Friends visiting

Friends visiting? Pretty obvious but we went off to MOAD, Old Parliament House, and the latest Between the Lines exhibition of political cartoons. I remembered a few but there were cartoonists that I didn't know from papers I don't read. My favourites were there: David Pope, Kathy Wilcox, Fiona Katsaukas, First Dog on the Moon. Fiona Katsaukus won Cartoonist of the year and it's a worthy win. I've long admired our own local David Pope of the incredible illustrations but either he's got more obtuse or I've got less astute. But Kathy W and Fiona K are always amusingly sketchy and pithy and Fiona has those great watercolours. Otherwise, the topics of the Australian news year were there: inflation, cost of living, housing, climate change, the Voice, Labour pusillanimity; generally the tragedies of the year although missing a few, but there are so many these days and the display is only so big. Otherwise a visit to the party rooms and Bob Hawke's office and the chambers to marvel at the intimacy of the old parliament, the tiny offices and the funny old technologies (electric typewriters and coloured phones) and the lovely old timber. It wasn't really so long ago. The new Parliament House only opened in 1988 but it's really a new world. Plus just one cartoon from an ANU staff office door a few days earlier.

Behind the lines is an annual display of political cartoons at the Museum of Australian Democracy (MOAD) in Old Parliament House.