Vale Ivan Cameron

Ivan Cameron, the six-year-old disabled son of British Conservative Leader, David Cameron, has died in hospital in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

I extend my personal condolences to Mr Cameron, his wife Samantha, and children Nancy and Arthur.

Remembering will become a kinder thing once time has passed.

Katich goes for the jugular

Story emerged today (amazingly it only emerged today as the incident occurred a month ago) of an altercation between Australian Cricket batsman Simon Katich, and team vice captain, Michael Clarke.

The pair had to be separated by stunned teammates when Katich grabbed
Clarke by the throat during an argument over the singing of the team song.

In spite of the fact I do not condone violence, this story made me smile, because Clarke happens to be my least favourite Australian sportsman by the width of Bass Strait. So...couldn't have happened to a nicer bloke? Yeah, something like that.

The Greens and Independents should block Rudd's "stimulus" package

PM Kevin Rudd and his Treasurer, Wayne Swan, by announcing this week a $42 billion "stimulus" or "nation building and jobs plan"... call it what you will, have, in a couple of fell swoops, wiped out 13 years of economic discipline by the Howard/Costello Liberal coalition government.

Rudd's stimulus package represents a $40 billion turnaround in the federal budget, with a budget deficit of $22.5 billion forecast for this financial year.

Key measures of this package include:

- Free ceiling insulation for around 2.7 million Australian homes
- Build or upgrade a building in every one of Australia’s 9,540 schools
- Build more than 20,000 new social and defence homes
- $950 one off cash payments to eligible families, single workers, students, drought effected farmers and others
- A temporary business investment tax break for small and general businesses buying eligible assets
- Significantly increase funding for local community infrastructure and local road projects

Most of these measures are laughable, piecemeal and poorly targeted.

Make no mistake, if this knee-jerk legislation is passed, Australians will be paying back this debt for the next twenty years - at least. What a great legacy by this Labor government. Still, at least they are true to form.

Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull has it completely correct when he says that tax cuts and targeted infrastructure spending would have been the more prudent solution.

I believe a national infrastructure project such as a very fast train linking Sydney to Canberra and Melbourne is crucial, not to mention about 15 years overdue.

A VFT project will generate jobs, and, once finished, enable commuters to purchase affordable housing and have a better quality of life in towns outside of the Sydney and Melbourne basins. The resulting economic and social benefits to these communities can't be overestimated.

If the answer is giving people a $950 handout, then the question must have been "how can we ensure people - especially those who were too young to remember the hole we caused in the late 80s and early 90s - will vote for us at the next election." I would encourage any young person to look up a bit of political history to see just what a basket case Peter Costello inherited in 1996.

Rewarding political largesse is not something I support. Malcolm Turnbull, to his credit, doesn't either.