A somewhat prominent guest of Risdon Prison has refused the offer of low-fat chocolate ice-cream (part of a weight loss “program”) as he remains impartial to only the full-cream variety.

The federal member for Swan, Steve Irons, seems to have used his taxpayer postage-paid MP-entitled envelopes to mail blatant re-election campaign material to people in the electorate. The material also contains misinformation, accusing the “Rudd/Gillard government” of making changes to local flight paths without consulting local residents. I hear the local flight paths were temporarily altered to enable repairs on one of the runways — hardly a policy decision of the federal government. He’s lost my vote.

Has anyone asked Tony Abbott why, as an avowed monarchist, he has turned down all invitations to date to G-G functions since Quentin Bryce was appointed?

A bit a rumble around town and it’s getting louder about that sinking ship or ship of fools that ends in Commission and has water in it. The much-maligned and pretty useless $22 million drain on the public purse is about to cause serious heartburn for an already beleaguered state government. Word is that the salivating lawyers are lining up with glee for the steady flood or employees sacked, forced to resign or quitting because of bullying. Or they’re off on stress leave.

You may think well, good riddance to a basically redundant bureaucratic money pit (dams 95% full anybody?) but this joint is a mass lawsuit waiting to happen and has the potential to cost taxpayers a lot of money in legal fees and a lot of dosh in compo payouts. Yey, move over Queensland Health, looks like there’s a new bully in town. Will Bligh go to water and rid the taxpayers of this over-bloated legally troublesome bureaucratic monster?

In Wednesday’s Tips and Rumours it was noted:

MasterChef spoiler? (Probably not.) Adam wins MasterChef. The secret is out and buzzing around Melbourne already. Said to be from an impeccable inside source. (Ed: Given the finale is filmed live this Sunday, it’s hard to believe anyone could know. But never let it be said we don’t tell you things …)

For what it’s worth to add to this, at the Sydney Food and Wine Exhibition last Saturday (17th) chefs Gary and George were buzzing around the huge convention floor, signing books, giving “Celebrity Performances” (first come ticket-only events) and on the floor cooking demonstrations. Gary told about 250 people during his demonstration that he “couldn’t give away any secrets” about the finale because “he didn’t know”, since it’s being recorded live, going to air about half an hour after it’s finished. So as Crikey editors note, rumours to the contrary may be premature, since the show hasn’t been filmed yet. (But he did say that while, of course, having no favourites, he admired the young competitor Callum, and saw a bit of himself in him when he was that age.)

Fiona Patten running for the Senate? The Australian S-x Party’s Fiona Patten, the party’s No.1 Victorian Senate candidate does not and never has lived in Melbourne, although she does have a newly created “address” in Melbourne now. She still has her flat in Woolloomooloo and her permanent home in Canberra, with hubby Robbie Swan. But I guess s-x knows no (state) boundaries!

Turkey’s internet censorship sounds strangely similar to ours, attempting to prevent access to child p-rnography, online gambling, drug use and insults to the founding father Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Several years in many political sites have been blocked, YouTube is gone, large parts of Google, and many other popular services. The President has criticised the system on twitter, and the Prime Minister knows how to get around it.