Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

"If it is possible to induce an additional 80,000 people to enter the work-force through modifications of the personal income tax situation, then perhaps the haphazard and individually punitive approach of changing pensioners over to Newstart Allowance, while at the same time introducing all sorts of one-off exemptions, was a really silly way to go about the Prime Minister's ambitious adventure." - Marie Coleman

G'day. I'm back on deck and ready to report the next few weeks of action in federal parliament. We can't call it 'our' parliament any more - that much us clear from the Government's behaviour in the two great issues on the table, the terror laws and industrial relations. In both cases, the government has refused to publish its draft laws and wants them to rush through parliament without scrutiny by the people all of us elected to represent us after input from interested citizens provided with the legislation on offer.