he is balancing climate change and national security concerns: trib.al/ikKZcTH
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Australia trails UN peers on climate national security
As the Bureau of Meteorology forecasts a record El Niño will push global heating beyond 1.5 degrees this year, the government still refuses to publicly detail the national security threat.
051
The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 30/09/2026
As a satire – of rapacious capitalism, conservative politics, climate change denial, collect them all – Digger is an extended eye-roll, ham-fisted and relentlessly unfunny, which is also what Iñárritu appears to have set out to achieve. trib.al/WEboYcu
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Cartoonish Cruise ends up in a ham-fisted hole in Digger
The biggest offence of Alejandro González Iñárritu’s relentless satire Digger is squandering what might have been a great performance from Tom Cruise.
031
The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 30/09/2026
Future historians of this period will be grateful for the archive Gil Durán has assembled in The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy, but the real interpretive work remains to be done. trib.al/9B1GvRu
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The Nerd Reich
The Saturday Paper is a quality weekly newspaper, dedicated to narrative long-form journalism.
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 30/09/2026
Queer rights, once assumed to be on an upwards trajectory, are now under siege, writes Dennis Altman and Jonathan Symons. trib.al/snMz9UH
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Queer rights in global retreat
In a trailer for the new British television drama Tip Toe, one gay man reflects: ‘I used to walk into a room and just go, Ta-da! Now I tiptoe – just in case.’ It’s a portrayal of the depressingly common recognition that queer rights, once assumed to be on an upward trajectory, are now under siege.
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 30/09/2026
In Anwen Crawford's cinematic monograph, aesthetics, politics, gender, class, nation, philosophy, economics and the personal are refracted through the prism of director Lynne Ramsay’s 2002 movie. trib.al/3lkZPox
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Morvern Callar
The Saturday Paper is a quality weekly newspaper, dedicated to narrative long-form journalism.
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 30/09/2026
One thing that becomes clear reading the latest intergenerational report is how central immigration is to this country’s future – even if only considered from an economic perspective. The number of Australians aged 85 and over is projected to triple by 2066. trib.al/vyG8jD8
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The big flaw in Australia’s intergenerational growth story
Buried deep in the government’s latest long-term economic projections are fleeting references to the debilitating cost of climate inaction.
011
The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 30/09/2026
Anthony Albanese's complete factional dominance accounts for much of the apparent timidity of his government’s policy agenda, writes Jason Koutsoukis. Without pushing from the factions, everything is done at the leader’s pace. trib.al/C5kIl3e
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Inside Albanese’s factional dominance: ‘They’ve all been executed, except one’
Through brutal calculation, Anthony Albanese has achieved complete control over Labor’s faction system – a fact reflected in the party’s cautious approach to policy.
020
The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 30/09/2026
One thing that becomes clear reading the latest intergenerational report is how central immigration is to this country’s future – even if only considered from an economic perspective. The number of Australians aged 85 and over is projected to triple by 2066. trib.al/vZKzG6h
trib.al
The big flaw in Australia’s intergenerational growth story
Buried deep in the government’s latest long-term economic projections are fleeting references to the debilitating cost of climate inaction.
043
The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 30/09/2026
Anthony Albanese's complete factional dominance accounts for much of the apparent timidity of his government’s policy agenda, writes Jason Koutsoukis. Without pushing from the factions, everything is done at the leader’s pace. trib.al/n7cdhOG
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Inside Albanese’s factional dominance: ‘They’ve all been executed, except one’
Through brutal calculation, Anthony Albanese has achieved complete control over Labor’s faction system – a fact reflected in the party’s cautious approach to policy.
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 30/09/2026
Every time the government has produced an intergenerational report, the fine print has contained an enormous get-out-of-jail card, writes Peter Martin. trib.al/u2Fafir
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The big flaw in Australia’s intergenerational growth story
Buried deep in the government’s latest long-term economic projections are fleeting references to the debilitating cost of climate inaction.
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 29/09/2026
Read more: trib.al/002GozE
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 29/09/2026
Read more: trib.al/zsVJoM2
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 29/09/2026
Read more: trib.al/7gaQlJt
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 29/09/2026
Read more: trib.al/mymtWcQ
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The Saturday Paper @thesaturdaypaper.com.au · 29/09/2026
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