Strewth: PM’s bonce fashion

Scott Morrison turned up in Quilpie in outback Queensland yesterday in a hat that Was Not An Akubra.

Paul Keating in Papua New Guinea in 1995. To be fair to Scott Morrison, this is probably not a look that would work so well in drought-ravaged Queensland.

Scott Morrison turned up in Quilpie in outback Queensland yesterday to check out the drought. Apart from the slight discombobulation that follows a sudden change of prime minister, there was some wonder that he’d turned up in a hat that Was Not An Akubra. Instead his melon was topped with a cap adorned with what at first blush looked like clenched buttocks but on closer inspection proved to be the logo of a surfwear company. All well and good, but we once again point to Paul Keating’s bonce during a 1995 visit to Papua New Guinea. Yes, your eyes may alight on the flowers and the strategically muted shirt, but eventually they’ll be drawn up to that magnificent headwear, an arrangement we previously have described as a cross between a fence and Vlad the Impaler’s toolshed. Those spikes follow you around the room. As for ScoMo, perhaps he was thinking about hats the other day when he said: “The people are going to get back to where they have to have their heads and where they should have their heads and that’s where I’m going to get their heads so we can get on and make this country even greater than it is now.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison (in his Hurley cap) and Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources David Littleproud (on message) during a regional tour in Quilpie yesterday.

Tony gets bolshie

Tony Abbott addressed the Centre for Independent Studies yesterday, when he described Peter Dutton as having been “a most reluctant challenger last week … Just as I was back in 2009”. The CIS shares its initials with the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States. We mention this only as a tenuous link to the fact Abbott also gave a plug to communism, referencing the Vladimir Lenin quote: “Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country.” Abbott’s argument boiled down to: Sure, the commos were bastards, but even they understood the importance of electricity. And no, the Bolsheviks weren’t conspicuously keen on renewables. (For what it’s worth, the transcript of Lenin’s speech notes it was greeted with “stormy and prolonged applause”.)

Apocalypse then

One for the Department of Bad Timing, starring former Howard government minister Gary Nairn. “For many months I had been working with the Prime Minister’s office regarding the drought resilience work we are doing at the Mulloon Institute just east of Canberra,” he tells Strewth. “Finally a couple of months ago a date was set for the PM, the Agriculture Minister and the Assistant Environment Minister along with key advisers to come on site from 2pm till 4pm to see physically our work plus be given a presentation on a comprehensive policy to repair and rehydrate landscapes to better prepare for future drought conditions, that is, making farmers more resilient. You guessed it, they were to be there last Friday!” Bugger. Nairn hopes it gets rescheduled ASAP.

Ambulance ambience

While the ordure was hitting the ventilation in Parliament House on Friday (or for those who prefer their phrasing blunt: while the Liberals staged their partyroom meeting), we missed the presser Bill Shorten and Tanya Plibersek cheekily staged to coincide with it. It featured our esteemed colleague Stephen Fitzpatrick asking: “What about the question of Peter Dutton’s eligibility to sit in the Parliament under section 44? Should that be tested in the High Court? Is the Solicitor-General’s advice adequate to not have to deal with that question?” The wailing of an ambulance siren then filled the air. “A metaphor?” Fitz added as this medical-themed cacophony continued. Shorten won the battle to keep a straight face.

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