A curious omission from Ms Zaetta’s CV. The music career that never took off.

Jill Hall, the Federal Member for Shortland, might have been a little more transparent in her appeal to ALP colleagues for assistance for Kathy Orkopoulos and her daughter. Kathy Orkopoulos is on her electoral office staff, although is currently on leave. The ALP’s support for Mrs Orkopoulos – entirely justified, given her estranged husband has been stripped of his Parliamentary entitlements – stands in dire contrast to its refusal to help Orkopoulos’s electorate officer Gillian Sneddon, who reported Orkopoulos’s crimes and was sacked in February. The party never forgets.

In the ALP state preselections in WA, one has to wonder about the selection of CPR’s Roger Cook ahead of Carol Adams, the high profile local mayor for the seat of Kwinana. Cook is a lobbyist whose clients include big coal, petroleum and big pharma.

Any substance to the rumour of sackings at Coles HQ this week?

And from the grassy knoll: Does J W Howard Have a Medical Condition: I saw a cutaway on the live coverage of the West Indies v Australia cricket this morning of former Prime Minister John Howard sitting in the stand and he appeared to be taking another one of those peculiar turns that television cameras captured at the end of the Great Debate. His head was wobbling and he was blinking and twitching. I wouldn’t be surprised if he has a medical condition that has been hushed up.