Is he trying to tell them something?: Fresh from the Coalition Party Room brief,
the Prime Minister told his troops this morning: “Now is the time to focus on
the business of running the country in a quiet and effective way … Let’s get
on with the job of government.” In other words, siddown and shut up.

Separated at birth: Brendan Nelson and Bob Hawke. C’mon, look at the hair!

Plainly Jane: A nice bit of plain speaking from Jane Fraser in The Oz’sStrewth column
today: “Finance Minister Nick Minchin denies suggesting that state MPs
are using their electorate offices and allowances to subsidise their
federal parties. Minchin’s article in the inaugural Liberal journal
Looking Forward played an interesting numbers game to downgrade the
significance of the Coalition’s extra 11 senators. Minchin argued Labor
has a total of 105 more state and federal MPs than the Coalition when
you add “their electorate offices, staff and electorate allowances”.
The Coalition’s advantage is overestimated, he concluded. But isn’t
that a tacit admission that both parties are unlawfully using
state-funded MPs allowances to keep their federal party machines
chugging away? Of course not, says a Minchin’s spokesman. Never.”
Really? They used to when I was a staffer.

Big Brother: Union hacks are upset with Tim’s loss in Big Brother last
night.They had their hopes up so. “Okay – its one more voting
challenge. Progressive causes do not have many in the TV world who give
us unequivocal support – but Tim has certainly been there for us. Its
time for us to (again) return the favor – one day of mass voting…
Please forward to every union/progressive email list you are on,” one
email in support of their union colleague drifting around yesterday
said.

When Kiwis ruled the earth: More David Lange. At this TVNZ archive page you can find an excerpt of Lange’s
famous appearance in an Oxford Union debate, including the famous “I
can smell the uranium on your breathe” put down of a questioner. The
debate wasn’t the world’s most important, it is still cited as a
crucial point for Kiwis seeking to assert themselves on the world stage
– even if their PM was only debating Moral Majority leader Jerry
Falwell. They’re still proud of it.

NY Times talks stolen generations: “The pastel, titled ‘Down to
Drink,’ depicts a terrain of enchantment – tangerine-colored hills, a
moon in a dark blue sky, a tangle of trees, kangaroos converging on a
flowing stream,” a New York Times art show review begins. “Created half a century
ago by a boy in an Australian internment camp, it is part of a trove of
113 artworks that emerged recently from a dusty Colgate University
storage space. A bit of writing by the young artist, Parnell
Dempster,survives as well. ‘Now I am 14 years old,’ he said. ‘I would
like to be something good. I don’t like camp life.'” The Times does the stolen generations here.