Strewth: Fishing frenzy

Bill Shorten was, quite literally, fishing for votes in Tasmania yesterday after getting some advice from an old mate.

Bill Shorten was, quite literally, fishing for votes in Tasmania yesterday after getting some advice from an old mate. The Opposition Leader unveiled a $10 million fishing infrastructure fund in his bid to get former MP, and former dual citizen, Justine Keay back into parliament. Clearly the voters of Braddon don’t want to stop the boats. But which famous Tasmanian did Shorten turn to for advice on the proposed fund? “I speak to Brant Webb a fair bit, and I don’t know if he’s one of Tasmania’s most famous fisherman but (he’s) certainly one of the most determined,” Shorten told reporters. “He loves his boating … I rang him for his view.” Webb, of course, is one of the men saved in the 2006 Beaconsfield mine disaster. The same event that made Shorten, as the voice of the unions, famous. Good way to remind Tasmanians that the Labor leader was once a hero there? Shorten certainly reckons so. “(Webb is) famous for surviving the Beaconsfield mine disaster obviously,” he said.

Mates Brant Webb and Bill Shorten.

Flopping about

Jobs? Growth? No, Malcolm Turnbull’s favourite new word is “flop”. The Prime Minister was taking aim at Shorten over his position on private health insurance when he used the
F-word in a variety of different ways. “He’s flip-flopped over the GST, and he’s flip-flopped over health premiums,” Turnbull told reporters in Melbourne. “Is he limbering up for another backflip? Or is it a belly flop?” Strewth thoroughly condemns the Prime Minister for the crime of putting the image of Shorten’s belly, flopping or not, into our minds.

Hunt v Faine

Health Minister Greg Hunt spent yesterday telling people the My Health Record website doesn’t completely suck. Alas, ABC radio’s Jon Faine had to break it to him gently. “OK. I’ve got really bad news for you, minister,” the Melbourne radio veteran said. “We’ve just tried, while you’ve been speaking, to engage with myhealthrecord .gov.au in order to log on, in order to see how you opt out, and we’ve got an error message.” Hunt offered to get the Digital Health Agency to help the poor producer out after the show. Faine declined the kind offer: “Here’s the minister live to air saying anyone can do it at any time. So my producer puts it to the test and gets an error message saying ‘unable to perform’.”

Why oh why

The Australian Financial Review was full of whys yesterday. “Why embattled AMP is down but not out,” read one headline. “Why hurricanes are boosting returns for $80b MLC super,” read another. “Why Australian gold stocks are outshining their offshore rivals.” “Why Ramsay wants European rival Capio.” As The Australian’s Michael Roddan asked online: “Why(!) Have all the headline writers gone on holidays.”

Oz goes bush capital

This august organ is taking over the Canberra Writers Festival. Fans of The Australian will get to see superb Strewth chief James Jeffrey and sensational social affairs writer Rick Morton on stage together on August 26. They’ll be chatting about life, love and their marvellous new memoirs, My Family and Other Animus and One Hundred Years of Dirt. The festival has labelled James and Rick “the terrible twins of Australian journalism”. Twitter rushed to compare them to Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito in Twins, but we reckon they’re more like those wee girls in The Shining. Also on August 26, associate editor Chris Kenny will do almighty battle with Fairfax reporter, and his real-life cousin, Mark Kenny in “Good Kenny, Bad Kenny”. Sources close to the festival say our Chris is definitely the Good Kenny.

Helsinki’s head

The world will spend the week mulling over Vladimir Putin’s meeting with Donald Trump in Helsinki. But the mayor of Finland’s capital may beat even those two in the controversy stakes. Jan Vapaavuori has been convicted of assault, theft and drink driving.