The new order in Federal Parliament is on the verge of breaking down, with MPs warning they are overworked, at risk of drug and alcohol dependency and are being held hostage by the demands of the independents.

The Sun-Herald has learnt of a strong push by Labor and Coalition MPs to scrap parts of the deal on parliamentary reform negotiated by the independents - Rob Oakeshott, Tony Windsor, Andrew Wilkie and Bob Katter - in the hung Parliament.

from Crikey .....

Tasmania's political alliance won't be pulped - but the people smell a con

From Hobart, political journalist Bruce Montgomery writes:

from Crikey .....

Democratic reform needs to spread to the Pacific region

Ged Kearney, president of the ACTU, writes:

Opponents of the huge Barangaroo project would have won their case seeking to stop the development if the Planning Minister Tony Kelly had not changed the law just before the judgment was brought down.

In a scathing decision in the Land and Environment Court today, Justice Peter Biscoe dismissed the case brought by Australians for Sustainable Development but said they ''would have achieved success'' but for the minister's amendment last week.

A generation ago, irresponsible pundits inflamed anti-Irish and anti-Catholic sentiment, claiming that the election of then Senator John F Kennedy to the presidency would put the White House under the control of Rome. Today, where Muslims are concerned, it seems there's no claim too absurd, no charge too baseless to command the full attention of certain public officials and even the investigatory powers of Congress. Representative Peter King should know better.

You have to laugh. How many nations are so keen to be close with Washington and will send troops to their pointless wars to prove the point?

New research has backed up the growing suspicion that merchants are profiteering from credit card surcharges, with some businesses stinging customers, on average, three times the fee they actually pay card companies.

What's more, some merchants are starting to apply surcharges to debit cards and even to cash transactions.

The latest survey of merchants by banking researcher East & Partners has found that the average surcharge is now 2.55 per cent, a figure that it says is in "stark contrast" to the average merchant fee for Bankcard, MasterCard and Visa of 0.81 per cent.

The scene in Madison is nothing like what they are showing you on TV or in the newspaper.

First, you notice that the whole town is behind this. Yard signs and signs in store windows are everywhere supporting public workers. There are thousands of people out just randomly lining the streets for the six blocks leading to the Capitol building carrying signs, shouting and cheering and cajoling. Then there are stages and friendly competing demos on all sides of the building (yesterday's total estimate of people was 50,000-70,000, the smallest one yet)!

from Crikey .....

Suspending disbelief in the carbon debate

Crikey Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane writes:

Try though I might - which is not very hard, I admit - I cannot raise a flicker of interest in the state election campaign. It is like watching a football replay where you know the score: in this case, a crushing defeat for the home side. The Premier can announce new policies until her hairstyle goes limp, but it matters not a jot because they will never see the light of day.

We're such a feeble nation that Murdoch was bound to triumph .... if he gets BSkyB, it will be a victory for monopoly capitalism.

The next generation of body scanners to be rolled out in airports will literally be able to see inside the human body, as security personnel gear up to trial machines that use deep penetrating radiation, the same kind hospitals use to examine internal organs and bones.

Julie Bishop: deputy opposition leader, Orientalist, tactician. The Prime Minister has accused her of being able to bend spoons with her famous glare, but her talents extend further.

During yesterday's party room meeting, Bishop urged her Coalition colleagues to adopt the battle methods of Sun Tzu, the famous military tactician and author of the ancient tome The Art of War.

''Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory,'' she told the joint party room. ''Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.''

Tony Abbott has sharpened the political choice by promising he would repeal a carbon tax. But it is a strategy with risks and costs.

It means that if the tax starts mid-next year, businesses won't know for about a year after that (assuming the Parliament runs full term) whether they have to live with the tax permanently.

Yet what business wants from politicians on both sides is certainty. With the prospect of the tax being rescinded, some businesses may delay investment decisions and the doubt could pay havoc with risk premiums.

Why is it acceptable for Australians to donate money (and receive tax deductions) to illegal settlements in the West Bank but the Australian government isn't able to openly provide aid to citizens living under the rule of Hamas and Hizbollah?

The corruption of international aid by politics.

Here's an interesting report on PressTV.

PressTV Interview on Australian aid to the Middle East