Labors of love: A senior Bracks Government MP has been caught
using taxpayers’ money and the Parliament of Victoria crest on a letter
to rank-and-file ALP members, seeking their support in an imminent
preselection battle, The Age
reports today. Stay tuned for news of more interesting labours of love
in the comrades’ internal FEA elections. We hear of one prominent Member
of the Legislative Assembly who has taken a keen interest in people
from non-English speaking backgrounds (they’re easier to cajole), ministers bussing in delegates while their senior cabinet colleagues
nod them on and about some Turkish delight – another minister’s staff
harassing and threatening ethnic stacks from the Turkish community to
make sure they voted the right way.

Can the Fran: It’s odd for politicians not to accept petitions,
let alone petitions they initiate – but that’s what Small Business
Minister Fran Bailey has supposedly done. There are all sorts of fun
and games going on in her home turf on Melbourne’s fringe – lovingly
documented on the Fran Files at The Daily Dave.