Once upon a time, when the Coalition were in power and Labor in opposition, Parliament House in West Perth would (occasionally) host moments of real debate amidst the normal mud-slinging and childishness. And for a while after going into opposition, the Coalition were organised and vaguely competent and strong in their criticism … sometimes even with valid logic!

That, of course, was then. Nowadays the coalition is dissolved, the major partner is struggling to find relevance, and the best that the minor partner can do to influence policy decisions is to mount civil disobedience on a rather minuscule scale.

It’d be nice if the 2009 election isn’t a one-horse race, but I don’t have high hopes.

(And a nitpick to the news reports: WA already has two timezones, since the hundred-odd people living around Eucla unofficially set their clocks to UTC+8:45.)