Brizzieblog has been quiet during the 
Australian election campaign because I could think of nothing suitably funny or scathing to write about that had not already been done or said by Mark Latham.
It’s good to see that in spite of fears that journalism is a dying art, an awful lot of people have been paying attention to the media during this election campaign.
It seems like there have been three players in this election: the two political parties and the media.
We have heard a lot about media outlets organising political debates, about politicians becoming journalists and some journalists behaving a bit like politicians.
As an ex-journo myself, I never like it when reporters make themselves the story (they always over-dramatise), but let’s face it the more interesting stories have been about the behaviour of journalists.
Take Laurie Oakes, for instance. He inserted himself as a key factor in the election with questions to Julia Gillard about the agreement she is said to have broken on the night she deposed Kevin Rudd as Labor Party leader. The media seemed really interested in Laurie as a story, particularly when he followed up with more revelations about Cabinet leaks.
And as the election campaign wore on, journalism’s latest great find, Mark Latham, also became part of the story with his stalking of politicians and his attacks on Kevin and Laurie.
While the press gallery and political tragics were long acquainted with Laurie’s nickname, now the whole country knows of Jabba the Hutt. Not only do we now know that Laurie is also known as Jabba the Hutt, many of us discovered for the first time that such a character populated Star Wars movies.
I have spent the last 30 years knowing absolutely nothing about Star Wars, but my very proud track record has been ruined after I was forced to Google “Jabba the Hutt” to make sure I spelt it correctly. I now know what Jabba looks like, and I have learnt that the character’s role in Star Wars was primarily antagonistic.
It’s very easy to be a critic and run down politicians and journalists, but I’m not going to do that. I’m grateful for the entertainment of this past month because I’ve found the debate quite interesting rather than “depressing” which seems to be the more fashionable thing to say.
Whoever wins of loses, I am also thankful that on Monday morning we’ll all go back to work (or doing what we usually do), and there will be no army coup or claim that the election was rigged.
I am looking forward to a change of topic, and I’d like to change the subject now to say that with the imminent arrival of spring, it is lovely in Brisbane to welcome the return of geckos tut-tutting in our air conditioning unit (I must chase them out before they consume all the wiring). The geckos aren’t native to Australia (neither am I, just like our Prime Ministerial candidates) but other recent arrivals back to our home who are locals are the Tawny Frogmouth pair who breed in our garden.
This year we are very honoured that they have chosen to build a very untidy nest right under our noses – in a Tallowwood just a meter from our front deck. We are looking forward to watching them tend to their hatchlings with the utmost of devotion, as they do every season.
In case you don’t know what a Frogmouth is, here is a picture I’ve taken of the dad sitting on his new nest – do I detect a passing resemblance to Jabba the Hutt?
Great Brisbane photographer
Wildsun Art