Candid Commentary

> Olympic Games. Green leader Bob Brown castigates Kevin Rudd for daring to attend the Olympic Games opening ceremony – instead of continuing the pro-Tibetan protest. Rubbish! Of course the Prime Mininster as Head of Government should be there to support our Australian athletes to the hilt. And so should the Governor-General as Head of State. Imagine the uproar if Rudd petulantly had refused to go. This is THE GAMES and one way and another the event will have a huge continuing effect on China. Distinctly for the better, given time. I think. China’s advances of the last decade have been extraordinary.

> Up Ourselves: There’s a wonderful old newspaper story that’s done the rounds for years about how self-important we journalists can become. It concerns an Editor of the Bandywallop Gazette, or Gingully Times or Yahoo Chronicle, who at the time of yet another Middle East upheaval, wrote: “The Bandywallop gazette WARNS the Shah of Persia ……”

And here’s Australia now, hugely dependent on selling China steel and coal and increasingly dependent on low-cost Chinese-made everything, wagging our finger at Peking and warning a population of more than a billion people to convert immediately to a democracy like ours. All in good time!

> That Beijing Opening: Two huge themes stood out for “Poltalk” in that magnificent opening spectacle. First, the Global Warming theme, with little children painting the world green and the return of birds to a regenerated environment – a clear indication the Chinese Government is not ignoring Climate Change. And second, the dynamic youth, the creativity, the disciplines, and the unexplored optimistic unknowns that China presents to the world.
> Really nasty stuff: The Federal Opposition’s water spokesman, the Liberal Greg Hunt, has compared Kevin Rudd’s impressive Water Minister Penny Wong to Saddam Hussein, the executed Iraq dictator, over her handling of the crisis in the Murray Darling Basin. "Penny Wong and Prime Minister are set to join Saddam Hussein and the Baathists of Baghdad as only the second government in the world to have presided over the destruction of the wetland," Hunt told ABC Television.
Really nasty stuff for Hunt to blatantly ignore the Howard Government’s decade of ignoring the unfolding ecological crisis in South Australia's wetlands and lower lakes, which are at the mouth of the ailing river system. Now he expect Rudd to fix it with a snap of the fingers.
> Groceries and Petrol: Brendan Nelson and Malcolm Turnbull continue to jeer at the Rudd Government, claiming the ALP “pledged” during the election campaign last year to reduce grocery and petrol prices. My research suggests nothing of the kind. Rudd made it clear he intended to pursue research by inquiry to best plan what measures could be designed into policy. Now, he is putting in place Watch References for public information. He is doing at least something. Howard’s people did nothing. Let’s give it a chance to work. If it doesn’t have any effect by year’s end, then that’s the reasonable time to get angry.
The Oppositon also jeers at the inquiries Rudd has launched. Consider this: how can any astute Government design policy without being armed with expert and immediate information. For Pete’s sake, give a new government at least a year before hammering it. The more the inquiry, the better the policy.
> Peter Garrett, Midnight Oil star, was elected Labor Member for Kingsford Smith at the 2004 Federal election. In 2007, Rudd appointed him Minister for Environment, Heritage and the Arts, alongside Penny Wong as Climate and Water Resources Minister. Because of his parliamentary inexperience, the Liberals and Nationals planned to target Garrett in Question Time. Garrett has outsmarted them. He has grown hugely. He is confidently articulate. And this became very evident in last week’s ABC Question and Answer TV show when he ran down that tried Liberal warhorse Bronwyn Bishop. Bronwyn only managed to clear a couple of hurdles.The ‘Oils’ were renowned for their fierce independent stance and active support of a range of contemporary concerns including the plight of homeless youth, indigenous people's rights and protection of the environment.
Queensland’s newly reunited Liberal National Party: Although there has been discussion around the appropriateness of MPs elected under one banner changing midstream – Macfarlane, Scott, Copeland, etc etc - I don't think there's anything to prevent it. Meg Lees was elected a Democrat Senator and resigned to become an Independent. And Cheryl left the Democrats to become ALP (after election). I seem to recall a few of the One Nation people did the same thing.

A few of the Liberal Brisbane City Councillors are surprised to find that they too are now Liberal Nationals. I don't think they're too happy about it as the National tag won't help them around New Farm or West End! Will it?

Appeals Court and Denis Ferguson: This wretched 60-year-old convicted, imprisoned, and released paedophile is to go on trial yet again. The Appeals Court has denied the earlier District Court judgement that he would not get a fair trial because of the adverse publicity and because a jury might not be dispassionate. The new trial promises to be a torrid affair with the defence almost certain to reveal media behaviour, paper by paper, TV by TV, to claim Ferguson, this damaged and awful man, has been hounded and outcast.