Rudd's funnies

WE may never know what triggered it, but Kevin Rudd was well and truly back in comedy mode during a press conference yesterday:

WE may never know what triggered it - perhaps a strange internal reaction to Victorian Premier John Brumby's dissident speech to the National Press Club in Canberra, or perhaps it was standing in proximity to another Labor premier he seems to take similar delight in, NSW's Kristina Keneally - but Kevin Rudd was well and truly back in comedy mode during a press conference yesterday:

Rudd "OK, folks, if you've got nothing more I'm going to rock and roll, and . . ."

Journo: "One more question. Sorry to interrupt."

Rudd: "OK, as long as it's a good one."

Journo: "Here we go!"

Rudd: "I'm worried now."

And then there was his closing line: "Having said that, I've got to zip and I'm sure you're going to be very nice to the Premier." We're hoping the PM starts turning up at his press conferences with a cane and straw boater. All in all, he was nearly as funny as the one and only (we hope) Roger Rogerson, who was helpfully blogging for Sydney's The Daily Telegraph yesterday on the subject of Underbelly 3. Quoth the man known as the Dodger: "While Underbelly is entertaining, it's already twisted the truth too far."

Paid to listen

DURING Brumby's address at the National Press Club, the ABC's camera panned to an audience shot just as the Victorian Premier was talking about his own experience in the hospital system with his sick daughter. The camera lingered on former Melbourne Herald Sun journalist Jason Frenkel, who nodded sagely and sympathetically for quite some time, smiling slightly but clearly taking to heart every word Brumby was saying. It's not surprising really, Frenkel, who now works for Victorian Health Minister Daniel Andrews, was yesterday toiling temporarily for Brumby.

Rashly speaking

THERE was some very sage advice on offer the other morning from United Retail Federation chief Scott Driscoll, when he appeared on Sunrise to discuss the case of a Coles employee sacked for posting something rash on Facebook, namely disparaging comments about a colleague. Said Driscoll, "The issue of taking the dirty laundry out and airing it to the worldwide web is something that a lot of employers are going to start to become more and more aware of that they're susceptible to . . . I think one of the things that every employer should do is have a positive usage policy for any social networking sites . . . I think it's something that would be best practice for all." So who recently posted on his Facebook page these less than completely positive thoughts about federal Small Business Minister Craig Emerson?: "Has he put another rinse through the wig?", and "Well I guess in reality Emmo isn't really that safe . . . He still insists on speaking, so those people who just thought he was a bit of a drip are then left without any doubt." Step forward . . . Scott Driscoll.

What really matters

THE sense of triumph at Aunty at having snagged an interview with US President Barack Obama is understandable, but we did wonder about a tweet from their North American correspondent, Lisa Millar: "Quiet relief that Prez O heads to funeral in Poland on Sat and not earlier given he has an appointment with Kerry O'Brien!" Phew for that. Just as well the Poles didn't crash a day earlier or it could have really buggered things up for Aunty.

Tweet nothings

WHILE Queensland Premier Anna Bligh follows Joe Hockey down the humble path of asking for advice on Twitter ("To tell me your thoughts on vote on daylight saving for SEQ only - please use #daylight - thanks, Anna"), her West Australian counterpart, Colin Barnett, is trying the non-humble approach. Barnett is in the US, where he is promoting investment in WA, as well as taking a little time out to also promote himself. We tender this moment from his speech to oil and gas leaders in Texas, when he discussed China's very profitable appetite for the state's liquefied natural gas: "It all began with a visit to WA by Chinese vice-premier Zhu Rongji in 1997. On a trip to the Pilbara mines it was clear his interest was only in iron ore. On the return flight I talked him into doing a low-altitude figure 8 over the North-West Shelf project. That was the start of China's interest in LNG."

It's theirs now

THE Liberal Party appears to have taken another leaf out of the Rudd government's book. Following on from the success of the MySchool website, the Prime Minister's health reform plans promise enough data for the public to scrutinise their local hospital in the same manner. Interesting, then, that in an election year, and with health a big issue, the domain name www.myhospital.com.au has been registered by the Liberal Party.

Spell it out

WE suppose it was an inevitable part of the advent of the Building the Education Revolution Taskforce, but Sesame Street-loving Airlie Beach reader "Cap'n" Dan Van Blarcom has suggested that given we now have a BERT, we need an ERNIE, too. Writes the Cap'n: "So, how about Education Revolution National Inquiry on Expenditure? Or perhaps the more appropriately mind numbing, Education Revolution National Inquiry Enumerate?"