THE black art of politics was being practised in the Redlands last week, with the state government claiming a little kudos on island travel subsidies at the expense of Redland City Council.
It was not a major thing, rather one level of government making sure it got some credit on an issue before another level of government.
However, it does provide a pointer to the wider problem of political parties being on the nose with voters.
It also shows how quickly MPs can get away with themselves.
The state government is travelling well and opposition leader Deb Frecklington is struggling to land any telling blows on Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk while conservative forces in Canberra are in diabolical trouble.
With this fortunate situation in its lap, the state government appears to be starting to be sidetracked with silly issues.
An example is the bay islands travel subsidy and an even worse example is the bizarre story about the renaming of the Lady Cilento Hospital and government staff having a high time voting in a poll on the issue.
It is just this sought of banal rubbish that annoys voters. All levels of government do it, including Redland council, and all politicians of all sides and parties.
It’s a formalised extension of that human habit of seeking glory for something when others deserve credit as well.
It’s seen often in the workplace where some people subtly manoeuvre to get credit on issues.
However, it is not something Australians like to see in their politicians. Australians have enough monkeys on their backs about tall poppies without pollies waving a red flag in front of their noses.
We have this sort of behaviour in spades in the Redlands, with government and opposition MPs regularly trying to claim credit for various projects and having shots at each other for no other reason than to gain political points.
Some of these claims about projects are genuine and acclamation is deserved but plenty are not.
All the plebs want is for our various levels of government and politicians to work together for the greater good. That is what they are paid to do.
About the last thing we need, is the state government and council brawling over things of such little consequence.
