The Nation

LOUIS BURKE | Culture | CONTACT Owner of Betoota small bar ‘The Subterranean Moustachery’ Obbie Hanken (38) is determined to bring a certain level of class to this country town. In a space that was previously used to store chairs and cockroaches, Hanken opened his small bar which he insists on referring to as a ‘speakeasy’ despite the fact it is a licensed venue and...

ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact Rue de Putain is notorious for it's morning traffic and according to one local mother, motorists need to keep an eye out for pedestrians trying to cross the busy arterial road. Betoota Heights woman Wendy Tong was almost knocked over by an overweight man in a British racing green Suzuki Mighty Boy this morning and...

WENDELL HUSSEY | Cadet | Contact Just hours after it was announced that Taylor Swift would rock the race that stops a nation, the pop star has taken to social media to officially pull out of performing on Melbourne Cup Day. The globally popular American artist was set to perform two songs in the mounting yard at Flemington where anyone would have been able...

ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact Two years ago, Frankie Dearden left our desert community in search of purpose. Feeling directionless and afraid that time was marchimg on despite her protests, she applied for a Youth Mobility Visa and threw caution to the wind. Upon arriving in London, she caught the Paddington express in from Heathrow and that was the last...

ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact The Prime Minister has leapt to the defence of his embattled backbencher Gladys Liu this morning, telling reporters that the Victorian MP 'isn't half as crook' as former Labor senator Sam Dastyari. In a faux-broad twang, Scott Morrison lashed out at those people in Parliament and the media who are putting pressure on him to...

ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact The nation risks losing a generation of creative artists should the government go ahead with their plan to drug test recipients of the New Start and Youth Allowance, according to a report commissioned by the Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA). In particular, our pantomime and slapstick acts. Concerns for the future of the industry are...

CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT Local Skyline owner, Brendo (19) says he and the boys have got somewhere to be, and they are looking for an off-ramp in the next 40-50 kilometres so if you could fuck off out of the way, that'd be tight. With some sort of a house party slash gatho happening tonight in the regional outskirts of Betoota, Brendo and...

ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact The threat of bushfires is a clear and present danger for many communities around Australia - a fact that keeps our Prime Minister up at night. Scott Morrison explained to The Advocate this morning via telephone that he couldn't just sit there and watch people lose everything to the wanton destruction of a bushfire. Laughing in...

TRACEY BENDINGER | Culture | Contact They say brilliance recognises itself in other people, or something like that. Well, that much is definitely true today as Dwight Smith watches on in envy at the local Yum Cha trolley lady, Ling Xi, expertly selling customers dishes they don’t need. “Can you believe what we’re seeing? It’s... beautiful” Dwight told our reporter over some Peking duck...

ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact Fresh from helping Justin Langer retain the Ashes, Shane Warne and Steve Waugh arrived in Tokyo this morning on a red-eye from London. Wallabies coach Michael Cheika phoned the cricketing odd couple earlier in the week and asked them to come to Japan to mentor the Wallabies ahead of the World Cup. Fiji is the first...