Two months ago, Hua cut her finger to the bone when she was boning a chicken at work. Her friend Dao watched in horror as Hua tried to mask her pain and bandage the finger to keep it hidden, knowing the injury could deem her useless to her employer and get her sacked.

Hua is one of the workers at the Baiada chicken factory in Laverton North where, against the odds, striking workers won their campaign this week. On a number of visits to the picket line, I listened to numerous horror stories of workers who worked in brutal conditions and risked their lives for as little as $8 an hour.

They saved the best until last.

Yesterday our federal representatives decided there hadn't been quite enough mayhem, number-fixing and full-throated bellowing during this parliamentary year.

So they spent the last sitting day throwing a little more sugar our way.

The first and only warning we had of the drama about to unfold was the tremor in Speaker Harry Jenkins's voice as he opened Parliament at 9am. It sounded like he had a cold. He didn't.

Our cranky, wordy Speaker, sparring partner of Christopher Pyne and creator of the Harry Grumpiness Index (or HGI), was about to announce his resignation.

"This brings me to the final area where we are leading - our support for the fundamental rights of every human being.  Every nation will chart its own course. 

Yet it is also true that certain rights are universal, among them freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, and the freedom of citizens to choose their own leaders. 

These are not American rights, or Australian rights, or Western rights.  They are human rights.  They stir in every soul, as we've seen in democracy's success in Asia.

What's happening?

The most populous nation in the Arab world is supposed to be heading to the polls to elect a new parliament, almost a year after a mass uprising toppled the 30-year dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak. If the vote does take place and is free and fair - and there are many doubts on both those fronts - Egypt's election will be one of the biggest exercises in democracy on the planet. Why now?

The detention of 7,000 people in prisons and camps by the anti-Gaddafi forces is not surprising. The conflict in Libya was always much more of a civil war between Libyans than foreign governments pretended or the foreign media reported.

The winning anti-Gaddafi militia are not proving merciful. Often they have had relatives killed in the fighting or imprisoned by the old regime who they want to avenge. Sometimes they come from tribes and towns traditionally hostile to neighbouring tribes and towns. Gaddafi supporters are being hunted down.

from Gus's collection of stuff... Joyce could be the kid with the air sickness bag on Qantas...

The Reserve Bank has been rocked by fresh corruption charges against one of its subsidiaries, with Nepal becoming the fourth country where federal police allege bribes were paid.

A series of Melbourne court orders prevent Fairfax from reporting important recent developments in the banknote bribery prosecution-the first of its kind in Australia- but the newspaper can reveal that the AFP has charged Note Printing Australia with conspiring to bribe Nepalese government officials between 2000 and 2002 in order to win currency supply contracts.

The decision to lay charges over NPA's Nepal deal is highly damaging to the RBA and its leadership.

Me thinks that Jenkins resigned to go back and support Labor against an el stupido negative opposition...

The Liberal MP, Peter Slipper, is likely to become the next Speaker of the House of Representatives after Labor's Harry Jenkins resigned this morning, shocking the Parliament on its final sitting day for 2011.

Labor MPs will be asked to approve Mr Slipper's nomination at a special caucus meeting scheduled for 10am.

If Mr Slipper gets the nod from Labor MPs, and enough independents as expected, it will change the fine balance of the hung parliament because Tony Abbott will lose two numbers on the floor.

Gus's picture of a stencil by annon.

Senior Liberals are closing ranks around Opposition Leader Tony Abbott after accusations by Liberal MPs that he is leaving them in the dark over important policy decisions.

In the Coalition party room yesterday, Victorian MP Kelly O'Dwyer and Paul Fletcher from New South Wales questioned the economic wisdom of retaining the Government's superannuation boost while, at the same time, dumping the mining tax that funds it.

The decision was made outside the party room by the Liberal leadership group - although key finance spokesman Andrew Robb was excluded from the phone hook-up a fortnight ago.

picture by Gus

The frozen “cryosphere” of the Earth, from the Arctic sea in the north to the massive ice shelves of Antarctica in the south, is showing the unequivocal signs of climate change as global warming accelerates the melting of the coldest regions of the planet, leading polar scientists warned yesterday.

Gillard and Abbott are settling their 'mega-narratives' but their key phrases do not ring true as shorthand for what it's all about.

Julia Gillard is apparently going forward with ''fairness''. It's a word, if it sticks, we will soon be as sick of as ''moving forward'', because it is the nickname for the ''meta-narrative'' - story or myth - Labor wants to sell to the public.

The CIA has suffered the catastrophic loss of two distinct spy networks in Iran and Lebanon, official sources admit. Dozens of agents have been captured and there are grave fears that they will be executed, ABC News revealed last night.