I met Rob Gerard once. We bought an investment property in a development where Gerard Industries was one of the tenants. I ended up doing some negotations with Gerard over a lease. There is no doubt that a man who involved himself in a small matter (in the context of the size of his operation) […]

The “disconnect” between our politicians and the people is sometimes only exceeded by that between the media and the people. And the issue of capital punishment, and the imminent execution of a young Australian drug trafficker illustrates that one again…and does so very starkly. If the media were to be believed, then there is massive, […]

I ran into my friend, Dr David Watson, former MLA for Moggill, the other day. We talked about the increase in bureaucracy in the Queensland Health Department without any apparent improvement in outcomes. This was of course in the context of the Jayant Patel inferno. Whatever else you say about Joh Bjelke-Petersen (and I’ve said […]

The good people of the Sydney northern beaches electorate of Pittwater have sent the Liberal Party – and not just its NSW Division – a resounding message. And it is message those it is meant for seem to have difficulty hearing. The rampant right-wing, extreme factionalism now overwhelmingly evident in the Liberal Party does not […]

The Pittwater byelection result carries the same lesson for a diverse range of politicians. Peter Costello, Kim Beazley, the Queensland Liberals et al take note – don’t assume that political parties are for ever. The incidence of Independents has been on the rise for some time. As of yesterday there are now 7 in the […]

In my previous post I reported comments by Vaughan Johnson about the federal IR changes and said I would invite him to make a post on the issue on this blog. Here is his response. Dear Graham, Thank you for your email of today 24th November. While I may have given the impression yesterday that […]

Barnaby Joyce is threatening to veto John Howard’s IR legislation because of pressure from his state National Party colleagues. The Courier Mail quotes National Party State Leader Lawrence Springborg saying “The Nationals remain unconvinced that the legislation, in its current form, should be supported.” Opposition is apparently broadspread – “The concerns raised by MPs were […]

When I reported that joint preselections between the Liberal and National Parties were a face-saving device and a deal had been done to carve-up the seats which would be rubber-stamped by the preselections I didn’t expect that this would be confirmed by the highest authority. That is exactly what Lawrence Springborg did Monday when he […]

The reason that Jim Nicholls was vetted out of the Broadwater preselection is supposed to have something to do with the accuracy of his application form. Nicholls says he is a “consultant”, the party says he is “unemployed” (well, what else does “consultant” mean?). Nicholls claims to be an active member of some community groups, […]

The extent to which the mainstream media can be totally out of touch with community attitudes is well evidenced by the saturation, and broadly favourable, coverage it is giving to the “model” Michelle Leslie. The hero like status she is being accorded sits very uneasily with mainstream Australia if the feedback I am getting and […]