Et tu, Brandis
WEST Australian Liberal senator Mathias Cormann has been doing his bit to make government more transparent, tweeting from inside the partyroom during yesterday’s ballot for the position of deputy opposition leader in the Senate.
Strewth
Connect the dots
GO to the Labor Party’s website and you’ll be urged to “connect with Kevin”, as beguiling an invitation as we’ve had for many a day.
Pell packing heat
JUST when Strewth thought nothing would dislodge the image of lapsed West Australian treasurer Troy Buswell from our head, he has been overtaken by a mental picture even more potent: Cardinal George Pell, packing heat.
Swell party it was
AS the whole Troy “Tiger” Buswell and Adele Carles circus continued to unfurl yesterday, we would have thought there might be room for a little relief, a little pat on the back even.
Migration blues
AMID the excitement that WA Treasurer Troy Buswell has been cross-pollinating with a Greens MP, it was going to take a lot to deflect our attention.
Party pooper
PERHAPS it’s the Icelandic volcano that’s to blame, but it’s been a week of strange cosmic tremors: that Melbourne Storm business; former union boss (now Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities) Bill Shorten sharing a platform at the National Deafness Sector Summit yesterday with former union-busting PM John Howard.
No fake tan man
EVER since his chicken impersonation last month, Small Business Minister Craig Emerson’s radio appearances have tended to fill Strewth with a giddy anticipation.
Point scoring
DESPITE NSW Premier Kristina Keneally’s assertion in her kid-in-a-toyshop-excited YouTube video yesterday (“I’m here at COAG!”) that there would be no agreement unless all states sign up, it appears we are now one nation under Rudd (except Western Australia).
J-Gill a no-go
WHILE Europe struggles to come to the grips with the idea of life without flight, Strewth has been fantasising life without radio, if only to spare us minor atrocities such as this one from Steve Vizard yesterday:
Channel election
A SENSE of urgency can be detected at the ABC’s Sydney headquarters as the broadcaster rushes to get its 24-hour news channel running before the federal election.
Check the stats
Since Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott began their regular Friday morning sparring sessions on the Nine Network’s Today program earlier this year, Strewth has observed that show host Karl Stefanovic has favoured the Deputy PM over the Opposition Leader, if only because he enjoys a spot of flirting with the powerful red-head (“You look great”, “That’s a nice skirt”).
Campbell in soup
HAS NSW Roads and Transport Minister David Campbell been on the phone seeking advice from former Victoria police commissioner Christine Nixon on how to sit out a media storm?
Rudd’s funnies
WE may never know what triggered it, but Kevin Rudd was well and truly back in comedy mode during a press conference yesterday:
Wong turn
PENNY “Whispering” Wong kicked off her water tour in St George yesterday, scoring a welcoming press release from the Queensland town’s best known resident, Barnaby Joyce.
A picnic for some
FOLLOWING Julia Gillard’s marathon 1.5-hour press conference on the woes besetting the Building the Education Revolution, Barnaby Joyce- who is of the belief “this thing’s got more episodes than Blue Hills” – was keen to paraphrase for Strewth a letter from a school principal in the NSW north coast town of Port Macquarie, who was concerned about the rip-offs.
Herald uninsert
GIVEN its urbane self-image, we can understand The Sydney Morning Herald taking a special pride in its association with the Sydney Writers Festival.
Averse to answers
STREWTH likes to shine a light on opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison from time to time, not least for his role as then Tourism Australia chief in launching the “Where the bloody hell are you?” campaign.
Crazy about Rick
IN a wide-ranging speech on gay rights at the Queensland University of Technology yesterday, retired High Court judge Michael Kirby referenced political luminaries such as South African archbishop Desmond Tutu and ALP leader H.V. Evatt.
Scum to a point
MANY are frustrated with the result of the Tasmanian election, but none more so than the national secretary of the Australian Workers Union, the normally mild-mannered, softly spoken refugee-hugger Paul Howes, who yesterday posted on his Twitter page: “Tas Greens = Scum”.
Mal-function?
WHEN Malcolm Turnbull used Twitter to pull the pin on his political career yesterday, he provided a link that directed his followers to a possibly symbolic message: “Service Temporarily Unavailable – The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.”
Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/strewth/page/124