Australia’s Battle Between Rigidity and Flexibility<br />"It’s a great way to start the day," Bella says, "to arrive at work seeing the good in<br />the world." Damien Cave is the new Australia Bureau Chief for The New York Times.<br />It’s also what lets the country’s leaders pat each other on the back for Australia’s "multicultural society" even as they work to add additional rules<br />that make it harder to obtain citizenship, and insist that immigrants exhibit "Australian values," which mean just about anything that the establishment deems important.<br />Damien Cave, our new Australia bureau chief, shares insights on global news,<br />local recommendations and feedback from readers in this weekly newsletter.<br />I think of this every time I see people waiting for the "walk" sign at crosswalks where cars are nowhere to be seen, or when I interact with officials in Canberra or civil servants in New South Wales, who tend to insist<br />that the way they do things is the only way they could ever be done, ever, anywhere.<br />• David Brooks crafts a philosophical argument against Trumpism<br />that he says Republicans should embrace: "The core American idea is not the fortress, it’s the frontier." • Lisa Pryor, discussing Australia’s same-sex marriage dispute, would like to point out that "one particular family arrangement does appear to have a slight advantage when it comes to raising children.<br />4, 2017<br />Damien Cave, our Australia bureau chief, shares insights on global news, local recommendations and feedback from readers in this weekly newsletter.
