Conehead Nelson is out of the education portfolio but still finds time for his favoured sport of teacher bashing. This time it’s teachers’ fault that kids don’t want to join the military any more. Says Nelson: “we tend to be force-fed a diet which suggests that in some way the people who join the services are people who have motives that are other than assisting the welfare of other people.”

Of course it’s teachers’ fault. It’s got nothing to do with the widely publicised culture of bullying and bastardisation in the armed forces leading to suicide and dropouts. It’s got nothing to do with the image of the armed forces as a place for “meatheads”. It’s got nothing to do with the fact that the job of the armed forces is to go out, face death and try to kill people. It’s got nothing to do with the fact that the Australian armed forces are plying their trade in Iraq — as a result of a widely unpopular war.

Nelson says he’d be delighted if any of his kids joined the armed forces. Australia would be delighted to send out armies of Brendan Nelsons to the slaughter.