Barnaby’s priorities: Bush power broker Senator Barnaby Joyce seen hurriedly jumping into a Comcar at the Senate entrance late last night – well and truly past the 7:30pm kick-off for the Coalition’s Black Tie dinner being held at the popular Boat House restaurant. Not a good look turning up late for such an event, especially with the PM there to address the “Coalition.” But Joyce seemed to want to make sure the TV crews waiting by the Senate door didn’t miss any of the pearls of his home-spun wisdom. Or a shot of him getting into a big white car.

First impressions count: Incoming Senator, new shadow minister and former SA Labor deputy leader Annette Hurley has obviously made a big impression on her new boss. At yesterday’s party meeting we gather Kimba welcomed “Anne” to the gathering.

Viva Bris Vegas: Talk of those old Queensland political favourites – envelopes full of cash – are circulating as the Beattie blood-letting by-elections get under way. Some things never change.

Rodents in the ranks: Former Liberal Party office holder Russell Galt has blasted what he calls the secretive and dictatorial operation of the party in Queensland, following his expulsion for public dissent, The Courier Mail reports today. Yet the wider talk in Queensland seems to be on the Khemlani fund-raiser that was discussed at the recent Liberal show trials. First, there’s Khemlani’s admission that the Welcome to the Springboks do was a fund-raiser. Then there’s his claim that the money was lost when a staffer left it on a car roof. Is he now demanding royalties from Ford or their ad agency, Queensland Liberals wags ask. But back to Galt. If his stories of financial assistance from the Queensland Libs controlling faction in his preselection legal tussles are even half true, the question has to be asked – why wasn’t anything offered to the winner (and outsider), Bruce Flegg?

Deathbed chuckles: In a television interview in New Zealand yesterday – maybe his last – the seriously ill former prime minister David Lange offered his summary of PM Helen Clarke. She had, he said, stabilised a multi-member electorate environment that had been collapsing “without once falling prey to the idea that she did so through charm.”

Chilly relations: Is the newly-preselected candidate for the Liberal Party in Mount Waverley, Michael Gidley, starting to feel a slight chill in relations with his new-found chums? The Winter Warm Up planned by the Electorate Council for this coming Saturday to feature the new candidate and smooth down the much publicised preselection tensions has suddenly been cancelled because of a lack of support.