On the news last night I watched the army trucks rolling into outback villages to begin God-knows-what for the sake of Howard's re-election.

For eleven years it has been impossible for the Howard government to get doctors or teachers into the outback, but for the sake of an "Aboriginal Children Overboard" yarn to be cranked up just before an election, it's a simple matter to get the army out there.

It's times like these I'm ashamed to be Australian.