Snappers not happy.. but think of the birds

Melbourne news that's distressing the Prime Minister this week is the efforts by management at glorified shopping strip Southgate crack down on happy snappers.

Fair enough, it is amusing that Victorian A-G Rob Hulls considers Southgate to be a "tourist attraction". Believe me, it wouldn't be a tourist attraction if the food court was turned into a theme park, like, Salmonella World. The facts that parents drag their screaming kids there on the weekend, or that on Sundays it hosts the lamest of lame "craft market", will not sway me on the issue.

Anyway, the management at Southgate are cursing the fact that offices of Rupert's Empire are in the complex, and that an intrepid journo trekked all the way downstairs to get the story.

But we're missing out on the real story, people! Banning photos is one thing. But for the past three years, the evil totalitarians at Southgate have had signs on the food court tables saying "DO NOT FEED THE BIRDS". With a picture of a bird WITH A LINE THROUGH IT. The poor bird! And this is INSIDE the complex. We're not talking about fat, flea-ridden pigeons here. We're talking about half a dozen cute little sparrows that are plucky enough to make it through the automatic doors. HAVEN'T THESE PSYCHOS SEEN MARY POPPINS?!? It's meant to be 'TUPPENCE A BAG', not 'FEEDERS WILL BE PROSECUTED'!

Let it be noted, this is not one of the signs from Southgate. You're not allowed to take photos there.