John Howard keeps a straight face while...

In other political news, John Howard announced today he'll be over-riding some parts of Peter Beatties new laws on council amalgamations. That's not particularly surprising, as Howard's been looking for a fight up here. But I can't believe he managed to keep a straight face while saying things like this:

He said the "arbitrary jackbooted fashion" in which Queensland sought to impose amalgamations was "beyond the pale".



And this, from the Australian:

Mr Howard said he was acting because the “arrogant” Beattie Government was behaving in a “dictatorial fashion’’, particularly the “outrageous’’ trampling of peoples rights.

This really is a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Just a few days ago, Howard said the Beattie government was power mad. He may be right, but can John Howard really say that without looking at his own record? The federal government has spent most of the last few years grabbing more power for itself, acting arbitrarily and riding all over peoples rights. And now he complains about the Queensland governement doing the same thing...

Queensland does have an accountability problem in government, though. With only one house of state parliament, there is no effective opposition. The government of the day can do what it likes almost with impunity. That really needs to change - either with the creation of an upper house, or an electoral system of proportional representation that could create minority/coalition-style governments.

Anyway - back to reality after this weird episode in Howard's Australia...

Links (upper house for QLD): Online Opinion, Andrew Bartlett

Meanwhile, it's beginning to look like Howard shot himself in the foot of the Mersey Hospital bribe down there in Tassie. Hah! Can't make his promises stick for more than a couple of weeks now, can he?

Links : The Australian, Brisbane Times