Beaut nuke rebuke

Parliament House emits more radiation than a nuclear plant, the Minerals Council says.

Parliament House emits more radiation than a nuclear power plant, according to the Minerals Council of Australia. Picture: Ray Strange

Beaut nuke rebuke

Parliament House emits more radiation than a nuclear power plant, according to a 42-page handout given to federal MPs last week by the Minerals Council of Australia. “That’s because of the large amount of granite and other natural stone used in its construction,” the Untapped Potential booklet explains. “These materials naturally emit radiation through trace amounts of uranium. But there’s no need to panic. Levels emitted are minuscule, although — ironically — likely still higher than would be acceptable at a nuclear power station.” New York’s Grand Central train station also emits a relatively high level of radiation and “a typical worker might receive around 1.2 mSv (millisievert) a year from the granite used to build the terminal.” Don’t tell Malcolm Roberts but on average Aussies are exposed to 1.5 mSv of radiation from natural sources every year — the equivalent to 75 chest X-rays. Spotted spruiking for the MCA was new senior media manager Ben Dillaway, who until recently served in the ministerial wing as a lieutenant to former minister Steve Ciobo.

Old-fusioned

News that the bubble’s gone fission isn’t good for pollies looking to weed out “termites” (as Housing Minister Michael Sukkar would describe them) in their own party. Canberra’s radioactivity reminded us of this quote from Anthony Albanese ion 5AA in May last year — when Malcolm Turnbull was PM and Bill Shorten Labor leader.

Albanese: “I was confident you’d still be there, like a cockroach after a nuclear war.”

Christopher Pyne: “That’s not very nice! Crawling out from under the rubble.”

Albo wasn’t wrong. He’s been out of office for five months and we still can’t seem to shake Pyne — from questions over his post-politics employment, new podcast and weekly withering take downs (including people wearing sneakers and jeans). And yet Albo confessed: “The only thing I miss about my previous life is my Friday morning appearances on the Today Show (with Pyne).” Not his popularity with punters, his party and polls or endless shelf life (which his colleagues have set to expire in 18 months)?

Swift correction

Netball dad Scott Morrison spent Sunday cheering Australia to a seventh straight Constellation Cup win over New Zealand. He must have been shocked when the Nine TV captions noted the “debut of Malcolm Turnbull No 179 for the Diamonds”. It should had read: Maddy Turner, NSW Swifts defender.

Love actuary

A new baby boom wasn’t the only tittle-tattle in Senate estimates hearings last week. It turns out the Cashless Debit Card — which quarantines 80 per cent of a person’s taxpayer-funded welfare payments and prevents spending on alcohol, gambling or cash withdrawals — can be used in brothels, without restrictions. Here’s Labor senator Malarndirri McCarthy’s revealing exchange with Liz Hefren-Webb, deputy secretary of the Department of Social Services.

McCarthy: “Can the cashless debit card be used to purchase legal sex services?”

Webb: “Yes.”

McCarthy: “And are there any restrictions on the kinds of legal sex services you can purchase with the cashless debit card?”

Webb: “No.”

McCarthy: “How many times has the cashless debit card been used at a brothel?”

Webb: “We don’t have that data.”

McCarthy: “Or by a sole trading sex worker?”

Webb: “We don’t have that information.”

Does this make Social Services Minister Anne Ruston the new Minister for Love? The amorous title was given to Abbott minister Kevin Andrews on the cover of The Weekend Australian Magazine when he was spruiking taxpayer-funded $200 counselling vouchers that could be used for sex therapy. Asked to explain the escort escape clause, a spokesperson for Ruston said the card was designed to be as “non-interventionist as possible to allow participants to have flexibility and control over their lives and finances while still achieving its core objectives of reducing social problems” all while reducing the “social harm” of “welfare-fuelled drug and alcohol misuse and problem gambling”. What a helping hand.

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