Christian
Kerr writes:


Howard tea leaf reading. The Treasurer is
speaking out, the AEC is bending the boundaries of Bennelong and the
Gallery is bored because Parliament isn’t sitting – so leadership
speculation abounds. One school of
thought says the Prime Minister will be gone by the end of the year.
Another,
however, is pointing to these comments from Howard’s Friday morning
chat with Neil
Mitchell on Melbourne radio
on IR as proof he’ll lead his party to the next poll. “We are not going to alter
its fundamentals. Like any piece of complicated legislation if there is
fine-tuning down the track that’s needed, then it will take place.”

Wentworth shifting from blue to pink? The
proposed NSW federal redistribution
hasn’t been that kind to Malcolm Turnbull, with his seat sashaying into the
heart of Sydney’s gay ghetto and his margin dropping from an already slim 5.5% down to around 3%. Oxford Street
is a-titter with the rumour that Clover Moore will now go for the full Ted Mack
– mayor, state and, finally, federal MP.


One Nation’s legacy. Pauline Hanson’s
former right hand man, David Oldfield, has given a moving interview to the Manly
Daily on the occasion of his retirement from the NSW State Parliament. “Mr Oldfield’s
decision to leave the NSW Upper House at the next election was revealed by his
wife Lisa last month”, the paper notes. “At the time her husband was in Vanuatu
taking part in the TV program Celebrity Survivor and could not be contacted.”
Oldfield’s old boss, of course, featured on Dancing with the Stars. Perhaps
that’s the greatest contribution One Nation has made – providing B-listers for
reality TV.

Moving on? Tim
Pallas moving on? Steve Bracks looking for a new chief of staff? So close to an
election?


It’s a funny
way to go forward. Is Victorian Education Minister Lynne Kosky having
trouble lacing up her hiking boots? They can be real b-ggers, you know…