Access 'professional pesimists': Swan [sic]

Swan has rejected predictions

Julia's Brown's in blackout

Wayne Swan, Julia Gillard, Greg Combet and Bob Brown
Talks of climate change committee must be secret because of economic sensitivity: PM
The government will be represented on the committee through the Prime Minister - who will act as chair - as well as Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan and Mr Combet, who will serve as a deputy chair.

Greens senator Christine Milne will also serve as a co-deputy.

Four “expert advisers” will sit on the committee - Professor Ross Garnaut, Professor Will Steffen, Rod Sims and Ms Patricia Faulkner.

The government has revealed it will also ask two members of the Coalition to sit on the committee, as well as two from the Greens, and representation from independent MPs.

Independent MP Tony Windsor has signalled he is also willing to be a member.

Virgin blues

Virgin Blue passengers call on explanation from Richard Branson

virginity lost

Virgin Blue computer glitch delays flights around Australia

Julia's tangled web

Deputy speaker mess Labor's fault: Lib

Oh! what a tangled web we weave
When first we practise to deceive!
Walter Scott

Pimlico born PM 'had imagination and courage'.

Hughes, William Morris (Billy) (1862 - 1952)
Hughes, William Morris (1862-1952), prime minister, was born on 25 September 1862 at Pimlico, London, son of William Hughes, a carpenter from North Wales employed at the Houses of Parliament, and his wife Jane, née Morris.

His old opponent Lord Bruce said of him after his death: 'he had two qualities which are very rare and very important in a politician: he had imagination and he had courage'. With all his faults, his place in Australian history is secure, no less for his contribution to the early labour movement than for his achievements as a national wartime leader and on the world stage.

people flee to SA seeking refuge

Yuendumu people flee to SA seeking refuge

ALP Immigration

New protest on Villawood roof

It is the hard core of resisters consisting of approximately 800 Chinese and Indonesians who are now fighting the Government to prevent repatriation to their own countries.

The effect of the majority judgment of the High Court in the case of Mrs. O'Keefe is that if a person is admitted to Australia without being subjected at the time of entry to any of the tests laid down in Section 3 of the Immigration Act he is not a prohibited immigrant.

An Oakeshott across the bow of 'Pairing' Speaker.

'Pairing' Speaker a recipe for chaos, legal experts warn
There is then a question mark over whether the Speaker would be entitled to use their casting vote to break the deadlock, or whether the Speaker's vote has already been spent. A deadlocked vote means the legislation is defeated in the house. Professor Lindell said the pairing proposal "breaches the spirit" of section 40 of the Constitution by giving the Speaker the right to have an MP with an opposing view abstain from parliamentary votes. Section 40 says the Speaker "shall not vote unless the numbers are equal, and then he shall have a casting vote".

Section 40 Voting in House of Representatives
Questions arising in the House of Representatives shall be determined by a majority of votes other than that of the Speaker. The Speaker shall not vote unless the numbers are equal, and then he shall have a casting vote.

detention crisis malaise present and great courage of the past

Scherger Air Force Base near Weipa in far north Queensland will be used as a stop gap measure.

Tony Abbott: Yesterday they said that maybe there would be a carbon tax after all, having vehemently denied that there ever would be during the election campaign. Today they've announced a massive expansion of detention centres having furiously denied any such plan during the election campaign.

The Commissioner on air raids on Darwin praised Group Captain Scherger: "He [Scherger] . . . acted in my opinion with great courage and energy . . . on all the evidence before me his conduct . . . was deserving of the highest praise.

Cracks in Earth's Magnetic Shield

Equinox Auroras: Last night, the sun's magnetic field near Earth tipped south. This opened a crack in Earth's magnetosphere. Solar wind poured in and fuelled a magnificent display of arctic Northern Lights:Thilo Bubek took the picture not far from Tromsø, Norway.

AweFuL Gatorade Bolt

With the AFL sponsored by a rival drinks company to Gatorade, the two midfielders were unable to compete in the eight-man event.

PNG power to Qld: exclusive picture

PNG hydro-electric plant to supply power to Townsville

Kev 747 takes flight again.

Rudd heads to the US

Sydney's CBD will be transformed with new light rail

Radical plan for Sydney's CBD

ALP media unhappy

Gillard lashes out at media coverage

Labor holds its first autopsy

Labor holds its first autopsy of the federal election campaign.

Oneshott at power now a footnote. Who?

Oneshott at power now a footnote. Who?

Lips & Smith lose but ALP wins!

NSW Division - New England
Smith Country Labor 8.13%
NSW Division - Lyne
Lips Labor 13.48%

It is my melancholy duty

AUSTRALIA ENTERS THE WAR

Once the news that Britain was at war had been accepted as authentic all other action was consequential. The Executive Council approved of the prepared proclamation declaring a state of war to exist and at 9.15 p.m. from the room of the Postmaster-General at the Commonwealth Offices, Melbourne, Mr Menzies announced over every national and commercial broadcasting station in Australia:

It is my melancholy duty to inform you officially that, in consequence of a persistence by Germany in her invasion of Poland, Great Britain has declared war upon her and that, as a result, Australia is also at war. No harder task can fall to the lot of a democratic leader than to make such an announcement.
Great Britain and France, with the cooperation of the British Dominions, have struggled to avoid this tragedy. They have, as I firmly believe, been patient; they have kept the door of negotiation open; they have given no cause for aggression. But in the result their efforts have failed and we are, therefore, as a great family of nations, involved in a struggle which we must at all costs win, and which we believe in our hearts we will win.

Wilkie's manure stable floor government

Andrew Wilkie's stable government. As reported by Xinhua.

Julia's Tripartite Pact

The Tripartite Pact, also called the Three-Power Pact, Axis Pact, Three-way Pact or Tripartite Treaty was a pact signed in Berlin, Germany on September 27, 1940, which established the Axis Powers of World War II. The pact was signed by representatives of Germany (Adolf Hitler), Italy (foreign minister Galeazzo Ciano) and Japan (ambassador Saburo Kurusu).

Prime Minister Julia Gillard says a formal agreement with the Australian Greens has put Labor ahead in the race to form a minority government.
However, the real kingmakers remain the four independents: the rural trio of Rob Oakeshott, Tony Windsor and Bob Katter and Tasmania's Andrew Wilkie.