Kevin Rudd Still Australian P.M. - According to AAP

Poor Julia. First the spousal buses, now the AAP quotes Australian PM Kevin Rudd.

Dogs on Boxes...The Weeks Best from Australia's Twittocracy #104

 

Sando and Sando present 7 of the best Australian Tweets.....with extra doses of #insiders angst:
 
'Twas a quiet Sunday morning until The Insiders went to air....

 

7

Dr_Tad points out that The Insiders was resembling more The Outsiders.
 
 

6

A desperate, CAPS LOCK screaming plea to the MD Mark Scott.
 
 

5

Phillip_Gomes paraphrases Akerman's bitch slap at David Marr. Coffees and teas spat out in disbelief! 
 

4

Thanks glengyron! If the shoes fit....
 

3

From Claudia Hunt and the Urban Dictionary.

Things other than #insiders...

2

banditcountry points out the irony. The government broadcaster, showing us what we can't see on the governments naughties list.

1

Melinda sorts out the position on behalf of the single women of Australia.
 
Stay tuned for next weeks Dogs on Boxes. #dogsonboxes

Dogs on Boxes...The Weeks Best from Australia's Twittocracy #103

 

Sando and Sando present 5 of the best Australian Tweets for the past week:

 

5

Baffled? Obfusc8 captures the surmising of an electorate! What we really need are wind farms.........for all the hot air.

 

4

Career over! Shafted and screwed....by his own doing. Perhaps a solo career for Jason?

 

3

Rove McManus tabloid tags Ben Fordham. Ben didn't front court this week and his judge was mighty pissed.

 

2

The ABC's Mark Scott on the MasterfChef / Election Debate schedule clash. Hilarious that! After ABC News 24 is launched while near 3 million Australians are televisually engaged otherwise.

 

1

Thank you Ruff Stuff. Depending on who pulls what during the debate on Sunday the #masterbate hastag may actually come in handy.

 

Stay tuned for next weeks Dogs on Boxes. #dogsonboxes

Marion Grasby: Her Blog Before MasterChef fame...here it is!

Alvin's blog Cinnamon Pig launched today and is a natural progression from his MasterChef elimination last night.What else do you do hot on the heels of being ousted from the competitive kitchen? Amongst this mornings Twitter chatter Alvin's blog was getting a plug when, out of the Twitterverse, a link to Marion Grasby's pre Master Chef blog surfaced. The blog has not been posted to in nearly a year and was coming along very nicely; click the dumpsters below for links.

 

Blogger Labels: Blog,MasterChef,fame,Twitter,Twitterverse

Up the Range without a Bypass

Toowoomba is a great inland city, well known for its temperate climate and its beautiful parks and gardens, with a growing economy and a population nearing 100,000. A major problem is that it sits on the Great Dividing Range, 730 metres above sea level and the Warrego Highway from Brisbane and up the range is totally inadequate. The Warrego Highway also runs through the middle of Toowoomba and every day thousands of large trucks pass along what are basically suburban streets on their way to points west and south, not to mention in the reverse direction.

The need for a new road up the range and a bypass to the north of the city was established some years ago. A route for a new road up and over the range has been identified and largely planned including the drilling of a preliminary tunnel under the peak of the range to reduce the incline of the climb up and down the hill. However, the cost of the new bypass is big biccies – currently $1.7 billion and rising.  The need for this piece of national infrastructure to serve the agricultural districts on the Darling Downs and the rapidly developing energy provinces further west is a no brainer, but like any costly project, politics is a significant factor in any decision to proceed.

In the case of the Toowoomba bypass, the problem is the fact it’s located within the federal electorate of Groom, a long standing safe seat for the Liberal party and formerly for the Nationals when the seat was called Darling Downs. As happens with many safe seats, the party that ‘owns’ the seat has little motivation to spend much in the electorate and the opposing party, which knows it is unlikely to ever win the seat, makes promises in the knowledge that it probably will never have to deliver on them.

That’s just about where the Toowoomba bypass project lies at present. The sitting Liberal member, Ian Macfarlane, has promised to start the project if the Coalition win government but he has only committed less than half of the required funding. The Labor candidate has been equivocal about a start to the bypass but as it’s unlikely he could win the seat, that’s not a problem for him right now. The reality is that unless Groom becomes a marginal seat for the Liberals, the Toowoomba bypass just ain’t gonna happen anytime soon.

But that reality doesn’t stop the bypass project being a regular topic of discussion in the local media. The locals are fed up with the huge number of trucks rumbling through their Garden City and want action.  Ian Macfarlane has been strongly criticised in the local media for not getting the bypass started when he was a minister in the previous Howard government.  With the federal election underway, candidates are in the news setting out what they will do for the seat of Groom.  Here’s today’s article from the Toowoomba Chronicle.

Bypass drives Groom candidates

Callum Johnson | 19th July 2010

A number of candidates for Groom have identified a second Range crossing as a major election issue.

TOOWOOMBA’S candidates for Groom have spoken out on the region’s big issues as August 21, the recently announced day of the general election, draws near.

A second Toowoomba Range Bypass features prominently once again, with both Liberal and Labor candidates promising it will go ahead if their party is elected.

Federal Member for Groom Ian Macfarlane said the Coalition had the funding for the bypass and if elected, would start construction as early as next year.

“We’re absolutely committed to it; it’s in our budget and we have the funds to go ahead with it in 2011,” Mr McFarlane said.

“Health and education are other issues I want to focus on in the Toowoomba region, as well as a commitment to keeping Cabarlah Barracks open.”

Australian Labor Party candidate for Groom Chris Meibusch said the Range crossing, Warrego Highway upgrade and regional airport were all issues he wanted to focus on for Toowoomba.

“My main issues for Toowoomba are health, the environment, infrastructure and WorkChoices,” Mr Meibusch said.

“For health, we want more doctors, nurses and allied professionals in the Toowoomba region.

“For environment, we want to protect our agricultural aquifers from (the mining of) coal seam gas.

“For infrastructure, I’m campaigning for sufficient funding for the Toowoomba Bypass, the Warrego Highway upgrade, the inland rail, a new regional airport and aged-care facilities.

“As for WorkChoices, whatever the name, never again.”

Greens candidate for Groom Frida Forsberg said protection of farmland in the Darling Downs was paramount.

“With Peter Garrett’s moratorium on coal seam gas mining, there has never been a better time to get Greens in the Senate,” she said.

“We want to see really good progress for Darling Downs farmers and stop the poisoning and mining of our farmland and the Great Artesian Basin.”

Peter Pyke, CEO of new party Republican Democrats, said he was looking for an “outstanding local citizen” to stand as a candidate for Groom.

Groom candidate for the Family First Party Rose Kirkwood said she would make her comments at a later date as yesterday she was, ironically enough, spending time with her family.

Dogs On Boxes - Game On #ausvotes Special Edition

Sando and Sando present 5 of the best Australian Tweets as the nation Tweeted down the clock to the Australian election campaign 2010.

 

5

 

Julia kicked of with this Tweet on Friday evening.

 

4

 

A tabloid style observation on the early moments of the campaign. A move to Woman's Day? Fashion editor perhaps?

 

3

 

Catherine mortified that Channel 9 dare utters her name...........Who could blame her?

 

2

 

A sign of the times.

 

1

 

On Tony Abbotts tired tyre changing speech.

Special Commentary:

Oh Julia! "Moving forward" has now stalled. 29 utterances and that slogan is dead in the water. Ben Fordham on 9's Today Show made a good point in that repeating slogans was appropriate for making sure the message blipped on the radar on an evening news bulletin. Our live fed, 24 hour news cycle has rendered the ad nauseam use of campaign slogans is over. Julia was left looking like a dill today and a salient lesson learnt for all politicians on the campaign trail.
Hold on! Did I say 29? Her post speech Tweet, dispatched within seconds of the closing, was the 30th reference to the "moving Australia forward" concept, and without a doubt Julia's last move on moving. It'll be a long night for sloganeers.

 

 

Stay tuned for next weeks Dogs on Boxes. #dogsonboxes

Dogs On Boxes - The "Game On" #ausvotes Election 2010 Edition

Sando and Sando will publish it's Game On #ausvotes special edition this evening. Featuring the best of Australian Tweets as the nation Tweeted down the clock to the Australian election campaign 2010. You can follow us on Facebook or Twitter for the post. #dogsonboxes

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