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Here’s a flashback to our cheeky columnist “Kookaburra” enjoyed by our print readers on August 5…
Kookaburra notes that his prediction was correct that the candidate with the best flow of preferences would win the Eden-Monaro by-election. Then again, everyone was a winner really. Barra can look forward to standing at the next election without any concern for the presence of a sitting Liberal MP. Mike can go off into the lavish halls of consulting knowing that he left the seat in ALP hands. Fiona can return to the farm without worrying about the long drive to Canberra. Trev can go back to mucking around with cars. All the other candidates can ruminate upon the strange meanderings of the political system from which they have been saved – and Kristy can look forward to that Commonwealth car appearing in her driveway sometime soon – ‘maybe’.
Kookaburra says ‘maybe’ as he is becoming increasingly concerned that the concept of ‘Parliament’ appears to be evaporating before his very beak. Kookaburra has asked some of the other old birds if they have ever seen the like of this before. None of the old-timers can remember a Parliament shutting down for months on end, the appointment by executive edict something given the lengthy title of the National COVID-19 Commission Advisory Body made-up of unelected persons running the country and who make no reports of what they are doing public, the creation of a strange animal known as a National Cabinet which has no place in the Constitution, the placing of cabinet confidentiality restrictions around an increasing amount of executive government business, the imposition of ‘non-disallowable’ regulations, the running of secret trials from which members of the public are excluded, and overall a very speedy erosion of civil liberties.
Kookaburra notes that for no good reason at all, especially as it appears that it was possible to hold a Federal by-election safely, Local Government elections were ‘deferred’ for a year. Kookaburra wonders if State and Federal elections might also be ‘deferred’.
On that note – Kookaburra must fly! (but not overseas…).
Editor’s note. The commonwealth car did arrive cheeky Kookaburra!
