Salad days settled

FEDERAL Sport Minister Kate Ellis, who had a long stint as a student at Adelaide's Flinders University without quite managing to snare a degree, first became interested in politics when government higher education funding was slashed and students started racking up impressive Higher Education Contribution Scheme debts.

FEDERAL Sport Minister Kate Ellis, who had a long stint as a student at Adelaide's Flinders University without quite managing to snare a degree, first became interested in politics when government higher education funding was slashed and students started racking up impressive Higher Education Contribution Scheme debts.

Ellis became editor of the student newspaper, then president of the students association before working for a couple of South Australian pollies and standing for the federal seat of Adelaide. She became the youngest woman to be elected to federal parliament when she won in 2004. Now one of Kevin Rudd's favourite frontbenchers, Ellis is in the serious salary league and, being single, has ample disposable income. Strewth is reliably informed that recently she put some of her excess pelf to use and paid off her HECS debt. Unfortunately, many other former university students have not followed her example and the combined HECS debt across the country is in excess of $12 billion.

No bang, no whimper

DESPITE all the bluff and filibuster during the past few weeks from former Queensland Liberals, such as former Howard government minister Mal Brough, angry that they were being merged into the new Liberal National Party, not one bothered to object to the formal deregistration of the Queensland division of the Liberal Party. With the LNP already registered in Queensland, and ratified by federal Liberals and Nationals, the Electoral Commission of Queensland has advised Strewth that the Liberals' Queensland division and the Queensland Nationals have been deregistered without so much as a second thought, given no one stepped forward calling for the separate parties to be retained.

Waving in the dark

OPERA Australia's Richard Hickox has come under fire as of late, accused by certain of the company's more disgruntled singers of favouritism and declining musical standards. So it was interesting to note that the beleaguered music director was met with rousing applause when he took up the baton to conduct Tuesday night's premiere performance of Leos Janacek's The Makropoulos Secret at the Sydney Opera House. For all the moral support, however, Hickox nonetheless was forced to call a halt to proceedings when the stage lights went out halfway through the first act, leaving the incomparable Cheryl Barker stranded in the spotlight centre stage. "I'm sorry," Hickox said, silencing the orchestra. "The lights have gone completely out." The audience, which included opera fanatics Bronwyn Bishop and Bruce Beresford, waited as the cast retook their places and had another crack at the scene. Strewth is happy to report that the rest of the production went off without a hitch and, under the direction of Neil Armfield, turned out to be a triumph.

Missed kisses

WHAT a pity Australia Post was so speedy in choosing the images of the Manly Sea Eagles rugby league team to adorn the souvenir stamp sheet it released yesterday to celebrate the team's NRL premiership win on Sunday. The stamps feature images of post-match celebrations at the Olympic stadium, with the team logo and the 40-0 scoreline, all set in the club's maroon and white colours. Australia Post philatelic group manager Noel Leahy says the stamp sheets are a unique way for Manly fans to celebrate the club's first premiership since 1996. "Fans will be able to relive the victorious moment with the souvenir sheets," Leahy says. But had Australia Post waited for just a couple of days, Manly fans -- and sports fans across the world -- could have decorated their letters with images such as that of boofy players Anthony Watmough and David Williams exchanging big sloppy kisses at the continuing beachside celebrations.

Well-deserved loss

FRENCH film legend turned animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot has taken a swipe at Sarah Palin, saying the US vice-presidential candidate is a disgrace to women. "I hope you lose these elections because that would be a victory for the world," Bardot wrote in an open letter to Republican John McCain's running mate. "By denying the responsibility of man in global warming, by advocating gun rights and making statements that are disconcertingly stupid, you are a disgrace to women and you alone represent a terrible threat, a true environmental catastrophe," wrote Bardot.

[e-mail]