Not cheap

Lee Rhiannon had so much more credibility on this sort of thing before she started using her State Parliamentary office to propel her into Federal politics. She mightn't be the first pollie to misuse Parliamentary privilege nor the first old Trot with more front than North Head, but she may underestimate just how much an infringement against the What's Sauce For The Goose Act can blunt your ability to cut through on key issues like a nail driven into a tree can stop a chainsaw (and its operator).

This is the best election climate the Greens have ever had. If they had chosen a moderate to lead their Senate campaign, as in Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania, they'd walk in to a Senate seat and probably at the expense of National Fiona Nash. Instead, as appears likely, if NSW elects three Senators each from Labor and the Coalition on 21 August nobody will be whinging louder or longer about a major-party stitch-up than Rhiannon. Trots don't trust the public until they're on their knees, anyway.

Rhiannon was a dud choice for the NSW Greens (following on from that other campus Trot who couldn't hold on last time). Like Franca Arena with child abuse, Rhiannon has milked the donations issue rather than advance it. If the same turkeys who preselected her are running the State election campaign then Labor might be in less trouble than we might hope.