In a well mannered exchange, the only thing they had in common was their response to the threat of One Nation, other minor parties and independents. One Nation may be threatening to rain on the Queensland election parade, but it could be a storm in a teacup compared to a literal tropical cyclone brewing in Queensland's far north. The Electoral Commission is worried that Cyclone Wylva, and a monsoon, could stop people voting in four northern seats. Broadcasters are up in arms because the ABC has called in the Federal Police to interrogate staff about the leak of one of its own documents - a document that caused a row about how the ABC boss spends public money. Today's news comes just days after three of the Corporation's senior executives were sacked.
Politicians alternately love and loathe the national broadcaster.
But today it seems the normal reluctance to get involved in the day to day management of Aunty is being thrown out of the window, as pollies of all persuasions express shock at the decision to call in the Federal Police. The Federal Opposition says it has evidence of a multinational drug company trying to get around the official processes of the Federal Government's controversial drug advice committee. The Shadow Health Minister, Jenny Macklin, has obtained a letter written by the drug company, Pfizer, to patients involved in a trial of the company's Alzheimer's drug, Aricept. The letter urges the patients to lobby their local MPs to ask for the drug to be added to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme which subsidises the cost of some medicines. The proposed New South Wales safe injecting room for heroin addicts is becoming one of those political sagas.