The Liberals spent just under $1.1 million of Tom Tate’s own money on the Gold Coast – it is an unmitigated disaster in anyone’s book.

Jetstar have a 36,000 seats for $36 sale — but you have to leave Tuesday, Wednesday or Saturday and can only take carry on baggage… who can actually use it… 

I noticed the following two quotes (in two separate articles) in last Friday’s The Australian aviation section: “The key reason behind the slump has been the surging world oil price, which has jumped from $90 a barrel to $110 in the past few weeks.” It’s expensive and global markets are pretty active at the moment,” Qantas finance chief Peter Greig said. “We are subsidising the traveller at the moment but the traveller expects us to.” “Qantas chief financial officer Peter Gregg said the company was fully hedged on fuel until the end of this financial year at around $US75 a barrel.” Q: How can Qantas be “subsidising the traveller” when their hedge contacts are at $US75 a barrel?

How is it that Peats Ridge Festival won an award at the Government Green Globes 2008 Awards, for an “environmentally sustainable event” when the event was cancelled? If you go to the Peats Ridge Festival website there is a blurb about the cancellation, and yet they won an award for an event that didn’t happen. I’m not holding a festival in my back yard — maybe I could get an award for that…

And meanwhile on the grassy knoll: Ask someone what are they going to do about the millions of dollars worth of gold that HMAS Sydney was supposedly bringing to Australia.

The Launceston Examiner’s Editor steps down. Phil Leersen’s GM is struggling to maintain circulation so Dean Southwell is taking the bullet by claiming he wants to step back into an operational position. Since Rural Press gained full control of The Examiner, the quality of stories has been woeful. Rural Press has stripped resources out of The Examiner in classic style. Leerson has been put on notice that he’s next unless this once great newspaper’s fortunes improve.