Keeping the lights on, South Australian-style

Some people think that the collapse of trust in politics comes from an inward focus: many politicians took to the vocation in their youth, have never done anything else, and thus have no idea of what it is to live a normal life.

As if responding to that, South Australian Parliament (fresh from its own bout of navel gazing with the expulsion of veteran MP John Dawkins) has decided to knuckle down and do what really matters: spend more than a quarter of a million dollars maintaining the building’s chandelier winches.

Yep, during an almost unparalleled international financial crisis — with hundreds of thousands losing work and businesses going to the wall — the SA parliament has found $260,000 to spend on chandelier winches.