Goin' Walkabout?

Big George's resignation from the position of National party Whip may appear on the surface to be another sign of further crumbling between extreme right wing and moderate forces within the coalition. But, maybe Mr. Christensen only seeks the freedom to represent his electorate in matters of conscience (ala freedom of speech issues) in which coalition policy may be opposed to those perceived wishes? While holding a 'senior' parliamentary position (like Whip) he would be obliged to follow party policy directives. Thus by resigning his appointment he is only removing an obstacle to crossing the floor if he felt that gesture necessary to serve the contentment of his constituents.

Normally, I would have no truck with Mr. Christensen's expressed hard right beliefs. But, if the assumption above proves correct then I think he deserves credit for at least appearing to place the wishes of his electors before the demands of party politics.

The Trough again!

Seems there is no end to the greed and chicanery some politicians will stoop to in lining their own pockets by circumvention or deliberate mis-reading of rules governing recompense of incidental costs  like travel expenses et.al.

In the current scandal which has led to the resignation of both the Victorian lower house Speaker and his deputy for mis-appropriation of huge amounts of tax-payer funds on bogus travel benefits, it is Labor party people who have offended. This follows on recent similar scandalous behaviour on the part of senior members of the Federal government.

This means the apparent lack of common decency within the Australian political arena is general and the shade of party is incidental. Today, the Victorian government is reported to have reformed the governance and oversight provisions covering incidental expenses incurred by state parliamentarians.

The real tragedy is that such measures need to be implemented  to keep politicians honest! What ever happened to common decency which most in the electorate would take for granted as a natural trait of their political representatives?

Penalty Rates?

You failed to pay your rates on time and the penalty for that is......?

OOPs! Barking up the wrong tree? That's Sunday work for you!

Mr. Rabbit again?

Another tilt at the party leadership? If so, prospects not all that good it seems.

Dutton's gaffe?

It is reported that Minister Peter Dutton let his mouth run loose on the subject of the great asylum seeker switch which was negotiated with former US president Obama ... but has struck rocky waters since the transfer of power to Donald Trump... whilst being interviewed by SKY shock jock Andrew Bolt. It seems he divulged information which appears at odds with accounts of the deal already in the public domain courtesy of none other than the Prime Minister himself.

Whatever, Dutton's performance on SKY drew some pretty sour opinions from the press this morning and prompted this depiction of his status...

The good ol' Red Rattlers.

Back in the 1980s I was fond of scribbling caricatures of various forms of transport. These were generally done in black and white (more often than not using a common 'biro' for the line-work) and were for my own enjoyment as my professional work at that time had no relationship to transport.

None of the 'kept' drawings have been published other than on social media and one collage page can be viewed at the Australian Cartoon Museum on-line. Here is a straggler I found today whilst flipping through archived original art-work from the '80s'. The 'Red Rattlers' were the first rolling-stock employed by Victorian railways when electrification of the Melbourne suburban network began during the 1920s. They survived broadly unchanged as a species for more than 4 decades.

This cartoon was wholly black and white until something prompted me to use red ink to colour just the front end of this two-car set. Other colours were added in photoshop just to highlight the scribbly black lines in this presentation.

The 'CLEAN' Coal myth

Now the coalition's thrashing about for a reason to remain in government brings forth the idea of bank-rolling 'clean' coal research and manufacture with CEFC investment funds provided by taxpayers. No matter that large energy resource companies in Australia question the efficacy of chasing after 'clean' versions of yesterday's energy source (which probably don't exist as a viable alternative to renewables anyway) and would be reluctant to invest their funds in such a project with little prospect of worthwhile returns in the long run.

So what is pushing the government along this path? The weird right wing (so called) of the coalition parties? Or simply gormlessness?

Sco Mo's scare tactic

'When all else fails resort to scare tactics'.

This must be from the last chapter of the hand-book guiding our present government who claim to be the best finance managers in the Australian political field.

Perhaps that epithet only applies when they're not in power?

                       

The BUS!

The federal government have driven their omnibus into the parliament again but a majority of the senate have once more decided not to ride.

What now? Change of name perhaps?

St. Valentine's day

Though renowned as a day of love and gift-giving, you have to be careful who you cosy up to and what your erstwhile friends will think of your liaison.

Kim Jong Un...

...  the greatest under-par person in the world!

The Big Fry-Up!

For a great portion of the Australian mainland yesterday and today has been Hot, bloody Hot and/or Furnace-like HOT!

Sycophantic?

It seems Mal has a short fuse?

So did those little TomThumb fire crackers we used to let off on bon-fire night when I was a kid.

Shorten spray

Bill Shorten seems to have weathered the PM MT rant without lowering himself to the same level of invective employed by Turnbull. The latter and his back-bench may be invigorated by Malcolm's outburst... but so far that doesn't seem to have permeated the will to get on with government business rather than waste time and effort on personal attacks aimed at the opposition.

Omnibus?

Omnibus? Appropriate with so many problems at the bus-stop awaiting movement.

Seven!

Today is the 7th., It's my favourite number...what else would I be doing?

Cory's big jump.

Senator Cory Bernadi is apparently on the cusp of leaving the federal Liberals to establish a new Conservative party to better reflect his Tory political views.

I have no truck with the expressed beliefs of the senator, but I do concede it is the honourable thing for him to do. For too long he and others of his ilk have ridden to power under the auspices of the Liberal and National Parties whilst peddling beliefs and policies far right of the centrist platform generally supported by the coalition.

Whether it is a wise move politically will remain to be seen.

The Bowling Green Mascara!

Amidst this week's stumbling, loose tongued antics of the new U.S. Trump administration, Kellyanne Conway held forth over the so-called Bowling Green Massacre to the bewilderment of those obliged to take note of her rant. The reason? No such incident had actually occurred.

Alternative Facts in practice?

The clean-up?

This cartoon is firmly based on truth, both past and present, facts at once both real and alternative, information both genuine and fake... and all the rest of the kerfuffle that serves to keep the world abreast of what is (or isn't) happening around it.

Sealed?

Just a random filler to show that I'm still around.

Walnuts!

This popped into my upstairs grey-matter repository just as it was closing down last night.

After some early a.m. consideration whilst on my daily 'constitutional'(pun intended) walk, I
thought I'd run the gag up the flag-pole to see if anyone salutes?