1. Who is your favourite newmatilda.com writer?
Editorial staff can’t play favourites.
2. What’s your favourite newmatilda.com article?
See above.
3. When did you first start reading newmatilda.com?
Way back in the day. I was a subscriber when it first started.
4. What were you doing when you heard the sad news? Were you sitting down?
Sitting at my desk at newmatilda.com HQ.
5. Were you surprised?
Most certainly.
6. Will newmatilda.com‘s demise make any difference to anything? (In 40 words or less. Yes, we know this is the limitless internet, but time’s tickin’…)
Beyond making me unemployed? Yes. There might be more and more content being made available online, but it’s getting harder and harder to find credible commentary on Australian current affairs. Furthermore, our close attention to apostrophes is unmatched by any other outlet — and we all know that a culture can shrivel without punctuation gatekeepers.
7. Where will you go for commentary when newmatilda.com stops publishing?
The pub.
8. Do you subscribe to any online content? What? Why, or why not?
Yep, heaps. It costs money to commission, edit and produce good content — especially long form articles — and if readers aren’t going to pay for it, I’m not sure who will. I subscribe to a number of print periodicals like Harpers and the New York Review Of Books and get access to their archives via their websites. I’ve also made plenty of donations to websites which operate on a supporter model and don’t paywall their content. And I guess I’ll renew my Crikey subscription now that I’m not reading it in the office.
9. What campaigning tactic do you want to see in this year’s federal election?
I’d be really happy to see the mining lobby relinquish its role as agenda-setter for debates around climate policy and resource management.
10. If you could pick one public figure to deliver live commentary on Election Night, who would it be?
Max Gillies. I’d do almost anything to get that man on television.
11. Do you have any secret political crushes you’d like to share with our readers?
If Bill "Babyface" Shorten plays his cards right, he’ll have me stalking him in no time.
12. Does anyone have a climate policy you agree with? Who?
No brainer: the Greens. I don’t think the Libs actually have a climate policy anymore, do they?
13. Who deserves a bigger tax break: banks or mining companies?
As in, who deserves to be broken by the bigger tax? After these last few weeks, I think it’s clear that the mining companies are up for it.
14. What do you see as the most important issue in the upcoming federal election campaign?
Putting climate policy back at the centre of federal policy-making.
15. What subject should be compulsory in primary schools?
Ethics. And learning a second language should be compulsory in both primary and secondary schools.
16. What’s the one thing you’ve always wanted to know about Australian politics but were afraid to ask?
Is there any chance that Canberra will ever get rolled as Australia’s capital city?
17. What politician and journalist combination would you like to see stuck in a lift recording a long interview?
Kerry O’Brien and Tony Abbott. I know they’ve been there before, but I think they’ve got more to say to each other. I worry that it might not be safe for KO’B though. I thought Abbott was going to clock him during this interview.
18. Are you part of the latte belt?
I am — and if you are reading this, you are too.
19. Is the Australian media getting better, worse, or staying the same?
Given newmatilda.com stops publishing today, I’d say it’s taking a pretty steep turn southward.
20. What question would you like to ask us?
Can you buy me a beer?
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