Save those Casino cows!

With Northern Rivers councils seemingly intent on concreting and pebblecreting every available public space lately, it is good to see an elderly woman take a stand against Richmond Valley Council's plan to paint over a much-loved and quirky local mural. Council is quite happy to undertake a shire-wide rates revision which would see more money in its pockets, but is not willing to spend a little to have a local artist or signwriter repair this mural. Sound your horn as you pass council chambers this week and let those councillors know that public art (even smiley cows) matters!

Cats at nine paces during the US presidential election

Watermark's Friday Cat Blogging had these American politcal cats.

Brendan may have lost his shine when he ditched that earring, but did Malcolm ever sparkle in the first place?

The Liberal Party ship hasn't stopped yawing since the federal election last year and often appears perilously close to floundering on one political reef or another.

Brendan Nelson's poor opinion poll showing and unfortunate way with words once more has God's own party canvassing a change of leadership. Eyes are again turning to Malcolm Turnbull.

It's almost as if the ship's crew are intent on sending the boat to the bottom.

As Environment Minister during the last years of the Howard Government he is less than fondly remembered by Tassie and northern NSW for his high-handed attempts to wreck our lands, rivers and coastal oceans.

This is the same man whose history caused The Canberra Times Crispin Hull to write in March this year about the former banker's alleged role in the estimated $900 million HIH collapse and the subsequent court case now underway.

 

"Turnbull still has difficulties. He will be fighting a major case with a lot of publicity. His conduct will be under intense scrutiny. Political enemies and commentators will do their utmost to draw the worst possible inferences from whatever happens during the case. And the timing is appalling. The full case will get to court next year. Given the number of parties, the vast numbers of documents and complexity of legal argument over things such as privilege and meanings in the Corporations Law, the case is likely go on for some time."

Turnbull has quite reasonably refused to "rule out" a leadership challenge under the Howard principle. Former prime minister John Howard when in opposition and government as both deputy and leader said the leadership was always open. Loyal deputies should not have to "rule out" challenges.

This puts the parliamentary Liberal Party in a bind, especially in the face of appalling opinion poll figures for Brendan Nelson.

If the figures do not move, MPs will get restless. They will not want a further swing to Labor at the 2010 (or possibly 2011) election. Ditching Nelson is one thing; finding a suitable replacement is another. Without the HIH case, Turnbull would be the obvious choice. With HIH, they will be taking a risk. Even if Turnbull wins the case, it will be a long distraction at the minimum.

The worse case would be an order for him to pay millions of dollars in damages and a finding of deceptive conduct as alleged by the liquidator a finding no political leader could weather.

Those MPs might also question Turnbull's assessment of "baseless" when pitted against NSW requirements that legal advisers certify a case has "reasonable prospects of success" before proceeding on pain of costs orders against the legal advisers themselves, not just the client."

Is Brendan Nelson related to Joh Bjelke-Petersen?

Been wondering where Brendan Nelson gets his ideas from?

Well, wonder no more. He's been reading The Incomplete Works of Joh the Great - the unpublished personal memoirs of the late (and great, as in fantastic) husband of Queensland's most famous pumpkin scone baker.

Speaking on Sydney radio 2UE this week, Nelson dropped a couple of pure Johisms, but the one that took the cake was his "Just (you) wait and see."

The Sydney Morning Herald's Alan Ramsay provides readers with extracts of Nelson's chat this week with 2UE's Mike Carlton.

Nelson was talking about speculation he is a seat-warmer for Malcolm Turnbull.

2UE's Mike Carlton: "The cruel speculation about you, you must read it every day, that you're merely a seat-warmer for Malcolm Turnbull, that you're there to absorb some of the blows of defeat, and eventually the party will flick you and toss the leadership to Turnbull. You're aware of that?"

Nelson: "Yeah, of course I'm aware of it. And it's nonsense. I've had people underestimating me for 20 years. I'm very determined in this. I've already started the process of policy reform. I'm very focused and determined that we will present an attractive alternative."

Carlton: "You've got to say that. And full marks to do you for saying it. But every time you talk to the Liberal Party, or you pick up a newspaper and read it - and it's there again in the papers this morning - poor old Brendan, lovely bloke, nice fella, we'll leave him in for a bit until it gets hard and then it'll go to Turnbull."

Nelson: "Well, you just watch and see. You'll see how we go. And Malcolm Turnbull is obviously an extraordinarily intelligent, capable and successful man … he's doing a terrific job as the alternative treasurer. But you just wait and see."

Earlier, this exchange took place:

Carlton: "Nice to talk to you. You're looking very spick and span at this hour of the morning. Up and at 'em and bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. How do you do it?"

Nelson: "Well, I am and every day. Firstly, it's important that you get up early, you get across what's happening in the news, and plan the day. And my mother always said that I should be neatly presented."

What other helpful advice did Nelson's mother give him? No doubt she also told him to wear clean underwear, just in case he gets hit by a bus.

Ramsey, at his best, added this gem:

God help us then if the Liberal Party leaves Brendan to muck along as leader. The man is trying, but he's got no idea. None at all. Neither do most of his colleagues or those who now fill the 70 taxpayer-funded staff positions with Nelson and his Opposition frontbench. At a staff meeting soon after the Coalition's defeat last November, party officials asked the 400-plus redundant ministerial staffers how many had previously worked in Opposition? Five raised their hands. Five!

The blind are leading the blind.

And, just for good measure, Ramsey included this:

Nelson: "My mother rings me every second day. A cartoon, she'll say. 'I've seen your cartoon, I've read a story', and so on. I just say, 'Don't worry, Mum. We're going all right'."

Ramsey: No he's not, Mum. He's doing his best but the job is beyond him. When even old farts like me start to feel sorry for him, you have to accept your son has no chance of surviving, let alone winning. None at all.

Read the complete piece by Ramsey here.

Senator Fielding goosestepping us all towards a political and social straightjacket

At the 24 November 2007 federal election the Family First Party ran 129 House of Representatives and 23 Senate candidates, according to Senator Steven Fielding's website.

According to the Australian Electoral Commission website, Fielding was the only Family First candidate actually elected.

 

One would think that this might indicate to both parliament and government that the majority of the national electorate had rather convincingly rejected Family First's political philosophy.

One would also think that other senators would recall that Fielding's avowed aim is to act as a 'spoiler' in the Senate.

So it came as a rather rude surprise when Crikey reported the following yesterday.

Senators caught up in the Fielding Filth Filter 

Bernard Keane writes:

Steve Fielding, the Senate choice of 1.88% of Victorians, is obsessed with p-rnography. Since he arrived in Canberra, no Estimates session has been complete without Fielding earnestly declaring that Australian families weren't safe from the flood of p-rn ready to roll out of their PCs. His greatest direct contribution to public policy since he was "elected" was to badger the Howard Government into wasting tens of millions of dollars on the ludicrous Netalert internet filter scheme.

Now he has managed to impose the views of his bizarre monotheistic cult on other Senators and their staff. Since 28 March, Senators have been prevented from accessing "inappropriate" internet content at the request of Senator Fielding, who has convinced Senate President Alan Ferguson to impose the same filter as that in place for bureaucrats, though not the Parliamentary Library.

Accordingly, anything related to s-x, drugs, weapons or other "inappropriate content", regardless of what it actually is, is blocked.

Senator Lyn Allison has written to Ferguson demanding to know why Fielding was permitted to impose his own reactionary view of the online world on other Senators, who determines what is "inappropriate" and how Senators are supposed to do their job properly.

Allison reels off a number of topics now blocked by the Fielding Filth Filter: reproductive health; s-xualisation of children; drug abuse and rehabilitation, the opium crop in Afghanistan, weapons trading – all issues of legitimate interest to those engaged in the policy process, and all now blocked as "inappropriate".---

The only available evidence that any politician has been using the Parliament House network to look for inappropriate content comes from the culprit himself – Senator Fielding, who last year boasted of his ability to obtain p-rn from his Parliament House computer---

 

Reporters Without Borders offers tips for those lucky souls still outside the Fielding-Ferguson-Conroy butterfly net who want to remain free to research, post and comment.