This short story is an *IA Writing Competition (fiction category) entry.

The fold-up table was positioned in front of the gleaming Winnebago, blocking an inviting dawn with a sun that had pretty much decided to provide a showcase kind of a day, as it brushed the ocean. Reds and oranges twirled kaleidoscope-like on the horizon, with the colours dissipating across the water to waves gently massaging the beach. Beyond the whitewash, a pod of dolphins went about their morning constitutional swim across the bay.

Old mates eyes strayed from the Winnebago to the days planning before him. A hard copy map was spread out in tablecloth fashion, a laptop, iPad and mobile phone were all within easy reach and a thick bunch of discount dockets were paper clipped and to the side next to his reading glasses.

The sun now filtered through the adjacent bush and kookaburras again mistook the morning for a late-night party.

With the focus of a military general, old mate flicked from the iPad to the laptop and with different coloured highlighters and pens, would make a note on the hard copy map. He fingered through the discount dockets and made entries on the satellite navigation app on his phone. The ritual was punctuated with the odd extra deep breath and the intermittent a-ha. He changed glasses often and wiped away the tiny beads of sweat on his forehead with his handkerchief and used the palm of his hand to remind the little remaining grey hair to stay on his head.

After a while, he stretched and looked across at the Winnebago and took in the breadth of its enormity. He smiled at the sum total of his life and made mental notes about oil and tyre pressures and fantasised about the latest accessories in Motorhome Monthly magazine. The hilarity of the kookaburras jolted him back to his planning.

His wife strolled over with a cup of tea and a cup of hot water and placed both on the edge of the table. He rubbed his chin, picked the teabag from her cup of tea and placed it in his cup of hot water.

Getting there, love. Getting there. Almost got the day sorted.

She moved to the front of the Winnebago, for a panoramic view of the ocean, gently sucked in the salt air and afforded herself a half smile about their long-planned trip around Australia. They had both worked hard, the kids had well and truly left home, the superannuation was adequate, the fortnightly pension certain and their health... well, their health was pretty much linked to her husband&r...

The exposure of criminality behind the Robodebt scheme and the distress caused to its victims should highlight the need for more sympathy towards those living in poverty, writes Bilal Cleland.

IF YOU HAVE BEEN forced to contact Centrelink in the past decade or so, you would be aware of how unwelcoming and difficult it is to deal with.

The phone is left ringing until you give up and when a visit to the office is necessary, queues and waiting for lengthy periods is the experience.

The staff are overstretched and try to be helpful but the whole Centrelink enterprise is underfunded and poorly administered at the top. It has been poorly served by a string of ministers who we hope are included in the sealed section of the Robodebt Royal Commission Report.

The assumption, which seems to have been passed down from Victorian England, is that you are trying to get something for nothing.

The Prosperity Gospel

This old-fashioned approach to welfare has been revived by the spread of the insidious tumour of the Prosperity Gospel or the health and wealth gospel, from a Pentecostal base in the USA.

It is not a mainstream Christian approach and an American Christian website, The Gospel Coalition, analyses this arrogant attitude:

In the forefront is the doctrine of the assurance of divine physical health and prosperity through faith. In short, this means that health and wealth are the automatic divine right of all Bible-believing Christians and may be procreated by faith as part of the package of salvation, sinc...

Dan defies while Dutton denies

No brainer vs no brain?

Mark David is IA's resident cartoonist. You can see more cartoons from Mark on his website Mark David Cartoons, or follow him on Twitter @mdavidcartoons.

Thomas Mayo and Kerry O'Brien's The Voice to Parliament Handbook is a clear and informative look at how the Voice to Parliament may address many ingrained wrongs. Xavier Donovan takes a look at how this book helps to inform the debate.

THE VOICE TO PARLIAMENT is a proposed constitutional amendment in Australia aimed at providing permanent representation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples within the Constitution. It's designed to give these communities input into governmental decisions, policies, and laws that impact them.

Thomas Mayo and Kerry OBriens The Voice to Parliament Handbook is a relatively easy-to-digest outline of how and why the Voice to Parliament referendum should be implemented. The combination of an Indigenous and non-Indigenous author allows for a relatable and well-rounded perspective on matters involving the Voice to Parliament.

As a First Nations leader, Mayo provides valuable insight into the Voice. Thomas Mayo is a Kaurareg Aboriginal and Kalkalgal, Erubamle Torres Strait Islander man, union official, and advocate for a constitutionally enshrined Voice. He's authored four books involving Indigenous themes, contributes to various publications and serves in multiple advisory roles within diversity councils and labour networks.

Mayo sets the tone of the book immediately in the preface by detailing the creation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart a petition formed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders, to which he is a signatory, which spurred the Australian Government into calling the Voice to Parliament Referendum.

Through this, he motivates readers by proving that progress can be made towards bridging the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. However, he also emphasises how societal improvements can only take effect if enough people come together and support change an aspect which is integral to the implementation of the Voice.

Mayo also dedicates an entire chapter to discussing how important conversations are to the Vo...

An entire 47-person Australian Government tax advisory panel which provided real-time policy advice to the Federal Treasurer has been scrapped after more than two decades as the PwC tax leaks scandal continues to unfold.

The high-level federal government Advisory Panel which investigations showed was stacked with big four tax partners and global fossil fuel tax specialists has been axed behind the scenes as questions swirl over ties between government and the tax industry.

It can be revealed the Board of Taxations Advisory Panel, set up in 2002, was quietly dissolved on June 29.

That was just days after The Klaxon put a series of highly detailed questions to it and to the Department of Treasury, which oversees it, regarding former PwC tax partner, Anthony Klein.

Klein, a tax partner with consultancy PwC for 17 years until July 2021, was appointed a director of the Board of Taxation in October 2021, having been on the Board of Taxations Advisory Panel since 2015.

While at PwC, Klein had worked in direct collaboration with at least two former partners named by PwC to date in connection with the scandal: Paul McNab and disgraced accountant, Peter Collins.

Kleins...

In order to progress as a peaceful and compassionate society, we must break free from the shackles of centuries of racism and bigotry, writes Frances Letters.

ONE NIGHT in Kathmandu long ago, I met a young man who, in a few shocking moments, upended my world forever. He came slipping into my life like two hands that silently gripped my head and twisted my face towards a light I had no wish to see.

A light I can never now unsee.

It was 1969. The hippie age was sweeping the Earth. A rollicking new cry rang out: Wake up, you boring old farts! Life can be brilliant truly joyful and open if only we let it!

For the new young seekers after truth, India and Nepal were the cool places to be. I had my doubts. Universal love was a fantastic idea, of course  flowers did look groovy in long flowing hair. But could they really change the world?

In hippie-heaven Kathmandu, however, I'd decided to give the new creed a try: to blithely fling myself into those swirling, technicolour waters.

It almost seemed to work. Day flowed into night there, with the slow passing of the hashish pipe around dark, smoky rooms. Camaraderie was everything. In dreamy groups we swam through the hours, smiling gently together.

That evening Id settled down at a long wooden table in a noisy Tibetan eating house. Friendly faces beamed welcome: an old Irish artist with cascading white hair; an enormous Black GI deserter from the Vietnam war; a feisty Navajo girl and her Japanese boyfriend; two bearded students from Oxford; a few earnest rich boys from New Delhi. Instant soul-mates all! What a blessed, loving human family.

A young guy squeezed in beside me. Longish hair, brown eyes, easygoing brown face. There was something very appealing about his gentle smile as our eyes met. In his jeans, embroidered Indian shirt and string or two of wooden prayer beads, he could have been anyone from anywhere.

Around the circle came the chillum, clouds of hashish smoke a living halo around it. I sucked long and deep, then, exchanging beatific smiles, passed it on to my new companion.

Someone began to trill on a bamboo flute. A drum took up the beat, then whatever was to hand: guitars, bells, g...

Dan Andrews may have killed the British Empire. Hopefully, opines managing editor Michelle Pini, it's really rather long overdue.

NO ONE gets the shock jocks, Murdoch rags and outraged keyboard warriors frothing at the mouth quite like Victorian Premier Dan Andrews.

Damned if he does and excoriated if he doesnt, this week, Dan has again incensed all of the above. How dare he cancel the British Empire Games from our deserving colonial outpost? What was he thinking saving billions of dollars? Doesnt he realise we must keep doing things in the same way theyve always been done, even if it bankrupts us?

What a spoil-sport!

Enter stage Right, the following choice samples:

Played by a conman, Dan Tehan raged about Andrews on Sky.

'Commonwealth Games 2026: Why Dan Andrews and the woke mob will never kill the Comm Games,' declared the Herald Sun sagely.

And our personal favourite, former Liberal Senator Amanda Vanstones eloquent and considered summation of Andrews on the ABC, as a dumb bum.

But perhaps the best example of Andrews ability to fire up the shock jocks comes via this typically inane commentary from Neil Mitchell who can be heard here pressuring Andrews to cancel the Commo...