THE GREEN CHOICE

The Greens went backward at the Victorian election on Saturday.

The party now has to choose: will it remain primarily concerned about environmental issues, or will it become a party of the far left?

EQUAL PAY

Any idea of introducing equal pay for all is far-fetched. But the concept of men and women receiving the same amount of money for preforming the same task is entrenched in Labor policy.

Nevertheless the ALP has not paused before abandoning this principle when confronted with the prospects of a budget blow-out.

Of course, that's not the real issue. What this column is about is the idea of pay relativities . . .

WEARING THE UNIFORM

There's something about a uniform  . . .

But that's just a way into a far more signigicant issue for the ADF.

I've already recieved a few comments to my other email address, nicstuart@hotmail.com , however they are not intended for broadcast so I won't post them here.

LEADING THE GOOD LIFE

The biggest question dogging Julia Gillard's government is fundamental: just what does she stand for.

It's difficult to know. Things like super-fast broadband should be just means to an end. Surely our aim should be eudaimonia, or the leading what my Ancient Greek teachers called the 'good' life.

What will the NBN cost?

The National Broadband Network is a great idea; but a few questions need to be answered urgently before we risk squandering $43 billion on the project.

Unfortunately, Labor is not providing any economic justification for a project that Kevin Rudd origionally attempted to justify on exactly those economic grounds . .  .

Who's making Foreign Policy?

The Gillard government is less than six months old, but already two constants can be discerned. The first is that the Prime Minister is apparently out of her depth when it comes to dealing with international issues. The second is that Kevin Rudd remains in effective control of foreign policy.

This was my take on the AUSMIN talks in Australia . . .

Mental Illness

For a few weeks during the election campaign, the issue of mental health suddenly rose to the forefront of the nation's consciousness. Then, once the government was formed, it seemed as if that interest faded.

But the issue is about to be resurrected, as Australian of the year Patrick McGorry insisted when he spoke in Canberra over the weekend.