Olympian foes

THERE was a delicious moment in the history of sport yesterday when the tsar of Sydney morning radio, Alan Jones, introduced Australian Olympic Committee chairman John Coates to the stage at a breakfast to mark the 10th anniversary of the greatest-ever Olympics.

THERE was a delicious moment in the history of sport yesterday when the tsar of Sydney morning radio, Alan Jones, introduced Australian Olympic Committee chairman John Coates to the stage at a breakfast to mark the 10th anniversary of the greatest-ever Olympics.

Strewth hears that Jones and Coates have not yet put to bed their bitter court battle stemming from comments Jones made about Coates on 2GB in the aftermath of the Sally Robbins Olympic rowing debacle. Yesterday, Jones came to praise Coates, not to bury the Olympic emperor, and Coates thanked his adversary for his generous words. Jones accepted the gig to MC yesterday's breakfast because he was a big fan of the guest speaker, dual Olympic 1500m champion Sebastian Coe, who skited he'd never lost to an Australian. Jones chatted to Ian Thorpe, Catherine Freeman and Susie O'Neill about their Sydney memories and extracted $10,000 from Frank Lowy, who bought a signed flag in the charity auction. One guest told Strewth the sight of Jones and Coates smiling together showed they had settled their differences, but another observed there wasn't a black hole big enough.

Plenty to speak of

INDEPENDENT MP Rob Oakeshott wants to be Speaker of the House of Representatives, a post that carries significant power. Indeed, the speakership comes with more power in the house than a prime minister can muster, which is something any MP thinking of nominating Oakeshott should bear in mind. The Speaker is outranked in the order of precedence only by the president of the Senate and the Governor-General. So what else does this garrulous and indecisive bloke want from the job? There's the handy 75 per cent loading on his base salary of $136,000, for a start. Then there are the Speaker's chambers, which include a reception area, staff offices and the Speaker's vast office furnished with fine art, a beautifully upholstered suite with formal sitting room, dining room and kitchen. Oh yes, and there's the Speaker's courtyard adorned with maples, azaleas and camellias.

Paid as you go

IT pays to be sacked by the NSW government, judging from budget estimates hearings this week. John Lee, who was head of the Department of Premier and Cabinet under Nathan Rees for 14 months until he was sacked by Kristina Keneally, got a payout of $363,770. He was on a salary of $495,000. Robyn Kruk, who was head of the department in Morris Iemma's time as premier but didn't get along with Rees, received a payout of $373,965 in October 2008. Kruk is now head of the federal Department of Environment, in which capacity she told a Senate committee in February, "the [roof insulation] strategies were put in place in an industry that has inherent risk". Last year, Graeme Wedderburn, Rees's chief of staff, was given a healthy payout of nearly $100,000 after serving 10 months in the job before also being sacked by Keneally. We've lost count of the number of ministers and other Labor MPs who have departed since Keneally became Premier.

Tweety bye

IN South Australia, politicians and journalists are worried about Premier Mike Rann because he has not tweeted for two whole days, which may well be a record. He tweeted with his usual vim when on a recent trip to India, so Adelaide hacks can only assume he has got the hump because of a certain budget leak and has taken a vow of ether silence. That's the theory of opposition finance spokesman Rob Lucas.

Freedom of espresso

MEANWHILE, the SA parliament has taken two years to change its preferred brand of coffee. House of Assembly Speaker Lyn Breuer compares the decision to switch to Fairtrade certified coffee (that is, coffee grown in developing countries according to fair trade principles) along with other SA achievements such as being the first parliament to allow the election of women. "The South Australian parliament has often taken a leadership role on issues that really matter," Breuer says. President of the Legislative Council Bob Sneath concurs. The woman who kicked off this historic move was MP Steph Key, who raised the issue in September 2008. Another MP, Ian Hunter, is right behind the initiative. "The challenge has now been set for other Australian parliaments to follow South Australia's lead," Hunter says. He says federal parliament could follow SA's brave lead. But Strewth thinks if Rob Oakeshott is Speaker, the decision could take a lot longer than two years.

Up to speed

INDIAN security authorities made a breakthrough in their efforts to thwart potential terrorist attacks during next month's Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. India's Supreme Court has approved a request to dispense with the 40km/h speed limit for buses so it will be harder for terrorists to hit a speeding target.

On the money

BROADBAND Minister Stephen Conroy has started a sweep on the number of times in the next 90 days Malcolm Turnbull will be on page 1 of The Australian attacking the National Broadband Network.