Testing your psephological skills. Crikey is offering two ways to test your political skills with Queensland election contests. For the really keen among you there is the long test — predict the result in every one of the 89 seats.

And the less keen can try our short version where all that’s required is nominating the total number of seats each party will win along with the winner of the seat of Ashgrove.

Both winners will be rewarded with a year’s subscription to the Crikey daily email. And if you are an existing subscriber (as surely keen political students are) we will not only extend your subscription by 12 months but send you one of our famed Crikey prize packs as well. First Dog might even draw a commemorative bragging rights scroll!

The competition rules are simple. Only one entry each please and you must include your name and email address. Yours truly will serve as the judge and sole selector with no correspondence entered into although First Dog has volunteered to serve as the Court of Disputed Returns.

And if you are thinking of waiting until the next opinion poll gives you a better guide than you have now then note this: in the event of a tie the entry received first will be the winner.

Hasten to the entry forms by clicking on the links below.

Bringing back state capitalism. Old time Labor men would be proud of Bob Katter. He and his Australian Party have put state ownership back on the political agenda.

Under the slogan “Re-constructing Queensland” there’s none of that new fangled economic nonsense about smaller government. Here is the party’s stated over-arching principle:

The Queensland State budget involves current income in the order of $43 billion dollars with strong predicted growth. There is plenty of money to do the things we need to do as a State.

In order to address Queensland’s current financial issues, an Australian Party Government will expand and stimulate the economic drivers of the State and will not sell off the very assets which provide those economic drivers, or deliver the critical services that are the core business of Government.

Government under The Australian Party will switch from “selling and spending” to “building and wealth generating”.

Any political party that approaches the State’s current problems from an asset sale point of view demonstrates their inability to stimulate economic drivers in the economy and their lack of vision for future generations. This approach needs to be avoided at all costs.

Instead of getting the Queensland Government out of business, Bob’s team will get them back into banking and insurance, no less. The policy is:

Re-establish a State Bank that will:

  • Provide the Queensland Government with an ability to increase competition in the banking sector in those areas deemed necessary for the benefit of Queenslanders.
  • Provide industry funding for key industries and projects of State significance.
  • Issue State-guaranteed bonds at a 5% interest rate, providing the funds needed for infrastructure such as roads, ports, dams, ethanol conversion, etc.
  • Re-instate a State Government Insurance Office to ensure appropriate competition and coverage in the insurance market, particularly against flood, natural disaster and small business professional indemnity and public liability cover.

Things are really hotting up in the sunshine state… The member for Mulgrave in Far North Queensland Curtis Pitt tweeted a picture this morning of this particularly delightful graffiti scrawled overnight on his office window:

Pitt, who is the Minister for Disabilities, Mental Health and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships, tweeted: @Curtis_Pitt_MP This is the cowardly overnight attack on my office in Gordonvale. Utterly disgraceful.

Getting off the sheep’s back. Australia now has less sheep than it had 100 years ago. Australian Bureau of Statistics figures out this morning chart the decline:

Sharing the delegates. Another round of sharing the delegates is the prediction of the Crikey Indicator for today’s round of the Republican selection process.