Bob Katter is in trouble with those who should always be ignored, not to mention energetically ridiculed, for the heinous crime of wielding a toy gun in a campaign ad. While that plastic pistol hogs his critics' attention, another matter reported in the Townsville Bulletin is going almost entirely unnoticed

If the social media platform didn't exist, where else might reporters find another such source of easy-to-write stories about the alleged mood of the electorate, as represented by the entirely unrepresentative gaggle of tweeters? Why, they would have quote the scribbles on toilet doors!

Since the Dunstan era, South Australia has survived chiefly on the something-for-nothing of government largesse. Perhaps, deep in its heart of hearts, there is a dim awareness that a state with only 11 of the 150 House seats can't expect submarine contracts and the like to flow forever

It might be that the next Senate is a docile and constructive assembly of fair-minded souls pledged to the nation's betterment, as Malcolm Turnbull professed to hope when forcing this double dissolution. What he will get, however, is likely to be anything but

We've been hearing for months about this preference swap or that one, how Party A will aid Party B to foil the ambitions of Party C, and why these alleged pacts will outrage/delight/mystify average voters with no say in the bargaining. Well here's the scoop: until tomorrow, it is all theatre

Kevin Rudd's self-promoted image has undergone quite the evolution, from a homeless waif burning his underpants to stay warm to the challenger of 2007, who assured voters he was Howard-lite and nothing to worry about. Now, according to his latest tweeting, he is a rhinoceros

If politicians were genuinely smart they wouldn't be politicians at all. Rather, they would be casting pearls from the Olympian roost of the The Guardian Australia's opinion pages, where Katherine Murphy knows better than any how election campaigns should be run and economic agendas explained

Perhaps the PM prefers to ignore the polls which insist it is a tight race to July 2. Or maybe he believes his appeal is such that he need only take the crease in order to be awarded a victory lap. Whatever his thinking, the latest GDP numbers were a missed opportunity to knock one over the fence

Sooner or later, voters in both Australia and Britain will be able to go about their business without the annoyance and distraction of politicians lusting after their votes. If that happy day seems too remote to imagine, picture instead the merciful intervention of a giant rock from outer space