In a stunning repudiation of Donald Trump and the Republican Party he remade in his image, US voters have chosen alternative candidates across the country in midterm elections.

The arts are an essential industry. We need artists as much as we need accountants. We need dancers as much as we need doctors. We need comedians as much as we need civil engineers. We need filmmakers as much as we need financial planners. We need musicians as much as we need ministers.

The biggest gun buyback in 30 years began in NSW yesterday, with the first firearms set to be surrendered as part of the government’s commitment to reduce the number of guns in the community and help make NSW safer.

Most of us would struggle to squeeze a lifetime into seven minutes. Seven local women are about to give it a go, with stories of what they have survived along the way.

Izaac Lee Alford loves social media messages, and lives on his daddy’s cattle farm just out of Gympie, a lovely town where it only needs to sprinkle to be flooded. It has also for many years been One Nation central...