Spring!

Today is the first day of spring - not to disappoint, the temperature climbed to 25 degrees today, and at early evening it's still 22. I won't get too excited, though - rain is forecast for later this week.

The latest news in the Australian federal election is that there isn't any - or, at least, there isn't a government. It's all square at 73-73. The Greens have joined the ALP (Labor) with their one seat, to tie the score with the Coalition (the ironically named Liberals, together with the less ironically named Nationals). 

There are 3 independents who now hold the balance of power and will determine if either side reaches the magic 76 seats needed to form government. With the exception of Brisbane, they're country MPs (one from southern Tasmania), but they've given no sign of who they will back - they say it'll be at least a week before they make a decision. It's entirely possible that everyone will be told that they've messed it up by not choosing a clear winner and can we do it all over again, please. It is also possible that Australians will forget/lose interest and nobody will notice that there is no federal government in Canberra.

Click here to see the superb Clarke and Dawe do their Waiting for Godot style skit on the farce that is Australian politics....

Everyone's much more interested in cricket, obviously - and given the possibility that Pakistan's tour here last summer was rigged, everyone's looking forward to the Ashes - at least that, they say, will be "fairdinkum"....

Tommorow night I am attending the presentation of the prestigious Blake Prize to which I've been invited  - it's an annual  award for religious art to be presented by Australian author David Malouf, so I'm looking forward to hearing him speak. More on that soon....