Political bite-sized meaty chunks
Bloody students ... Priorities, priorities ... Spotlight on the spooks ... More NSW Liberal preselection fun ... Courier-Mail or Labor Herald?
Bloody students. The antics of the hard right kiddies of the Melbourne University Liberal Club seem set to embarrass a whole range of MPs. Sophie Mirabella is in the front line, but the children are always in and out of the offices of Tony Smith and Mitch Fifield. Fifield takes a particularly paternal interest in the Liberal Club, recently hosting a do for them at his office and attending a 21st with the little darlings.
Priorities, priorities. The Brisbane Broncos are playing the ARL final series on Saturday night – so that means no election coverage on Channel Nine. Indeed, you've got to wonder how long people will stay tuned into the ABC's coverage as yet another win for Labor firms.
Spotlight on the spooks. Former senior Office of National Assessments officer and Greens candidate for Bennelong at the last election, Andrew Wilkie, returns to the public spotlight at the end of the month in his adoptive state of Tasmania. He's the star turn at the Whistleblowers Tasmania forum on the politicisation of Australia's security services. And the low level murmuring from down south still rumbles on. Will Wilkie be a candidate come next year's poll?
More NSW Liberal preselection fun. More fun and games for North Shore Liberals. Former lawyer and North Sydney councillor Jonathan O'Dea is believed to have nominated against sitting Davidson MP Andrew Humpherson.
Courier Mail or Labor Herald? The Queensland poll is just days away – and there's serious concern about the Courier-Mail's campaign coverage. Politics has been a murky game up north for decades. People have long memories. And a 1996 yarn that mentions a donation to the ALP by the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance is being cited. Why? The union president was David Fagan – the Courier-Mail's editor. The money came from the union's Actors' Equity Section. But it's a sensitive sore in the Sunshine State this week. Stay tuned for more.