Puppet V Platypus

Apologies for the angle that I'm looking at during this film; there was another camera positioned higher than my iPhone, and I kept glancing up at it instead.

Regardless, this is certainly the most unusual interview I've done this election campaign, even more so than that time we did an impromptu media conference with Premier Anna Bligh on her campaign bus.

But I'll let you draw your own conclusions...

I must say, the monotreme at least deserves credit for staying in character. He didn't take off the suit, or even the head, the whole time I was there. It was a muggy afternoon, too, and we had to turn the air-conditioning off because it was too loud.

Put Another Pollie on the Barbie

The four days of "aftermath" since the Australian Federal Election would have to be at least four times as interesting as the campaign itself. Possible five. Six might be going too far. But you get the idea: it's still enough to drive you a little bit batshit insane; but not as much as seeing Julia and/or Tony doing another meet & greet/bus ride/factory opening/interview with Kerry O'Brien.

We find ourselves with no clear winner, no "mandate", no "womandate", no "date" in fact at all, save the one with destiny that has plopped into the lap of a few blokes who now find themselves more powerful than Gandalf the Grey PLUS Gandalf the White.

I was having a little trouble trying to work out who's who in this new political arrangement we find ourselves in. But I think I may have made it a bit easier. Imagine, if you will, a typical 'Strayan barbeque: various parts of pig and cow sizzling away on an industrial-sized Weber; somebody's spilled a bottle of Pasito on the trestle table; and a couple of kids are whimpering after an unfortunate groinal encounter with the springs of a backyard trampoline.

Using this context, let's explore the characters:

Rejected Showbags

I've been to the Ekka four times in the past seven days, and I've purchased a Bertie Beetle showbag on each occasion. I find most of the other showbags on offer somewhat... disappointing. And it's a shame, as there were so many others that just didn't get through.

Larissa Waters responds to Wendy Francis

I had an opportunity today to interview Larissa Waters, the Greens senate candidate for Queensland. She was speaking with Bob Brown about the Greens' proposal for a Coral Sea Marine Reserve. At the end of the conference, I asked her about comments her rival senate candidate Wendy Francis made on Twitter this week (you can see a transcript of an interview with the Family First representative here). I thought readers may be interested in reading Larissa's response:

LARISSA WATERS: Look I think if giving a child a loving home is radical, then guilty as charged. I think those remarks by Wendy Francis were quite unfortunate, and I think they don't represent the vast majority of Queenslanders who think that a child's interests are best served by having a loving home. It doesn't matter if that's a man and a woman, it's about the love and the security that can be provided to the child. I don't think Wendy Francis speaks for the vast majority of people when she expresses those homophobic views, and I expect that the numbers of support she will receive will probably be not much greater than last time, which indicates that the majority of Queenslanders don't share those views.

Interview with Wendy Francis

Family First Senate candidate for Queensland Wendy Francis has found herself the centre of a media storm, over comments she made on Twitter yesterday about gay marriage.

This morning my colleague Aaron Lucas did a great phone interview with Ms Francis for our radio station. I thought I would transcribe it and post it here, so readers can evaluate all of her comments/opinions.

You can also listen to the audio of the interview here.

The Real Julia Gillard

Will the real Julia Gillard please stand up? (with apologies to Eminem).

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Ryan

Michael Johnson is all yellow. A yellow jersey marks his involvement in a 2003 parliamentary rugby game; a yellow baseball cap embroidered with his name sits slightly askew on his head. He matches the National Union of Students activists buzzing around a table behind him; whether by accident or design is unknown. He’s in the Great Court at the University of Queensland, his alma mater, to sign the NUS “Pollie Pledge”.

“There has been harassment,“ he says, his hand gestures indicating a sense of loosely-controlled energy. “One of my supporters had a truck driven out in front of her, blocked her out from the signs, and so that was, yeah, rather unfortunate for Australian democracy.”

The Member for the western Brisbane seat of Ryan is no longer a member of the LNP. He was disendorsed in May for allegedly using parliamentary resources to try to broker a $12 million coal deal with a Chinese company. Johnson maintains his innocence, and is now contesting Ryan as an independent. He’s held the seat for three terms, nine years. He wants another. He speaks confidently. But he has the air of a man who can hear the bell tolling.

Election Predictions

Elections are wonderful things, with waves of behaviour and activity that can sometimes be predicted with astonishing clarity. For example, we're just a day or so in, and Julia Gillard's already done more baby-kissing than Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing.

Maybe frenching some infants is too obvious a cliché. So I present here, in no particular order, a list of events that I believe have some reasonable chance of happening during Election 2010.

Julia's Song

Election time is here! Election time is here!

Which means it's time for me to pull out my Julia Gillard impersonation. To be honest, it's still got some way to go, but it'll have to develop over five weeks of campaigning.

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This is gonna be fun.