quanto costo?

I think we ought to be realistic that you cannot run government for nothing. I tire of those newspaper stories that say Minister F spent $137,000 on a trip to Calathumpia to sell SA oranges.

I know it's a lot of money, but you can't do this crap for nothing. Nor can you expect Ministers of the Crown to stay in 2 star dives.

But inevitably you get the league tables, and the ridiculous questions.

The latest being about the cost of Copenhagen. The two mad terriers, Matt and Dave, in their last program for the year on Friday last had a good go at Penny Wong the Minister for Climate Change. I found myself getting enraged at their worrying at the legs of the good Senator. To be fair she dealt patiently with them. I am not sure if the transcript is available, but she gave a good rationale for why Australia benefits from having many people present. In particular she drew attention to multi-layered presences, from bureaucratic exchanges to region-region negotiation. Our own Premier is co-chair of this important multi local government exchange.

Wong stands out as a fierce and rigorous negotiator( see here for example)

Th truth is that Matt and Dave were adopting the cheap spin of the Opposition. It's easy to say it all costs too much. But what is the alternative? Do we not go?

In truth Australia has often, perhaps always, has punched above its weight. This is the privilege of being a small rich country. Were not our involvement in both wars, and the Vietnam war, perhaps these two latter awful wars, and our many jaunts with UN forces, and in many international fora; all examples of being privileged and indeed required to 'punch above our weight'

Our sporting prowess no less is supported in the same sort of way, strange that you don't find Mr Abbott suggesting that the government spends too much on sport. Ahhhh but Mr Abbott that would be not as cheap to sell to the electorate!!!

beating up the premier

I still don't get this! Who beat up the Premier and why?

On Matt and Dave on Friday some whacko rang up and said they could fully understand why someone had thumped the Premier. Good on Matt and Natasha S-D (who was guesting) who reminded the dim-wit that no matter how much you could understand it there was absolutely no justification.

The Advertiser story on Saturday gave no clue as to what this was all about!!

Isobel Redmond

I would not be new SA Liberal Leader, Isabel Redmond, for quids. It is clear that the local media is determined to not show her any fear or favour. I suspect this is justified on the basis that if she is a woman who wants to be treated equally then she should be treated roughly.
Also if she is inexperienced then she should not be shown any preference. The media hacks just can't help themselves. I personally thought that Matt and Dave almost wet themselves at the thought of hoeing into a new political target. Ian Henschke on Stateline bordered on the rude, and concluded his gruelling with .,.."Isobel the honeymoon is over!"
It is indeed!.
I hope she continues to demonstrate that she is well able to cope with the "steep learning curve"; that she is not distracted by the establishment in-fighting that has so bedevilled the Liberal Party for the last 40 years; that she is image-wise but not seduced by the image makers and that she continues to rebuke the shallowness of reporters who will only care what colour blouse she was wearing with what colour suit.
Let's hope for something better.

Q & A

Couldn't help but think that Thursday night's Q & A was pretty good sort of stuff. So I was surprised when the delighted Tony Jones announced this was the last for the year. I suppose it is October.

Peter Costello,. Nicola Roxon, the bombastic Mr Marr and Ms Kernot and the curious Tom Zwister sparked pretty well together.

If you can, and haven't, then you can watch the video here

I am really glad this program has worked, it brings a new dimension to political chit chat which is less serious and yet more animated (reminds us of the good ole days of Latham and Pyne on Lateline or Pyne and Schacht on Matt and Dave... before Pyne started taking himself too seriously and became a little tedious)