The trouble with being a gun negotiator

That's good policy. Why not just implement it and spare all concerned a contrived drama of ultimatums and deadlines?

Tangentyere Council didn't feel lucky. They felt confused about why the minister insisted on linking the provision of basic services with the entirely unrelated issue of land tenure arrangements.

They felt concerned about the future of their residents, who suffer a standard of living so low that it would be considered entirely unacceptable in Sydney or Melbourne.

But most of all, they felt convinced about the importance of honouring the memory of their courageous grandfathers and grandmothers, who fought a great battle to gain the leases which give the campers a measure of control over their lives.

I have no way of knowing if the spectacular failure of the minister's Tangentyere negotiations were a consequence of his taste in television programs.

But we think that next time Minister Brough wanders down to his local Video Easy (pun intended) looking for a Clint Eastwood movie, he should seriously consider the wholesome viewing delights of Any which way you can, in which Clint stars opposite a loveable chimpanzee.

Under no circumstances should he pick up a copy of A Fistful of Dollars which the Amazon catalogue describes as the story of “a lone drifter who wanders into a Western town torn apart by two feuding families, and hires himself out as a mercenary, playing one side against the middle, until all is destroyed”.

That sounds a bit too close to the bone.