The March Monthly is here, and is full of critical thought, investigative journalism, pithy analysis and eloquent rumination. Our cover story poses a question: Who killed the Liberal Party? Karen Middleton talks to former prime ministers and ongoing powerbrokers in the Liberal Party about how its electoral position got to its current record weak state, and, as Angus Taylor takes the reins, asks if the party and its prospects are already dead. Elsewhere across the magazine: Thomas Mayo despairs at ongoing state indifference to racist violence against Indigenous Australians; Margaret Simons travels to Laos and explores the unfinished legacy of war that lies beneath the world’s newest World Heritage areas; Katherine Wilson looks at the blokey subculture of bush users, whose influence can be felt in bushfire management; and Jonathan Green is away with the bees.
Plus, your first chance to read a new story from international great Colm Toíbín, whose “Barton Springs” appears in our pages exclusively ahead of a new short-story collection to be released next month. And our usual stellar arts writing, including David Neustein on the St. Thomas More Columbarium in Perth, Erik Jensen remembering the late Elizabeth Newman and more besides.