Kim Beazley has demanded that migrants and visitors coming into Australia pledge their support for mateship, hard work, and other words that have tested well with focus groups. "It's vital that those coming to Australia understand the concepts of equality, respect and a fair go," said the Opposition Leader. "Then once they've gained political office they can trade them for incompetence, cynicism and expediency."

Iconoclastic feminist Germaine Greer has struggled to arrive at a contrarian position on the death of Peter Brock, having prematurely exhausted her anti-ocker arguments on Steve Irwin. It took Greer several attempts to create a tenuous link between Brock's death and a social issue of some import. "Motor 'sport' is of course not a sport at all, and Peter Brock was not a sportsman," wrote the permanently disgruntled feminist icon, in a draft version of an opinion piece for the UK's Guardian newspaper.