The New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian, has conceded that $140m in grants to councils that were approved in the nine months before the last state election amounted to pork barrelling, but said there was nothing illegal about it.

“It’s not something the community likes ... but it’s an accusation I will wear,” she said. It’s not unique to our government,” Berejiklian said.

“It’s not an illegal practice. Unfortunately it does happen from time to time by every government,” she said.

What in the world is going through the mind of Donald Trump? That question might have been asked at any time in any place over the past five years, yet it has special weight today, given that it involves matters of war and peace.

There was one thing that even Donald Trump’s harshest critics were never able to accuse him of: invisibility.

After taking the oath of office President Joe Biden may be tempted to resume policy as if it was January 20, 2017. But the nation and world with which he dealt as vice president no longer exist.