Pyrrhic victories

The long festival of democracy took Kerry Ryan to - where else? - Old Parliament House. Canberra isn't a city that looms into view as you approach it by road. You don't get the sort of tantalising glimpses you do when you head into Sydney or Melbourne, for example, no Sydney Tower-like construction poking up over the trees to distract bored children, no Eureka Tower to draw your gaze to the skyline. Instead, you emerge from between a load of paddocks and arrive. This time I arrived on the eve of the federal election. That was Malcolm Turnbull's idea. The original plan was to spend the school holidays visiting friends who'd relocated from Melbourne to take up a job at the Australian National University. It's a common story in Canberra. The ANU has been buying in smart people since it opened in the 1950s.