Shameless plug: try the Firenze triple cheese pizza from Gregorio's Italian restaurant on Hawken Drive, St. Lucia. Such food is precious and cannot be wasted remaining an abstract concept, its only existence being as words upon the laminated menu of the establishment. It should be savoured by all who have access to it.

It's probably rather evident I had pizza for dinner tonight. In all honesty I had been craving this for a while, and despite the limited budget I'm placed on every month I still make it a point to have dinner from one of the fine eateries located two streets away from my residence. The restaurant was crowded today, with every table occupied and the staff quite literally falling over one another tending to the crowd. No one was hurt.

Whilst waiting for my order to be processed I took a read of today's Courier Mail newspaper. The headline article, and particularly its wording, intrigued me. It was pertaining to one of the worst roads in outer Brisbane, the Ipswich Motorway. I've been on that road once before, and I can safely testify there are few worse major arteries when it comes to congestion. The article however was more focused on what were perceived to be broken promises on the part of the government with regards to improving the motorway. Bracketing a large picture of the road showing roadworks on one side and a traffic jam on the other, was a quote by the new Labour MP for the area, Shayne Neumann, who said last November "The people have voted for new leadership in Kevin Rudd and a full upgrade of the Ipswich Motorway.", and the headline itself screaming in size 200 font, 'Well, you've been DUDDED". The article goes on to report [carefully, without ever actually complaining] the government apparently denying it ever promised to completely overhaul the Ipswich motorway, and in contrast to earlier statements, would not be completing the development in three years, with a mid-2019 deadline proposed instead.

What intrigued me most was the way the article fomented criticism in a reader's mind without ever actually being critical. This was, in fact, a stroke of literary genius, a marvel of politically correct reporting. Indeed, indignation appears to be the prevailing trend of the whole report, for running all through it were juxtapositions of quotes from earlier statements upon those from more recent times. The language utilised was as critical as could be without actually becoming referential or personal, with lines like "However, this is in stark contrast to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's comments last year when he said a federal Labor Government would deliver "the full upgrade of the Ipswich motorway"." and "The Government yesterday insisted it only ever committed to upgrading a key western section near Ipswich rather than the entire 19km route."

To me, this was a marvel of politically correct reporting. It was perfect, delivering its message of spite and achieving its aim of propogating anger and motivation amongst its readers without actually saying anything bad about anyone. No one could take offense at an article like this, for it was non-directional, and never once used aggressive, demeaning or patronising language. In fact, a less perceptive reader would have to read it twice in order to establish there was anger behind the article, without ever actually being manifested in the article. Comparing this to the limp, blatantly spiteful and often spineless journalism we encounter in Malaysia, this was a striking surprise to me. How different the attitudes in the two countries are, that here covert criticism of not just the problem, but the government as well, can be neatly laced into an article that graces the headlines of a major national newspaper, and how in Malaysia all attempts to replicate this form of reportage are either painfully diluted to remove all trace of blame, or wind up looking like nothing more than non-directed, airy-fairy moaning. Sure there are occasional articles that do strike at the conscience and make us feel pity, or occasionally move us to believing we have to do something, but nothing compared to this. Reading something as strongly worded as this, one feels immediately compelled to go "Sweet Jesus holy fuck, SOMETHING MUST BE DONE!"

Even more galling was the fact that the government would even contemplate allowing such an article to run, let alone be emblazoned across the front of a major national paper like the Courier Mail. Throughout my stay here the blatancy and in-your-face attitude with regards to freedom of expression have always left me in awe. The barbs exchanged amongst opposing political factions on TV ads, the scathing reviews and feature columns in newspapers, the incredible liberties taken in satirising political figures and establishments, and the protests and unions that freely take to the streets to voice their dissatisfaction and demands, all these indicate the incredible mental health of the citizenry in this country; everyone from Anonymous to Pauline Hanson can have their say, no matter how truthful or misguided.

Little things like this measure of press freedom suggest to me that at the grassroots level, the basis for a successful First World mentality is healthy in Australia. This country has been historically fortunate in not having encountered any of the major afflictions which plagued much of the rest of the world, meaning there is a true cherishing of the value of the people's voice. Political control exists everywhere there is governance, however it is a hallmark of a country's maturity that the people are allowed to speak out unopposed in this manner, developing a citizenry that is diversely polarised, quick in wit, solid in committment and [generally] able in judgement. One of the plus sides in allowing everyone to speak out is you can easily see who's making sound judgements and who's just being stupid.. The government trusts the people to be able to make the distinguishment and act accordingly. Such is the magnitude of which this freedom is taken advantage of, that no one even sees it as anything remarkable or in any way noteworthy. We would do well to make note of this system of governance and learn from it.