MoAD and the Courtyard Cafe are open. Some exhibitions will be closed from 14 July to early September 2025 for essential building works. Learn more

Behind the Lines

The Sydney Morning Herald

Founded in 1831 as the Sydney Herald, the Sydney Morning Herald is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Australia and one of the most widely-read in the country. 

Alan Joyce in a suit and glasses collects colourful 'Exec's baggage' from a Qantas flight airport conveyor belt. Bags include 'Latest profits' and 'COVID bail-out'.

Exec's Baggage

Cathy Wilcox, The Sydney Morning Herald,

From overhead, a group of whales spell out the letters 'SOS' in the water.

Pilot Whales' WA Mass Stranding

Badiucao, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Two rows with six almost-identical portraits of Peter Dutton in a suit. Top row is his 'old' image, bottom row is his 'new' image. He wears glasses in the 'new' portraits.

Dutton's New/Old Image

Alan Moir, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Four women sit discussing how to report harassment. Two men look on, one says, 'Women's problems!'

Women's Problems

Cathy Wilcox, The Sydney Morning Herald,

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

Care Inc.

Simon Letch, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Entitled, 'One Biden short of a conga line,' Anthony Albanese wears a red, white and blue party hat, somebody's hands are on his shoulders, and his arms reach forward.

The Quad Conga

Matt Golding, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Entitled 'Uneasy lies the head...' King Charles wears a large purple crown. On the crown there is a list of uncomfortable truths about his past and the British monarchy.

Coronation

Cathy Wilcox, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Across a space background similar to the opening scene of each 'Star Wars' movie, words in yellow begin: 'King Charles III, The Irrelevant Empire Strikes Back...'

The Irrelevant Empire Strikes Back

Matt Golding, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Jim Chalmers enters the 'Caucus Dining Room' holding one cup on a plate labelled 'Budget '23'. 10 people at different tables wait to be served.

The Caucus Dining Room

Alan Moir, The Sydney Morning Herald,

A person wearing a hooded top walks under a ladder with the bottom two rungs missing.

Detour

Andrew Dyson, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Two people in a boat harpoon a giant sea-creature with Donald Trump's face. One says to the other, 'Another indictment! Quick!'

Thar He Blows!

Andrew Dyson, The Sydney Morning Herald,

A man plays with a toy submarine labeled 'AUKUS', overshadowed by a large black submarine with a Chinese flag. A voice from the large submarine says, 'You undermine peace in the region.'

AUKUS Threat Submarine

Badiucao, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Two people watch TV, one says, 'I wouldn't want to be one of those 80,000 people affected'. The other replies, 'I would.' On the screen: 'Those with $3M+ super hit with tax rise'.

Survival of the Richest

Matt Golding, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Four contestants sit in a 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire'-style competition. Question is: 'What's the best way to limit your personal plastic consumption?' One says 'Actually, Eddie... I think I'd like to call for some legislation?'

Who Wants to Do The Right Thing with Plastic?

Megan Herbert, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Earth is surrounded by a variety of space satellites. An red inflatable tube with a face and long arms looms over North America. Text reads: 'An escalation in the inflatable spying arms race'.

The Spying Arms Race

Matt Golding, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Lidia Thorpe jumps out of a green tugboat into stormy sea water in a small orange life raft marked with the Aboriginal flag and holding a 'No' sign. A large ship called 'The Voice' is tethered to the green tugboat.

Lidia Thorpe Jumps Ship

John Shakespeare, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Two girls are playing with dolls, one says, 'Let's play politicians'. The other replies, 'Bags I be Jacinda'. Background is pink with inspiring words describing Jacinda Ardern.

Role Model

Cathy Wilcox, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Four panels of a therapy session. A woman on a couch lists global issues. Therapist suggests focusing on fixable things. Woman lists more issues. Therapist says, '... we're cooked'.

Therapy

Cathy Wilcox, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

6 panels with a woman in different yoga poses. The poses are named for having to adapt to different situations due to interest rate rises.

Yoga for Rising Interest Rates

Megan Herbert, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Two people sit watching TV, Anthony Albanese is on the screen. An Aboriginal flag is above the TV. Text reads, 'I for one look forward to the inevitable call for media balance between the heartfelt well-informed and the strategically bad-faith.'

Balance

Cathy Wilcox, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

The Constitution is a puzzle with a piece missing. There is a piece next to it with the Aboriginal flag shaped as the missing puzzle piece.

Voice

Badiucao, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Two photos of space. The first says, 'Seeing where we came from'. The second, Earth on fire, says, '...and where we're going'.

A Glimpse

Matt Golding, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

A mother holding a newspaper says to her children, 'Hey kids, who wants to go to the wildlife sanctuary to say goodbye to all the animals?'

Say Goodbye

Cathy Wilcox, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

People sit in a circle. One man is standing saying, 'Hi. My name's Kevin. And I'm a newsaholic. It's been twelve hours since my last doomscroll...'

Newsaholic

Megan Herbert, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

A clothes hanger is twisted to resemble a smoking gun. Blood drips from the top. Text above reads, 'U.S. Supreme Court: All in a week's work'.

Big Week for SCOTUS

Megan Herbert, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

A man looks over the edge of the ship 'Cost of Living'. He is looking at an iceberg lettuce.

The Cost of Living Iceberg

Matt Golding, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Champagne bottle with Boris Johnson's head as the cork is being popped. It says, 'Boris Partygate' and 'No Confidence' on the bottle.

A Toast to Partygate

Matt Golding, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Anthony Albanese sits on a life raft with the number 77. A teal and a green shark fin approach him.

Safety in Numbers

Andrew Dyson, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Scott Morrison with the text 'Last act' and a picture of a boat on the sea. Anthony Albanese with the text 'First act' and the Aboriginal flag.

Last Act, First Act

Matt Golding, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Text at the top: 'A possible coalition of vegetables and minerals'. Peter Dutton is on the left, as a potato. Barnaby Joyce is on the right, as a radish, holding a black substance.

A Union of Vegetables and Minerals

Matt Golding, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Caricatures of leaders of political parties on coloured paint tubs. A man says, 'Sorry, don't do sample pots' to a prospective buyer. Another person walks away.

Reno Roulette

Andrew Dyson, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

A 'How not to vote' card with six caricatures and reasons not to vote for those political parties or politicians.

How Not to Vote

Cathy Wilcox, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Scott Morrison follows Katherine Deves as she sweeps the ground clean of LGBTQIA+ rainbow colours. Text above reads, 'Off the tools for once'.

Katherine Deves Gets 'on the Tools' for Scomo

John Shakespeare, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

A man reads the following in front of a camera, 'Any economic pain needs to be shared, so we're sharing it amongst the poorest'. It is in a grey colour scheme.

Sharing the Pain

Alan Moir, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Sussan Ley is depicted talking to a group of teenagers twice. The first time she says, 'I look after the environment', the teens respond, 'So you're caring for our future!' The second time, she says, 'I don't have to look after it that well'.

Sussan Ley Says 'Yeah Nah' to the Environment

John Shakespeare, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Dave Sharma and Trent Zimmerman look on as women line up for a balloon from an 'Independent campaign assistance' sign. Women float on balloons. There's a 'Fresh air' canister. Text above the men says, 'I don't know what's in that tank, but I don't like it.'

Fresh Air

Megan Herbert, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

A boat 'ALP' speeds away from someone wearing rainbow colours in the water. A man on the boat says, 'We'll come back and pick you up when we're in government...'

Kids Overboard

Cathy Wilcox, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Four images depicting people trying to access COVID-19 tests and results. COVID impacts all stages, except the stage to pay a fine for not registering a positive result.

Domicron's Test Shop

Cathy Wilcox, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Scott Morrison looks at three shelves. The top two, titled 'Elementary logistics' and 'Common sense' are empty. The bottom shelf, titled 'Ideology', is full of books and buckling under the weight.

Stocktake

Andrew Dyson, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Scott Morrison and Barnaby Joyce at a press conference. A banner in the first panel says 'Net-zero commitment'. The second panel, Joyce has covered the 'net' with his hat.

Australia's Climate Action

Matt Golding, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Scott Morrison and Barnaby Joyce say social media needs to be held accountable for misinformation. George Christensen and another backbencher in the background say, 'Free speech baby!'

Free Speech, Baby!

Cathy Wilcox, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

A man sits in an armchair. A woman stands. A dog is on the floor. The man says, 'I'm moving my armchair expertise from epidemiology to nuclear powered naval submarines.'

Armchair Experts

Matt Golding, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Six panels, in each panel a journalist asks a minister a question. Text above is, 'Blind trust is the answer to everything.'

Blind Trust

Cathy Wilcox, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Josh Frydenberg and Scott Morrison stand at a 'Robodebt' cage holding someone upside down. In the foreground, pigs wearing top hats eat at a 'Jobkeeper' trough filled with money.

The Politics of Envy

Alan Moir, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

A man sits on a cube with a QR code, his ankle is chained to it. His head is in his hands. There are two more QR codes in the image.

Track Record

Simon Letch, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Scott Morrison's daughters sit with him. They ask, 'Daddy, what did YOU do in the COVID lockdown?' A bag with a CBR tag is in the background.

Daddy What Did YOU Do?

Cathy Wilcox, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Four panels where Josh Frydenberg is a red inflatable figure. His level of air changes to reflect the economy at the time.

Whiplash Economics

Matt Davidson, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Scott Morrison says to Josh Frydenberg from inside a small house, 'Just look at them, Josh... locked down in their cave'. They are on the east side of Australia while Western Australia has people running around freely outside.

Cave Dwellers

Matt Golding, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

A bust of Scott Morrison. A 'Sexual assault petition' book, COVID-19 phone, and a hose are all trying to be handed to him.

The PM of No Responsibility

Jim Pavlidis, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

List of global disasters and issues such as 'corruption, covid and carbon emissions'. Text tells the reader to 'Lower your expectations and celebrate all the things you've learned to live with'.

Lower Your Expectations

Cathy Wilcox, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Barnaby Joyce says to a classroom of kids, 'Well, I for one won't be taking any action on climate change until I know the cost and who is paying for it'.

Who Pays?

Cathy Wilcox, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Scott Morrison pushes Christian Porter on a chair through a door titled, 'Leader of the House'. Text above reads, 'Wheels of justice'.

The Wheels of Justice Roll Along

John Shakespeare, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Four people in suits sit in front of a map of Australia labelled, 'Australia by electorate'. They discuss paying people to get vaccinated against COVID.

Cash for Votes

Cathy Wilcox, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Craig Kelly is on a ladder painting over a poster of Clive Palmer as a dinosaur. Palmer is also painting it.

Clive Palmer Erases Himself

John Shakespeare, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Anthony Albanese is on a diving board called 'Principles' which has almost broken. The pool below is empty with a dead fish at the bottom. Next to Olympic rings is the text, 'Platform diving final'.

Degree of Difficulty

Andrew Dyson, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Two men float around with open champagne bottles and glasses in a spaceship looking at Earth. One says, 'It's humbling how the view from up here reinforces the profound insignificance of everyone else.'

The View from the Top

Jon Kudelka, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Barnaby Joyce wearing a 'NATS' hat has pushed Scott Morrison off a cliff. Morrison, wearing a 'LIBS' hat says, 'One of these days you'll push me too far!' Morrison holds a 'Climate Policy' briefcase.

One of these Days You'll Push Me Too Far

Alan Moir, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Two panels. First panel Michael McCormack walks away from Barnaby Joyce who is in a 'NATS' recycling bin. The second slide the roles are reversed. Parliament House is in the background.

Bin Night

Matt Golding, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Two bubbles. One is Bubble: 2020 and one is Bubble: 2021. In Bubble: 2020 a happy man holds up a puppy. In Bubble: 2021 the dog is huge and the man looks sad.

Bubble Wrap

Andrew Dyson, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Two panels. Scott Morrison opens his arms to an Australian cricketer saying, 'Aussie Aussie Aussie'!. Second panel Morrison says, 'Oi Oi Oi!' to a citizen, while holding his hand out.

Aussie Aussie Aussie for Some

John Shakespeare, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Josh Frydenberg walks past Anthony Albanese saying 'You're toast!' Parliament House is in the background. A tub of butter is on a billboard with the text: 'Spreadable money' and 'I can't believe it's not a Labor budget!'

Budget Butter

Matt Golding, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg walk away from a group of children saying, 'We'll leave you generations of debt and climate change. Don't grow up too soon!'

Inheritance

Matt Golding, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Four politicians with 'Minister for...' titles relating to staying quiet or acting without consequences. Text reads, 'The PM has made some new appointments, to show just how serious he is about changing the culture for women in Australia. To name a few...'

Serious About Women

Cathy Wilcox, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Angus Taylor carries a tray of 'snake oil' to the Glasgow Climate Conference 2021. A person out the front says, 'Ah... this must be the Australian delegation'.

Angus and Climate Change

Alan Moir, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

A man uses a walking frame to climb up a hill that is a $100 note.

Home Stretch

Andrew Dyson, The Sydney Morning Herald,

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.

The Bigger Picture

Matt Davidson, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Four panels outlining Australian soldiers' training, which resulted in 'terrible acts' including murdering civilians in Afghanistan.

Killing Men

Cathy Wilcox, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Josh Frydenberg is on one side of a bridge made from money. He says, 'Fingers crossed!' to a woman as she is about to cross. On the other side is a sign saying 'vaccine'.

Bridge to Recovery

Cathy Wilcox, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Two people sit at a table with mugs in front of them. One, reading a newspaper, says 'This is such a bad policy. The opposition needs to stand up and refute it'. The other responds, 'The what?'

The What?

Cathy Wilcox, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Josh Frydenberg is on a quiz show. His response to every question is 'Tax cuts'.

Mastermind

Cathy Wilcox, The Sydney Morning Herald,

The NSW and Victorian premiers stand in the bow of the ‘Inquiry Princess'. Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton race away on a small 'Border Force' boat, saying 'Hasta la vista, chumps!'

Hasta la Vista

Cathy Wilcox, The Sydney Morning Herald,

A flow chart of different soundbites that are synonyms for 'It wasn't me'.

Chain of Command

Cathy Wilcox, The Sydney Morning Herald,

A man and a woman watch TV on a couch. They reflect on pre-pandemic issues such as severe water restrictions due to drought. They now label these as 'Good times'.

Nostalgia

Cathy Wilcox, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

An anxiety meter with varying levels to measure 'Today's anxiety level'. It is styled as a cutout, and suggests attaching the needle to point to where their anxiety level is.

Today’s Anxiety Level

Cathy Wilcox, The Sydney Morning Herald,

At 'Pleasant Meadows Aged Care' home a lady opens the door to the Grim Reaper. She says, 'Ah - you must be the new casual'.

The New Casual

Cathy Wilcox, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Two panels. First panel: Daniel Andrews says to three people, 'You need to change your behaviour to what you were doing before'. Second panel: same people hoard supermarket supplies. Andrews thinks, 'Damn'.

The Second Wave of Hoarding

Matt Golding, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Four 'new monuments' with corresponding text are displayed. Each monument is an ironic comment on a stereotype, for example, 'The leader who felt ashamed'.

New Monuments

Cathy Wilcox, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Scott Morrison is an ostrich. His head in buried in sand. He says, 'There was no slavery in Australia'. Text beneath reads: 'Dark emu versus white ostrich'.

A Historical Perspective

Matt Golding, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

A scientist tells a man about a political vaccine, but says unfortunately there is no 'syringe strong enough to penetrate the thick hide of the average politician'.

Political Pandemic

Michael Leunig, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Two panels. First panel, shadowy figures watch a robot chase two people. The robot says, 'You owe us'. Second panel, the robot explodes, the two people say, 'An apology!!'

Owing Something to Someone

Matt Golding, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

A scorpion (Scott Morrison) and a frog (unions) are on one side of a river with a strong current. On the other side is 'Post-COVID recovery land'. The scorpion asks the frog to carry him over the river.

The Scorpion and the Frog

Cathy Wilcox, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Two men stand with a gap between them. One man's T-shirt reads, 'I climbed Uluru'. Other man's T-shirt reads, 'I still don't have a voice in the Constitution'.

The Gap

Cathy Wilcox, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

A view of a windy road with signs pointing out steps to reconciliation. A point in the road is 'Encounter major political roadblock'. After this, the cycle repeats again.

The Road to Reconcilation

Cathy Wilcox, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Josh Frydenberg and Scott Morrison on a boat sing, 'We're all in this together'. A 'JobKeeper' man stands underwater holding a 'Jobless' man above the water. A young person and a casual worker drown nearby.

We're All in This Together

Alan Moir, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

A man on steps at a rally asks the crowd, 'Whadda we want?' The crowd responds, 'Any excuse to get out of the house'. The crowd hold up placards asking for more freedoms.

Lockdown Protest

Cathy Wilcox, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

An aerial view of a town. The town is split into nice and not-so-nice areas by a train line.

Social Distancing Goodville

Michael Leunig, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

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.

Flattening the Curve

Michael Leunig, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Coronavirus and Vegemite at a bar. Coronavirus says, 'Internationally, all people want to do is stop my spread.' Vegemite responds, 'I'm hearing you, buddy!'

Stopping the Australian Spread

Matt Golding, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Scott Morrison on a boat looks out on the sea. There are fires behind him. Pink splotches of COVID are painted on the boat.

Watchful

Jim Pavlidis, The Sydney Morning Herald,

A man sits on the toilet pulling the last piece of toilet paper off the roll. He says, 'The end is nigh!'

End Times

John Shakespeare, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Scott Morrison throws money out of a bag towards people. He looks behind him. Kevin Rudd wears a 'Kevin 07' T-shirt and says, 'You look like you've seen a ghost!'

The Ghost of Kevin

John Shakespeare, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. A man on a small pony chases them holding a toilet roll banner labelled, 'Panic buying'. Text at the top: 'The Fifth Horseman'.

The Apocalypse Handicap

Andrew Dyson, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Scott Morrison sits in an FJ Holden. It does not have wheels, and is up on bricks. Number plate is 'How good'.

How Good Was Holden?

John Shakespeare, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Scott Morrison is on horseback. Beneath are members of the Nationals as cats. In the background is Parliament House.

Herding Nats

Matt Golding, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Scott Morrison is in four panels confronted by disaster after disaster. He prays for 'another distraction' each time.

Pray for Distraction

Cathy Wilcox, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Native animals are labelled as good moral attributes. Pests are labelled as undesirable traits. Text says native species/good traits are at danger of becoming extinct, whilst 'feral pests proliferate.'

Endangered Species

Cathy Wilcox, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

In the style of the 'Life. Be in it' ad which featured a man called 'Norm'. 'The New Norm' is sitting on an armchair with a mask on, text reads: 'Life. Be inside.'

The New Norm

Matt Golding, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Angus Taylor, Michael McCormack, Matt Canavan, Barnaby Joyce and Scott Morrison sidestep questions about having a plan and the cost.

Our Plan

Matt Golding, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald,

An endless cycle of the government cracking down on one thing, then the bank finding another way to take money from the customer.

The House Always Wins

Cathy Wilcox, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Five images of Peter Costello explaining that when interest rates come down it's due to 'enlightened government policy' but when they go up, it's due to 'uncontrollable international forces'.

The Fundamental Law

Alan Moir, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Two panels. First, a crowd shouts at Bob Hawke 'We're going to lose the house!' Second panel, Hawke says to Paul Keating, 'We're going to lose the House'.

We're Going to Lose the House!

Alan Moir, The Sydney Morning Herald

You may also be interested in...

1977: National Song Poll

1977: National Song Poll

Australians were asked to pick a song for the national anthem in 1977.

Misinformation explained

Misinformation explained

Your guide to misinformation and democracy.

Cartoonists

Cartoonists

Browse all cartoonists featured in Behind the Lines.

When are elections held in Australia?

When are elections held in Australia?

Your guide to how often voters go to the polls.

1999: Republic referendum

1999: Republic referendum

In 1999 Australia voted no to replacing the Queen as our head of state with a president.

Behind the lines

Behind the lines

Explore political cartoons in Behind the Lines exhibitions online.