A graph that is bound to give you the sh*ts

Say no more !

Could this be (the beginning of) Tony Abbott’s enlightenment?

News today that Tony Abbott went bush with some Traditional Owner elder men in the NT on Tuesday and got “lost for hours” brought to mind previous Aboriginal Affairs Ministers, Gerry Hand and Robert Tickner, both of whom were taken bush by some of the old men in the Territory.

Rumour has it that both were introduced to some secret business.

Both certainly came back later with a very different appreciation of Aboriginal culture and a very much stronger commitment to real justice for the First Australians.

Could this be the end of The Monk talking about things like a “black armband version of history”?  Somehow, I doubt it.

Apparently there are bullies and then there are mates

Today’s front page story in The Bulletin is truly sad. To see a young boy so badly injured on his way home from school is shocking.

The only points I’d make about The Bully’s story are these:

• “…it's important to make sure that we find out [both] sides of the story and get the whole story," as the regional education director, Mike Ludwig, has said today.
• How is it that an apparent conflict between two primary school kids is a case of bullying and yet a soldier being bashed so severely by his fellow soldiers that “reconstructive surgery is required” is simply a case of someone being “attacked by his mates”?

Could this be the mansion that the V8’s built?

As we predicted here, it seems that Tony Ireland has been the big beneficiary of the annual dinosaur race and the $30 million spent on what has become a 360-day a year white elephant"

Ireland Holden shifts through gears

You heard it here first

Parts of parts of Aitkenvale and Mundingburra are among the first five sites on mainland Australia where the National Broadband Network (NBN) will be rolled out.  More here

Either Mooney is desperate or Crissafulli is running scared

Spotted in today’s NQ confidential section of the Bully (hat-tip to renown socialites M&C) is this little gem (see scan on the right - no pun intended).

By my reckoning the only two sitting councillors who also sat on the previous TCC are Jenny Hill and David Crissafulli.

If I’m right, either Crissafulli is a closet member of the ALP or scared of having to run against Mooney at the next Mayoral election if Mooney fails to get preselection for the Herbert race.

Either way, if Mooney has to rely on Crissafulli’s support in the race for Herbert, he’s in deep sh*t!

Bully of the Bully not bullying private school bullies

Further to my weekend post in response to The Bullshocker of a lead article on Saturday, I see in today’s hardcopy edition that all isn’t quite as rosy in the private school sector as The Bully (or the sector) would have us believe.

Mind you, today’s 1/3 of a column piece doesn’t realty rate against the three page attack on our public school system in the Saturday edition.

PS - have a look at the comments at the end of my weekend post - seems that I'm beginning to sucessfully get up the nose of someone at the Bully :-)

Best line of the week

Julia Gillard delivers an absolute killer in response to Christopher Pyne's channeling of John Howard and Geoffrey Blainey after doing a word count on the draft National Curriculum:

“It is neither black armband nor white blindfold version of history,”

Best headline of the week - so far

Sex-crazed elephant causes $303,000 of damage at wedding - since when do elephants get married?

If you’re a wannabe you need to choose your words carefully

I see that Colin Dwyer the wantabe LNP candidate for Herbert (and Mundingburra and Townsville and…) has trouble taking a bit of criticism.

His response to the Retailers Association’s claim that his Townsville Grocery Price Watch site is misleading shoppers because the data is too quickly dated was a little too precious.

Attacking the representative of part of his own constituency (shopkeepers) with comments like the following isn’t very smart:

''This is a typical arrogant Brisbane attitude,'' he said.

''They sit back and wait for us to do something, then come in and say they can do it better.

''Maybe he should come out and do something for the people of Townsville, instead of throwing mud around the place.''

Personally, I thought the Price Watch site was a good idea (and no doubt was good politics) but the Retailers Association’s comments about it being out of date are fair enough – after all it hasn’t been updated since November.

Expect to see more Brisbane bashing from Col – he has form and after all they are very cheap shots to fire.  He just needs to learn to not fire them at his own wantabe constituency

PS: I wonder whether he was one of the 17 people who attended the recent meeting of the North Qld Party in Cairns along with that great retail politician (god! I hate that term), Bob Katter?