Carefree G-G

AS she prepared to have an honorary doctorate in law bestowed on her by the University of Sydney yesterday, Governor-General Quentin Bryce got to indulge in the finest academic tradition: donning a silly hat and a gown that made her look like a sort of Bauhaus Santa Claus.

AS she prepared to have an honorary doctorate in law bestowed on her by the University of Sydney yesterday, Governor-General Quentin Bryce got to indulge in the finest academic tradition: donning a silly hat and a gown that made her look like a sort of Bauhaus Santa Claus.

With the university's multi-tasking chancellor, NSW Governor Marie Bashir, watching from a wooden throne, Bryce addressed the mortar-boarded graduands before her. During her speech, there was an almighty rumble of thunder from above, but it came during a completely innocuous moment ("I can remember feeling a carefree, naive sort of hope when I graduated in law 45 years ago"), which left Strewth a little empty-handed. (We had been hoping to make a tenuous crack about divine censorship, such as the moment yesterday when Tony Abbott's mobile cut out the moment he started bagging Kevin Rudd during a radio interview.) Still, it was charming and the G-G was well and truly acknowledged, unlike last weekend when she visited the Northern Territory's Melville Island to open Tiwi College. One of the speeches on the day was given by local federal member and Indigenous Health Minister Warren Snowdon, whom we hear never quite got around to acknowledging Bryce. We're sure this was simply an oversight and not at all an indication of (a) poor manners on Snowdon's part, (b) lack of enthusiasm from Canberra for Tiwi College, which was started by Howard government indigenous affairs minister Mal Brough, or (c) a cooling in relations between Snowdon's boss and the G-G.

He'll drink to that

STILL in NSW, whatever else might be said about former transport minister David Campbell and the damage he has done to his own family, he broke no rules and as he drove away from that gay sauna in his ministerial car, he wasn't in any particular danger of hitting anyone and killing them, a point we're sure the man who greenlighted the gotcha story on Campbell - Seven Network news director and convicted serial drink driver Peter Meakin - would agree.

Mixed message

FROM our special He Probably Meant To Say Something Else But We Can't Be Entirely Sure Department comes this missive from former Queensland premier turned state trade commissioner to the Americas, Peter Beattie: "The announcement by the Premier [Anna Bligh] yesterday of an Australian first: $250 million biotechnology fund to drive innovation out of Queensland is a significant advancement for the biotechnology industry for Australia, not just Queensland." It's amusing, until you consider the possibility he really does intend to drive out innovation; we're not convinced "Queensland - The Luddite State" would look so hot as the state's slogan on numberplates.

In Rudd's place

YESTERDAY marked the second week in a row where Kevin Rudd didn't appear on Sunrise. In his place, amusingly enough, they had Herald Sun columnist Rebecca Wilson, whose diatribe against the PM the day before was so pungent, it made even the pointed efforts of The Daily Telegraph's Piers Akerman look like delicate exercises in fence-sitting.

In the pipeline

THE Rann government has been quiet since it was re-elected in March. Premier Mike Rann is rarely seen in public and it has been weeks since he held a press conference. Treasurer Kevin Foley has retreated to the bunker after making confused noises over funding for an Adelaide Oval upgrade. But it seems other members of cabinet are desperate to look as if the government is doing something and new Water Minister Paul Caica takes the cake. The government's first press release yesterday was from Caica's office, spruiking how SA Water was "lifting the lid on the history of toilets" with an event for the community to learn what happened before sewers were invented. Which we suppose leaves SA politics at flushpoint.

Get one free

NICE to see Miranda Kerr offering romance tips to website askmen.com. We were particularly taken with tip No 1, which was "Pamper her - Every woman loves to be pampered once in a while. Buy her organic products that are healthy and that she can use to give back to her body." This is followed by the helpful note, "Want Love Guaranteed? Miranda has created the KORA Organics 'Love Guaranteed' pack as a simple love solution for men wanting to pamper their partners. Buy it at www.koraskincare.com to practice her romance tips at home." If nothing else, it makes us realise that product placement in Strewth is way too subtle.

Waste of shame

EVERYONE'S a critic. Yesterday, we got stuck for a moment behind a truck laden with garbage and this slogan painted prominently on the back": "Tanner, Swann [sic], Gillard, Rudd - the ministry for waste and then some . . ." Thinking the Liberal Party might be expanding its fleet of message trucks, we hunted in vain for a party logo; this one appeared to be a freelance job.