It's been a dark day at the ABC, half way through a year that began with colleagues working overtime to aid local communities through the bushfires and then doing the same under straitened circumstances during Covid-19.

It is quite funny that after 15 years of fretting that was some kind of sleeper Labor agent, the Liberal Party has bounced back by recruiting a chap who was the ALP's actual president.

I have legitimately never seen an MP double down like this after being disgraced so badly. And in such a fraught environment. In a one-seat majority. Apart from the conduct issues involved. Just extraordinary.

Everyone you know who works in the arts, sport, large venue hospitality, tourism, travel, events ... they're like farmers in drought or businesses in a fire zone. There are no pictures of their hardship but it's bloody real so be kind.

There's an ad already.

All these ministerial resignations today mean many staffers have lost their jobs. They work very hard and are often forgotten when these all-in jelly wrestles get under way. I feel for them.

Imagine if Malcolm Turnbull just kept walking all the way to Yarralumla and said to the GG: I’m no longer confident of a majority and I would like to call an election immediately.

I suspect @GladysB  has just won the vote of every woman who has ever worked hard at her job and been forced to put up with some grandstanding egomaniac oxygen-thief dude constantly messing things up.

PM this morning on natural disaster spending: “I know I’ve got critics who say you shouldn't be spending money on helping people during these crises. But we do because we know Australians need it because we know the need is real.” 🧐