Dear Prax.,

Thanks for your comments.

As Peter Coleman pointed out in the Preface to
"The Costello Memoirs," - "Whatever they may say,
most of them (politicians) do not go into
Parliament to bring about particular reforms; they
go in because they find the life is irrisistible.
They want to be in it all their lives. They enjoy its
exhilarating highs and take its miserable (and tedious)
lows in their stride. They take for granted the slander
of fools. They also believe that the ovters will get it
right in the end. Their day will come. They are politicians
in the way others are poets. They can't help themselves."

I don't know that much about Clive Palmer - but I do like
what I've seen of him. And Bob Katter seems to be a man
of a different parliamentary tradition. He does want to
make a difference. He doesn't seem to be a seat-warmer,
a hack, or a carerrist or even an adventurer. He seems
genuine and keen to make reforms - especially for rural
Australia.

It's going to be an intersting election. Hopefully with
good outcomes.

Clive Palmer was the architect of the 'Joh for Canberra' campaign. That deep sixes him for me.

I certainly wasn't over the moon with the Joh for Canberra bit, but then the other contenders at the time were a pretty sad lot. What I do see in Big Clive is someone who appears to have made a success of business, something that precious few political contenders achieve. The story about slashing perks for the has-been parasites has to be a big winner for Clive. Far too many of the clowns were lawyers for my liking & that tribe go right to the bottom of my list, even used car salespersons & insurance companies rate a tad higher than legal eagles. I could never stand JooLIAR, her supercilious smirk is the epitome of inane political expressions, that irritating voice forces me to turn her off immediately, & one has to cringe when she big-notes herself overseas. The RAbbot might be ever so slightly better but it would be an extremely close call. The Mad Katter lost me when he joined the political correctness circus, surely that must constitute a deal breaker with ultra-conservative bushie constituents who believe the only rights that exist for homosexuals is to get out of town.

Dear David.,

I don't know too much about the "Joh for Canberra,"
campaign. However, it will be interesting to see
whether Clive will get his party registered in time
for the election and whether he'll get enough candidates
to run or whether he'll have a change of heart entirely.

Dear Prax.,

I guess many people are disappointed with the state of
politics at the moment. That's possibly why any alternative
to the major parties looks appealing at present.

What does bother me though is that something awful has
happened to public discussions. I've never seen such
hatred. Some people don't want to see Tony Abbott merely
questioned, they want to see him disemboweled. And yet
others speak of Julia Gillard in the most appaling terms.

The confected anger has been for some time now the
stock-in-trade of some radio broadcasters and columnists,
and they have done their work and unleashed a nasty,
antisocial and destructive power that has real consequences for
the cohesion of our society.

However, I have faith in our society which is remarkably diverse.
We have voters of all persuasions, city and country folk,
very young and very old, straight, gay, and everything else.
Who hopefully will have their say. This country has never
needed a more positive, open, and compassionate approach
than it does at present

I wouldn't touch either of them for quite some time. Give them a couple of elections, & see what they are made of is the only way to treat them.

We saw with Pauline Hansen, & Don Chip what happens when someone tries to turn a little electoral success into a party. They are flooded with people who want to use the new party to be elected, many of whom do not share the new parties ideals.

This always includes some rat bags as a quick look at the Greens will confirm. The Hanson One Nation party had some pretty doubtful candidates elected, & fell apart.

Even rapid expansion of the candidates, or of the candidates elected displays the same problems. With a rapid expansion of electoral success, some candidates not expected to be elected, we have seen a few doubtful members in Newman's huge landslide. People who were not expected to be elected, & were perhaps not vetted well enough, proved poor choices.

Fortunately in this case, he could dispense with these people, unlike Gillard who has had to keep far too much garbage. New small parties are going to have to keep what ever they can get, which is not good for our parliaments.

Dear Hasbeen,

I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens
at the next election as to who fares well and
who doesn't. It will be particularly interesting
if Independents like Tony Windsor, et al, will
get re-elected. I heard Bob Katter telling an
interviewer how much money he's been able to raise
for his electorate and how well they're doing now.

Things can change in politics very quickly.
I wouldn't be predicting anything just yet.