Cartoonists specialise in responding to the news of the day. Among the many stories which demanded attention over the last year were the debate over asylum seekers, the Canberra bushfires, water shortages, the collapse of HIH, Medicare, changes to the education system and the release of Pauline Hanson from jail.
![Political cartoon featuring a man leading a group of people to a nun, pulling on by stitched up lips, and another by a noose. He says to the nun 'Don't go spoiling them, now...'. - click to view larger image](https://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0008/689876/MA56864723-Dont-go-spoiling-them-1200w.jpg)
![Political cartoon of a crowd of people walking to an evacuation centre. They are carrying boxes, mattresses, and pillows. - click to view larger image](https://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0009/689877/MA56868819-City-without-a-soul-1200w.jpg)
![Political cartoon of a coiled snake skeleton in the dry earth. I'm place of a head, it has a sprinkler. - click to view larger image](https://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0010/689878/MA56864357-The-big-dry-1200w.jpg)
![Political cartoon of two people flying an plane. The first says 'You need have no fear of flying my good man! In the event of a missile attack I simply press this button! This releases thousands of decoys which throw the missile off course!' The second asks, 'Wow! Wot do you use as decoys?', to which, the first replies, 'Fridge magnets!'. Underneath the place, a blizzard of small objects can be seen floating. - click to view larger image](https://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0011/689879/MA56863013-Decoys-1200w.jpg)
![Political cartoon of a person wearing headphones and looking at a security console covered in screens. Ont the screens are people saying 'I can't believe the way they're dragging up in!','God help the innocent people of Baghdad','I fee; so powerless','Because Mr Howard does whatever Mr Bush says','The second largest oil reserves in the world!','Where is Iraq mum?','I'm going to the rally!'. The person at the console is saying 'Minister, we're picking up some suspicious activity on the fridge magnet cams!'. - click to view larger image](https://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0012/689880/MA56866742-Alert-and-alarmed-1200w.jpg)
![Political cartoon of a pair of identical men in suits speaking to a couple. The first man says 'Welcome to Australia', and the second says 'Be alert, but not infected'. - click to view larger image](https://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0004/689881/MA56866498-Welcome-to-Australia-1200h.jpg)
![Political cartoon of three people sitting on a couch labelled 'Property of HIH'. There is money lying scattered all about, and they are drinking champagne. On the television in front of them, the words 'The looting of Baghdad'. The three men all say, 'Amateurs!'. - click to view larger image](https://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0005/689882/MA56863258-HIH-1200w.jpg)
![Political cartoon of a busy courthouse, swarming with barristers and police. A sign above the entrance says 'Royal commission into the C.F.M.E.U.'. Next door is a outhouse with one man walking out of it. On the side of the outhouse is a sign reading 'Royal commission into corporate governance'. - click to view larger image](https://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0006/689883/MA56868268-Royal-Commission-1200w.jpg)
![Political cartoon of a doctor telling a patient 'We still have some perfectly safe natural medicines that don't do anything at all...'. - click to view larger image](https://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0007/689884/MA56862890-Perfectly-natural-1200w.jpg)
![Political cartoon of a man with his head in a guillotine. He says to the man holding the rope 'I'm warning you...I'll appeal'. The blade is labelled 'The chop' and the headrest is labelled 'ATSIC'. - click to view larger image](https://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0008/689885/MA56868146-The-chop-1200w.jpg)
![Political cartoon titled 'Budget cuts start to bite...'. A pile of toys, a teddy bear, humpty dumpty, and a doll sit near a window and a box with the ABC log on it. A man with a clipboard and headset says 'Ok...Big Ted... when you've finished looking through the square window you're rostered to host the 7:30 report...Oh, and keep the anti-Americanism to a minimum'. - click to view larger image](https://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0009/689886/MA56865457-A-budget-cut-1200w.jpg)
![Political cartoon of two people sitting on a bench. One says to the other 'I wanted to go to university, but Ticketek had sold out](https://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0010/689887/MA56866681-Education-1200h.jpg)
![Political cartoon of many hands all grabbing a book with Australia on the cover. - click to view larger image](https://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0011/689888/MA56862828-History-wars-1200w.jpg)
![Political cartoon of John Howard dressed as a doctor. He holds a stethoscope to a child's chest and says to the mother seated nearby 'You may feel a sharp, prolonged pain in your hip pocket nerve'. - click to view larger image](https://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0012/689889/MA56866376-What-the-doctor-ordered-1200w.jpg)
![Political cartoon of a raid on an ASIO office. A large armed group have kicked in the front door. The leader says to the ASIO staff 'Ok, everybody freeze!! Australian Council for Civil Liberties! If you've done nothing wrong you've got nothing to worry about.'. - click to view larger image](https://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0004/689890/MA56868085-Raid-1200w.jpg)
![Political cartoon of a crowd of people in a cafe. They are all reading property and real estate papers. In a nearby bin, lies a newspaper with the headline 'Howard misleads parliament. Ongoing culture of deceit'. - click to view larger image](https://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0005/689891/MA56866130-Property-market-1200w.jpg)
![Political cartoon of Pauline Hanson and David Ettridge wearing prison garb covered in arrows. They are handing by their hands from a wooden platform. The platform bears a sign reading 'Tougher sentencing'. David says 'Well, I'll be blowed! This is our old election platform!' - click to view larger image](https://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0006/689892/MA56864051-Hanging-offence-1200w.jpg)
![Political cartoon of two men trying to repair a broken statue of Pauline Hanson. - click to view larger image](https://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0007/689893/MA56864051-Reconstructing-Pauline-1200h.jpg)
![Political cartoon of a bundle of men wearing fezzes. They are bound together like a bundle of dynamite, and tassels on the fezzes are linked to form a fuse, burning at the tip. Another man hangs from the side of the bundle. - click to view larger image](https://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0008/689894/MA56866314-The-constant-fear-1200w.jpg)
![Political cartoon with two similar scenes of a man sitting in front of a television. In the first, a sneering face is one the screen, and the man says, 'It's disgusting! How can he smile and gloat like that?'. In the second, a man on screen says 'Amrozi has been sentenced to death', to which the man replies 'Yes!' - click to view larger image](https://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0009/689895/MA56868451-Amrozi-1200w.jpg)
![Political cartoon title 'APEC shirts for the man who has everything'. There are six caricatures of John Howard, each with a different shirt. The first has a shirt bearing a bulls-eye, labelled 'The Bin Laden'. The second bears a moustache, labelled 'The Saddam'. The third, a sheriff badge, labelled 'The George W'. The fourth has holes squirting water, labelled 'The Sydney water board'. The fifth, is woolly, and labelled 'The Cormo express'. The last one features a knife protruding from the back, labelled 'The Costello'. - click to view larger image](https://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0010/689896/MA56863136-APEC-1200w.jpg)
![Political cartoon of Hu Jintao speaking to a group of Australian government figures. Hu says 'Our governments have so much in common. We have no opposition either'. - click to view larger image](https://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0011/689897/MA56868390-No-opposition-1200w.jpg)
![Political cartoon featuring George Bush, Hu Jintao, and a translator. George Bush says 'I love free speech!', Hu Jintao then asks the translator 'What did he say?'. The translator replies 'Humble apologies! Most private American Australian joke with no Chinese equivalent.'. - click to view larger image](https://www.nma.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0012/689898/MA56866559-Free-speech-1200w.jpg)