Why who the next Prime Minister is might be of little importance

Whilst the counting of votes is over the election is yet to be completed. Right now the discussions continue between the ‘three amigos’ who are clearly maximising their time in the spotlight, and the two leaders of the major parties. And whilst the media is fixated on who ought to be, deserves to be, should be and could be the next Prime Minister, maybe we’re missing the bigger picture. At the end of the day it really won’t matter.

It won’t matter because the power in this Parliament whoever takes the throne, will not reside with the House of Representatives but with the Senate. And herein lays the biggest challenge for the three independents. Even if they strike a deal with either major party about power sharing arrangements, and even if they believe they have a chance to develop some serious pork barreling of funds within their own electorates, it is unlikely that those in the Senate who hold the balance of power, will allow ‘biased’ legislation through.

The simple fact is that the Greens have the balance of power, that they are likely to aim for pragmatism whilst holding on to their core ideals and that any negotiating would perhaps be best placed on the Senate floor. Given the massive green sentiment in society now it is even likely that the Greens would welcome an opportunity for a double dissolution such is the likely swing their way. About a decade ago I wrote a small ideas piece suggesting that the most obvious political alignment was between the National Party and the Greens given they are often talking about the same needs, just from different approaches. Maybe the Independents holding current Queen or King maker status might pop that into reality.

As the saying goes ‘we live in interesting times’.

Innovation in Your Supply Chain – Symbiotic Supply Chain management

Feb 14, 2012

Potentially the biggest area of untapped competitive advantage (and arguably one of the biggest areas where costs could be reduced) is within supply chains. Most approaches to Supply Chain Management are linear and isolated with one player trying to squeeze the other with no regard to the overall effect of the full supply chain. It’s…

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Remote Mining poses challenges for Australian Airlines

Feb 5, 2012

There’s a shift underway in the mining industry that will likely catch Australian airlines out if they aren’t paying attention – the shift toward ‘remote’ mining. Remote mining is being pushed by the automation ability across all aspects of current mining technology, which at the basic level, means that fewer humans are needed on site…

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Is Your Organisation’s Strategy D.E.A.D or A.L.I.V.E?

Jan 18, 2012

Simple question really. Or is it? In this quick article I provide an overview of the difference between strategy that is D.E.A.D and A.L.I.V.E Think of it as a potential ‘do this’ collection for your Organisation   You can download the article for free here – ‘Is your Organisational Strategy D.E.A.D or A.L.I.V.E?’

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Are you lining your future up in the right direction?

Jan 15, 2012

Lots of thoughts for the year already underway, with some covering a range of ideas from ‘don’t cut corners on relative incidentals when the project is significant for you’ to ‘you can’t change your approach if you keep thinking inside the same box’. But for now a reminder about planning for your future: If you…

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2012 International Year of Resilience – top 10 Tips

Dec 20, 2011

In thinking about the year ahead I’ve decided to call it the International Year of Resilience. With everything that appears to be going on in the world there’s unlikely to be any quick fixes and so I provide for you here below, my Top 10 Tips for building more resilience into your lives. If you…

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Rising Household Energy Costs NOT due to Environmental Polices

Dec 15, 2011

The United Kingdom’s Committee on Climate Change has released a report that shows rising household energy costs are not caused by the apparent burden of environmental policies. Instead the core factor is increases in costs increases of Oil and Gas as the Energy resource sector taps into a ‘growth’ market.   You can have a…

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Official Reports for Travelers – who should you believe?

Dec 5, 2011

After a great although too brief trip to Islamabad in Pakistan, I joined Vicki Kerrigan on ABC Radio Darwin to discuss the idea of official reports for travelers and who you should believe. Sometimes we fear the unknown because we aren’t well enough informed. In the absence of any other information, the Official line is…

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The massive missing piece of Australia’s Tourism approach

Nov 24, 2011

It’s taken me a while to get the Tourism Thinking piece together given the extensive travel this year that has enabled me to assess where Australia’s tourism is not getting things right. This update won’t paint the full picture (a couple of clients have first crack at this research) but it is important enough to…

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A Wildcard to Top them all

Nov 16, 2011

I alert you from the outset that I’m about to make a massive leap of potentially an supportable scientific theory in discussing a potential Wildcard event. If you’re only interested in the concrete real stuff, head elsewhere after you get about half way. I’m going to make a massive leap first of all and then…

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Asteroid Management and Mining

Nov 10, 2011

n this MP3 with Paul Dale on ABC Darwin radio we chat about the recent fly past of a large chunk of rock called Asteroid YU55, and what we might do as a species in managing a potential Asteroid impact. We also diverge into the concept of mining Asteroids for their mineral content as the…

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