Political leaders in the grip of grand final fever

It’s that time of the year, and our political leaders have asked Strewth to pass on their tips for the grand finals.

Labor frontbencher Stephen Jones. Supplied

Pollies’ footy tips

The nation’s leaders are all set for the big grand final weekend with Strewth exclusively revealing the big party leaders’ tips for both the AFL and NRL matches. Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten will be on opposing sides at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium on Sunday night with the Prime Minister backing the North Queensland Cowboys and the Opposition Leader staying loyal to his home state’s Melbourne Storm. But both leaders’ offices have told Strewth they’ll be united the day before at the MCG in support for the Richmond Tigers. Greens leader Richard Di Natale will be siding with Shorten on both nights, with the Richmond super-fan attending the AFL grand final as a guest of the footy commission, though he won’t be going to the NRL grand final despite being the Greens’ sports spokesman. Nick Xenophon has declared war on Melbourne with the NXT leader barracking for his home state’s Adelaide Crows on Saturday and the Cowboys on Sunday, but he’ll miss both games as he’ll still be in Hong Kong. One Nation’s Pauline Hanson is a paid-up member of the Cowboys and will be backing them all the way on Sunday, though she won’t be attending. But she was the only federal party leader to not tell Strewth who she would back at Saturday’s AFL match. “She couldn’t pick between them. She wishes both teams all the best,” a spokesman for the One Nation leader said.

Say it like you meme it

You’d think Clive Palmer would be a bit preoccupied with his long-suffering PA Sarah Mole giving evidence in his long-running Queensland Nickel legal battle, but he was too busy posting “dank memes” yesterday. Strewth readers will know Palmer is a big fan of posting dank memes — lame but slightly funny altered images found online — on Twitter along with his remarkable poetry. As Mole was appearing in the witness stand, Palmer let off this masterpiece. “Her: He’s probably thinking about other girls … Him: I wonder what application Clive uses to make his memes.” He posted it with a pic of an unhappy couple in bed. Anything to get his mind off his Interpol-wanted nephew Clive Mensink and the millions he could possibly lose, we guess.

Tamworth tales

You don’t mess with the Tamworth Chamber of Commerce. That’s the reason Barnaby Joyce says he wasn’t at Monday’s gas crisis press conference with the Prime Minister. Joyce is currently acting resources minister but considering, you know, he’s a New Zealander, there are questions on how much he can practically do. Therefore his non-appearance at an important presser on his policy patch duly raised a lot of eyebrows. But never fear, Joyce told the ABC’s Fran Kelly yesterday, he just had something more important to do: “What happened is I had by invite only, my name on the invite to the Tamworth Chamber of Commerce, and they can’t just take my name off the invite.” Well, of course, we’ve only got a gas shortage that is driving the nation to the brink. Luckily Turnbull was totally cool with it. “I said to the PM, ‘PM, mate, my name’s on an invite in Tamworth at lunch time and I’ve got to be there because otherwise people are going to get angry,” he told the ABC. And you wouldn’t want to get the Tamworth Chamber of Commerce angry. They might endorse Tony Windsor at a possible by-election after all.

Fashion smarts

The glamour girls at Monday night’s Brownlows have nothing on Labor frontbencher Stephen Jones, who tweeted this pic of him in a luxurious hospital gown. “This whole cross-dress gender fluid thing has got out of control. You check into hospital for a simple operation and this …” the Labor MP and gay marriage supporter said of his new nightie. Jones was under the scalpel for a minor hernia operation but the shadow regions minister’s spokesman told Strewth he’s already back at work.

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