He’s advised British Governments and Virgin Airlines as well as Lockheed Martin. He’s 41, married with kids, isn’t an axe-murderer, and has never been investigated for anything more than perhaps a parking ticket. What’s more, a little over 12 months ago he ran for Liberal Party president as a non-aligned candidate, and got more than […]

Next Wednesday the Honourable Sir (Dennis) James Killen will celebrate his 80th birthday, and last night his many friends from across the political and community divide gathered at the Irish Club to mark the occasion. It is fortunate that Jim Killen served in the Parliament of the nation in an earlier era because today’s sterile […]

When my newsagent told me that they had been served with a resumption notice to allow for a new busway I assumed it was for a road widening and might involve some of their carpark. They are on Old Cleveland Road at Coorparoo, which is one of Brisbane’s major arterials. “No,” Chris told me, “it […]

The latest fashionable scare is the idea that our cities will run out of water. I say “fashionable” not because I don’t think there is a genuine issue, but because I think it has been typically over-stated. However, water may be at even more of a premium if the CSIRO is successful with one of […]

Before John Howard handed out $320 million of taxpayers money for a partial upgrade of the notorious Ipswich Motorway he should have done some homework to what the impact might be. Had he done so, he would have kept the cheque in his pocket for seldom has such a significant handout attracted almost universal disapproval…even […]

Premier Peter Beattie is showing signs of extreme hubris (that translates from the Greek as “big-headedness”). Our research says that one result of the health crisis is that voters see through his style. So they are not going to warm to his latest stunt – paid advertising of the government’s performance on crime statistics because, […]

November the 11th is an important day for me. It is Armistice Day, the day when the last great European War formally ended, and it is my oldest son’s birthday. It is also the anniversary of the sacking of the Whitlam Government, which compared to the other two is trivial. I’ve been listening to the […]

Mike Kaiser is the former state secretary of the Queensland ALP, former member for Woodridge and current chief of staff to Morris Iemma, the Premier of NSW. As far as I know he has nothing to do with Jayant Patel, the so-called “Doctor Death”, who set-off the Bundaberg Hospital inquiry. The Kaiser my headline refers […]

With the arrest of 17 people on terrorism charges none but the wilfully obtuse could claim that John Howard invented the whole terror threat so he could wedge the ALP and get his terror legislation up. It’s hard to believe in a conspiracy when the investigating authorities are the police forces of two Labor states. […]

Some Queensland Liberals are nervous at proposed changes to their party’s state constitution, and perhaps with good cause. The constitution seems to be continually under review, and frequently reviews are aimed at advantaging one group or another in the party. The last review was in 2002 when Bob Quinn was successful in having some of […]