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.

THERE was a fine turnout of women at NSW Parliament House on Wednesday night for the the 17th annual Ernie Awards for sexist remarks.

They booed and hollered at about 120 entries in eight categories and lacerated men from all quarters of society. Mistress of ceremonies Meredith Burgmann noted dryly that Shoppies union boss Joe de Bruyn had been nominated in the first Ernies and was nominated again for the 17th. He should get a lifetime achievement award. Perhaps next year, Joe. All the early favourites - Tony Abbott, Mark Latham, Wilson Tuckey and Bart Cummings - were out-booed. Even Burgmann's favourite for the Elaine, Germaine Greer, was beaten by The Sydney Morning Herald columnist Miranda Devine for her line, "It would have been better for women if feminism had appealed to men's better natures." Tracey Spicer got a modest boo for using the cat-fight analogy when describing a verbal biffo between two women. Julie Bishop's cat's claw gesture in federal parliament got a groan rather than a boo.

Kyle's a winner, too

ENTREATIES not to give radio host Kyle Sandilands more oxygen went unheeded when he easily won the media category for reasons we won't repeat. This bloke is considered to be a future winner of the gold Ernie. ABC chief Mark Scott was jeered for sacking a woman after the all-male Chasers ran foul of everyone. In the clerical-celebrity-culinary category, pastor Danny Nalliah won for suggesting Victoria's bushfires were the "consequences of the abortion laws passed in Victoria". In sport (the Warney), there was intense competition between cricketer Andrew Symonds and several rugby league identities: Paul "Fatty" Vautin, Greg Bird, Paul Gallen, Brett Stewart and others. The winner was Simon Williams, a Newcastle junior, who said of the NRL's sex scandals: "Most of them could have been avoided if they had put them in a cab and said thanks ... not just kicked her out and called her a dirty whatever. It's how you treat them afterwards that can cover a lot of that."

Tough contest for gold

THE golden Ernie was a tooth-and-nail effort involving Nalliah, Williams, South Australian judge David Smith (the technical rape guy), Sandilands, the NSW police and Strathfield councillor Danny Lim, who put a motion that council should buy a sex toy for NSW Fair Trading Minister Virginia Judge. It's Lim's view that buying a vibrator would help to stop Judge "screwing with the people of Strathfield and screw herself instead". Burgmann says golden Ernie winner Lim is a rising political star.

Cultivating a cult?

VISIT South Australian Liberal senator Cory Bernardi's website and you'll be greeted with a face that looks just a bit too eager to please, rather like one of those American tele-evangelists who ooze believe-me credibility built on an intense gaze and a fixed smile. Bernardi's personal site has a link to his official Senate site where you find out he is a Liberal. The personal site tells visitors about Bernardi the action man: former member of the Australian rowing team, publican, investment manager and entrepreneur. For those who wish to join the Cory cult, you can buy a golf shirt ($20.50), a cap ($18), a mug ($13.50) or a fridge magnet ($4.50), each adorned with Bernardi's flowing signature. Strewth wonders whether Malcolm Turnbull might snap up a matching shirt and cap.

Seeking a cashback

WHILE the Productivity Commission tries to soothe outrage over multimillion-dollar executive salaries and bonuses, West Australian Treasurer Troy Buswell is trying to undo a deal he has labelled shocking: the one that poured an extra $100,000a year into the pay packet of Government Employees Superannuation Board chief executive Michele Dolin, despite the fund losing hundreds of millions of dollars from members' nest eggs last year. After a similar pay rise the previous year, Dolin now clocks a base salary of $535,000. It may not compare with the giddy salaries of top executives, but considering that fund members are mostly public servants who have been hammered by Buswell's cost-cutting and restraint, it's a poor look.

Stack on the pounds

HERE'S a sobering number: Britain's debt is rising at pound stg. 6017 ($10,925) a second as tax receipts plummet. State borrowing rose pound stg. 16.1 billion in August.