That we are, without a doubt. The Australian polity, that is. Not sure about Abbott’s hope for a gentler polity, but events of these last few weeks have shown we are at least as smart as slime mold. And why not? We are also a self-organising organic entity, and our emergent behaviour suits me just […]

It’s possible Kevin Rudd may have been behind a community campaign to independently support him, going on photos supplied by a reader. Apparently signs that weren’t official ALP signs,  supporting Kevin went up without being authorised. The authorisation was written on in pen later on in the day when the lapse was pointed out to […]

Independents can be independents, until they have to exercise power. Then they seem to remarkably quickly coalesce into what looks like a political party of sorts. Or at least that appears to be the case of the three men in a tub – Katter, Oakeshott and Windsor.

Quickly now, in 3 seconds answer this question: does your family have private medical insurance? If you know the answer, give yourself 5 points. Now another quickie (no cheating, by looking at your will or asking your accountant) Do you own any properties? If you got that right, you get another five points and hit […]

Joseph Stiglitz probably can’t be called a babe, he’s too hairy, too old and much too wise. But to me he’s an intellectual babe, and hearing him speak at the ANU this week was as rewarding as I expected it to be. The Canberra Times article said the audience, which must have been at least […]

Julia Gillard has had appalling polling figures this last week. Nielsen shows her losing, Galaxy has it 50/50 and only Newspoll has her ahead. All this when a week ago she apparently had a 6 point margin over the opposition. Could the  Weekly photoshoot have anything to do with this?

We are now well into the election campaign, and both the Libs and the ALP seem to be scrambling for the lowest risk middle ground. The area I am most interested in, environment, flows into population issues, urban planning and infrastructure, food security and of course climate change. On none of these issues is either […]

I knew that John Howard would be in trouble at the 2007 election the instant that Tim Flannery was appointed Australian of the Year. It was obvious that Flannery would spend his 12 months flaying the government on climate change.

When you’re struggling for credibility why would you re-announce the most announced infrastructure project in Queensland’s history? Yes, there must be an election on because someone has promised to build the Redcliffe to Brisbane railway line, yet again. And that someone is Julia Gillard, whose announcements last week of a Citizens’ Assembly and Cash for […]