Politics is a dirty word

In Canberra, Coalition threats to retaliate against independent MP Kerryn Phelps and two Labor MPs if parliament dares to refer the home affairs minister Peter Dutton to the high court to test his eligibility to sit in parliament, demonstrate that the Government is in panic mode. To equate medicare rebates to government funding to private child minding services is ludicrous.

The Liberal Party's woeful campaign in the Victorian State election produced an inevitable result - delivering a second term to the ALP's Daniel Andrews. The result was not all the fault of Matthew Guy, the Liberal Party machine must shoulder most of the responsibility for running an ineffective, boring and deceptive campaign. Implications for the next federal election are ominous for the party. Parliamentarians have been unable to work as a cohesive team in Government, How could they possibly hold together in opposition!

North Korean scientists have been developing new warhead technology allowing it to maintain a major missile strike capabiity without nuclear warheads. The development will allow the country to side-step any agreement with the United States to 'de-nuclearise' the Korean peninsula and will seriously embarrass US President Trump and the American military.Details about the development are closely guarded but it seems likely that it involves a kinetic energy system, an electro-magnetic pulse weapon or possibly a miniaturised anti-matter device.