From the pages of our favourite tabloid:

KEVIN Rudd’s campaign taking democracy to the people cost nearly $2 million – or $400 for every person attending Community Cabinet meetings. An investigation by News Limited has revealed taxpayers have forked out hundreds of thousands of dollars to fly Ministers, advisers and public servants across Australia.

Wow, who’d have thought that it actually cost money to fly politicians around the country they are supposed to be governing! Those stinking, rotten, corrupt bastards! I wonder who footed the bill when Rupert flew out here recently to tell us what we were all doing wrong?

The bill for one meeting alone – in Perth – reached nearly $300,000, as the Prime Minister takes his “live and raw experiment” into marginal seats. A raft of Ministers and Commonwealth support staff have made the trek to nine Community Cabinet meetings since January. They have cost at least $1.7 million.

The meeting was in Canning Vale and the division of Canning. It’s been held by the Liberals since 2001 and even amidst the rout of November 2007, the incumbent Liberal MP recorded 12 per cent more of the primary vote than the ALP candidate.

Taxpayers also forked out $7,819 for advertising, $2,115 for catering, $825 for musicians and $250 for an Aboriginal “welcome to country” ceremony.

Out comes the dog whistle. Those bloody Abos!!1!

With Queensland pivotal to the outcome of the 2010 poll, the Government has already invested in two meetings: at Narangba on Brisbane’s northern fringe, and at Mackay on the State’s central coast.

If you hold consultative cabinet meetings all around the country – and you foolishly hold a couple in Queensland, one of the six states of the commonwealth – then you’re obviously doing it for electoral gain. Never mind all the Queensland blogers (sic) who need to be consultated.

The Narangba meeting cost taxpayers just over $200,000 with those attending chomping through $10,170 of catering. Pics of the happy Ministers cost another $5,067 while $522 was paid to interpreters.

The attendees were chomping, the ministers were gay happy – and some of the buggers couldn’t even speak the Queen’s English!

It’s clear that we need to adopt fascist totalitarianism – it’d be a hell of a lot cheaper.

The Labor government has announced its intention to ram 22 pieces of legislation through the House of Representatives this week, necessitating 10pm sittings of Parliament. The opposition, through Joe Hockey, has claimed that the rushed timetable will not allow sufficient debate of legislation enabling things such as FuelWatch and equal benefits for gaymosexual couples. The government, through Anthony Albanese, has hit back accusing the opposition of hypocrisy due to its habit under John Howard of doing the exact same thing with legislation covering areas such as industrial relations and asylum seekers.

I was highly critical of John Howard’s government when it dodged scrutiny and debate of its legislation by using its numbers to force it through Parliament as quickly as possible; it was anti-democracy and bad for Australia. But Labor using the primary school argument of “they did it first so we’re going to do it as well” makes a total mockery of Kevin Rudd’s pre-election rhetoric that his party would restore back to government the respectability that had been eroded during the Howard years.

Kevin Rudd and Labor should allow proper debate of their legislation in Parliament or else they risk lowering themselves to the democracy-hating levels that John Howard used to enjoy flirting with.

Say what you like about compulsory voting (and for the record I’m pro), but when less than half of the voters of London bother to vote for the person they want to govern seven million people with a multi-billion pound budget for the next four years then you can’t help but conclude that “I don’t give a fuck”, rather than Boris Johnson, was the winner on the day.

Say what you like about Kevin Rudd’s Australia 2020 summit but it’s great that Australia’s children will have a chance to participate in the discussion about this country’s future.

Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard has invited all schools to participate in the proposed 2020 summit involving 1000 of Australia’s best and brightest minds in April.

[...]

“Today’s school students are the adults of 2020, and it’s vital that we harness their energy, ideas and vision in any discussion about this nation’s future,” Ms Gillard said.

“They will be the parents, the business owners, the farmers, the educators and the leaders of 2020, and it’s crucial that we hear their views about the kind of Australia they want to live in.”

Children have strong and valid views about current affairs and the world in which they live, yet we all too often ignore them or patronisingly nod our heads and smile. Giving students a structured environment in their schools with teacher facilitation to get a conversation going, along with the knowledge that their voices will be heard by the government, validates kids’ opinions and is also an excellent educational opportunity. But according to Andrew Bolt this is just another way that “Chairman” Rudd is indoctrinating our yoof with leftist ideology. Bolta lists a couple of other events that he incorrectly attributes to Kevin Rudd (the NSW and Victorian governments’ “order” for schools to force students to watch Rudd’s Stolen Generation apology; and a call by Australia’s chief scientist for school kids to plant trees, despite the fact that Julia Gillard has openly resisted mandating as such) and asks a question.

This is as bizarre as it is utterly offensive. Had John Howard tried this…

…I might have liked him a bit more.

New episodes of Lachlan Connor, Independent are in the can and the first will hit GrodsCorp on Tuesday. But in the meantime check out this teaser:

Six months ago Andrew Landeryou’s readers were effusive in their praise for Lachlan Connor, Independent. Now Tim Blair’s readers have expressed their admiration for the brave independent Senate candidate:

“Mr. Connor would do well to look in a mirror.”
– rbj1

“Mr. Connor would do well to look in a mirror.
He does and is mystified that he sees nothing.”
– El Cid

“That Cocklane Loner chap looks constipated in all of his photos”
– egg_

“hasn’t he got a good psycho visage? ever so slightly pointy head too”
– KK

“Checked out his campaign manager?”
– egg_

Redux: The Lachlan Connor, Independent story so far. Condensed from episodes 1 to 15. (As seen at the Castlemaine Fringe Film Festival.)
Follow the whole series here or subscribe to the RSS feed.

Rate this episode at YouTube.
Visit Lachlan’s blog.

A great dialogue is occurring between Independent Victorian Senate candidate Lachlan Connor and his potential constituents on his blog: www.lachlanconnor.wordpress.com. Topics discussed so far include indigenous rights, water management, policing, families and Papua New Guinea. Why not head on over, check it out, and join the conversation?

These fantastic experiments in democracy will only work if you, the voter, get involved.