Israel Folau is now certainly unemployed, most certainly not by choice. So what exactly should he do next?

The answer to that question must be framed by considering whether it’s actually unlawful for Rugby Australia to terminate Folau’s four year, multi-million dollar contract.

But before proposing what Folau should do next let me start by stating, unreservedly and not for the first time, that his method of evangelising via Instagram is abhorrent. It’s devoid of any sensitivity and emotional intelligence; and it’s incredibly dangerous and unbelievably reckless. Yet, I will nevertheless defend Folau’s right to express his religious beliefs.

Pulpitry via social media plainly isn’t and shouldn’t be a sackable offence. That isn’t a criticism of RA’s code of conduct tribunal because it was asked to determine if Folau had breached RA’s code of behaviour. The tribunal didn’t actually terminate Folau’s contract although it recommended it; RA did.

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Indeed, if one is to take seriously RA’s statement of its vision for an inclusive culture, set out in the preamble to its Inclusion Policy, it’s difficult to understand how Folau could end up persona non grata.

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On this "vision", RA’s policy states: Our vision can only be achieved if our game is one where every individual participant, whether players, officials, volunteers, supporters or administrators feel safe, welcome and included.

However loathsome and offensive some people consider the manifestation of Folau’s religious beliefs to be: isn’t it the case, that he too is one of those people RA promised to make feel safe, welcome and included?

Moreover, although the Bible can be interpreted to say that unrepenting drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, atheists and idolaters (and revilers, swindlers and the greedy) are destined for Hell, this isn’t exactly the message taught at your neighbourhood Catholic primary school circa 2019.

Without doubt, Folau’s espoused religious beliefs are wildly and permanently dislocated from the values held and cherished by most Australians. Yet it doesn’t follow that Folau, in resolutely maintaining his religious beliefs, should be subjected to the termination of his employment. Equally, it doesn’t neatly follow, that Folau and his actions are "homophobic".

Has anybody bothered to consider the possibility that Folau himself might be hopelessly conflicted and agonised between his own personal relationships with people who are LGBTIQ, and the tenets of his Pentecostal religion? Shouldn’t we pause to consider that whatever the dogmas of Folau’s faith might be, maybe he bears no hatred, fear or loathing of homosexuals or any of the other of the classes of people to which he refers? As heads is tails …

But back to this question: now RA has terminated Folau’s employment, exactly what can he do next? That’s a pertinent question, considering Folau is 30 years old; where he’s just lost his seven-figure income, in the only career he’s ever known; and where it appears he’s got a limited array of transferable skills.

Although classified as a termination of employment due to a high-level breach of RA’s code of conduct, it’s difficult and arguably artificial to distinguish between that high-level code of conduct breach being the reason; and Folau’s religion, religious beliefs and his expression of those religious beliefs.

And if you accept it’s arguable that Folau’s employment was terminated for the reason of his religion, religious beliefs and his genuine expression of those beliefs, then surely you can’t lose your job in Australia for that? RIGHT???

See, this is where it gets tricky. For the purpose of what I’ll say next, accept that both Folau and RA are "residents" of NSW; he was a RA employee; and that Folau’s Instagramming happened here too.
The Fair Work Act — itself a piece of Commonwealth, and not NSW legislation — applies to RA’s employment of Folau. Section 351(1) of the Act says an employer such as RA can’t take adverse action against an employee because of the person’s religion, EXCEPT WHERE the action is not unlawful under the anti-discrimination laws in force in the place where the action was taken.
Section 342 says that "adverse action" includes dismissing the employee.

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Now every state and territory in Australia, except NSW and South Australia, has enacted some form of laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of religion, beliefs and the like. Although the federal government — because Australia has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – has the legislative power to prohibit discrimination on the basis of religion and religious beliefs, it hasn’t done so. If Folau had’ve been living in St Kilda and playing for the Melbourne Rebels, things may have been different.

So section 351 of the Act isn’t of any apparent use to Folau — the applicability of that provision is directly dependent on the existence of other laws, preventing religious discrimination in NSW. There are none. But, all isn’t lost … another section of the Fair Work Act might well assist.

One of the stated objectives of Part 6-4, Division 2 of the Fair Work Act is to give effect to International Labour Organisation Conventions 111 and 158, which were adopted in 1958 and 1982 respectively, then and ratified by Australia in 1973 and 1993.

The ILO is an agency of the United Nations. Under these two instruments of international law, Australia agreed that it would enact laws eliminating religious and other discrimination in employment AND that it would legislate so that employment can’t be terminated on invalid grounds, including because of an employee’s religion.

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According to the ILO, such religious discrimination includes discrimination based on a person’s expression of their religious beliefs.

Accordingly, section 772(1) of the Fair Work Act makes it unlawful (subject to some irrelevant exceptions) for an employer to terminate an employee’s employment because of, or for reasons including an employee’s religion. And if an employee’s religion includes a person’s expression of their religious beliefs — "believers" hardly worship in a vacuum — then was Folau terminated for reasons including his religion, or not?

If an employee’s employment is nonetheless terminated because of reasons including those which are statutorily unlawful under section 772(1), the employee has 21 days after the termination, to apply to the Fair Work Commission, asking it to deal with the matter.

Usually, the FWC deals with such matters by way of mediation or conciliation. Those methods of touchy-feely dispute resolution won’t cut the mustard though, in resolving the dispute to the satisfaction of either RA and Folau. So once the FWC agrees, the Act requires it to issue a certificate to that effect. Thereafter, Folau is free to take his unlawful termination case to the Federal Court of Australia.

Remember, we’re dealing with "unlawful" termination, not a guillotining which is merely unfair or harsh. Once unlawful termination is alleged, it’s up to RA to prove the termination wasn’t anything to do with any unlawful reason, or for reasons INCLUDING that unlawful reason.

And if RA can’t prove the termination had nothing at all to do with religion, then the Federal Court has the full jurisdiction to order that RA reinstate Folau; pay him full compensation; pay his (no doubt significant) legal bills; and pay a civil penalty of $50,000 or more.

It’s fair to say that an immense amount hinges on RA being able to absolutely delineate between it having terminated Folau’s employment because he breached RA’s applicable code of conduct by reason of expressing his religious beliefs; but NOT because of his religion, religious beliefs or the expression of those beliefs.

Moreover it’s a dangerous division to say that a professional athlete’s right to genuinely express their religious beliefs is mutually exclusive with his or her right to work.

The Labor leadership contest appears over, but the policy struggle has only just begun.

Anthony Albanese is emerging as the consensus option to take the party to the next election, given his standing as a former deputy leader and the man who almost gained the leadership in 2013.

There are enormous policy challenges ahead of the party after the election result last Saturday, which puts the Coalition on 51.4 per cent of the national vote and Labor on 48.6 per cent in two-party terms in the latest count.

Labor is yet to decide how much of this defeat was due to poor tactics and how much the result of bad policy, but Albanese and others are putting everything up for review.

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On climate, the intervention of environment spokesman Tony Burke suggests the party could step back from advocating any form of market-based mechanism to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

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Recent political history suggests that voters like renewable energy but are easily startled by economy-wide schemes that put a price on carbon.

The Coalition attacked Labor on the cost of its climate policies, while Labor relied on the help of activist group GetUp and others to mobilise on the ground to win marginal seats.

The result shows the help was not enough to neutralise the attacks. A policy rethink is inevitable.

Albanese is cautious on this issue. In an interview, he did not prejudge the outcome and said Labor would act on the science. He was not prescriptive about the policy mechanism used to do this.

The need to keep the peace within the Labor caucus means the elevation of Albanese without a leadership ballot can help the party recover.

Even so, the decision not to hold a leadership contest three years ago may have been a mistake. Former opposition leader Bill Shorten lost the election against Malcolm Turnbull so narrowly that Labor ended up doing a "victory lap" and Albanese chose not to put his hand up.

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Perhaps he should have. It is now clear that Labor needed a much bigger rethink of its policies and tactics after the 2016 election.

It may not have a leadership ballot this time, but will certainly need a long and thorough review of its policies and the way it conducted the campaign.

AMERICAN PSYCHO
Hayes Theatre, May 16
★★★★

Were the dog-eat-dog world of Wall Street a mathematical series, its logical conclusion would be American Psycho. Bret​ Easton Ellis's 1991 novel – among the most misunderstood in history – prophetically suggested that if greed, sexism, hedonism and narcissism go unchecked, they will spawn mutants incapable of empathy.

Ellis just chose to house his satirical social commentary in the darkest room in our imaginations.

Following Mary Harron's​ memorable 2000 film of the novel, this innovative stage musical emerged in 2013, penned by Roberto Aguirre-Sarcasa (book) and Duncan Sheik (music and lyrics).

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At a stroke it makes most musicals seem blunt-edged, aided by this startling production from director Alexander Berlage​, starring Benjamin Gerrard as the psychopathic Patrick Bateman.

The novel's straight-faced tone and graphic violence and sex was massaged into more obviously amusing satire in the film, and the musical follows this lead, dealing in implied gore rather than rivers of red. Sweeney Todd seems civilised compared with Bateman, in that his victims are cleanly killed and then cooked before being devoured.

Bateman likes to torture and terrify before the kill – and then gnaw them raw. It brings him a little peace, you see, in the brutal world of mergers and acquisitions.

In Gerrard's dazzling performance we see the stylish charismatic whom Bateman's friends enjoy, and the psychopath constantly lurking in his shadow. The problem with this version of the character is not performance-related: it is having no answer to the novel's extraordinary unravelling of the first-person narration.

The final song, This Is Not an Exit attempts to do that, with Bateman entering the audience to watch the closing scene from the outside. But it is framed as self-justification, and doesn't catch the disquieting shift in tone that Ellis achieves in his non-resolution.

Gerrard's performance shares star status with the design, choreography, direction and lighting. The production's visual brilliance will have your eyes out on stalks more than any chain-sawed bodies could do. Isabel Hudson uses a revolve to recreate the hustling lives of Manhattan's young, rich and predatory in 1987, while mirrored walls (like modern social media) reflect the pandemic narcissism.

The writers could have made more of the humour potential of Bateman's self-concept as a music connoisseur, given his mostly dire taste. Nonetheless the incorporation of songs by the likes of Phil Collins and Huey​ Lewis and the News are necessary evils that are made to work well.

Sheik's original music, tweaked for this production by Andrew Worboys​, is mostly doofy​ electronica played so loudly as to rearrange your entrails; so loudly, more pertinently, as to make many of the lyrics unintelligible – which is hardly smart.

Indeed this would be an unreserved five-star review were it not for that fact, for the lame scene with Tom Cruise as a character, and for one truly appalling Sheik song sung by Jean (Loren​ Hunter), Bateman's secretary. Called A Girl Before, this overwrought ballad is as out of place as chocolate on a barbecue.

Amid an exceptional cast of 11, Amy Hack offers an entertaining turn as Bateman's troubled, Anna Wintour-like mother. The dancing is machete-sharp, with Yvette​ Lee's choreography exploiting the revolve to the full, amplified at every turn by Berlage's​ own lighting.

The effect is often reminiscent of music videos, including during a vivid series of beachside tableaux set in the Hamptons. Mason Browne's costumes evoke a world in which clothes – like cocaine, champagne and restaurants – are signifiers of success. They're just not enough for Bateman.

Until June 9.

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London: British politicians agree on precious little these days. But on one matter, there's near-unanimity across the spectrum: Theresa May's days as Prime Minister are numbered.

The political deathwatch comes against the backdrop of Britons' vote on Thursday for the European Parliament – balloting that would not have taken place if the country had left the European Union as scheduled nearly two months ago.

The newly constituted Brexit party – which, as its name suggests, is devoted to getting Britain out of the EU as soon as possible – was expected to triumph, although results will not be announced until Sunday, when all the nations of the 28-nation bloc have finished voting.

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In the meantime, May was being treated, even by senior members of her own party, as a pariah. Speculation about her likely ouster reached fever pitch as fellow Conservatives publicly excoriated her fourth and latest proposal setting terms for Britain's departure from the EU, as approved by voters in the Brexit referendum in June 2016.

An important Cabinet member, Andrea Leadsom, quit late Wednesday – the 36th such ministerial departure since May took office nearly three years ago – expressing a lack of confidence in the government's approach.

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When the Prime Minister made a visit to Buckingham Palace on Wednesday, news reports portrayed her regularly scheduled audience with the Queen as a grim milestone. A BBC report – in funereal tones that suggested that May, like some luckless historical figure, was about to be whisked away to the Tower of London for the coup de grace – declared that it would likely be one her last trips through the palace gates.

In another ominous portent, a key party committee held a secret ballot on the same day – without publicly disclosing the results – over whether to change party rules to allow an early vote of confidence in the prime minister. May won the last one, in December, and under party rules, there was not supposed to be another for 12 months.

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Thursday's headlines were predictably savage.

"May set to go after Brexit fiasco," said the Sun tabloid. "May hides away as Cabinet bangs on No. 10 door," the Evening Standard declared on its front page, referring to reports that May had ducked meetings with alarmed senior aides.

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said on Thursday that she would still be in office on June 3, when Donald Trump pays a visit. That could be a mixed blessing, as the US President's visits are traditionally bruising affairs for the Prime Minister.

On past trips, Trump has enthusiastically praised May's political opponents and suggested that Brexit would have gone off smoothly if May had taken his negotiating advice.

It's been clear for many months, as May's proposed Brexit deals were serially rejected by Parliament, that her grip on power has waned.

In April 2017, she called early elections meant to bolster her strength but instead lost badly and only maintained her parliamentary majority by teaming up with a North Ireland party whose complicated Brexit aims diminished her ability to strike a compromise.

When she fought off a party leadership challenge last December, May had to promise that she would not be leading the Conservative party in elections set for 2022.

Only a month after that, May suffered one of the worst parliamentary defeats of modern times when lawmakers overwhelmingly rejected the Brexit withdrawal agreement she had struck with European Union leaders, throwing the whole process into disarray.

In a bid to stave off ouster, May has moved up her own projected departure date. In March, she promised to quit before the next phase of Brexit negotiations begin. It's unclear when that will be, but the current target date for splitting with the EU is the end of October.

Last week, May dangled the promise of departing within weeks, after her current withdrawal plan gets a second parliamentary reading. But the government has now put off planned publication of the legislation until June 3 – yet another sign that there was no support for it.

On Thursday, May met with Hunt and Home Secretary Sajid Javid seemingly trying to project willingness to address her Cabinet colleagues' concerns about her political future and the viability of her Brexit plan. Then she went to her home constituency to cast a ballot in the EU vote, but she said nothing publicly.

The next inflection point could be Friday, when May is to meet with Sir Graham Brady, the head of the 1922 Committee, a powerful Conservative political body that in the past has let prime ministers know that the time has come to go.

But some say May intends to quit as Tory leader on June 10 so an election to choose her replacement can begin after Trump's state visit. She wants to remain as a caretaker prime minister while her successor is chosen in a contest that could take six weeks, says a person with knowledge of events.

A rare show of support came from a fellow Conservative politician, Margot James, who suggested May was being "hounded out of office" because of Parliament's failure to find common ground on how and when to carry out Brexit. But even she seemed to bow to the inevitable.

"In the end," she said, "there's got to be a compromise."

LA Times

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The workers of Riverwood gave Bill Shorten a warm welcome one year ago when he spoke to a packed community hall about his plans to restore fairness in wages, health, education and tax.

“There is a problem in this country in that there’s two classes of workers,” Shorten told his audience. He talked about increasing penalty rates, helping casual workers and raising more tax revenue to fund his spending plans.

The applause was loud and long that night at the Riverwood Community Centre in the southern suburbs of Sydney. By the time the meeting ended, Shorten had good reason to think he could win this community, one of the poorest parts of the marginal electorate of Banks.

Scott Morrison won it instead. The startling fact about last Saturday’s election, a fact that has shattered the Labor dream and confounded the unions, is that so many suburbs like Riverwood backed the Liberals.

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Riverwood has a median household income of about $1000 a week, roughly $425 below the national median. While other parts of the electorate look out on the Georges River, the view from Riverwood is more likely to be the M5 freeway.

The Liberal member for Banks, David Coleman, could have lost his seat with a swing to Labor of just 1.4 per cent. He gained a 5.7 per cent swing instead, turning this marginal seat into safe Liberal territory.

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While the Liberal vote in the more comfortable suburb of Oatley barely changed, it surged in Riverwood. Voters at St Andrew’s Church Hall, in Riverwood South, swung to the Liberals by 8.9 per cent. They swung by 11.4 per cent at Riverwood Public School and 11.8 per cent at the Hannans Road Public School in Riverwood East.

Shorten fought the election on fairness and failed. He won over the crowd who turned up to the local hall but could not win the wider community. Voters spurned what he offered. His idea of fairness fell flat.

The “fairness” claim is also deeply contested. When I used the word in a report on the election result on Monday, readers disputed whether Shorten’s tax changes were really “fair” at all.

What was so fair about taking franking credits away from retirees after it had been a standard part of the tax system for decades? What was fair about curbing the use of negative gearing? Or stricter rules on superannuation?

Labor misread the community every time it added another tax revenue increase to its policy platform, even though the party’s admirers loved every shiny gold brick as it was placed upon the table. Eventually the furniture collapsed.

The backlash came in some of Labor’s heartland seats, including a 6.5 per cent increase in the Liberal primary vote in Greenway. This varied enormously, and was skewed by the swings in several seats towards the parties of Clive Palmer and Pauline Hanson, but it was a rebuff to Labor and its leader.

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Wealthier Australians did not rebel in this way. The Labor primary vote increased in safe Liberal seats, rising by 8.4 per cent in North Sydney, 4 per cent in Bradfield and 6.6 per cent in Goldstein. Shorten won the voters he did not need.

The search for scapegoats makes it easy for Labor to blame Shorten, his advisers or party officials the public has never heard of. The truth is this was a shared defeat. It was a rejection of the Labor policy plan as well as its tactics.

While social media campaigns and Palmer advertising influenced the outcome, there is long-term risk for Labor if it worries only about the tactics it used to reach voters rather than what it told them.

The policy message did not work with aspirational voters, including those in Riverwood who might have otherwise welcomed Shorten’s promise to look after hospitals and schools. The tax plan looked more convincing in abstract than in reality.

The first draft of the franking credits change, released early last year, took money from pensioners and part-pensioners. Shorten redrafted the plan within a fortnight to offer a “pensioner guarantee” but the impression left with voters was clear: Labor would go after them if it could.

And the booth results in Riverwood raise an intriguing question: did workers who were promised more from Labor, either in personal income tax cuts or spending programs, vote for the Coalition anyway? Perhaps they did not trust Labor, or did not like Shorten, and felt they could rely on Morrison instead.

Morrison won this election through sheer force of will and total discipline. Some Liberals are honest enough to admit they did not expect victory. Morrison alone had the confidence to keep going with barely a stumble during the campaign.

The focus on Labor’s mistakes can easily distract from the important decisions on the government side of the campaign – not least the way Morrison presented himself to voters as a leader who could put the “muppet show” of last year behind them.

Morrison drew plenty of derision, especially online, for his “daggy dad” appearance or his talk about football or his Pentecostal faith, but the evidence from the election is that these aspects of his character did not hurt him.

The Labor treasury spokesman, Chris Bowen, was right on Wednesday to identify his party’s message to people of faith as a problem. What others within the caucus acknowledge is that the last time they took government from opposition was with an avowedly Christian leader, in Kevin Rudd in 2007.

Morrison has won over some of the “battlers” Labor thought it could hold or claim last Saturday.

David Crowe is chief political correspondent.

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Aaron Finch has nominated England as World Cup favourites but the Australian captain is confident his side is building momentum at the right time.

Tournament preparations intensify on Saturday when England host Australia in a warm-up clash in Southampton.

The Australians had a strong win over the West Indies on Wednesday but this latest clash will be a step up in intensity, for the host nation has emerged as the team to beat.

Under captain Eoin Morgan, England have embraced a high-tempo game plan, built around scoring at seven runs or more an over.

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In a recent 4-0 series win over Pakistan, they became the first side to have four consecutive scores of 340 or more, while their 1424 overall runs were the most by any team in an one-day international series where they played a maximum of four innings.

In Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Jos Buttler and Morgan, they will look to intimidate bowlers, something they did during a 5-0 thrashing of Australia last year.

But this is a different Australian squad, and with David Warner and Steve Smith back in the fold, the defending Cup champions also boast a strong batting line-up.

"It's a good question, I think, England have been in great form over the last couple of years and along with India, they've probably been the standout performers. So you'd have to say England are definitely the favourites," Finch said.

"I think it's important that some of our guys have got that World Cup experience and having, I think, six players who have been a part of a winning World Cup will hold us in good stead going forward, hopefully.

"But it's a different tournament and, once you get out and start playing, the pressure takes over. So it'll be a great tournament."

Speaking at the captain's day in London, Finch said the Australians were prepared for any abuse spectators were preparing for Smith and Warner, who have returned from suspension for their roles in the ball-tampering scandal.

The Australians have been told not to bait crowds. The Ageas Bowl is expected to have a near capacity of 15,000 on hand.

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"They have come back into the set-up for the last couple of weeks and been fantastic and they have contributed as much as they can," Finch said.

"Once it gets underway, particularly against England, and further on for the Ashes, the crowd will play a part but that is expected everywhere in the world.

"We have plans in place for that, and their squad input and output in terms of the runs they have been making has been fantastic."

Morgan stressed there was no side that was "head and shoulders above everybody else" in the 12th edition of the World Cup, which has been reduced from 14 to 10 nations, but Indian captain Virat Kohli backed Finch in deeming England favourites.

"I have to agree with Aaron, I think England is probably – in their conditions – the most strong side in this tournament but I also agree with 'Morgs', that all 10 teams are so well balanced and so strong and the fact that this is a tournament where we have to play everyone once, makes it all the more challenging," Kohli said.

"I think that's going to be the best thing about this tournament, I see this as probably one of the most competitive World Cups that people are going to see."

Morgan, though, warned that past form clearly offers no guarantees of World Cup glory.

"It is going to be very difficult," he said.

"Expectations do not come out of thin air. We have scored some quite high scores, especially at home, and that has brought a lot of confidence.

"The World Cup is a different kettle of fish. Everything we have done does contribute, but you still have to produce the goods.

"These are the 10 best teams in the world, so it is going to be extraordinarily competitive."

Since the last World Cup in 2015, England have passed 400 four times, setting the two highest scores in international history and nine of the 10 highest totals ever by England sides.

With Reuters

With so many entertainment options, it's easy to miss brilliant TV shows, movies and documentaries. Here are the ones to hit play on, or skip.

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The Spanish Princess
Stan*

It's well known that Catherine of Aragon was the first wife of Henry VIII. But was Henry Catherine's first husband? Go to the top of the class if you remember that Catherine actually left her beloved Spain to marry Henry's older brother, Arthur. But it's best not to get all your history from The Spanish Princess.

No sooner have we met young Catherine (Charlotte Hope, who played Ramsay Bolton's beastly girlfriend Myranda in Game of Thrones) in the year 1501 than we're told that her mum, Queen Isabella (Alicia Borrachero), had just overthrown "a thousand years of Muslim rule".

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That would have been a neat trick, considering that Muslims had been there less than 800 years.

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However accurate the rest of it is, it's certainly exciting. Escorting Catherine down to the docks, Isabella finds herself confronted by a small army of Muslim rebels, so she rides into battle in a crowned helmet, laying about her with a great big sword before returning to her daughter triumphantly spattered in blood.

It's all a bit Game of Thrones-y, and the resemblances keep piling up once Catherine lands in England.

Arthur (Angus Imrie) proves a damp squib who's scared of girls, and it turns out the letters from him that had got Catherine so steamed up were in fact a catfishing exercise by the dastardly Henry (Ruairi O'Connor) – who, with his tousled red hair and devilish good looks, styles himself as "Prince Harry".

Where Game of Thrones' Margaery Tyrell came from far away to marry first the monstrous Joffrey and then his gentle, gormless brother, Tommen, it looks as though Catherine is going to do things the other way around.

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But, as in Game of Thrones, it's the older women who are the best value. Harriet Walter is an absolute treat as Henry's pompous grandmother, Margaret Beaufort, a woman appalled to learn that Catherine takes daily baths rather than weekly ones. Henry's mother, Queen Elizabeth (Alexandra Moen), reveals a Cersei-like ruthless streak while Henry VII (Elliot Cowan) frets about the threat posed by France and Scotland.

The major figures are attended by good-looking minor ones, most of whom seem rather keen to drop trouser and lift petticoat.

Like The White Princess and The White Queen (which are also on Stan), it's well cast, handsomely produced and based on novels by Philippa Gregory (The Other Boleyn Girl). Good popcorn-munching fun.

Time Traveling Bong
comedycentral.com.au

Ilana Glazer is in fine, filthy form in this all-too-brief, oh-so-wrong comedy series she created with her Broad City producer-director Lucia Aniello and castmate Paul W. Downs.

Dirtbag cousins Sharee and Jeff (Glazer and Downs) come into possession of a high-tech bong that transports the user to random places in the past and future.

In terms of sheer madness it's hard to get a struck match between Sharee's embrace of caveman sex culture and her attempt to save 1960s Michael Jackson from his monstrous father.

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile
Netflix

Director Joe Berlinger made his name with documentaries revealing miscarriages of American justice. This drama, based on the memoir of Elizabeth Kendall, the unwitting girlfriend of serial killer Ted Bundy, reveals the kind of bizarre circus American justice can become.

Zac Efron is suitably creepy as the manipulative Bundy, and the estimable Lily Collins hugely sympathetic as Kendall. But it's Bundy's televised trial in Florida – with John Malkovich as the idiosyncratic presiding judge – that will leave the most lasting impression.

Loading Docs 2018
Docplay, loadingdocs.net

The latest crop of three-minute documentaries from New Zealand offers intriguing and often frustratingly brief glimpses of interesting people and scenes across the Tasman.

From a deaf MP working to help other people with disabilities take part in politics to a scientist turning invasive algae into biodegradable plastic, a nomadic barber starting conversations about mental health, and a program that helps troubled Maori youth engage with their cultural heritage, there's a lot going on. Both Docplay and loadingdocs.net have earlier seasons as well.

Fleabag
Amazon Prime Video

If the first season of Phoebe Waller-Bridge's sticky, tar-black comedy was a bit of a masterpiece, the second elevates its creator, writer and star to greatness.

Exquisitely crafted in every line and shot, it's unflinchingly mordant in its heightened depiction of everyday awfulness, but it retains at its core a vulnerable, longing sweetness you mightn't think capable of coexisting. It is, perhaps, a bit like chocolate and sea salt, or one of those other trendy combinations that sound repulsive but are evidently sublime.

Similarly impressive is the sight of the eponymous character (Waller-Bridge) trying in earnest to become a better person in circumstances largely unconducive. With her emotionally unavailable father (Bill Paterson) and slightly monstrous godmother (Olivia Colman) planning to marry, Fleabag finds herself unexpectedly falling for the "cool, sweary priest" who will conduct the ceremony.

Waller-Bridge delivers a virtuoso double performance as Fleabag rapidly, seamlessly transitions back and forth between interacting with her fellow characters and with the audience down the barrel of the camera. The meta situation that arises from this makes it doubly priceless. Sheer magic.

Remastered: Devil at the Crossroads
Netflix

The latest instalment of Netflix's fine music documentary series has the likes of Keith Richards and Taj Mahal queueing up to pay tribute to Robert Johnson, the Mississippi bluesman whose slim but extraordinary body of work has been an inspiration to blues and rock musicians for more than 80 years.

What's more interesting is the way that historians and academics here are able to illuminate some of Johnson's oblique, haunting lyrics in the context of contemporary belief in hoodoo and terror of lynching.

*Stan is owned by Nine, the publisher of this website.

The smoke haze that choked Sydney earlier in the week has returned, again shrouding the city in a thick fog even though the NSW Rural Fire Service halted hazard reduction burns on Wednesday due to the poor air quality.

Weatherzone meteorologist Brett Dutschke said the combination of very light winds and a temperature inversion caused by a high pressure system was trapping smoke over the city.

"That high pressure is trapping the smoke close to the ground. It's not allowing it to dissipate," he said.

Even without new hazard reduction burns, the drop in wind and stronger pressure overnight on Thursday trapped more smoke following a brief reprieve.

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"Yesterday and the day before, the wind picked up a little bit during the afternoons, and that helped dissipate any of the smoke that was about," Mr Dutschke said.

"But last night we had a slightly stronger temperature inversion, so that's effectively high pressure compressing the air back down to the ground again, allowing that smoke to settle down again."

The NSW Office of Environment and Heritage's air quality index recorded a "hazardous" particle reading in Sydney's north-west on Friday morning, including at Richmond, while visibility is "poor" at North Parramatta, Macquarie Park, and Rozelle.

NSW Health advises residents to cut back significantly on outdoor exercise when air quality is "hazardous", while those with heart and lung conditions should avoid it entirely.

During the day on Friday, winds may pick up slightly – but unlikely enough to lift the smoke, Mr Dutschke said.

"It's going to be a day of really quite gentle winds. So the smell of smoke could be in the air well into the day, mainly in the north-west," he said.

"There could be a bit of smoke about tomorrow as well. Winds look similarly calm for much of the day."

On Friday morning, the RFS tweeted that some of the smoke was rising from the hazard reduction burn carried out in the Blue Mountains on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. The fire is still burning, and expected to continue for a number of days.

However, no additional burns have been lit in the past 48 hours, and no further burns are planned in the Sydney area for Friday.

RFS Inspector Ben Shepherd said authorities had been meeting twice a day to determine a course of action appropriate to weather conditions, and it was "unlikely" that burns scheduled for this weekend would go ahead.

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"We're evaluating everything, even small burns, as small as five to 10 hectares. Anything that could add to this is not going ahead," he said.

"This high pressure system is still sitting over us, so while it's giving us nice warm days it's not letting the smoke clear."

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The wind is not expected to pick up significantly enough to shift the smoke hanging over the city until Sunday, he said.

On Wednesday, following three days of poor air quality in the Sydney area, the RFS tweeted it would suspend hazard reduction burns for at least 24 hours to allow smoke from burns conducted over the weekend to dissipate.

Some of the burns set to be carried out this weekend had already been postponed to avoid clashing with outdoor sporting events including the Sydney Half Marathon last Sunday, Inspector Shepherd said.

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When David McAllister became the artistic director of the Australian Ballet in 2001 he made a pact to "never outstay my welcome" and to make sure he had "a nice departure".

Some of his predecessors had been shown the door, but time after time McAllister's contracts were extended – until he made the big decision, announced today, that two decades at the helm would be enough.

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With his exit set for the end of 2020, McAllister will be the longest-serving artistic director in the history of the Australian Ballet. He was also the first Australian Ballet director to step straight from the role of principal dancer to become the man who had to manage and nurture the dancers who were his peers.

After his last performance as Albrecht in Giselle in 2001, we met in his backstage dressing room. On one side of the table was his stage makeup. On the other side was a stack of business papers. Would he miss the smell of the makeup, the daily class and the curtain calls?

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"It's not the dancing I'll miss," he said, "but the performance."

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McAllister's first challenge as a director was the company's 40th anniversary gala, called Beyond 40. His first commission was Graeme Murphy's Swan Lake. Designed by Kristian Fredrikson, it became a signature ballet for the company after its premiere in 2002.

McAllister continued to commission Murphy over the next 18 years, and has worked with the support of Steven Heathcote, who became the Australian Ballet's ballet master after 20 years as a principal dancer at the company.

From the start, McAllister was seen as a safe choice; a man who would not rock the boat. He soon became an eloquent speaker, brought a sense of stability to the company and was a director who was not hidden away in his office, but out in the dance community in Australia and abroad.

His repertoire choices are balanced between audience-pleasers of the past and new works by resident choreographers, his own production of The Sleeping Beauty, the works of acclaimed international choreographers – among them Alexei Ratmansky – co-productions with American Ballet Theatre's Harlequinade and Joffrey Ballet's Anna Karenina next year, and the introduction of Storytime Ballet for young children.

McAllister may continue to be a guest character dancer with the company, and he will always be remembered as a true man of the theatre.

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Health authorities are urging NSW families to get young children vaccinated against the potentially deadly influenza, with the infection killing 37 people in NSW so far this year.

Three children have died of flu in Victoria and children are also among the 25 flu-related deaths, sparking concerns that children in NSW – especially under-five-year-olds – could also be vulnerable amid the spread of the viruses across the state.

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A total of 37 people have died of flu-related illnesses in NSW since January: 30 people aged 65 and older, and seven aged 20 to 64, NSW Health’s analysis of flu notification and Births, Deaths and Marriages data shows.

The number of flu cases in NSW is also rising. There were 1320 new confirmed cases in the week ending 19 May, higher than the 979 confirmed cases the previous week.

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The latest cases brings the total number of confirmed cases so far this year to 13,888, and the true prevalence is likely higher.

The high rates of flu during the warmer months and the early start to the flu season has triggered the highest number of flu cases in Australia ahead of winter in two decades. The vast majority of cases are Influenza A strains.

NSW Health’s Director of Communicable Diseases, Dr Vicky Sheppeard said children are particularly susceptible to flu, and urged parents and carers to visit their GPs to receive the free flu vaccine for children aged six months to five years old.

Two children under five years, and four five- to 19 year-olds died of flu in 2017 in NSW. Another two children under five died in 2018.

"The best weapon against flu is vaccination and right now is the best time to have it as the flu season is already here," Dr Sheppeard said.

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"It’s important to get your flu shots now as it takes about two weeks for the vaccine to provide full protection and children under nine years of age having the shot for the first time require two doses, one month apart," she said.

In 2018 – the first year of the NSW Government's free vaccination program for six month to five-year-olds – one in four children in this age group were recorded on the Australian Immunisation Register as having received an influenza vaccine.

Flu shots are also free under the National Immunisation Program, for pregnant women, people over 65 years of age, Aboriginal people and those with medical conditions such as asthma, diabetes and heart problems.

As of 19 May, 1.96 million flu vaccine doses had been distributed in NSW.

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