Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

"Politics talks in riddles and packs with verbiage what is absolutely crystal clear at the mother’s morning tea or the local hotel. Politics appears to be the art of telling half the story and your followers guess the rest while using the absence of the complete message as a defence against the implication drawn by your deriders. When things get contentious we blame our faction or the joint party room as a reason that plasters over a personal political ambition. It leaves a political monoculture that can be less than inspiring and does not give credit to the public’s ability to hear all sides of the debate and understand that a decision which favors one side has to be made. It would be nice to see the debate unencumbered in this chamber, not in the caucus or the joint party room. Neither of these are mentioned in the constitution and it is a convenient appendix designed by political parties that was specifically not entailed in the constitution." Barnaby Joyce.

G'day. Barnaby Joyce will make his maiden speech to the Senate just before 6pm. He could well be Pauline Hanson with brains, the latest maverick thrown up by Queensland regional and rural voters to demand a 'please explain' or else. The big issue now, as it has been for a long time, is the full sale of Telstra. Seventy percent of Australians don't want it. Rural and regional Australians fear they'll get left behind on communications if it is, and they don't trust the Libs or most of the Nats to ensure it isn't so. And no wonder! The Nats betrayed the bush over Telstra long ago, before the 1998 election, in fact, in a Senate vote on Saturday, July 11, 1998. THE NATS VOTED TO SELL ALL OF TELSTRA. Ex-Labor Senator Mal Colston, who sold his soul to the Libs in exchange for getting deputy president of the Senate, finally said NO! The Judas National Party Senators still sitting in the Senate groaning about Barnaby Joyce were Ron Boswell (Qld), Sandy Macdonald (NSW) (alleged to have helped try to bribe Tony Windsor so the Nats could get his seat) and Julian McGauran (Vic), the bloke who gave the Senate the 'up yours' last week. They worked within the system alright, and they're still alright, aren't they.