The fishy business of politics. Julia Gillard, “The Orange roughy”? Look what our fisheries authority says:

A slow-growing, long-lived fish susceptible to overfishing. Strict management controls protect remaining stocks.

Orange roughy is always deep-skinned to remove a layer of fat. Consumption of this fat and the skin may cause violent diarrhoea.

The flesh is relatively unaffected by freezing and has a good shelf life …

The name seems very apt, and not just because of the hair colour and the Werribee whine. Gillard is a fine high-priced species, thick-skinned and long-lasting, but in need of strict management. And too much Orange roughy gives us the sh-ts.

Riding in cars with boys. A tortuously bureaucratic memo from the great panjandrum of Parliament, Joint House Department secretary Hilary Penfold, warns against “inappropriate parking” near the House on the Hill. Is that another expression for necking?

Too old for this sort of thing? We know he’s tech-friendly, but is the Malcolm Turnbull Facebook page genuine?

In need of a pedantic Bernard Wooley. Another stuff-up from the ACT Libs. An unpublished op-ed by MLA Bill Stefaniak: “It was always one of the guiding principles of Sir Humphrey Dimbleby of Yes Minister fame that if you can’t think of what to do or don’t want to do anything you have an inquiry…” Humphrey Dimbleby? Who he?

Traffic hazard. As Hobart endures the worst cold snap in nearly a decade there have been multiple, motor-vehicle accidents across the state due to poor visibility and black ice. Yesterday, though, Davey Street, one of Hobart’s main arteries, drivers’ attention was distracted by an orange flashing light on a vehicle on the left side of the road. It was not the RTA, RACT or roadside assistance, but the Greens’ second Senate candidate, Andrew Wilkie, sitting in a vehicle with roof signage. Recently he has been doing this in a few places around town, but must have decided he also needed special effects.

Economics made easy. The Prime Minister asks: “Why shouldn’t the nation’s approach be that we should keep the mining boom going indefinitely?” Well, we know he was a useless treasurer, but really! It is foreign demand, and therefore an external (and thus non-influenceable) factor. He should read his own Government’s rhetoric on the Asian economic meltdown and tell us how he will save us from a repeat of that.