Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

Now I don't just mean, "Oh, they don't like workers" or "they'll be worse for the environment", though these things are true. I mean that this group of people do not have everyday competence.

With challenges like these confronting mankind, can we continue with a business as usual approach? Are the current institutions capable of addressing these challenges? I think not. To fix these problems governments will need to raise a lot more revenue.

The latest update from the Democratic Audit program at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, on how our democracy is working.

Now as Foley makes a final visit to his own ghost writers, I can't help wondering what the in-flight movie will be.  If he's reading the Clancy and watching the Polanski,while looking at the clouds out his window and pretending to be Superman, I wouldn't be surprised at all.

Sometimes an inquiry is necessary. There is a need to quickly and efficiently cut out dead wood so that the tree can sprout again. This is not the case with the flood response.

The latest update from the Democratic Audit program at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, on how our democracy is working.

My first blog ever was a damp squib; deservedly so given the amount of effort I put into it. I've decided to give it another go for the reasons that there's a growing awareness of the subject and that next to climate change and sustainable population this is the most important issue facing us.

Unlike the true FF cards that put Labor in 6th place, the dodgy ALP ones gave Labor first preference.  In this manner voters were conned into believing that their party wanted its unsuccessful votes to go to Labor when this was actually (apart from the deal with the A-G)  far from the truth

Rann’s alleged antics with a barmaid in parliament some time back has focussed the public’s consciousness back on the Rann government and its policies, outlook and decisions; to “hear” alternate messages from the Liberals (usually ) on one hand and /or excluded or silenced social groups.

 As Rann and his army of journos prepare to extoll both the man's and his government's virtues before the March State election, manyare now going to have trouble trusting the words they hear.  Defencehubs, a new live music coloseum and new highways; everything they doto try and win at the polling booth is going to be tarnished by thePremier's "porky".

Which brings us to a separate issue, yet one with tentative connections to the one mentioned above – the spectacular dumping of the contentious Traveston mega-dam in south east Queensland, which represents a belated day in the sun for the long-maligned Peter Garrett and more eclipse for Labor's cover-girl of such a short time ago, Anna Bligh.

"The Water Dreamers" is a haunting and thought provoking history of a dry land that refuses to yield to the fevered imagination of its colonisers. With our current water crisis do we continue to dream on, or do we submit to the land and live within it?

It's about time the convenient yes minister-type arrangements for the Murray-Darling catchment allowing state government interference based on cronyism against genuine reform of resources management, were ended, and a governing body capable of making the changes necessary for that protection were incorporated, as promised in 2007.

The latest update from the Democratic Audit program at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, on how our democracy is working.

The latest update from the Democratic Audit program at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, on how our democracy is working.

The question remains, should law-biding aerosol street artists be classified in the same group as vandals? I would say the answer is definitely not. These groups like the one Jasy runs not only promote better communities through quality mural street art but also provide positive guidance and direction to young people in becoming responsible citizens.

It’s strange that just when Australia’s education system is crying out for more full-fee paying international students, the NSW government is continuously discriminating against them. While travel concession is generally provided to students, I am not getting it – because I am an international student. This means I’m paying twice more each week to get to and from uni.

The election will be very close. Anna Bligh may scrape in with the help of Green preferences; the alternative will be disastrous for Queensland. Let us hope that the ALP learns from this election and works out how to manage both the economic crisis and the climate change crisis.

In this month's update, among other matters, political donations, government advertising under Howard, electoral redistribution, parliamentary privilege, and whistleblower protection.

"The Pauline Hanson phenomenon was triggered, in my opinion, by the terrible mistakes of the Labor Government in implementing competition policy with no plan for transition for the many rural communities it would decimate, and by the expulsion of robust debate on social issues, with the connivance of the media, including me. The idea was that if politically incorrect views were not aired they would disappear. The opposite was true, and the excluded exploded in 1996 when her remarks about Aboriginal welfare saw her expulsion from the Liberal Party and an incredible 20 per cent swing against Labor in what had been one of their safest Queensland seats."- Margo Kingston

New South Wales likes to think of itself as Australia, but it isn’t. Back in 1887, the redoubtable Henry Parkes even proposed that the colony of New South Wales change its name to Australia – a move not unexpectedly opposed (and ridiculed) by the other colonies. But the sentiment persists. The former prime minister John Howard was a typical Sydneysider (an early Victorian term for those who lived on the Sydney side of the Murray). He professed not to recognise state identities or loyalties; we are, after all, simply Australians. (Norman Abjorensen)

In this month's update: how public servants have become part of the 'permanent campaign', putting at risk the distinction between marketing and explaining government policy and between genuine and politically tailored data; a comparison of political donations in the US and Australia; and a history of voting in the US.

So there you have it – situation average in Canberra. ‘Go for Coe’ is now one of my electorate’s members of the Assembly... Webdiarist David Markham reports on the aftermath of the ACT election.

Since I moved house recently I have not found anywhere to put up my dart board, so I have no means of working out who to vote for. A friend has told me that he dislikes all the candidates that he knows so intensely that he is only going to vote for candidates that he has never heard of. This sounds like a very sensible plan.

Henson has done nothing wrong under the law and for lawmakers to be carrying in this manner is actually an appalling dereliction of their role in our political system. Indeed arguably undermining of it. They need to be called on this, every one of them.

NSW's record seems to confirm that privatisation is, indeed, just old-fashioned plunder as practised by the Conquistadores, Vikings, Mongols, etc. Revenue generating assets paid for over previous decades by taxpayers have apparently been sold off for no better reason than to line the pockets of private investors, bankers and stockbrokers.

Melbourne is on track to take over from Sydney as Australia’s city of the future. While Melbourne is planning to cut the number of cars, introduce a city bicycle rental system, built more affordable housing and increase public transport, the NSW government is abandoning Sydney’s infrastructure improvement. Economic growth in Melbourne has been double that of Sydney in the past 12 months...

Since I began watching this issue a few months ago, coverage has certainly increased, but public interest largely has not. Even if the effect on agricultural supply and pricing is ignored, if nothing more this is a case study of the needs for appropriate oversight of the planning and development process, and the rights of landowners and the state when it comes to resources.

Summer’s on its way. And just as the weather picks up and we flock outdoors to our local beer gardens, a dark cloud looms over us. Is it smoke from our cigarettes? No. Ironically, it’s the potential lack thereof. Those who relish the idea of a drink in one hand and a cigarette in the other, your days may be numbered.

Will the current crisis in the global financial markets adversely affect Australia? Will a sick passenger on a Chatswood train disrupt the Bankstown service? The answer to both these seemingly unrelated questions is something along the lines of “we don’t know for sure. Even if we did, there is probably not much we can do”. Complex networks of tracks or markets definitely have a downside.