Not everything this week carried the weight of scandal or policy debate. Harry Connick Jr., the Grammy-winning American crooner, has apparently been quietly living in Melbourne’s Collingwood neighbourhood for extended stretches, visiting his Melbourne-based daughters. And Kamilaroi artist Reko Rennie — who once endured “really awful” experiences with school art teachers — now drives a Porsche, a testament to resilience and creative vision triumphing over institutional discouragement.
Taken together, the week’s headlines paint a portrait of Australia grappling with familiar tensions: corporate accountability versus wealth and power, the costs of public goods versus the limits of voluntary generosity, and the ambition to grow against the headwinds of economic reality. None of these stories have neat endings — and that, perhaps, is the point.