Things to do in Sydney today

We all know that politics is a greasy machine where idealism goes to die. A hot new frontrunner for a local electorate seat can hold the bright-eyed hope of youth, while a hard-edged minister eroded by the gravity of office just wants to get the day done so they can head to the nearest bar.  Emily Steel’s Housework aims high, wanting to cover the vast range of staffers of every rank who keep our democracy running – from hopeful interns through to the highest seat in office. Where she lands is often predictable and all-too-familiar territory. The result is an Australian version of House of Cards, but with a lot less blood and a lot more pastries. What is the plot of Housework? First-term MP of a marginal seat in Sydney, Ruth Mandour (Susie Youssef), won her campaign on first-hand experience and relatable candour as a nurse during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, her hard-working Chief of Staff Anna (Emily Taheny) is the real backbone of the successful campaign. With Media Advisor Ben (Laurence Boxhall) and the preppy new junior staffer Kelly (Franca Lafosse) rounding out her team, their task is to keep the energy from Ruth’s win all the way through to the nation’s capital. After a negative Covid test sees Ben replaced by Kelly on a trip to Canberra, Anna uses her previous – possibly intimate – relationship with the Minister for Science, Paul (Johnny Nasser) to help get Ruth’s women’s health bill to cabinet. But Paul’s eyes linger elsewhere as an all-too-familiar scandal...

A sawfish swimming alongside a sea turtle in the Pilbara. Royal penguins stopped in their tracks by an enormous elephant seal. A Tassie devil fighting for survival. A whimbrel racing an incoming wave with a freshly caught crab in its beak. Flame-like patterns formed by the tides across a Western Australian sandbank. It’s true what they say: a picture definitely does speak a thousand words. Opening at the Australian Museum on September 12, the 2026 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year exhibition brings you face-to-face with some of the most extraordinary moments in the natural world. From wildlife encounters to otherworldly landscapes, these photographs offer a rare glimpse into the beauty and fragility of nature in our region. This free exhibition, produced by the South Australian Museum, showcases the finest images selected from 2,129 entries by 501 photographers across 17 countries. Spanning Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and New Guinea, the photographs take in everything from critically endangered species and dramatic animal encounters to patterns and textures of the natural landscape. Western Australian photographer Matt Deakin has been named the 2026 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year for Ethereal Encounter. His mesmerising aerial photograph captures a critically endangered green sawfish moving towards a group of green turtles in the shallow waters of the Pilbara. Shot in the last light of the day, the milky water gives the...

There’s always a lot going on at Sydney’s favourite house. So much so that it can be hard to keep track – with new headliners dropping every other week, and huge events taking over the various venues seemingly out of nowhere.  Keen to go to a show under the sails over the next few months? We’ve rounded up a few top picks in the Sydney Opera House winter to spring season:  Backstage tours give you a peek behind the curtain Explore the inner workings of Australia's most famous buildings on one of these expert-led tours. Dates: DailyTickets: From $48  Table Top Shakespeare will turn pantry items into Shakespearean stars Forget actors – this delightfully bonkers production has vases, jars, Dettol bottles and salt and pepper shakers taking centre stage. Six performers from acclaimed UK theatre company Forced Entertainment will retell Shakespeare’s most iconic tales using whatever they can find in the pantry, with plenty of relish, marmalade and dish soap along the way.Dates: September 22–27Tickets: $75 Curious will bring some of the world’s biggest thinkers to the Opera House Keen to expand your mind? The Sydney Opera House’s ideas festival, Curious, will reurn with a line-up of influential thinkers, comedians, creatives and chefs exploring everything from the mysteries of consciousness to family drama, the past and what the future might hold.Dates: October 4 & November 4Tickets: From $39 A Place in the Sultan’s Kitchen will serve up a family story with a side of curry Part...

Put down your crystals and cottage cheese and head over to South Eveleigh this September – and get around the month-long program of free and affordable events designed to help you move, reset and feel your best. Now back for its third year, Live Well runs from now until September 28, with everything wellbeing – think free run clubs and pickleball, body composition scans, mindfulness experiences and creative workshops. This year, Sunrise clinical nutritionist Sarah Di Lorenzo is joining as the Live Well ambassador, hosting three free talks and Q&A sessions throughout the month covering nutrition, health and workplace wellbeing. She’ll also be signing copies of her book at one of the sessions. Elsewhere, you can get your sweat on with South Eveleigh’s weekly 5km run club, have your aura photographed (yes, really) or get a gang together for a few games of pickleball. There are also free body composition scans, and a series of Thursday night Plants & Pours workshops, including bonsai, botanical incense making, terrarium building and kokedama creation. Throughout the month, there’ll also be free pop-ups and fun including crystal finding, pet photography, archery, Aboriginal Elder Walangari Karntawarra’s sand painting session and a bike tune-up. Michael Carabetta, portfolio manager at South Eveleigh, says: “Spring is the perfect time to reset and invest in your own wellbeing. Live Well is about giving our community easy ways to move, connect and look after themselves, right in...

Society’s definition of success has long been measured in the currencies of wealth, status, power and prestige. The threads of capitalism are so deeply woven into the fabric of our lives that we can sometimes mistake power for responsibility, prestige for accountability and influence for merit. It is a particularly pertinent distinction at a moment when the world’s most powerful democracy is once again led by a businessman, and popularity, power and status are increasingly treated as interchangeable with competence, responsibility and merit. What is the premise of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying? It is within this uncomfortable landscape that How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, which premiered on Broadway in 1961, could find renewed relevance. The musical follows J. Pierrepont Finch (Jake Speer), an ambitious young window cleaner who uses a self-help book to manipulate his way into a job at the World Wide Wicket Company and climb the corporate ladder. As he becomes entangled with Rosemary Pilkington (Georgia Laga’aia), rival Bud Frump (Max Macdonald) and company president J. B. Biggley (Simon Burke), Finch’s increasingly audacious schemes satirise workplace politics, unchecked ambition and the uncomfortable reality of success in a world that rewards the shameless and self-interested. What are the highlights of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying? The production shows considerable promise from the outset. Director and...