We woz right on Belinda. Phil Coorey’s amusing story in this morning’s Sydney Morning Herald claiming Belinda Neal had apparently commissioned placards with the words ‘Belinda Neal: Independent for Robertson’ should come as no surprise after Crikey‘s revelations last month that the local member had paid for polling to sniff the breeze ahead of a projected solo tilt. The polling, which wasn’t denied by Neal’s electorate officer Dez Karlsson, specifically asked constituents a series of questions about whether Robertson “would be better served by an independent” after listing a series of Neal’s “achievements” since her election in 2007.

Since then, Neal has ramped up her media presence, even advertising for a taxpayer-funded flak to keep her in the spotlight. Interestingly, if hubby John Della Bosca can be linked to the polling or the new signs (which have been denied by Neal) he will be forced to immediately resign from the ALP under party rules, even though his NSW upper house term doesn’t expire until 2015. Meanwhile, despite the prospect that Neal could split the Labor vote by running against endorsed candidate Deb O’Neill, some Robertson insiders are encouraging a run so voters could demonstrate just how unpopular the local member still is. — Andrew Crook

Worm gets all clear to call debate. News has filtered through that the Liberal Party HAS dropped its objection to the worm being used during telecasts of this Sunday’s leaders’ debate. The agreement means that there won’t be a repeat of the 2007 controversy, when the plug was pulled on Channel Nine’s debate feed after IT  featured the notorious adjudicator.

Now send us some free chicken, please. All right, we’re being a bit shameless here, because this ad was sent to us by Nando’s itself. But it is nice when mainstream advertising gets a little political:

nandos