Long goodbye for The Democrats, outgoing senator takes aim at efficiency dividend, calls to for unions to modernise their appeal and Fat Australia: Where the bloody hell are you (going with that cake)?
Whither The Democrats: The party founded on the promise to 'keep the bastards honest', marks its last day in Canberra today, with the four remaining Australian Democrat senators leaving Federal Parliament for the final time. Coverage in The Australianhere, including analysis from Christian Kerr here.
Meanwhile, former leader Meg Lees has rejected claims that the party's woes stem from the deal she brokered with the Howard Government to introduce the GST. To read or listen to her interview with ABC's AM program click here.
Finally, some fun courtesy of ABC TV's The Gruen Transfer as they consider an ad campaign to resurrect the Dems.
Time to scrap efficiency dividend: Western Australian and Labor Senator Ruth Webber is also leaving office but has taken a swipe at the efficiency dividend in her farewell speech. ''It's just lazy public policy.. [that's] gone past their use-by date,'' she told the Senate, describing the dividend as an unworkable, blunt instrument when it came to achieving productivity gains in the public service. More from The Canberra Timeshere.
Time to get with it: Good jobs, quality outcomes, productivity gains, fairness and prosperity. Union's need to modernise their general appeal and craft a positive message to communicate if they are to survive, argues David Coats in The Australian.
Aussie Aussie Aussie - oink oink oink! Distressed to hear that Australia on the fast track to World's Fattest Nation? Just get over it and keep on scoffing, writes Catherine Deveny in The Age.
