Premier’s tough talk
LANGUAGE commissar NSW Premier Nathan Rees has already been commended for practising what he expects of public servants: “I want plain English.”
Strewth
Grotty greenie revenge
IF there’s one thing Tasmanian loggers hate more than a greenie, it’s a grotty greenie. Damn them and their aesthetically displeasing means of protest!
Kick back in Canberra
IT could have been the game of the year yesterday when the NSW parliamentary press gallery was due to have its annual soccer match in Sydney’s Domain.
Bovine empathy
LIBERAL senator Bill Heffernan is not just an eccentric farmer with a taste for bizarre behaviour, he’s a frustrated scientist only too happy to show off his eclectic knowledge.
Trioli makes a point
FOR the record, Barnaby Joyce reckons ABC2’s Virginia Trioli may have had a case yesterday when she pulled a face and used the universal twirly finger gesture to suggest he was crazy.
Negatives never late
FOR a brief moment yesterday, the Coalition’s joint partyroom meeting on the ETS looked in danger of losing its sparkle when Barnaby Joyce missed his plane to Canberra.
Name-dropping PM
KEVIN Rudd’s powers of persuasion are such that if he decides your name is something other than what your mum and dad popped on your birth certificate, so be it.
Rock and a hard place
IT’S heartening to see The Australian’s eternal quest to expand its readership is paying off.
In at the deep end
GOLD medals weren’t the only thing on 15-year-old Shane Gould’s mind at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Tuckey’s mute point
AS the poll numbers finally shone a bit for Malcolm Turnbull, Strewth braced itself for the all but inevitable publicity-stealing contribution from Wilson Tuckey.
Prose and cons
AFTER much reflection, Malcolm Turnbull has decided that “anonymous smartarses” wasn’t a great turn of phrase to use about his colleagues.
K for kiss of death
WHO needs enemies when they’ve got a fan like Kevin Rudd?
Just married … or not
THE disintegration of Greg Norman and Chris Evert’s marriage has prompted a number of spectacles, not least the previous Mrs Norman – Laura Andrassy – bursting out of the blocks to say “Mwahahahaha!”, or something along those lines.
Bruised but unbowed
MIKE Rann was not about to offer any sound bites yesterday on what it was like to be bashed across the head with a magazine during a $600-a-head Premier and cabinet dinner.
No match for Miranda
THERE was a fine turnout of women at NSW Parliament House on Wednesday night for the the 17th annual Ernie Awards for sexist remarks.
Lette it bleed
AUTHOR Kathy Lette has come a long way from her roots in Sydney’s southern beachside wonderland, the Shire.
Scam within a scam
IT was classic yarn about how quick we are to swallow complete bollocks. “Pssst! Have you heard the one about Captain Cook and his three wives?” read the story.
He lives to write again
PROFESSIONAL dandy and MasterChef critic Matt Preston must have a strong stomach.
Lowe blow to history
IF any Australian recognises the name Robert Lowe, it’s probably because they are thinking of the Hollywood actor.
A contest at last
THERE hasn’t been anything as unseemly as a local government election stoush in the snobby shire of Peppermint Grove for 14 years.
Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/strewth/page/129