Ken Henry talks of the dysfunction of Australian politics. Nobody Listens.

The privatisation of the energy market is an unmitigated disaster. And that’s an acknowledged fact. It’s capitalism eating society . But what of small business and households? The echo of Maggie Thatcher beckons; ‘There is no society’.

Bob Brown. Talked of destruction of ecosystems. No one listens.

There’s lots of talk about the wage deal and the latest indices prove that the big end of town is making bigger profits. It’s time for a tax cut for the big end of town. Wages growth stiffed and it’s all good news for the shareholders. During a scintillating discussion with Cecil yesterday we remarked on how the city country divide is now an abyss, and it shows no sign of slowing. In the city’s there’s wealth, and privelege. In the country opportunity is drying up. Steady employment a mirage, and increasingly reflective of urban refugees who’ve left the cities for a more economically viable life, were they can enjoy poverty in more bucolic surroundings. And all awhile the federal government (of both descriptions) ignore the seismic shift as winners and losers are winnowed and sorted into their respective bins. So this fragment from another associate working in the onerous and marginalised realm of small business tells us where we’re going. And the fascinating assessment is that the politicians no longer represent the ordinary people. There’s a lot of ordinary people, and bereft of imagination, the political circus is unstoppable.

Tim Flannery talked of global Co2 Catastrophe. No-one listens.

On a happy note though Tony Abbott has been offered a job with Corey Bernardii, and we hope he accepts in due course. A man of his intelligence, imagination and wisdom is urged to make the move. That move could be Adelaide, Perth, the Cocos Islands… anywhere. And now for this pearl from one of the ordinary people.

Paul Keating, Predicted the banana republic. No one listened.

‘In my view, under the current regulatory regime, small businesses such as ours need to collaborate and co-operate, rather than bitch and bite each other, whilst in the meantime, the mega corporations continue to rule the pack and effectively tax us all to enrich their shareholders. There is no constraint upon the large corporations, and they remain “protected” corporations by the competition laws that protect their duopolys and oligopolys. The ACCC and the Courts deem them to provide outcomes that are in the “consumers interest” – if you can screw a supplier to death, and another one pops up who is just breathing, thats just fine and OK. The only path to prosperity for the small end of town, is to go around the mega companies and not to engage with the mega corps at all – get to the consumer by other pathways.

It is this very basic imbalance in the structure of the competition laws in this country that is widening the wealth gap between the haves and the have nots. Neither of the major parties are addressing it and they continue to bicker and banter away in Canberra with their heads firmly stuck up their own rear ends. In the meantime Pauline Hanson and One Nation are harvesting the discontent. Their polling will continue to grow and in my view they are already the 3rd largest political force in this country. It will not be too much longer before they are second. The LNP are going to be thumped at the next election in Qld, but what is really interesting is that One Nation are carving votes out of both the Conservative and the Labour voting spectrum. Green voters remain rock solid’.

Rupert Says. Everyone Listens.