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Behind the Lines

Reel life

Social-issue films are a Hollywood staple, and studios often make them with the intention of attracting Golden Globes and Academy Awards.

While they can be lengthy and maudlin, the best of them are crafted with nuance and integrity – and make big statements about pressing social problems. From time to time, they can even inspire real change.

Cartoonists also create powerful works that draw attention to difficult issues and compel us to act. In 2025 Australian cartoonists covered a range of challenges facing contemporary society: the injustices faced by Indigenous peoples, education (including concerns about teacher burnout and child abuse in daycare centres), the need for gender parity in the government, the dire effects of problem gambling, and the ongoing housing crisis.

A First Dog on the Moon comic explains the March for Australia and the proliferation of racist ideology. He points out that there are people protesting for a free Palestine, who have been criticised as antisemitic, but Australia's Antisemitism Envoy has yet to speak out against the Nazis at March for Australia.

Nazi March with Nazis

First Dog on the Moon, The Guardian Australia,

A black and white linocut print shows the shoulders and head of a rabbit, with ships in bottles pointing towards its spine, and one ship in its head, pouring out of its mouth.

Farewell to Old England Forever

Mirranda Burton, Instagram,

Text reads, 'Murujuga Pilbara region 50 thousand years old, and the oldest rock art on the planet threatened by acid emissions/pollution.' Over ochre art of animals on rocks, a large gas plant spills pollution into the air.

Untitled

Danny Eastwood, Koori Mail,

An Aboriginal man walks sadly away from rock art which reads 'Yoorook Justice Commission'. A quote above reads, 'For communities who have lived these truths, the findings offer not shock, but relief. The violence is no longer just remembered; it has been recorded. Marcus Stewart, former co-chair of the First Peoples' Assembly.'

History - Markings

Matt Golding, Nine Papers,

People and media crowd outside the Latrobe Valley Court, above it says, ‘One woman guilty of murder via mushrooms.’ Next door is an empty NT Coroner building, above it says, 'The entire Northern Territory police force bears the hallmarks of institutional racism that lead to the death of Kumanjayi Walker. '

Podcasts vs Justice

Jess Harwood, Instagram,

A woman loads a gun with tiny mushrooms from a box labelled 'death caps.'

Tragic Mushrooms...

Warren Brown, The Daily Telegraph (Sydney),

People flush money into poker machines which look like toilets.

Down the Drain

Chris Downes, The Mercury (Hobart),

A family shelter in a house made from credit cards. The title reads, 'House of cards.'

House of Cards

Harry Bruce, Townsville Bulletin,

Text reads, 'Build homes not prisons.' Small panels show neglected social services, and one well-kept prison with an open door.

Build Homes Not Prisons

Sam Wallman, Instagram,

Text reads, ' Inflatable balloon housing policy artists. ' PM Anthony Albanese and former Liberal leader Peter Dutton make balloon animal houses. Economists say, 'It's a dog; a dodo; no… a donkey!; A turkey; a fiscal maugean skate.'

Performance Artists Inflating the Problem

Matt Golding, Instagram,

A real estate agent shows a depressed couple a house for sale and says, 'And this house has a design feature unique to Sydney – the closer you seem to get to it...' In the next panel, it's off in the distance, he says, 'The further away it actually is…'

Real Estate... The Closer You Get...

Warren Brown, Nine Papers,

Around an image of a grey teacher crumbling to pieces and a worried-looking student, text reads, 'Teachers working conditions are student learning conditions are…'

Teachers Working Conditions

Sam Wallman, Instagram,

Referencing Ozymandias, a statue in ruins reads, 'My name is Aussie Vice Chancellor, CEO of CEOS: Look upon my corporatised university ye customers, and despair!'

The Corporatised University

David Pope, The Canberra Times,

Text reads, 'University of Melbourne, purely financial grounds,' and shows an outlined drawing of the university campus.

Meanjin Closure by Melbourne University Press Following Their Publishing of Pieces Critical of Zionism

David Blumenstein, Facebook,

Scissors cut through a row of pink paper people. The handles are labelled 'Loopholes for predators,' and the blades, 'Child safety and wellbeing not a priority in this country.'

Child Safety Not Being a Priority in Childcare

Matt Golding, Nine Papers,

Two men sit in lounge chairs in a barren landscape with a dinosaur skeleton. One says, 'So I said, you ladies don't need special quotas – you're assertive enough as it is! Just joking of course…'

Prehistoric

Cathy Wilcox, Nine Papers,

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