POLITICAL spinning has never been more hamfisted than around the fashioning and marketing of Canberra’s new public transport network.

In any other jurisdiction the successful launch of a major transport infrastructure such as light rail would have politicians basking in its glow.

Instead, ACT Transport Minister Meegan Fitzharris’ continued shiftiness in “responding to customer feedback” only a week after the initial launch bewilders.

Fitzharris said: “There have been changes, but in terms of the network as a whole it hasn’t changed”.

Almost everyone in Canberra is either angry or knows someone who is and knows the latest round of “tinkering” is a direct response to patrons’ “white hot anger”.

THE “Daily Tele’s” attempted smear campaign of Opposition Leader Bill Shorten over his dead mother’s truncated CV backfired badly and also gave birth to a trending hashtag. Via #MyMum, thousands have shared powerful stories of their inspirational mothers. One such testimony came from ACT Labor MLA Tara Cheyne:  “#MyMum cared for her siblings from a young age. Left school at 15 to earn a wage. Finally went to uni at 38 when I went into grade 1. Topped her class. Became a leader in her industry. Ensured I had opportunities at an early age that she didn’t.”

THREE days before the Murdoch treatment of our prospective PM, former ACT police chief Roman Quaedvlieg quoted his mother in a tale of the reality of politics. Quaedvlieg modestly tweeted: “My mum is almost 87. She has the faculties of a 17-year-old. When I was that age she said ‘You’ve got everything it takes to be PM of Australia’… The more I’ve told her about the compromises I’d need to make to do it the more she’s vociferously said: ‘Don’t you dare’.”

MEANTIME, the former commissioner of the Australian Border Force who now describes himself as a “geo-political dilettante”, has been busy providing social media commentary on the Federal election campaign. Bagging the LNP’s official campaign launch for its lack of political star power, Quaedvlieg tweeted: “You have to ask yourself: if they can’t even put on a show of unity & solidarity ….”. The Canadian-born and Queensland-raised crime fighter is due to release his “raw political expose” memoir “Tour de Force” next month.

A BIG black attack truck is overshadowing the political candidates’ corflutes forest on our roadsides. The mobile billboard’s negative theme of “Labor will tax you to death” is crystal clear, but why is a grim picture of ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr sharing equal billing with an equally grim-looking Bill Shorten? The ACT election is not due until 2020.

I SPOTTED this sticker on a large, four-wheel-drive ute/truck parked at Dickson shops. Apparently there are at least two local supporters of the “Keep-America-Great” ideal. The other, not surprisingly, has the same sticker proudly plastered on a vehicle reportedly owned by a staffer to ACT Liberal senator Zed Seselja.