Seen the light? Rescued Beaconsfield miner Brant Webb yesterday confirmed he’d turned down a Labor Party offer to stand for the federal seat of Bass at the next election, but he has left open the prospect of a state seat. A spokesman said that while Webb was interested in a role in politics, he’s not keen on moving to Canberra. No surprise. The bloke’s already spent long enough in a hole.

Spot fires in the NSW ALP. The preselection for the state seat of Blue Mountains hasn’t even happened yet, but wannabe MP Phil Koperberg is tackling bushfires – in his job as Rural Fire Service chief and in the ALP. Koperberg is saying he won’t resign to pursue politics while bushfires are burning. Belligerent bruvvers ask why he would give up on so much free publicity – particularly as the fires are in his own intended seat. And they say that swanning around doesn’t make much of a contribution to fire fighting efforts on the ground.

ACT Liberals need no egging on. A stroppy Steve Pratt had a letter in Crikey yesterday putting his side of the ACT Liberal rows. They just keep getting better and better. On Tuesday the Canberra Times reported that Liberal leader Bill Stefaniak’s chief-of-staff, David Hickman, had his house “pelted with eggs after it was reported he was considering running for the party’s presidency” and “also received a written threat linked to his possible challenge to incumbent president Gary Kent.” Crikey understands that Kent has told associates that he has an alibi. But Crikey is also told the contents of the note have insiders chuckling. It supposedly lists a number of things wrong with Stefaniak’s office that Hickman himself had complained about but had done nothing to fix – like the leader farting in his office. It’s pretty clear that ACT Liberal politics stinks.