Fraser: The week that was?

Turmoil in the news this week! I feel like a right prick in just quickly summarising what's just happened before saying anything, but what the hell:

• Greece fails at life, prompting the resurrection of the GFC: the Zombie GFC (ZGFC)
• Australia debates the RSPT, unable to assess its impact on the enormous  haemorrhage developing on the Australia stock market;
• Israel cops a rabbit-punch after using forged Australian passports;
• It is finally proved that toddlers are attracted to moving trains;

What's really breaking in the news this week is Malcom Fraser's official split with the Liberal Party. A reanimated Easter Island statue, Mr Fraser officially defeated Mr Gough Whitlam in 1975 in a game of chicken, to see who could have lunch the longest before finally asking Sir John Kerr to be (or remain) Prime Minister (For all those Americans from the South who think their history trumps any others, you've already been trumped'd). Whilst Mr Fraser's split with the party cannot be regarded as a real surprise, it should be found to be a bellwether for Australian politics. It spells out murky waters for 'Kevin Rudd PM', as the Department for Translating Whatever-the-hell Rudd Says seems a likely creation, as is the appointment of a goldfish as his Press Secretary, to keep KRudd PM up to date on those election promises.

The real significance of Fraser's split the the Libs, however, is how much the Liberal party has changed. Some say that Mr Fraser has simply become more radical in his age, but any suggestion of Fraser going senile should surely be juxtaposed with the state of the current Opposition leadership. And by 'Opposition leadership' I mean 'quagmire of consternation'. Like a Tim Winton novel written in Paris (Cloudstreet, anyone?) we see the pinnacle of the representation of Australian Conservatism pulling blank cards on social engagement and Howard-esque logic on the economic front. Whilst the centre-left continue to drop the ball, we see Australia's peak political entity for accountability looking back and reinterpreting the past. Whilst Australia had their ears pricked when we started seeing some opposition from the Opposition, the wolf went back to sleep when it realised it was just for opposition's sake.

Although anyone next to that prick Tony Jones looks like a saint, it's worth checking Q&A's Monday May 24th's episode just to see Fraser side by side with Australian contemporaries.

Menzies would be proud.