"The green is strong with this one"
Deals with the nutty greens and now talk of a carbon tax.
The jig is up, time for you to go Malcolm

Because Malcolm just made it up on a whim of his own

If they introduced a stupidity tax for people like you we wouldn't need a carbon tax

Meanwhile it's interesting to see what's happening with Pauline Hanson - it appears that her relationship with her Western Australian senator Rob Culleton is terminally broken (ABC News) as he's refusing to meet with her or vote according to direction. Given that his election is subject to a high court challenge later this month I'd say that that it's likely he will lose his seat anyway.

Some people are saying that there's no way Pauline's party will survive this time around but personally I think she's a seasoned politician now and she won't allow her organisation to fly apart in the same manner that Clive Palmer did:

Senator Hanson insisted she would prevail through the tensions. "There are tougher things than Rod Culleton in this world," she said.

As for Hanson - she's one tough cookie.  Much smarter than how she's portrayed by the media.  I still wouldn't vote for her, but will defend her right to say what she says.

Interesting to note that Dick Smith is now publicly supportive of her.

Interesting to note that Dick Smith is now publicly supportive of her.

Interesting to note that Dick Smith is now publicly supportive of her.

I'm more than a little surprised that Dickie boy hasn't entered politics before now. He's had a finger in just about every other pie at some stage.

Too smart for that...

We have a million people attending universities and vocational education at any one time and yet for some reason we can't actually train people to graduate with skills that we actually need as a country - so we have to import them (ABC News):

Education Minister Simon Birmingham has raised the prospect of importing more specialist maths and science teachers from overseas to address a long-term decline in high school student performance.

Why not just use our own universities to train them, Senator Birmingham? Or are the ones that we produce here not good enough?

Except that very few Australians want to study maths and science (+ Dip.Ed or M.Ed) anymore.  It's a kind of death spiral - insufficient teaching results in poor maths results and those learning it in High School, which results in fewer learning it in Uni and so on....

There are more VCE students studying and completing Literature than Specialist Mathematics.

Except that very few Australians want to study maths and science (+ Dip.Ed or M.Ed) anymore.  It's a kind of death spiral - insufficient teaching results in poor maths results and those learning it in High School, which results in fewer learning it in Uni and so on....

There are more VCE students studying and completing Literature than Specialist Mathematics.

I don't understand the panic that we have fallen down the rankings in maths and science, it's not where the money or the jobs are in Australia - that's why the kids aren't doing it. Why spend years of your life and tens of thousands in HECS money only to find that the work doesn't exist? For example, we don't engineer very much in this country any longer, therefore there's no need for engineers (maybe construction engineers).

You don't need maths or science to make lattes or wipe bums in nursing homes and you certainly don't need it for speculating in real estate - and that's where the actual jobs and money in Turnbull's Australia are - not in some vague STEM-related job that doesn't actually exist.

The annual change of PM must be about due. So much for strong and stable government.

And any guesses on who will get burnt worst by the pending apartment bust? That should have an impact on foreign willingness to invest here.

Meanwhile Fairfax is reporting this morning that One Nation is now polling strongly in Victoria, stronger than either the Greens or the Nationals. It's going to be a major headache if they hold the balance of power in various state parliaments - someone is going to have to make deals with them to get government happening.

old-school conservative National Party stalwarts like Senator Ron Boswell.