Big ask on IR: Andrew Robb’s open mike performance on SBS last week – has anyone got an audio file for us? – is fast becoming a cult item. The Liberal’s former federal director and new MP for Goldstein has been put in charge of the backbench committee tasked with flogging IR – but it seems to be an uphill task. He finished an interview on the subject pulling off his headpiece with something like “How are you supposed to answer bloody questions when you have no details!” – looking foul. The tape got a re-run on ABC TV’s Insiders yesterday.

Greens flunk the Mussolini test: Overheard in a Marrickville latte lounge on the weekend “What’s the point of the Greens, the trains will still be sh*t.”

By-election surprise: The Libs might be leaving Labor and the Greens to fight it out in Marrickville, but stand by for a surprise candidate in Macquarie Fields. Liberal leader John Brogden is wooing the whistle blower nurses from the Camden/Campbelltown hospital scandals. One may well be succumbing to his charms. If he woos her, it will be a huge coup.