Absolutely!

I went to the launch the other night of the new Tourism Australia ad campaign here: "There's nothing like Australia". It's their latest attempt to come up with something as brilliantly effective as 100% Pure New Zealand. They've had some spectacular failures, it has to be said, such as the famously duff "Where the bloody hell are you?" in which the controversial line was delivered with an astonishing lack of conviction by the, er, distinguished Lara Bingle. Then there was the $40 million they invested a series of ads directed by Baz Luhrmann linked with Australia the movie - which unfortunately turned out to be a real clunker (though the scenery was spectacular).

This one also has its critics. "So negative to have 'nothing' as the key word" one told me. "Hokey," said another - and sure, that irritating earworm of a jingle is musically pretty uninspired. But it sure is belted out with great enthusiasm, the photography is excellent, and they even managed to get a bit of humour in there ("That's not a bear"). The whole feel of it evokes Paul Hogan's "Throw another shrimp on the barbie" ads so many years ago, and the casual, unsophisticated, fun image is clearly what the Aussies feel comfortable with - and why not? Let's hope it does the business for them.

It's a clever move to have got the Australian public contributing to the website, and even cleverer to have made provision for Kiwis to insert their own recommendations. New media - the way of the future.

The presentation was pretty dramatic, in a black room in the Hilton with dry ice swirling about, the whole thing started with a tremendous didgeridoo performance by a man wearing a suit of lights, followed by dancers ditto. Simple but effective.

The didge was the best bit for me, played with an electric guitar accompaniment: an unlikely combination, until you've heard it. I came across it for the first time at an Aboriginal arts festival last year at Barunga in the Northern Territory. We'd sampled the roasted turtle in the daytime, watched the spear-throwing competition, admired the art, listened to stories and then, after dark, sat on the grass to listen to the concert. It was our second of the trip, and Nicky Bamba at Merrepin had been so good that this one wasn't measuring up at all - until Yilila came onstage. They were brilliant: didge with electric guitar and drums, energetic dancing, great singing, traditional dress. Unique. (Photo by Peter Eve)