Strewth: On mic matters

As part of his program to make Fridays more exciting for journalists, the Immigration Minister cracked a joke.

As part of his program to make Fridays more exciting for journalists, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton cracked a joke yesterday. To say the joke (about time not mattering when rising seawater is lapping at one’s door) was not a good one would be to miss the point, namely that: DUTTON CRACKED A JOKE. While Tony Abbott laughed the encouraging laugh of someone trying to foster a friend’s nascent skill, it was Scott Morrison who noticed the boom microphone hovering traitorously over their heads and, with the look of a man only too aware of how dangerously premature it was for Dutton’s still shaky new power to be revealed to the world, quietly mentioned it. The smiles evaporated like snowflakes that have mysteriously found their way on to a lava flow, but Dutton’s under way and the future is bright with promise.

On the beach

The cover of The Weekend Australian Magazine today features NSW Premier Mike Baird in a wetsuit, holding a surfboard. We ran it on Twitter with a photo of Christopher Pyne (which has run in Strewth) similarly accoutred, and asked: Who wore it better? There was strong early support from federal government whip Andrew Nikolic: “You’ve got to go with the most natural, surfer look. My colleague C. Pyne wins hands down!” (“You are right of course — again,” Pyne replied.) By last night, Pyne had pulled ahead in the votes.

Beer we go again

Like the space shuttle, Albo corn ale is designed for multiple launches — and, with an alcohol content of 5.7 per cent, to put you into orbit as well. The beer, brewed by inner Sydney’s Willie the Boatman and named after Anthony Albanese, had launch No 2 this week at King O’Malley’s pub in Canberra. The formalities didn’t get under way until 8.30pm, a couple of hours after a live cross to the Ten Network’s The Project. “You can pick the ones who were here early for the live cross: they’re the ones slumped in the corner,” Albo observed to the crowd. Then, in a reverse swords-to-ploughshares moment, he fashioned the ale into a club. “It’s not some wussy Greens-type beer. They’d want it to be no alcohol in my area. It’s on tap now in 20 bars, many in my electorate. It’s the Greens’ worst nightmare. ” The ale hit the spot for everyone there except the Guardian Australia’s Katharine Murphy.

Shark and awe

Given the recent spate of shark attacks, we were taken aback to find this among the events listed for Sydney’s Art & About festival: “Golden Age Cinema & Bar takes you into the depths of the Andrew (Boy) Charlton pool for a thrilling harbourside screening of Jaws.” Its screening in January should coincide with the peak of bull shark activity.

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