Whenever I look despondently at NZ's political scene, I look abroad for comic relief. Take those poor bastards in Australia, for example. It couldn't get more overblown and operatic if they got Baz Luhrman to direct it.
The hung jokes wore off the day after the election. The pedants have given up trying to correct the contextual nuances; parliament's not well hung, in the same way that Hobart's not very unique. It's a binary thing, akin to turning the microwave very on.
There's not going to be a re-election. That's the hand that's dealt. Canberra will have to sort it out. Oz is well overdue for its medicine anyway. We had six weeks of Winston Peters in 1996. Mind you, the Member for Tauranga back then is nothing compared to the suspected sound and fury over the Tasman right now. I'd rather have to deal with Winston rather than a Queenslander MP. Nice climate, shame about the lifestyle, eh. i.e. No hookers? Seriously??
Given the feral passions that rule that continent's kangaroo regime, I'm quite surprised that the ALP and the Coalition houses haven't tried to get disaffected constituency MPs from each other to cross the floor. Not a Quigley or Marilyn Waring in sight. Yet.
