THE Honourable Peter Slipper holds the seat of Fisher by a margin of almost 12 per cent – if he continues to put out extravagant, self indulgent, taxpayer funded propaganda then he will need at least that margin to survive the wrath of his electors. The Courier Mail’s “Confidential” column today reported that in a […]

Today’s Sunday Mail carries a story , perhaps syndicated, perhaps from an overseas freelancer. It is called Code of Honour and it relates the story of Specialist Patrick Tilman who died on 22nd April, in Afghanistan. The article is hagiographic, relating Tilman’s efforts to become a NFL footballer with the Arizona Cardinals, and then how […]

It was Wayne Goss who said before the 1996 election that Queenslanders were waiting on their front porches with baseball bats for an opportunity to bash the Keating government. In 2004 our qualitative research into how Australians feel about the latest federal budget suggest it is now John Howard’s turn to be bashed. In 1996 […]

I’m told that our “cricket tragic” Prime Minister, undoubtedly with the Draper and Tollner incidents in mind, called tyro MHR Michael Johnson into his office to discuss the “Youth Leadership Forum” that Johnson recently held with special guest Ricky Ponting. It was a seminar with Ponting that students from local schools attended. A recent report […]

Forget about Willie Mason’s ADHD (Absolute Dick Head Disorder), Australia faces a more serious disease that all sides of politics would do well to quarantine with some urgency. We run the real risk of the “handout disease” dominating our political process, and undermining good public policy. We need to quarantine it because it is endemic […]

Ok Graham, let’s have a dialogue. Let us try and reach across the gulf between a radical and a liberal. Point One – the “ War is brutal” argument You said: Where I am coming from is this. War is a brutal business, and things like this happen. That isn’t to justify them, just to […]

Graham, What can I say. We seem to be inhabiting different universes. Your piece on the Abu Ghraib tortures was crazy really. I simply don’t understand where you are coming from. Firstly you absolutely refuse to take on board the functionality of torture in a low-intensity operations. In such cases torture is not a pornographic […]

In response to my recent blog entry about abuses at Abu Ghraib prison, Graham Young said he’s “sick and tired of people telling (him) that if women ruled the world things would be much more peaceful…” Now, in my more radical, or heartbroken, moments, I’ve been known to claim, “all blokes are not very nice”, […]

When you have worked for and with politicians for as long as I have, it is hard to feel embarrassed for them. Yesterday I actually felt embarrassed for the Federal Minister for Community and Youth Affairs, Larry Anthony. Anyone else who watched or heard question time in the House of Representatives could be excused for […]

If the pictures taken in Abu Ghraib jail in Iraq had been taken in a Queensland jail, the person who took the photos would have been liable for 2 years jail. It is an offense to interview, photograph or record a Queensland jail inmate without official permission. As a result, in some instances in Queensland, […]