The most interesting bet on sportingbet.com.au is the seat of Isaacs. Unlike every other seat, this betting market has not moved against the government. There is real talk that the ALP candidate Mark Dreyfus will be dumped. Put bluntly he has become electoral poison. The front page on the Herald Sun highlighting the fact he gets $5,000 a day from the Bracks government to act for a toxic waste dump has seen him, well, become toxic to the electorate. The Libs in recent weeks have mailed this piece throughout the electorate. Plus the fact he lives 50kms from the electorate (in Peter Costello country in Malvern) and keeps refusing to move is a bad look. In recent weeks both Howard and Rudd have visited Isaacs – this should be a shoe in for Labor, but it isn’t and it gets down to one thing – the wrong candidate for a key seat. Dreyfus is smart, and could be a minister quick smart, but he can’t do it when he’s earning $5k a day for State Labor and when he lives 50kms away from the very people he seeks to represent. Serious decisions are about to be made to save Isaacs for Labor and Mark Dreyfus is going to have to do the right thing by the party. APEC’s Iron Chef. Guillaume Brahimi is cooking for the APEC guests during the visit and was asked to submit his menu for vetting by the various powers that be. The first menu he sent out was rejected by a couple of more powerful leaders attending. Guillaume simply changed the names of the dishes involved and kept the actual ingredients/dishes the same. This time it was approved all round…

Yet another chapter in the APEC fiasco. Costello and Howard are continuing their gripe about how everyone in Sydney should get behind APEC and support it. Interestingly enough the Commonwealth Government is yet to support the public holiday declared by the NSW State Government. As an employee of the Commonwealth government we are still awaiting coherent advice from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations as to whether we are entitled to this public holiday. Apparently a holiday declared by a State Government does not apply to Commonwealth employees until the Commonwealth declares it so. Working parents have the addition of local schools and preschools being shut for the day. Yet another chapter in the APEC fiasco.

Janette Howard has been very involved with the details of APEC. For every function, lunch and dinner, organisers have had to arrange seven different fully set tables (linen, cutlery, glassware, dinnerware etc) to choose from. Once arranged, Janette has been ushered in with the PM in tow and made her selections.

Hitting the slopes for APEC. While Sydney is seething over the APEC disruptions, and complaining bitterly about lack of information, the APEC Taskforce’s General Manager for Media and Communications, Bernadette (Bernie) Ryan, took a few days off work last week to go skiing. Never mind that most of the rest of the Taskforce – on significantly lower salaries, and not getting Bernie’s ‘living away from Canberra” benefits and facing unemployment after APEC – is working seven days a week. Apparently Bernie needed a break so she hit the slopes, with the blessing of the Head of Taskforce, Alan Henderson. And never mind the front page Sydney Morning Herald story about APEC enforced hospital bed closures, and frantic efforts to organise security, street closures and advice to the public about the early arrival of the US President. Bernie was skiing.

A major court case. Fairfax Digital’s pattern of effectively demoting executives while they’re on maternity leave is about to prompt a major court case.

The 99 year lease for the Tiwis. As a squatter, I can’t read your item on the 99 year lease for the Tiwis. Nonetheless, it may interest you to know that the Nguiu community on the Tiwi Islands (Bathurst Island) has not been included in the NT National Emergency Response Bill despite it having some of the most significant rates of violence and suicide in the NT and staggering levels of alcohol consumption. Could it simply be an oversight on the part of the Feds or is it a sweetener to ensure the 99 year lease becomes reality? Hmmm – odd that it’s about protecting all the Aboriginal children – except those at Nguiu.

From the grassy knoll: Massive amounts of TV commercial air time has been bought by the Federal Government up until Saturday November 24. Experience (20 years in advertising media) indicates that that this means the Government election will be held on November 24.