HEALTH care reform has been the big topic in political circles this week.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's plan has come in for both criticism and praise - much of the criticism coming from country Victoria, where hospitals are already run by boards and have little to gain from the changes.
While the Opposition seems to agree that Australia's health care system needs some sort of makeover, wait for them to attack the Government over the plan this week in Parliament, now it has had a chance to digest the details.
Opposition leader Tony Abbott is just the right man to lead this attack. He'll be vicious this week.
The former Howard Government head kicker was also health minister in that Government - an extremely controversial health minister - but he will know this topic better than nearly everyone else in the Government.
His genuine knowledge will stand him in good stead as it enables him to handle interviews on the topic better than Mr Rudd, whose areas of expertise do not include health.
Meanwhile, one is forced to wonder who the major parties were representing two weeks ago when they blocked a senate inquiry into toxic drinking water in Tasmania.
The toxin in the water has been matched to a toxin in nearby plantation timber - a strain of Eucalyptus Nitens which critics claim has been genetically altered - and the water kills human cells.
A local GP paid for research when she noticed several unusual cancers in her area.
But billions of dollars of vested interest appear to have swayed Labor and the Coalition on this issue.
What has any honest person to fear from the truth?
As Liberal Senator Bill Heffernan says, while logging companies make big donations to political parties, politicians have a responsibility to human health and to the environment.
Politicians are supposed to work for the people, not their political donors.
The Nats in particular should be sticking up for country people and justice, not the corporation. They should hang their heads over this one.
Senator Heffernan intends to take the matter to the party room in an attempt to change the Coalition position, which means the Nats and Libs will be given a chance to atone. Both should take it.
