Khemlani’s constituency: Our friend Khemlani has had a couple of
dixers this week as he asked for information on behalf of his
constituency, like this question yesterday to Ian Macfarlane: “I have
an important question for the Minister for Industry, Tourism and
Resources. Would the minister outline to the Ryan electorate and the
parliament the latest findings on Australia’s business innovation
performance?” Hansard doesn’t record it, but there was a nice
interjection from the Labor benches: “And to the preselectors of Hong
Kong.”

Odd on: Bryan Palmer of the Oz Politics Blog
has done his usual thorough breakdown of the bookies’ odds on who will
lead the Liberal Party – and, interestingly, “anyone else” is currently
running at shorter odds than Alexander Downer.

Poetry Corner: It’s not online, but get your hands on a copy of the Herald Sun
so you can read Dana Vale’s ode to Anzac Day at Gallipoli, as tabled in
Parliament yesterday: “The new day hung in rising diaphanous mists in
the eastern sky and slowly revealed a limpid Aegean. The soft morning
glowed, and lit the watery wafts with the promise of an Anzac sunrise.
If you are very still you can see the men, the brave young men, piling
out, spilling out, into the sea, some to disappear forever. If you can
quieten your heartbeat, you can hear the deathly sounds of gunfire
exploding all around.”

Literary award: Congratulations to our friend and former ambassador Tony Kevin for winning the 2005 ACT Book of the Year Award for A Certain Maritime Incident – The Sinking of SIEV X.

More matters literary:
Was Dick Adams, the Member for Lyons, really reading the Eros
Foundation magazine – filled with soft p*rn images and s*x shop adverts
– in the Chair while acting as Deputy Speaker late on Wednesday? We
know the nights can get lonely in Canberra, but…

Health care: Yes, the Telegraph’s story
about Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone handing out vitamin B shots
to her staff to help them conquer hangovers is true. But in the past
they weren’t just restricted to Christmas time.

Speaking of Christmas:
MPs, staff and media arriving at Parliament House yesterday were
greeted by carollers Peter Garrett, Alan Griffin, Tanya Plibersek,
Julie Owens and Catherine King with a new version of The 12 Days of
Christmas for the WorkChoices world. For those who missed it, here’s
the official lyric sheet.