Christian Kerr writes:

Rumble in the rustbelt. It looks as if South
Australia and now Tasmania will both
go to the polls on March 18.
As predicted in Crikey, Tassie Premier Paul Lennon has decided it would just be
easier if Parliament doesn’t sit – so broader issues can be under discussion
than his Crown Towers
upgrade and his brother’s business interests.

Big questions for Tassie. A Tasmanian poll
on March 18 sparks two big questions. What is Paul Lennon afraid of –
and where will the ABC’s electoral s*x thimble Antony Green be on the
night? The great man isn’t sure yet – but promises that answers to your
Tassie election enquiries will soon be up here.

Never mind the bollards. We learned in Estimates
earlier this week that Parliament’s $2 million slipway security system bollards
aren’t used between 8:00 and 9:00am
(is that a Muslim prayer time?) to avoid traffic jams of Commonwealth cars. But
will they cause a diplomatic incident? A Crikey spy reports seeing a vehicle
with consular corps plates stuck between the two rows of barriers outside the
Ministerial Wing yesterday.

Too many job snobs. Good help is hard to find, it
appears, if you’re new Minister for Ageing Santo Santoro. Corridor talk says he
is struggling for staff since his appointment nearly four weeks ago and has been
forced to advertise. Even his chief of staff has been press ganged.

Overcompensating. Has there ever been a newspaper
series putting the boot into a retired premier like the Sydney Morning Herald‘s
Great Carr Crash,
now into its second week? Carr’s hero Honest Abe is famously reputed to have
said “You can’t fool all of the people all of the time.” Is the SMH
overcompensating for leading the cohort of the conned?

Send your
snippets to christian@crikey.com.au