John Dali Winston H and Salvador Trujillo did their best in the past few weeks to paint a weird eerie picture: "Telco in the Middle of Nowhere with White Jumbo Sale" Of course the asking price iwill be heavily discounted by relative flexi time on melted watches.

From the look of that, Gus, maybe the Tories are plotting to lace our drinking water with GHB or some other compliance-inducing drug from the CIA. It's just as well I have interests in an outfit selling kits that test for traces of chemicals, including LSD, etc. When they roll out the 'talk up T3' bandwagon again, I will make a tidy profit. But where is King Ecorat? It just goes to prove who has his hands on the levers in this woe-begotten land. Costello leaves for a bit of exotic trumpet-blowing, and the whole system goes to the pack.

Barnaby Joyce said, on Background Briefing, that he believed strongly in the constitutional notion that matters of national interest should be debated and concluded on the floor of parliament, NOT behind the closed doors of the joint party room or the caucus. He said, if the questions are to be decided in those side-rooms, then the cameras should be in there, too. He sounded pretty genuine, and if that's his conscience, then Howard has met his match. Joyce didn't say much about Heffernan, and the broadcast of Howard's phony chuckles of dismissal of the public confrontation between Joyce and Heffernan, was an object lesson in duplicity. Howard is the person he is said to be prepared to "guarantee" the $2b from the Telstra sale. Something tells me Joyce is on to Howard, and he is not a man to be beaten down by threats. But I don't know about Jesuit thought. So, I guess it is possible Barnaby will get a call from the Cardinal, Mr Abbott's confidant, and Barnaby may find some new pockets of his conscience to explore, and he will become occupied with other things. But he appeals to the social gospel as the reason for his foray into politics, and he is an avowed one-termer who does not aspire to a ministry. That's all refreshing stuff, and he certainly has a broad constituency. He is based in cotton country, though, and Heffernan has flagged an intention to reform inland waterways.

Senator Joyce made some interesting assessments of Australian politics, that Melbourne is the nerve centre of the Liberals, Labor operates out of Sydney, and he wants Queensland and WA to be the powerhouses for the Nats.

For all we know, Barnaby may one of the Tzadikim. Or he could be the Oz equivalent of G.W.Bush.

... asked Barnaby, whose eagle accounting eye had spotted one significant "mistake" in the Telstra sale legislation handed to him for a quick sign-off. Heffernan is referring to Barnaby as that Cash-Up-No-Tick Joyce.

The rush, Barnaby, is that the PM will be back from the US, soon, with a bulging briefcase. He will have a new agenda, a set of proposals designed to aid the program of damage-control for Bush's 2006 Congressional elections. Howard will bring back his marching orders, to do all he can for Bush's corporate pals. Bush will even supply the rubber stamp, so the concessions can pass through our system with speed. The ones for Daddy will have a green dot at the top left-hand corner, and Uncle Dick's a pink star.

Barnaby lives in St.George, Darling Downs, on the Balonne River and just west of the Condamine district. The state of health of the Balonne, and the effects of  irrigation and the cotton industry, and drilling into the artesian basin, are of some interest to the folks dependent on water flowing through the Murray Darling Basin.

Barnaby commutes by small plane. A risky business, as US Democrat Senator Paul Wellstone found out. Don't take the family with you, Barnaby.

From DoFA Media Release 40/2005 - Scoping Study to commence into the sale of ASC
The Minister for Finance and Administration, Senator Nick Minchin, today announced the Government will appoint advisers to enable the commencement of a scoping study into the sale of ASC Pty Ltd, formerly the Australian Submarine Corporation. The study will now commence with the initial appointment of a process adviser. Finance will work closely with ASC and will consult with relevant stakeholders as appropriate. ...

What, pray, is a process advisor? It sounds like a plum job.

DoFA appointed Sparke Helmore to the Telstra Scoping Study.

Sept 15–16, Canberra, a National Europe Centre (ANU) conference,  'Sustainable water management: comparative perspectives from Australia, Europe and the United States'.

They've invited a Canadian, Patricia Wouters, from Dundee's International Water Law Research Institute (Aim: To develop and share knowledge and expertise in international and national water law and policy so that all citizens, especially the most disadvantaged, have equitable and sustainable access to the world’s most precious resource: water) so maybe it's not just another facade for privatisation.

From still our own ABC

Trujillo rejects Govt's Telstra board nomination
Telstra's chief executive Sol Trujillo says the board cannot support the Federal Government's nominee for a directors position because investigations are yet to establish his integrity and independence.

The Government, which is currently Telstra's majority shareholder, nominated former prime ministerial adviser Geoff Cousins on Friday.

Mr Trujillo says Telstra's is unable to establish Mr Cousins' suitability in time for the November annual general meeting.

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Gus: see cartoon at the top of this line of blogs...