Mr Arbib, a powerbroker and former faction leader, was pivotal in sacking Kevin Rudd and promoting Ms Gillard.

But last week he became the first minister to defy the PM, calling for the party's opposition to gay marriage to be overturned and a conscience vote to be taken in Parliament.

There are two things that I find of interest here. Primarily, and what most people have disregarded, is the "defiance" and "undermining" Mark Arbib has shown to his party leader and Prime Minister, Julia Gillard.

Remember last time, this all happened behind closed doors, and saw Kevin Rudd ousted as P.M. only to be replaced by Gillard, and Arbib was pivotal during that.

Its a curious act by Arbib, and, even tho Graham Richardson recently (during the election campaign) noted that this particular topic will eventually become a topic of debate, and whoever supported "Gay Marriage" would obtain an advantage; even Richo felt Australia was not ready.

The second point of interest is in the topic itself. Marriage. I am still bemused by it all. Yes, my same-sex-partner would like to "marry" me, frankly I don't think it matters to our life. I still sit back and smile a bit when I think about the fact that non-same-sex-marriage is defined by legislation. Its law.

I wonder how many 'married straight folk' are actually aware of their obligations under this law? Rest assured, it goes much further than just saying 'must be man and woman'. Yes, why not left laws define you as a person, as a couple, define your lives.

Laws already exist that define my relationship, for legal purposes, the concept of marriage is not for law, but between me and my partner.

Go Mr Arbib! This distraction (from NBN and carbon taxes) is, indeed, a bit of entertainment (not that I want to devalue YOUR marriage acts ;)

Sylvestor

(as always, the readers' comments in the original article make for some entertaining reading)

In a bizarre case of mistaken identity the department of Customs and Border Protection appear to think that OpenAustralia.org‘s republishing of Federal parliamentary discussions constitutes a blog.

Last week we were told by a person who works for the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service that OpenAustralia.org was blocked by their IT department’s security policy.

Curiously ironic, Open Australia (.org) being censored by an Australian federal government agency. Its not unique though. The internet is often perceived as a major security threat to government bodies and therefore needs policing, gatekeepers and "automated, outsourced and sometimes unreasonable or illogical" blocking to those who work in the public sector.

Seriously, if security was the real issue, why on earth are these departments connected to the internet in the first place? The subscribed internet-filtering-blacklist is apparently the panacea for all risk managed security.

Silly isn't it? I wonder how much these protective solutions cost the taxpayer? Really.

Sylvestor

note: I am a public sector employee, just being open and honest about it ;)

A building frame for a $1 million outdoor learning centre in southern New South Wales has come tumbling down.

No-one was injured when the structure collapsed at Kooringal Public School in Wagga Wagga yesterday.

A New South Wales Education Department spokesman says the incident is being investigated by Workcover and the contractor who is doing the B-E-R project.

A sign of things to come? A literal collapse of a school building built under the Building the Education Revolution (BER) program.

Fortunately, and unlike the Insulation program, no-one was injured. Though I suspect, if this gets any other media coverage, it could hurt a few political-egos.

Sylvestor