Gamblers won’t find the $5000 strange. I doubt that either Hedley Thomas or Pia Akermann are gamblers. Anyone who was would not think it strange that someone who spent all night out on the punt and managed to win a bundle would appease a happily guilty conscience by slinging his partner a bundle. But this pair of journalists for The Australian obviously think it’s mighty odd that Julia Gillard’s lover once put $5000 in cash into her bank account after a fun time at Crown casino. I mean, just look at this morning’s front page headline:

If you’d been reading previous episodes in this long running story it looked like an alert to how the now Prime Minister personally benefited from some ill-gotten gains rorted from a trade union. Yet keep reading on the inside pages and this is what you find the former AWU whistleblower Wayne Hem actually recalled:

As a man who once felt moved to buy his partner a grand piano (for cash) after an unapproved of, but successful, punting binge that all seems quite innocent to me. But not, the PM should fear, to many Australians.

This particular conspiracy theory, centered on a belief that her actions as a lawyer when a corrupt union leader was her lover should disqualify her from high office, refuses to go away. If anything, it is increasing in intensity as it moves out from the blogs into the mainstream media.

This morning’s effort in The Oz is far from lonely.

That’s this morning’s Murdoch tabloid contribution. And from the respectable Fairfax lot yesterday:

Which followed this pair from The Oz and the Australian Financial Review at the weekend —  not to mention an op-ed contribution in Monday’s Fin from Deputy Opposition Leader Julie Bishop:

They have been sniping away for weeks as well on the talk radio shows and Sky News is finding it an irresistible discussion point with a lengthy instalment promised for tonight. Only the ABC is maintaining a dignified silence but it will not be long, I guess, before the Coalition starts alleging the national broadcaster’s silence is a sign of pro-Labor bias. Reporting those allegations will further broaden the coverage.

Credit where it’s due. If any journalist has earned the right to make a comment about the coming royal commission into child s-xual abuse it’s surely the Human Headline. Derryn Hinch took the courage of his convictions on the question to the point of spending time in the slammer. So here’s an extract from the crusader’s own website and I recommend you click and read the rest as a “thank you” if for no other reason:

Exploring the tip. Child s-xual abuse is a hard subject on which to find accurate statistics but the unfortunate experiences among my family and friends suggest that there is far more abuse by family and family friends than by persons in institutional authority like priests, teachers and scout masters. Yet in the mass of coverage of the planned royal commission this subject seems to be escaping discussion.

A quotation for the day. Forget about the messenger, just think about the message from today’s Australian.

News and views noted along the way.