politician got on his jogging shoes

…he must be running for office, got no time to lose

I really enjoyed this post over at Blueberry Fool about the symbolism of concerns about terrorism leading to the public (and indeed, the Treasurer whilst jogging) no longer being allowed to go right to the top of the open areas above Parliament House in Canberra.

The building was designed to be as accessible as possible to the public, and walking on the lawns above the politicians who we choose to govern for us had a nice, democratic feel to it.

So in an era where terrorism hysteria is provoking ever more ridiculous and intrusive legislation whereby our parliamentarians take it upon themselves to allow government agencies to exert greater and greater control over the people, it is more than a little symbolic that, with similar justification, we the people are no longer permitted to walk on the lawns atop our own parliamentary building.