Miscellanea

Bob Brown was on Lateline last night. If I were him, I don't think I would be responding to all the speculative questions about what the Greens might do if they hold the balance in the Senate, because it becomes a damned-if-you-do and damned-if-you-don't situation in many hypothetical situations.

Geoffrey Robertson, an Australian QC based in the UK, calls for a Bill of Rights in both countries:

There is the connection, I suggest, between the slippage in Australia's world press freedom rating and the slippage in the influence of Australian judicial decisions, a slippage which could be reversed by our adoption of a bill of rights which requires for a presumption to be made in favour of freedom of expression.

A spokesman for the NGO National Seniors says elderly Australians want to help fix the environment:

"We believe that our generation have been very development-conscious and not conscious enough of what it did to the environment. We don't think that it's irreparably damaged but we believe that we should spend our time doing something to make it better than we found it and we'd like to do that in partnership with our grandchildren."

I don't suppose John Howard is a member. And I doubt his new granchild will be visible on our TV screens till after the election. Not that he's ashamed to be a grandparent or anything. It just reminds voters that he is nearly 70.