Births, Deaths, Marriages, Debnam

The casual reader of the Daily Telegraph's notices section will have come to something quite odd when they reached page 46 today: an advertisement by the Leader of the Opposition, Peter Debnam, announcing his whereabouts for the day and also suggesting the state of trains in NSW is currently sub-par. It's quite astounding that an Opposition leader in the biggest state in Australia has to resort to the classifieds to remind people of who he is (and come to think of it, I'm not entirely sure it doesn't breach rules surrounding political advertising), but there you go.

The notice contains a link to Mr Debnam's newly-launched website, Peterdebnam.com.au. It appears that the website is part of the Opposition's roll-out of its election campaign (I can't really say `policy roll out' and not go to Queensland for lying. Sorry, Queensland readers ;) ).

So, what is the Opposition running with? Well, the major policy issue at the moment for the Opposition is nurses. Nurses? Uh, yes - nurses. I am certainly not implying that we do not need more nurses. But is it so big an issue that an election campaign can be built around it?

Shadow Health Minister Jillian Skinner must certainly think so, having sent out glossy brochures to hospitals and, if some reports are true, the home addresses of all registered nurses in NSW (I'd like to know the cost of this, but I'd like to know how she got the addresses even more).

But what I'd really, really like to know is - are we living in 2003? The trains are no longer the major topic of talkback radio. Since the discrediting of Camden and Campbelltown's `whistleblower nurses', neither are the hospitals. Does the Opposition plan to base its election hopes on the candidate for Macquarie Fields, Nola Fraser.

All I can say is ... crikey.

The Opposition's full range of policies are available here (`Keeping the DPP Accountable', from the pestilent Chris Hartcher, remains a popular favourite).

To be perfectly objective, if I was a NSW Liberal supporter I'd hardly be booking Doltone House for the victory celebration.