Corridors of Power

Been working in Canberra this week. Don’t ask me what the city is like because although I was there all week, all I saw was the road from the apartments where we stayed and Parliament House. On a rare daylight trip, I did notice that the leaves had turned brown, a welcome reminder of autumn back in the UK - we don’t really get seasons in Coffs.

Parliament House is a fine building, though suffering at the moment from work to install concrete barriers against car bombers. It was built in the eighties and fine wood and Australian art are much in evidence. Stand in central, enclosed courtyard and look up and you’ll see the vast Australian flag flying against a perfect blue sky through the glass roof.

It’s confusing, though, as most of the corridors look exactly the same and much of the prowling the corridors of power is because the prowler is lost, at least in my case and I gather that’s common. But I have the route between our office and Aussie’s Coffee Bar pretty well mapped. I even know the short cut that runs through one of the many open courtyards, still warm enough to sit in with a sandwich and a book in a rare break.

I guess most Westminster MPs would die for offices like these. Two large working rooms, an anteroom, bathroom and kitchen. You’ve probably gathered from anything you may have seen about proceedings in the House of Representatives that things are somewhat less formal. Electorate Officers like me are the lowest form of life but that didn’t stop the Deputy Speaker joining three of us for breakfast.