Strewth: Loose threads

Treasurer Scott Morrison was having a chinwag with Radio National’s Fran Kelly.

When not shoehorned into Melbourne’s Sofitel on Collins with his half his colleagues for a press conference that looked like one of those world record attempts involving a crowd in a phone box, Treasurer Scott Morrison was having a chinwag with Radio National’s Fran Kelly. During this interview he said “going forward” so often, it started to feel like homage to Julia Gillard’s “moving forward”. Not that Moz was being stingy with the surprises. He also turned his attention to fashion: “Bill Shorten is up there in his ill-fitting suit, puffing his chest up and saying we need to thump the table.” While this surprise sartorial moment prompted a swelling of outrage, we’d like to imagine that in a tastefully appointed room in Sydney’s Potts Point, Paul Keating stirred in his finely tailored Zegna threads and quietly murmured, “Maybe there’s some hope for the boofheads yet.”

Wardrobe and peace

While Moz’s suit thoughts got some thinking about that jolly time British PM and swine buff David Cameron advised Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to wear a “proper suit”, nothing that was said on the political fashion front yesterday came close to that fateful day in May last year when Strewth quizzed Bob Katter about his and Greens leader’s shared penchant for waistcoats. And we quote once more: “I wear a waistcoat because as often as not my shirts are crushed. I doubt whether any Green has even made it to Kyneton to have crushed clothing problems. Also because James Garner looked pretty good in a waistcoat in Maverick. But I don’t think any Greens would aspire to be gunslingers. As far as I’m concerned, Greens are what you eat with a good rump steak. And it’s the colour of envy, their philosophical base. In economics it irritates me no end having to share the extreme Left with the Greens. But I’m sure they’re not real happy with the sleeping arrangements either.” Unquote.

Or, in other words

Meanwhile Malcolm Turnbull covered 3AW, talking with Neil Mitchell. The encounter concluded with this from Mitchell: “I was talking to your old mate Tony Abbott who is out on his bike yesterday and he sort of left the door open to a return to the frontbench if you wanted him. Any chance? After the election?” Possibly wishing to bolster his reputation for being the verbal equivalent of Niagara Falls, the PM spent 149 words essentially saying, “Not really.”

The Bob & Tom show

We felt a tingle learning our friend, colleague and Whole Wild World author Tom Dusevic will soon be sharing a stage with former NSW premier Bob Carr at the University of Sydney. Strewth has always got a kick out of this sledge Carr offered years back on his Thoughtlines blog: “ Tom Dusevic is a journalist I’ve taken issue with before. I had to rebuke him when he was at The (Australian) Financial Review ...” And let’s never forget what it meant for Carr to take issue with the AFR. Exhibit A: his splendidly miffed letter to the AFR in 2010: “Just as well Australia has tough gun laws. Without them I would have been in The Australian Financial Review office to take my revenge.” Still, plenty of water under the bridge since then.