I think there’s little value in a format where the leaders don’t get to actively challenge each other. I also think there’s probably little likely to be of interest – now that both leaders are pretty practiced in dealing with either softball or hardball questions (and let’s hope there’s nothing like what Mr Rabbit got on Q&A the other night – which was something along the lines of “Mr Abbott, please comment on how teh evil socialist Labor gubbermint has wrecked the country”…)

Still, it’s happening, surreal or populated by “real Australians”, whoever they are.

Just a footnote – those who want to claim this sort of thing replicates the open election campaigns of yore have short memories, or are ignorant of history. “Town hall meetings” are derived from a tradition of direct democracy in small New England towns in America. Australian election meetings tended to be partisan events, enlivened by heckling from other partisans, not question and answer sessions (which are also not what town hall meetings were, but there you have it).

The implication being spread around that this form of campaigning is somehow a form of direct democracy and “authentic” is rubbish.

Update: For those wanting to follow the Twitter chat, the hashtag is apparently #rootyq. Though those who actually live in Brisbane, or know anything about it, would realise that the suburb the forum is taking place in – Red Hill – is a very different kettle of fish from Rooty Hill. Think fifteen minutes walk from the city, stunning views, beautiful old gentrified houses, adjacent to the fashionista/cafe strip in Paddington. The Broncos Leagues Club is getting out towards Ashgrove, but it’s still leafy-ville, not the outer burbs.

Here are some images licenced under Creative Commons from flickr. Two aren’t actually of the most recent storms, but for those who aren’t used to a classic Brisbane storm, they might provide a bit of a lightning flash of illumination. Over at Circulating Library, there are also some contemporary photos to look at. Taking photos might be a tad risky, actually, as one of the two deaths from the storms has been a young man who unwisely tried to photograph a stormwater drain at Chermside on Sunday night. Via Stilgherrian, you can also have a squizzy at archived radar images of last night’s storms here. When I checked at around 5pm it was impossible to get on to the BOM site to check tonight’s storms on their way, and the site also couldn’t cope with the traffic just after the ABC weather at the end of the news.

<img src="http://larvatusprodeo.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/brisbane-storm-1.jpg"

courtesy of Garry’

<img src="http://larvatusprodeo.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/brisbane-storm-2.jpg"

courtesy of supernicko

<img src="http://larvatusprodeo.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/brisbane-storm-3.jpg"

courtesy of Michael Henderson

We’ve been fairly lucky here at New Farm – although getting off the bus just before I experienced the hail and the alarums and the torrential downpour and the water rushing down the streets first hand. Things have been fairly tough for folks in The Gap and now Paddington and some of the other Western suburbs, and other parts of South East Queensland, particularly around Ipswich where the Bremer River is at levels not seen since the 1974 floods. Most people I talked to today had a story about the downpour that hit at around 1am last night, and a lot of people seem to have slept very badly… but certainly one of the outcomes of these sort of events is a little more chatting to and smiling at people in the neighbourhood than happens routinely.

The authorities appear to have been responding well – much better in many ways than the last (isolated) freak storm in 2004. But given the flooding of the inner city bypass tunnel and also the closure due to flooding of the King George Square bus station this morning which had me and a friend hiking up to Roma Street station to get the bus to CI at QUT, Campbell Newman might like to reconsider the tunnel obsession. Contingency plans for transport don’t appear to have been ideal, and again – I’m as little of an engineer as I am a climatologist, but you do have to wonder whether the design of recent transport infrastructure really anticipated what occurs when heavy rain falls. It might not happen with the rather ominous regularity and intensity we’ve seen over the last few days and nights, but we are in the subtropics after all. My flatmate and I were just discussing how well our building – put up as were so many New Farm apartment houses in the 1960s by Italians – has coped. We’re of the view that the garages would have been flooded had it not for basically very well thought out design.

There are no doubt tons of links and stories around, but I’d be very interested in local people’s stories, and any photos and personal blogs people might have seen or written. Anyway, fingers crossed that if we are hit by another wave of water late tonight, it doesn’t add too much to the wreckage and destruction a lot of people are already coping with.

Although it’s been uni break over the last week, I’ve been a busy boy. I now have a date with destiny for my doctorate – I’m presenting to a final seminar on 30 October. This is the internal examination stage of phd completion according to the QUT rules – it’s a bit like a viva voce where you talk about what you’ve done and found and are questioned by a panel of senior academics (and the audience!) – in my case from QUT’s Humanities Program (once was a Faculty…) I more or less wrapped the thing up on Friday, did a little revision yesterday, and lazed around last night and watched Maggie Cheung movies on dvd, and today and tomorrow before the teaching and marking onslaught resumes, I’m giving the thesis a final spit and polish.

So I’m very chuffed!

Folks might also remember I’ve been doing a bit of travel writing – of the insider’s guide to where you live variety. I filed my copy for that and sent in the invoice on Tuesday arvo, and it was a really neat gig. On Monday, I went for a wander around Paddington and took some photos – not for the project itself – but as an aide memoire. It turned out to be a dodgy day to be walking – 35 degrees maximum. But it did also prompt me to decide that walking for about an hour a day was a good custom to be revived – so I’ve been doing that ever since – in the late afternoon on cooler days and at night on hotter days. Anyway, here’s the photographic record of my Paddo perambulations. It’s a really nice part of the world, and somewhere I wouldn’t mind living. But the real estate market would really have to collapse before I could contemplate buying there!

White picket fence II by *phenomenologist on deviantART

If you’d like to see a larger image of the photos, click on them then click on “full view” once you’re inside the gallery.

Steep streets by *phenomenologist on deviantART

Miss Posh Poodle I by *phenomenologist on deviantART

Miss Posh Poodle II by *phenomenologist on deviantART

Colourful cottage by *phenomenologist on deviantART

Paddo house II by *phenomenologist on deviantART

Sassafrass by *phenomenologist on deviantART

Kiln gallery by *phenomenologist on deviantART

Paddo houses by *phenomenologist on deviantART

Spring by *phenomenologist on deviantART

Grey shop by *phenomenologist on deviantART

Kookaburra Cafe by *phenomenologist on deviantART

Paddo shops by *phenomenologist on deviantART

Colourful shop by *phenomenologist on deviantART