Leading lady gone ... and forgotten

FROM MY CORNER... with Ann Brunswick

Earlier this month it was announced that Lady Sonia McMahon, wife of former PM  Sir William McMahon, had died. Just a few days ago a colleague told me he had cause to track down some information from the Liberal Party and while trying to find a contact name and number from the party’s website he noticed that the NSW branch had put up its own tribute mini-site to Lady McMahon.
It quoted NSW Liberal Party president Nick Campbell as saying Lady McMahon’s death meant losing “an important link to the history of the Liberal Party”. “But no doubt she will be warmly remembered by the many whom she came in contact with,” Mr Campbell said. Right after Mr Campbell’s comments is a link telling website visitors : “ Feel free to pay your respects and leave a comment.”
Unfortunately right after that gracious invitation is the stark reality that “0 comments” had been received when my colleague last checked.

Flicking through The Courier-Mail recently my eyes fell upon a full-page advertisement letting readers know of a promotion running until June 1. It seems if you patronise a McDonald’s outlet for breakfast and buy one of their McValue meals you will receive a free copy of the Brisbane tabloid or its sister paper The Sunday Mail.
The McDonald’s fast food spots are foreign territory to me so it was necessary to undertake a web search to find out that the McValue meal includes a bacon and egg hamburger,a fried has brown, and coffee. The promo is part of a nationwide campaign designed, one would assume, to inflate News Ltd circulation numbers through the old trick of giving away papers. No doubt another spin-off will be to make it harder, if not impossible, for The Courier-Mail to run any more stories on Australia's obesity “epidemic”.

Some months ago the state government decided to rename the existing and soon-to-be-completed Gateway Bridges. They were to be called the Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges after former long-serving head of the Queensland Treasury.
It’s a nice idea, but in reality what chance has Sir Leo got of having motorists and others use his name instead of the Gateway label that has been applied since the first bridge opened a few decades ago.
Certainly the government itself is not helping. It is planning an open day in May to mark completion of the second bridge. They are inviting all and sundry to “the Second Gateway Bridge Community Day”.