Just how stupid are Age readers?

Quotation marks are often used for purposes other than reporting speech. A common use nowadays is the 'scare quotes' or 'air quotes' where they stand in as typographic or even mimetic symbol of irony. A synonym for 'so-called', that distances the speaker or author from the particular word or phrase they are using.

But yet another use is to highlight the introduction of a new concept with which the author suspects the reader might not be familiar.

Interpreters and translators constantly struggle with people over-estimating their existing knowledge, but in this article from today’s Age, the author seems to think that the readers need their hands held while they struggle with the word ‘pun’.