A story from the Australian Electoral Commission this week reveals that the AEC has boosted its transparency website so citizens interested in finding out where the political parties get their money from can now do so more easily and quicker.
An initiative to be applauded of course, but PS-sssst! notes the Commission’s custom of calling this year’s national election the ‘2019 Federal Election’
Nothing wrong with that I hear you say, except that a more creative and entertaining title is readily available.
Given the election was held on 18 May, the purists amongst us have taken to referring to it as our national May Poll.
In view of the amount of skipping, dancing and running round in circles Australia’s elections come equipped with, a May poll maypole may be just what the voter ordered.
Wordly wise
Credit:RaStudio
To the wonderful world of acronyms now in which the NSW Public Service has staked out a novelty niche of its own with a marvellous example of acronymity at its most acronymonious.
Faced with the need to test motorbike helmets for their safety, comfort and protection qualities, a group of NSW transport and insurance agencies joined forces to do it themselves, putting 30 helmets through their paces and sharing their findings with a grateful public.
And just to make sure everyone was aware of who did the work, the agencies gave their project the unforgettable – some would say unforgiveable! – title ‘Consumer Rating and Assessment of Safety Helmets’, acronymically known as CRASH.
Ka Boom!
Australians all
Another fascinating Talking Point in PS News this week, this week pondering the purpose of nature strips in Australia’s suburbia and questioning whether they represent the best usage of precious land.
While the learned article is deep and meaningful and poses challenging questions, it is PS-sssst!’s never ending search for the non-deep and non-meaningful that leads us to highlight it this week.
Author of the article, Adrian Marshall, launches into his dissertation with a comedic strangulation of a line from Australia’s national anthem, rebranding “Our land abounds in nature’s gifts” to “Our land abounds in nature strips”, cleverly setting the scene for his entertaining treatise.
While the anthem belongs to everybody which means it’s everybody’s right to interpret as they wish, perhaps the most creative was comedian Shane Jacobson’s recasting in his 2006 film Kenny.
According to Kenny, the opening line was: “Australians all let us ring Joyce ‘cause she is young and free!”
Brilliant!
Giving away
Giveaway time once again and this time giveaway queen Rama Gaind has three copies of the courageous and moving book Things Nobody Knows But Me by Amra Pajalić, to give away.
To get among the winners all we had to do was answer Rama’s super-easy quiz question and tell her Amra’s mother’s name.
The answer was Fatima and the first correct entries to pop out of the PS News Barrel of Booty belonged to Zoe K from the national Department of the Environment and Energy, Liz R from the Federal Department of Health, and Tara P from the National Indigenous Australians Agency in Brisbane.
Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to everyone who gave it a go. The books will be on their way to their new owners very soon.
In the meantime, Rama has another giveaway to give away at this PS News link and everyone is invited to join in.
Good luck to all who do.
Till next week…….
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