I say to the people of Australia, there will be no GST, that it is not on our agenda and I mean it. It's not. You could bring me back here after the election when we've won and you can ask me again; you can ask me again in two years time and you will find that I've kept my word on that. John Howard, (Prime Miniature of Australia) 1995 One of the things about politics in Australia at the moment is that the public doesn't believe what its political leaders say. Ditto

Basket

My basket full of
fruit
apple & oranges
mangoes, passionfruit
and papaya

Papua New Guinea weave
each strand a story
belonging to my Grandparents'
time there
an era I see
only in Black & White
Grandma glamorous
Grandpa amorous

The formal photo is taken now
framing our sitting room conversation
still
our pawpaw dessert
leaves a lemon tang
and Grandpa's dash
of port

Waves

There is no random fruit
in my father's house; here
each banana, apple, peach,
has its place
in the scheme of eating.
My father is so old now
I treasure even
the precision of his personality;
still, strolling long beaches alone,
in the mornings,
I delight to see the random
rolling of the breakers
where sea-gulls freewheel
through unrestraining skies.

Kathleen Bleakey and Amelia Fielden

Harp-stick

sublime, isn't it?

this high-life
scratchy
feather-post
giddiness of the spirit

afforded us
by the smart application
of mental aptitude
and a desire to see the flames
burn brighter

& higher

that two-fisted
thinking
when you realise
that the harp-stick
is only out of reach
because you only
think
it is

the paving of fissures
and imperfections
laid flat by the trowel
of kindness

the hard wood nails
of the spirit struck
supine by the mallet
of soft purpose

sublime, isn't it?

 

we couldn't be doing any worse.

 

Luke Whitby

Rabbit Stew Furry little tails That bob around at night        are nice to eat               I eat        Them up I find them pure delight. They live under ground They jump around But when they're in my tummy They are not so funny They have big ears They have bright eyes and a little twitching nose but with my gun and my keen eye I stop them on their toes. I skin and gut a furry friend        It really can be fun But if you think that's bad Don't go on because I've only just begun Once that's done I cook the critter with carrot, salt and spud eat it up at an awful rate and it hits my tum tum thud through the intestine the bunny goes till finally it come out my bum down the sewer and out to sea with all the other poo and there it makes my all time favourite lovely rabbit stew. Craig Green

 

Chess Festival, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT. Save the Koala Month. Independence Day, Burundi, Rwanda and Somalia. Dominion Day, Canada. Family Day, Lesotho. Freedom Day, Suriname. The Goods and Services Tax comes into effect, 2000. Legoland opens in Billund, Denmark, 1988. Popeye born, 1929. Chinese Communist Party formed, Shanghai, 1921. Paid sick and long service leave introduced, NSW, 1951.