NOW that the longest election in human history is at last behind us, national politics have returned to the parade of ego and eccentricity that we love so much.

The Nats scored a couple more ministries despite boisterous Barnaby being butted by a sheep; Bill Shorten completed his Tour of the Triumphal Loser; and the putative Senators burst on to the stage with more colour and movement than “Priscilla Queen of the Desert”.

PM Malcolm Turnbull gave his rendition of Winners are Grinners as he picked the ministerial team that he fondly hopes will keep the grumbling conservative wing flapping in time with the liberals on the left….and Tony Abbott bound and gagged. Good luck with that one, Malcolm. The best thing to come out of the whole exercise was the agreement by both major party leaders for electronic voting.

OTHERWISE, both light and very fast rail leapt into focus with yet another scheme to connect Melbourne and Sydney (with a link to Canberra). This one would involve the creation of half a dozen provincial cities along the route, a massive decentralisation scheme that would transform southeast Australia. The cost: $200 billion and counting.

BY comparison, Canberra’s own light rail project is small beer indeed. However, CM Andrew Barr really hit below the belt when he attacked the Libs for threatening our AAA credit rating “by tearing up contracts signed in good faith”. But Andrew, you knew that they opposed the scheme. No contracts should have been signed till after the election!

SPEAKING of small beer, diminutive Brendan Smyth did little to enhance his stature with his shock departure from the Lib team to become Barr’s “commissioner for international engagement”.

THE Barr-Rattenbury government was quick to follow NSW Liberal Premier Mike Baird in ridding the territory of the atavistic dog-racing “industry” on grounds of manifest animal cruelty, particularly to the hundreds of dogs “put down” because they couldn’t run fast enough. But then they chose to “cull” no fewer than 2000 kangaroos, proud bearers of Australia’s coat of arms. That will bring the slaughter to 6000 over the past two years.

Shame, Shane, shame!

OVERSEAS, there was very little to like. The new British PM Theresa May showed promise till she appointed batty Boris Johnson Foreign Secretary to the despair of the Europeans who reacted accordingly. But even that faded to insignificance for French President Francois Hollande in the face of yet another shocking ISIS atrocity on Bastille Day.

THE Turkish military staged a coup against the egregious President-cum-dictator Tayyip Erdogan.

IN America the alienation between white and black seemed increasingly unbridgeable, especially as Daffy Donald trumpeted his bellicose brand of politics. It all makes our troubles seem picayune.

IN fact, as our senior federal bureaucrats declined to be suborned by government “bonuses” for cutting regulations; and as Canberra-born Graham and Louise Tuckwell poured $200 million of their own money into the ANU, purely as a gift; and as our own SES sped through wind and sleet to help Canberrans affected by the wild weather, it was easy to feel that ours is a special place to be.

Even “Priscilla Queen of the Desert” had a happy ending.

robert@robertmacklin.com