And so the electoral gods have decreed that the good citizens of Beaudesert should provide the arena for the clash of political titans Pauline Hanson and Warwick Capper. One, a woman whose message of bigotry was all the more effective for being conveyed in near-total inarticulacy, the other, a speed-mumbling ex-footballer best known for his fumbled porn career and shorts that required surgery for removal.

One can only hope they come together for a debate on the issues confronting Queensland.

Just to add to the mix, the LNP is standing a 29-year-old singer best known for invading Big Brother. Only the ALP has been boring enough to select a traditional candidate.

There is doubtless a thesis to be written on the value of name-recognition in political contests, the engagement of an increasingly jaded electorate through celebrity, and the merging of the worlds of reality TV, politics and the media.

But the really big issue? Just what the hell did the Beaudesert community do to deserve this!