So who laughed? - posted by Graham

I wish I had time for a longer post on the John Brogden brouhaha. The degraded state of journalism in the country is on full-show. A politician gets a little drunk and in a situation which is obviously completely off... More

Joyce shows way on Queensland Coalition - posted by Graham

Barnaby Joyce's behaviour over Telstra should be a lesson to the Queensland Liberals on how to negotiate a coalition agreement with the Queensland Nats. Just because they threaten to walk away or wreck things if they don't get their way... More

Religious vilification - posted by Graham

Full marks to Dr Ameer Ali, president of the national Federation of Islamic Councils, when he says that Islamic extremists should not be banned. "The best thing is to expose these people and marginalise them. As long as they are... More

Bob Quinn loses in by-elections? - posted by Graham

Could Bob Quinn lose his job as a result of winning the Queensland by-elections? That's the seemingly bizarre analysis running around the Queensland Liberal Party. It goes like this. Michael Caltabiano, the winner in Chatsworth, has entered Parliament with the... More

Two significant victories - posted by Graham

The Queensland Liberal Party has had two significant victories in the Redcliffe and Chatsworth by-elections. With swings in Redcliffe of around 7% and 12% in Chatsworth voters have told Premier Beattie to fix the health system. They have also put... More

Galvanising the fourth estate - posted by Graham

The media is the other missing ingredient in the eDemocracy tiramisu (see my blog post of 16th August for the context). That was part of the theme of a joint presentation by Terry Flew and me given on the third... More

Only the Liberals are under real pressure in the by-elections - posted by Graham

In the Redcliffe and Chatsworth by-elections, only the Liberal Party is under real pressure. For Peter Beattie a loss would be a good management tool. It would say to his back-benchers that his government is not impregnable, so they should... More

eDemocracy or eBureaucracy - posted by Graham

Who or what is eDemocracy about? That's a question I posed to a panel at the United Nations International Conference on Engaging Communities currently being held in Brisbane. I've been to a few conferences on eDemocracy recently and one thing... More

Five tips to reduce terrorism - posted by Graham

I came across this piece in Open Democracy by Scilla Elworthy a couple of weeks ago. In it's own context it is not that different from the advice that I would give a political combatant in a domestic legislative scrap,... More

Labor should pay back public funding money - posted by Graham

According to the ABC, Tim Gartrell, National Secretary of the ALP, "wants the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) to investigate whether it is possible to stop political candidates making money from the election process". His concern is that Pauline Hanson made... More

Redneck Radio - posted by Graham

The best thing about Graeme Gilbert is that he spells "Grayam" differently from the way that I spell it. He's using my name and he's wearing it out.This man is as big a threat to our way of life as... More

How good is Telstra in the cities? - posted by Graham

While the National Party is busy demanding broadband access to every homestead, along with a tar seal on the road, two new dams for every property over 1000 hectares, and reticulated water everywhere but the Simpson Desert, I wonder whether... More

Send Jason Gillespie a white feather - posted by Graham

I've noted earlier how globalised terrorism has moved the front-line behind us in a war in which we are all footsoliders, whether we like it or not, and whether we approved of invading Afghanistan and Iraq or not. I was... More

Howard only has to GetUp to get lucky - posted by Graham

Looking at the disasters of the first half of John Howard's career, who would have thought that second half would be so fortunate. Howard's latest stroke of good luck is the new website http://getup.org.au/. The site claims to be part... More