Published in Overland Issue 215 Winter 2014 · Uncategorized After the riot Ann de Hugard ‘Order has been restored … breakfast has been served.’ – Scott Morrison when interviewed after a riot on Manus Island And what did you eat for breakfast, Mr Morrison – after a silent grace to thank your bountiful god? All-Bran? Or, as you are visiting Darwin when the news breaks, a platter of tropical fruit? Papaya cut like a sickle moon, and lady finger bananas peeled clean, soft flesh unmarked, satin on the tongue? Next, toast spread thin with Seville orange marmalade? Makes your lips pucker, that sweet-sour taste. And coffee? I imagine a demitasse, a short black to wash away residual sweetness. A little bitterness won’t hurt. Then time to wipe your mouth with the damask napkin, take the toothpick provided for a little extra grooming. One cannot be too fastidious. Now practise that expression: smile, then tighten lips and belt and stride out to face the querulous mob. Cut a swath through all the messy business, solemn tone, dispense the usual platitudes (sympathy to the family). But keep it rolling, no time for irritating questions. Or any hint of the Good Samaritan. That would be irrelevant now order has been restored and breakfast has been served. Ann de Hugard Ann de Hugard’s publications include A Question of Translation (Australian Poetry Centre) and Breath (Mark Time). She is the coordinator of the Castlemaine Word Mine, a centre for readers and writers. More by Ann de Hugard › Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. Related articles & Essays 21 February 202521 February 2025 · The university Closing the noose: a dispatch from the front line of decasualisation Matthew Taft Across the board, universities have responded to legislation aimed at rectifying this already grim situation by halting casual hiring, cutting courses, expanding class sizes, and increasing the workloads of permanent staff. This is an unintended consequence of the legislation, yes, but given the nefarious history of the university, from systemic wage theft to bad-faith bargaining, hardly a surprising one. 19 February 2025 · Disability The devaluing of disability support Áine Kelly-Costello and Jonathan Craig Over the past couple of decades, disabled people in much of the Western world have often sought, or agreed to, more individualised funding schemes in order to gain greater “choice and control” over the support we receive. But the autonomy, dignity and flexibility we were promised seems constantly under threat or out of reach, largely because of the perception that allowing us such “luxuries” is too expensive.
