Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House

Cartoonists

Browse all cartoonists featured in Behind the Lines.

A timeline from 1992 to now, shows two stick figures discussing with more and more urgency the need to 'get off coal' as it gets hotter and the water levels rise over time.

Costa A

A judge dangles precariously from high up on a construction site, and says, 'For gorsake stop laughing, this is serious.' A CFMEU worker holds the judge's legs and says, 'Who's laughing?'

Dean Alston

Text reads, '2024 Debate.' Trump holds a chainsaw high. Biden, dressed as Elsa from Frozen, is extremely wrinkled and drools slightly.

Badiucao

A 4-panel comic shows two people looking at a CFMEU construction site. They ponder what manly, sexy and dangerous things the workers are saying. The worker says, 'Remember guys, an injury to one is an injury to all.'

Aaron Billings

A politician points to a smoking green car and says, 'It runs on 100% global warming!' A man looks unsure.

Matt Bissett-Johnson

Underneath the Earth, where fires are blazing in Australia and other areas, text reads, 'So much for new year's resolutions to quit smoking'.

Bill Bramhall

Six images of former Prime Minister Scott Morrison in a row sing 'I did it my way', gradually escalating in excitement.

Peter Broelman

Two panels. First panel, Chris Bowen shows off a cut-out poster of a winter landscape. Second panel, the poster is stuck to the wall of a room where a man melts in the heat.

Warren Brown

The statue of a WWI and WWII veteran looks in concern at explosions in the distance labelled 'Ukraine' and 'Gaza'.

Harry Bruce

An army of women fight a monster called 'Attitude'. One of them comments, 'It keeps changing shape – but we're winning!'

Gaynor Alma Cardew

A 4-panel comic shows various scenes of domestic violence. A woman is chained to a man who has her keys. A man holds a woman in a bottle. A bruised woman throws a vase at her partner. A man holds a gun up to his family and says, 'I'm only trying to protect you.'

Jenny Coopes

A sign with Trump's face on it says, '34 felony convictions, sex offender, plans for dictatorship, failed businessman.' Another sign with Biden's face reads, 'old.' A man in a group points to Biden and says, 'Everybody! Look over there!'

Mark David

Two panels. One panel is a small extract of the second. The first panel a man crawls out of a hole called 'Recession'. The hole is larger in the second panel, the man crawls out of a small hole on the edge.

Matt Davidson

Across nine panels different sartorial challenges to the traditions of parliament are depicted.

Oslo Davis

A man standing on Australia is sweeping people underneath a 'Southeast Asia' rug. Text reads, 'Australia's current procedure for processing asylum seekers.'

John Ditchburn

A man on a ladder which reads 'Cost of Living' looks up at an unreachable, unlit ceiling light. A man hands him a globe and says, 'Here's your one-off government issued light globe to help you during this financial crisis.'

Chris Downes

Treasurer Jim Chalmers shows off the new improved competition watchdog, represented by a giant dog with one new tooth.

Andrew Dyson

Text reads, 'Another black death in custody.' A First Nations woman says, 'My husband is a very sick man and needs his heart tablets for blood pressure.' A correctional officer says, 'No I can't allow them in, our nurse will take care of him.'

Danny Eastwood

Scott Morrison is depicted as a medieval plague doctor. Bodies are piled behind him. He announces that cases have increased over the year and says, 'Here's a curry photo'.

Jules Faber

A homeless man pushing a cart says to his dog, 'Don't worry... the Reserve Bank governor says if we cut back on our spending and find some additional hours of work, we can get back into a positive cash flow position!'

John 'Polly' Farmer

People stand at voting booths scattered across a red desert landscape.

Rocco Fazzari

A long First Dog on the Moon comic talks about the joys of seeing Aurora Australis from their backyard. The final panel says, 'What a waste of a perfectly good planet.'

First Dog on the Moon

Multiple mini cartoons with various messages about doughnuts and 'doughnut economics'.

Sarah Firth

A person performs a 3-cup monte trick in a booth. The booth's sign reads: 'Spot a Visa. Now you see it, now you don't.'

Lindsay Foyle

Martin Luther King Jnr's coffin is in front of the Capitol Building. Flames whip around the building.

John Frith

Two images of Peter Dutton with a blue face. First, Dutton says, 'I want details!' Second image, a 272-page 'Langton-Calma Report' is thrust into his mouth.

Andrew Fyfe

A plane in the shape of Opposition Leader Peter Dutton's head spits exploding nuclear symbols onto a field of solar panels.

Matt Golding

A cake with four layers labelled PwC, EY, Deloitte and KPMG, with icing in the shape of Australian Parliament House.

Gorkie

Text reads, 'Australians in Winter'. One person is wearing long pants, a jumper and sunglasses, labelled, 'Dressing for the outdoors.' Another person is rugged up in extra clothing, including a beanie, scarf and gloved, and labelled, 'Dressing for inside the house.'

Jess Harwood

Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen says, 'I anticipated obstacles, but not like this.' His Road to Renewables is blocked by a giant Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek holding a koala.

Megan Herbert

Two people joke about raking in profits while the world burns. Someone comes over to top up their champagne and says, 'Pity about the planet… haha, joking!'

Judy Horacek

Clownfish swim amongst white bleached coral under the shadow of a shark. One fish says, 'Don't worry, thanks to millions of years of evolution he'll never see us.'

Pat Hudson

A giant red Donald Trump emerges out of the ground as tiny people run from his grasping hand.

Matt Huynh

Text reads, 'Harris or Harass.' Harris is brown, the 'I' portrayed by a raised fist. Harass is orange, the last A bending down to form a groping hand.

Ed Iffland

A graph with 'Habitat loss' and 'Corporate greed'. The line is in the shape of fire. The right side contains a speaker who is half black, half white saying, 'We must take care of our planet'. The crowd says, 'Visionary'.

Kamsani Bin Salleh (Kambarni)

A family play a Monopoly-like boardgame called 'Duopoly'. Text reads, 'Not fun for the whole family' and 'Go directly to Woolies or Coles. Do not pass any other supermarkets. Do not collect ungouged goods.'

Fiona Katauskas

A black wave labelled 'Media racism' overshadows a small silhouette of a person who asks, '...is this your best..?'

Simon Kneebone

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and a naval officer re-enact the moment from Titanic where Jack stands behind Rose, on a large warship labelled '$11 billion warship upgrade'. Albanese says, 'Open your eyes,' and the naval officer says, 'I'm flying!'

Mark Knight

Stressed Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci sits in the self-checkout area, where a scanner says, 'Unexpected item in the bagging area.'

Jon Kudelka

Multiple black and white panels. Man sleeping, dirty dishes and a footpath. Above is the skyline of a city.

Judy Kuo

A group of people look up at the sky. Animated houses fly by, their roofs flapping like wings.

Glen Le Lievre

A police officer fires a taser at a moving target featuring the silhouette of an elderly woman. The text 'NSW Police sensitivity training' appears below.

Sean Leahy

A family says, 'The Australian Dream seems impossible these days.' Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says, 'Cheer up, it's closer than you think.' In his thought bubble, he rides away on a unicorn labelled Green Hydrogen.

Johannes Leak

Two women in blue uniforms on a production line pack red hearts into cardboard boxes.

Simon Letch

Text reads, 'Back from the bush summit.' Treasurer Jim Chalmers asks, 'How was the North?' Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says, 'Hostile,' as a crocodile labelled 'NT Elections' bites him on the behind.

Brett Lethbridge

A woman is on the phone saying, 'We're in isolation Beryl; I'm flattening the curve and Norm is fattening the curve...' A man, Norm, sits on a chair eating a burger.

Michael Leunig

A smiling, bruised woman and her children take smashed bottles and affix them to the top of a wall.

Mary Leunig

Ben Roberts-Smith wearing military uniform and medals depicted as skulls fires a gun backward at himself. A $25,000,000 price tag is on the gun.

Peter Lewis

A shirtless Vladimir Putin rides a green ball of coronavirus, trying to control it by holding onto two of its prongs.

Eric Löbbecke

A man with a blue tie is relaxing with his hands behind his head. He is at the desk of the 'Department of Consequences'.

Reg Lynch

Joseph Lyons stands on 'Mount Somewhere-or-other' pointing to the sky. Around him are various levels of alarm. Behind is Parliament House, it is 'Closed 'til further notice'.

Will Mahony

A man looks down at a small ant hill and says, 'It's the Greens, infighting.'

Alan Moir

Jim Chalmers and Anthony Albanese dressed in tuxedo suits go to a theatre with the word 'Surplus!' on the billboard. They pass a map of Australia begging for money for 'everything'.

Wes Mountain

Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott and Christine Milne are on a beach standing behind a line in the sand. In the water are dead bodies and a capsized boat. Text reads, 'The line in the sand'.

Peter Nicholson

In a vintage-style illustration, singer-songwriter Taylor Swift holds up a wine glass and has a cat on her shoulder. Text reads, 'Childless cat lady.'

Nordacious

A woman is rolling out dough while daydreaming. In her daydream, she and her friends are at a picnic, her friends are complimenting the tart she made.

Meg O'Shea

A fuel pump with Peter Dutton's face and a meter labelled 'opinion poll' that reads 'O%' pours fuel on to a small fire.

Jim Pavlidis

On the left, people represent countries the West has sought to imposed their systems on. On the right, an army runs towards them saying, 'How many times do we have to explain democracy to you people?'

Bruce Petty

Three panels of a woman staring at a phone, it's 11.15am. First panel she says 'Ok, they're meeting at 11:45, so I might as well go do other stuff until there's actually some news.' She stays in the same spot in the next two panels.

Elyce Phillips

The current Dr Who actor, Ncuti Gatwa, and his companion, land the TARDIS in the Jurassic period, where a pterodactyl labelled 'Cumberland City Council' drops same-sex books and a library into a volcano. The Doctor says, 'My apologies! I could've sworn we dialled up 21st century Australia…'

David Pope

Paul Keating drives a racecar with 17% on the bonnet, asking 'How're the nervous nellies?' referring to the 'back benchers' looking distressed on the back seat.

Geoff Pryor

Kamala Harris holds her fist high. Hilary Clinton says to her, 'Don't look up. Trust me.' Above them is a cracked glass ceiling, with a semi-naked Donald Trump wearing a crown and royal robe lying face down on it.

David Rowe

A man works from home for five days over five panels. The man deteriorates each day. On the last day, he's lying on the floor holding a sock puppet up to his computer screen.

ROY

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese leans out of a high gate to offer a celebratory '2-years' cake to a hungry and unhoused group of politicians – Peter Dutton, Tony Abbott, Julia Gillard, Kevin Rudd and Scott Morrison.

John Shakespeare

US President Joe Biden says, 'Let me make this perfectly clear… I ain't going anywhere!' The next panel is him saying 'dang!' and attempting to drive away while sitting backwards in a mobility scooter.

Greg 'Smithy' Smith

A long 6-panel comic lists unexpected things, such as former Prime Minister Scott Morrison joining a Tibetan monastery. The final panel reads, 'A noisy passenger in a quiet carriage is gaffer-taped by the guard and his phone doused in lighter fluid and ritually burned. A spokesperson for Transport NSW states, 'We feel this was a proportionate response.'

Philip Somerville

Linda Burney is dressed in military uniform with the word 'Yes' on her helmet. Anthony Albanese says to her, 'But Linda, you can't just march to Canberra. You're already there!'

John Spooner

In a long queue of people walking toward a public housing block, one child says, 'We're here in the hope of eventually having somewhere safe and affordable to live. How about you?' Another child replies, 'I want to be prime minister.'

Peter Sully

Four panels. A tank approaches a person. More people face the tank as the panels progress.

Ron Tandberg

Scott Morrison and a child play 'Guess Who?' The child asks 'Does he hold the ministry of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources?' Morrison replies, 'Ummm...'

Adele K Thomas

A sculpture of a person's face with white smoke coming out of their mouth, saying, 'Don't stress! I'm not vaping... It's been so cold... but we can't afford to put the heater on.'

Van Nishing

A colourful, cluttered poster explains the current state of university students working unpaid placement hours to get their degrees, resulting in many not finishing their degrees. In the centre, students run to a finish line while trying to avoid dangerous obstacles.

Sam Wallman

A four-panel comic in which a person in military uniform sits in front of a computer and is on the phone joking about hacking someone's computer. Text at the top reads, 'China. We don't always see eye to eye but we're more or less friends, aren't we? Aren't we? How then can we make sense of all of these full-on, state backed cyberattacks?'

Andrew Weldon

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says, 'This is my policy, and it's up to the CSIRO to provide the evidence for why it's not viable.' He points to a picture of a winged unicorn.

Cathy Wilcox

Text in a busy city reads, 'The 21st century: We've stuffed it.' Then in the same polluted skies but with flying cars, 'Vibe is off for 22,' and the last panel a person with a space helmet kicks a rock and text says, '23rd century is our chance, baby.'

Scott Wrigg

Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott are in a trench saying, 'Taliban?' and 'Worse!' A missile labelled 'Public Opinion' is about to crash next to them. Text at the top reads: 'United they Afghanistand'.

Paul Zanetti