Meanwhile, in Victoria: Pell at commission, Andrews on East West Link, footy is back

Pell ‘on show’ at commission, Andrews pressed on East West Link, the return of footy, and lunching with the Lord Mayor.

Cardinal George Pell leaves the Hotel Quirinale in Rome at 3am after giving evidence to the royal commission via video link. Picture: Ella Pellegrini

It is 15,974km from Rome to Melbourne but Cardinal George Pell might easily have been giving evidence from the front bar of Young and Jackson’s opposite Flinders Street Station.

On show, if that’s how you would describe it, was a razor sharp and candid former Archbishop of Melbourne.

At times the cardinal seemed better prepared than the commission.

Pell’s testimony: day one

Yet it will be the answers that matter most.

The commission has been circling the cardinal like a couple of kelpies in the back paddock.

It spent most of today’s evidence building on the concept of priestly gossip and what the cardinal knew — and when.

It traversed the cardinal’s first appointment at Swan Hill on the Murray River, discussed offending a couple of hundred kilometres downstream at Mildura and then at Ballarat in central Victoria.

The cardinal dispelled all fears of his video evidence in Rome being a whitewash.

What he did do, though, is give the commission plenty of ammunition, as Dan Box reported from the inquiry’s home base in Sydney.

The cardinal showed knowledge from more than 40 years ago that he suspected some offending in the Diocese of Ballarat.

In fact, he knew of significant rumours and the odd report of wrongdoing during his early years as a priest.

The question will be whether the commission believes he should have done more than he did to help cut it out.

Andrews on commercial radio

It’s no secret that Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has been struggling in recent weeks, months even.

Premier Daniel Andrews.

His government has started to look decidedly messy.

On Spring Street, it’s also no secret that Andrews has a big problem with getting his message through to the commercial media.

So there he was on Gold 104.3 this morning chatting and laughing his way through a bunch of questions jammed between Simon and Garfield and the Beatles or whatever was being played.

But credit where it’s due, the DJs did ask about East West Link and whether it would get the go-ahead by Infrastructure Victoria, the independent body that seems to think

the road might be a good idea.

Andrews played Switzerland on the issue, declaring that independent bodies tend to be independent.

Then again, he is the bloke who threw more than $1 billion away when he junked the road project after winning office in 2014.

As he was speaking, the traffic was jammed all across Melbourne. Nice one, Premier.

Footy is back

Well, almost.

The Bombers defeated Carlton on Sunday.

It’s still the pre-season competition but cricket is dead.

It’s no secret that Essendon Football Club has been in a world of pain for years.

So there has been more than a little bit of premature jubilation from the boys from Windy Hill.

The Bombers defeated cellar dwellers Carlton by 10 goals on Sunday, notwithstanding a gutted side due to the drug scandal.

The Carlton-Essendon thing is possibly the fiercest rivalry in football.

This has a bit to do with politics.

Carlton has had former prime ministers — Malcolm Fraser and Sir Robert Menzies — as number one ticket holders.

Essendon likes to think of itself as the Toorak of the north. It isn’t. There is only one Toorak.

The modern rivalry intensified on September 18, 1999, when Carlton defeated Essendon at the last gasp to block the Bombers’ run to the flag.

On the same day, Jeff Kennett was ousted from office.

It was a big day.

On the sauce

Lord Mayor Robert Doyle was fighting off allegations at the weekend that he has (improperly) used the council credit card for private use.

Lord Mayor Robert Doyle. Picture: Jason Edwards

Here is a declaration.

Your correspondent has been known to lunch with the Lord Mayor from time to time, almost collapsing after one bill from Lupino, a lovely little Italian restaurant near Town Hall.

The bill, paid for by a (generous) previous employer of mine, went into the many hundreds of dollars.

Doyley has done a great job as Lord Mayor and it’s fair to say that he has done his best to pump prime the local restaurant and bar industry.

But it’s always a bad look when the public purse is seen to fund private expenses.