Not to be outdone by Labor’s ridiculous spill/no spill circus, the local Liberals have stepped forwards remind us that they are just as much a parody of a real political party by bringing in lawyers to settle this whole Zed Seselja versus Gary Humphries malarky.
For those who have blissfully avoided or managed to forget the [...]

Prime Minister Gillard has made known her new Ministry after last week’s bloodletting.
The big ones for Canberrans are.
– Catherine King is taking Territories.
– Andrew Leigh is to be Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister.
UPDATE: Andrew Leigh has announced his excitement:
Member for Fraser, Andrew Leigh, today said he was honoured to be appointed Parliamentary Secretary [...]

Underground is the story of Julian Assange’s exploits as a teenage computer hacker in Melbourne, and his youthful commitment to revealing the truth about the world, power and injustice.
Following the screening there will be a Q&A session with writer/director Robert Connolly, actor Alex Williams (Julian Assange), Christine Assange (Julian’s mother) and Sam Castro (co-founder of [...]

Prime Minister Julia Gillard at Rooty Hill, NSW (Photo: Wikipedia)
PM Julia Gillard has some pretty big holes to fill in her front bench after this week’s #nospill. And it probably isn’t just the ACT printers who are relishing the opportunities this presents.
With so many long-standing names names jumping before they are pushed, and probably a [...]

Greens Senator Christine Milne has announced the passage of legislation to let the ACT Legislative Assembly determine its own size:
The bill, which passed the House of Representatives last month and passed the Senate today, was secured as part of ongoing negotiations with the Greens.
“I’m thrilled that we have secured the right of ACT residents to [...]

Simon Crean’s just on the tv right now calling for a spill and asking Kevin Rudd to stand as leader.
So there’s definitely a thing on now.
Where the numbers lie remains to be seen.
Remember that a change of leadership will probably bring on an election and certainly massive ministerial changes so all our public service friends [...]

We have two views of the ongoing urban conflict at the Belconnen Community Council.
First in the Canberra Times overly attached girlfriend has the view of the old guard.
Overnight the insurgent Comrade Watts (seen recently sporting a beard in Manuka perhaps in sympathy with the Pogos) has sent in his reply.
Hi Lisa,
I refer to the following [...]

The Canberra Times has an intriguing piece on the continuing warfare between the zeddites and the pogos for the soul of the Liberal Party in Canberra.
Madame Reid has finally succeeded in registering as a voting member.
But so too has the Great and Powerful Bob Winnell on a date which suggests the world is rather more [...]

Tomorrow night is the last chance for the pogos to get their voting rights up for the Liberal special council meeting – or as some are calling it Zeds last rites.
It will be interesting to see how many of Zeds thugs turn up to intimidate the elderly. I hear Gary has his own band [...]

Alan Moran, one of those cheery folk from the Institute of Public Affairs, has have been hard at work devising an action plan to assist the now inevitable Abbott administration to achieve some of their fiscal objectives. His efforts are up on the Catallaxy Files.
You will be happy to know that the IPA’s identified [...]

The ABC is explaining Thursday’s Supreme Court decision on stamp duty which is going to have some knock on effects:
The ACT Government could be liable to pay back hundreds of thousands of dollars to home and land buyers after a landmark Supreme Court ruling.
A young couple who bought a block of land at Crace [...]

$700,000 in federal funding is being allocated to Canberra to increase tourism. Well, close to $700,000. $684,698 by my count, which admittedly is still quite a bit.
They seem to be sticking it all into hotels. Shouldn’t they just be giving it all to Floriade, mountain views, and Scotty & Nige? I didn’t see any hotels [...]

Christian Kerr (political writer for The Australian) has just facebooked that “It’s on”:
Massive rumours that a “tap on the shoulder” delegation had dropped in to see the PM have just swept Parliament House. Nothing appears to have happened, but…. A second set says that ministerial chiefs of staffs have been placed on high alert.
A new [...]

This Friday sees an abundance of amazing live shows in Canberra  (only coincidentally during the Canberra Birthday week) as I’m sure the DIY wotz on guide will reflect later in the week.
It would be counterproductive to list them in this post, as the purpose here is to draw attention to a novel factor of one [...]

Simon Sheikh was the only senate candidate I saw out and about the lake on Canberra Day (not saying that’s a scientific survey, just saying).
But Liberal head kicker the Tasmanian Senator Eric Abetz is kicking up a fuss over the former GetUp! founder being involved in GetUp! events while running for the Greens in the [...]

AHAACT have voiced fears that the ACT will lose out due to the election timetable.
In a major blow to the local economy, more than $6 million will be wiped from the sector with Federal Parliament not sitting for a majority of the second half of the year, the AHA survey of leading hotel accommodation businesses [...]

Liberal Senator Gary Humphries has put forth a complain about his leader not getting an invite to the Centenary formalities:
Senator Gary Humphries today expressed his regret that the Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, had not been invited to play a role in a ceremony to mark a century since the official naming of Canberra.
The [...]

The Canberra Times is still quoting combatants as neutral officiators in the Humphries v. Seselja deathmatch wracking the Liberal Party for the winnable Senate seat.
But the story does at least clear up that the big meeting to decide on overturning Zed’s preselection victory is to be held on 27 March.

Today Simon Corbell, the Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate, announced Dorte Ekelund as the new Director-General of the Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate.
That was a mouthful.
“It is a pleasure to announce Dorte Ekelund as the new Director-General of the Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate and I welcome her to the position,” Mr [...]

The ABC has bad news for the Zeddites:
But hundreds of members were barred from taking part in the vote and many are challenging the result.
They claim the process unfairly favoured Mr Seselja.
They successfully petitioned the Liberal Party Executive to agree to hold a vote on whether to overturn the preselection process and hold a [...]

Michael Brand of the Art Gallery of New South Wales says he is going to go to the feds cap in hand and ask for a contribution to the gallery’s plans to double in size by 2021 at a cost of many millions of private philanthropy dollars/taxpayer dollars.
It will be interesting to see how the [...]

After parting rather hard at Mardi Gras, the cyborg demon pictured below stormed Parliament House to spread a message of equality love.
Eco Faeries and Wasamba from Perth bring their support for equal marriage rights to Canberra. This isn’t a protest but a celebration of equal love.

ABC News has put up a story detailing how the Greens would like the ACT Legislative Assembly review to go.
The ACT Greens have lodged a submission calling for up to 27 members and larger electorates.
Greens MLA Shane Rattenbury says keeping three electorates would allow for more diversity within the Assembly.
“We believe there’s two reasons [...]

The Canberra Times has a confused account of where the pre-selection War in Heaven (apparently conducted in the afterlife) for the Liberals Senate spot is up to.
Many Pogo* members excluded from voting by Zeddite manipulation (including Big Bob Winnel) have now got themselves some voting rights and it appears there will be another pre-selection vote.
Meanwhile [...]

Two new entries on the Return of Gifts with The Greens in the money this time.

We’ve long suspected that part of the Zeddites’ cunning plans have been to *not* turn up to meetings where Pogos might get themselves some preselection rights on the basis that if there isn’t a quorum the meeting doesn’t count.
(Here in the bunker we are sticklers for Robert’s Rules of Order and consider anyone taken [...]

Labor Member for Fraser Andrew Leigh has published his submission to the ACT Electoral Commission’s Expert Reference Group and it’s inquiry into the size of the ACT Legislative Assembly.
Like any smart observer he wants an expansion to a setup five five electorates each returning five members. (rather than the current nutso 5, 5, 7 arrangement).
[...]

Simon Corbell has announced today that all of the 28 recommendations made by the Getting Home Safely report have been accepted by the ACT government.
“Work has already started within Government. We will introduce a package of measures to ensure the implementation of the recommendations and will ensure the improvements we make are sustainable.”
Mr Corbell said [...]

Andrew Barr is having some fun with Liberal Leader Jeremy Hanson’s new found distaste for progressivism:
In the Legislative Assembly this morning, Mr Hanson moved a motion criticising the ACT Government for being progressive, and labelled as extreme and progressive Government policies such as renewable energy targets and emission reduction targets.
However, in his maiden speech to [...]

The ABC has the unsurprising news that Senator Gary Humphries will take an opportunity if it comes his way:
A top level Liberal Party meeting will consider a motion to have the result set aside because of concerns that many members were denied a vote.
Senator Humphries was asked on Monday whether he would renominate if the [...]

Labor Member for Brindabella Joy Burch expects the Legislative Assembly to pass a motion condemning Liberal MLA Zed Seselja’s shift to the senate.
Strong words from Burch, but she’s in a good position to criticise Zed as she gave some people a pool already.
In case you missed the pool related news story from this morning.
Joy [...]

After Zed’s victorious campaign against the Pogos over the weekend he has now turned his mighty gaze onto the residents of Lanyon Valley and is wondering why Labor hasn’t given them a pool yet.
In the Assembly today, Mr Seselja will call on the ACT Labor Government to outline when they will develop more community facilities [...]