MoAD and the Courtyard Cafe are open. Some exhibitions and rooms will be closed from September 2025 for essential building works. Learn more

Behind the Lines

The Australian

The Australian, with its Saturday edition, The Weekend Australian, is a broadsheet newspaper published since 1964.

4 caricatures of men representing China, Russia, America and Israel are in a gym lifting weights, training for a fight. 2 caricatures of men representing Palestine and New Zealand walk in and say, ‘Step aside ladies, the heavy hitters have arrived.’

Heavy Hitters

Johannes Leak, The Australian,

Senator Jane Hume takes a taxi past a sign pointing away from the ACT, towards Victoria. The title reads, 'Jane, comma, Hume.'

Jane, Hume

Johannes Leak, The Australian,

PM Anthony Albanese in white underwear and an army helmet says, 'Unprepared? My arsenal!' He points to missiles labelled with phrases such as 'Fingers crossed' and 'Lean on the Yanks.'

My Arsenal

Johannes Leak, The Australian,

Dressed as conquistadors, Deputy PM Richard Marles says to PM Anthony Albanese, 'We've found it, Don Albo – El Dorado!' They approach a golden pyramid labelled 'Unrealised capital gains.'

El Dorado

Johannes Leak, The Australian,

A man puts his green waste bin outside, with former a man in it.

Green Waste

Johannes Leak, The Australian,

An SES officer shows a shirtless PM Anthony Albanese weather patterns on a screen with labels like 'cost of living' and 'housing crisis.' He points to 'TC Alfred' and says, 'At least this one's not your fault.'

The Perfect Storm

Johannes Leak, The Australian,

On a TV, US President Donald Trump sits beside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying, 'This is going to make great television.' Shirtless Russian President Vladimir Putin watches and says, 'You can say that again.'

Great Television

Johannes Leak, The Australian,

Former Liberal leader Peter Dutton sings, 'Anything you can do, I can do better.' He and PM Anthony Albanese are dressed as sailors in front of a huge ship labelled 'debt' and full of different political issues.

Drunken Sailors

John Spooner, The Australian,

On a map of the Northern Territory are two large criss-crossed band-aids labelled 'Alice Springs.'

Band-Aid

Johannes Leak, The Australian,

Text reads, 'Nuclear fallout – the first casualties.' People dressed in Victorian suits with bags labelled, 'Green investors,' 'Wind,' 'Solar,' 'Hydrogen,' and 'Batteries', are dying in a pale-yellow green landscape.

Nuclear Fallout

Johannes Leak, The Australian,

A family says, 'The Australian Dream seems impossible these days.' Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says, 'Cheer up, it's closer than you think.' In his thought bubble, he rides away on a unicorn labelled Green Hydrogen.

The Australian Dream

Johannes Leak, The Australian,

Bruce Lehrmann walks towards a court with his back end on fire. He says, 'Let's go light some fires.'

Lehrmann

Johannes Leak, The Australian,

A crossing labelled 'Bondi Junction' has three paths: valour, with a policewoman holding a gun; heartbreak, with emergency staff trying to revive a patient; and infamy, with a man holding a bloody knife.

Bondi Junction

Johannes Leak, The Australian,

Retired MP Linda Burney walks away with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who is naked except for a large hat and low-hanging underwear. Behind him are scraps of fabric reading, 'Voice, truth, treaty.' He says, 'Oh well – at least I'll be remembered for having had a good crack.' Text reads, 'Rock bottom.'

Rock Bottom

Johannes Leak, The Australian,

Linda Burney is dressed in military uniform with the word 'Yes' on her helmet. Anthony Albanese says to her, 'But Linda, you can't just march to Canberra. You're already there!'

Untitled

John Spooner, The Australian,

Peter Dutton tows away a carriage full of bags, telling Anthony Albanese, 'Sorry mate, around here you have to read the signs.' Albanese replies, 'But we don't have regional signs in Canberra!'

Untitled

John Spooner, The Australian,

NSW Parliament Upper House Committee sign is behind John Barilaro, who is saying into a microphone, 'Can I help it if I just happened to be the right mate for the job?'

The Right Mate

Johannes Leak, The Australian,

Caricature of Greens leader Adam Bandt carrying the Australian flag over his shoulder. It is ripped in half. He is discarding the other half into a bin labelled 'Green Ideology'.

Hurtful Symbolism

John Spooner, The Australian,

Men sit around a table, seats are labelled 'Liberal Party Room'. Text above the table, 'We paid the price for Morrison's unpopularity. What we need is someone cute and cuddly this time.' Peter Dutton enters saying, 'You rang?'

Lurch to the Right

Johannes Leak, The Australian,

Andrew Charlton 'parra-chutes' down, while a man says to two children, 'Work hard your whole life and one day all this could be his'. A sign says 'Welcome to Parramatta'.

The Parra-Chute

Johannes Leak, The Australian,

Vladimir Putin on a horse with trussed up bodies on the back. He carries a gun and dares Joe Biden to 'do something about it'. Biden is on a NATO rocking horse saying, 'Why, them's condemnin' words'. Text reads 'Welcome to the Mild West'.

Welcome to the Mild West

Johannes Leak, The Australian,

The states and territories are in the shape of people's faces. They are in separate windows in a house called, 'Oz'. It is nighttime. The moon is in the shape of the COVID virus.

Full House

Glen Le Lievre, The Australian,

Jacinta Arden is dressed as a hippie in front of the 'Invite only AUKUS Grown-Ups Club'. She is holding a 'No nukes' sign saying, 'and stay out!!'

Grown-Ups Club

Johannes Leak, The Australian,

The Statue of Liberty says, 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, if they can make their own way to the airport without upsetting the Taliban'.

The Statue of Treachery

John Spooner, The Australian,

Two Afghani men sit in wreckage with a notice from DFAT. One asks what the letter says. The other replies, 'Roughly translated: "get stuffed"'.

Get Stuffed

Johannes Leak, The Australian,

Scott Morrison drives a car on the edge of a cliff saying, 'See, folks - we've turned the corner and we're through the worst of it.' Three Labor premiers wait around corners with items to sabotage his car trip.

Home Stretch

Johannes Leak, The Australian,

Marise Payne stands over Scott Morrison pointing to a map of Australia called, 'The Chinese port of Darwin'. Payne says, 'And this is a disturbing aerial photo of the CCP's latest island building venture'.

Port of Darwin

John Spooner, The Australian,

A politician stands next to a large industrial facility in a hi-vis vest, the vest reflects the sun's rays back into space. Text reads: 'How carbon capture and storage works'.

Burying Disbelief

Jon Kudelka, The Australian,

Anthony Albanese and Scott Morrison in old timey clothes stand on the back of utes, trying to sell bottles of their concoctions to combat climate change.

Snake Oil Sales

Johannes Leak, The Australian,

Madeleine King drives a large industrial vehicle with coal in the back. She jumps over 'Green left' cars. Anthony Albanese looks on asking, 'But can she jump wind turbines?'

Renewed Energy

John Spooner, The Australian,

A movie poster. Houses and cars are swept away in a flood. Text reads: 'From the makers of 2020: 2021. Just when you thought it was safe to go outside... Now streaming'.

Floods

Johannes Leak, The Australian,

A darkened Parliament House displays a Batman-like signal but of a boat, 'The Boat Signal'. Two people walking past comment, 'Polls must be bad...'

Boat Signal

Jon Kudelka, The Australian,

Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott and Christine Milne are on a beach standing behind a line in the sand. In the water are dead bodies and a capsized boat. Text reads, 'The line in the sand'.

The Line in the Sand

Peter Nicholson, The Australian,

A man with a clipboard asks an 'average man on the street' how he feels about the future and tells him to say 'gloomy' as a 'Reserve Bank guy' is listening. A man smoking a cigar watches from a window.

Try and Look Miserable

Jon Kudelka, The Australian,

You may also be interested in...

Could the 1975 dismissal happen elsewhere?

Could the 1975 dismissal happen elsewhere?

Is the dismissal of an elected government an event that could happen in countries other than Australia?

The dismissal

The dismissal

Everything you need to know about the 1975 dismissal.

What is the secret ballot?

What is the secret ballot?

Your guide to the voting method we use in Australia.

1977: National Song Poll

1977: National Song Poll

Australians were asked to pick a song for the national anthem in 1977.

Stories

Stories

Deep dive into stories about Old Parliament House, Australian history and democracy.

Referendums A to Z

Referendums A to Z

What is a referendum? Why should you care? We’ve broken down everything you need to know, from A to Z.