As m'colleague Markus Mannheim explains, "The federal police, or any other investigating authority, would be unable to question them about their discussions with Triggs, because that evidence would be useless in a court… And because the Senate, through question time and its estimates hearings, has already examined the Triggs affair exhaustively, there is almost nothing more that Moraitis or Brandis could say that wouldn't be 'tainted' evidence: information already subject to privilege." So for an investigation into Brandis and Moraitis to proceed, they'd need other evidence - specifically, Moraitis' notes from the meeting. You might think it unlikely that Moraitis would willingly give up evidence that would potentially condemn him, but obviously he absolutely would do so. That is, had he not - whoopsiedoodle! - gone and lost the very notebook that contained those notes. What are the odds, eh? See, it turns out that Mozz "travelled to three countries in two weeks and I have lost those notes, losing my briefcase by mistake." Also, a dog probably thought the notebook was Moraitis' homework and ate it. You know, as they do.

Secrets of a successful coalition And while the leadership furore continues following Malcolm Turnbull's direct contradiction of this week's PM Tony Abbott over Triggs' conduct, there's a story that's been flying under the radar: how much longer the Coalition will actually coalite. That's a verb, right? It's easy to forget the existence of the National Party, since their members mainly sleep during the heat of the day and only emerge at twilight to forage for food and regionally-accessible broadband. However, Nationals leader Warren Truss is deputy PM and therefore gets a chair at the grown ups table with the actual government, where he's encouraged to sit up straight and keep his mouth shut. And in his defence, he does those things very well indeed.

However, it's not been a great era for the party. In Victoria the Nationals have been in disarray since the surprise election loss, with leader Peter Ryan standing down earlier this month following the result that saw the Nationals vote drop so low that they faced potentially losing party status. And Truss has reportedly warned that his party would have to approve any new Liberal leader, should Abbott be replaced, or risk the Nationals leaving the Coalition. An unnamed MP declared to Fairfax that "we aren't a rubber stamp and our support is not unconditional." Sounds unlikely though, right? Although now you come to mention it… While the federal party has been toothless for a long while now, a National Party unencumbered by Coalition responsibilities could actually be a potent political force with a good deal of legistlative clout.

And they could use it too, since there are areas where the interests of the National's rural constituency and the Liberal's more metropolitan concerns are in direct opposition. The effect of the cuts to the ABC was one notable example in recent times, but it's not the only one. Somewhat unexpectedly, the Victorian party are currently actively campaigning against unfettered coal seam gas exploration in the state, aligning themselves with the Greens on the issue. Seriously: the Greens. Of course, a Coalition divorce would be tricky: of the 90 Coalition MPs, 10 are Nationals but 22 are Liberal National Party MPs, thanks to the merger in Queensland. And who wants to be the one to ask all those MPs who they love more, mum or dad?

Adding insult to earlier insults Speaking of the LNP, former leader and Queensland premier Campbell Newman is very, very sad in his feelings-place because the University of Queensland Press declined the offer to publish his memoirs. The book's actual author, MP Gavin King, can't understand why the UQP would turn it down just because, as publisher Madonna Duffy explained, Newman's government axed the Premier's Literary Awards and also attempted to remove funding for the UQP. As she explained in an email to King, "It would be both a ­betrayal to the Queensland literary community and to our own values to publish his memoir". King is mystified as to how a book publisher would be reticent to publish a book by a premier who apparently hates books generally and this publisher in particular.

"I would have thought their remit included Queensland authors and Queensland stories and this book is both of those things and it's a significant chapter in Queensland's history," he thundered with righteous indignation. "Surely a publishing house run by a university, a place where free speech and all points of debate and politics are supposed to flourish, should consider a book project like this on its merits, rather than the partisan politics of a few personalities who run the place." Reports that the memoir's current working title remained Books is for Jerks: the Talk-Thoughts of Campbell Newman could not be confirmed at press time. The cocktail hour: oh, so memey… Saying that Weezer's musical output has been chequered from their third album onwards is about as controversial as claiming that orgasms are pleasant. However, there was one single shining moment on their 2008 album, their sixth LP ('Weezer', aka "the Red Album" to distinguish it from their two other self-titled records) that suggested they might have gotten their mojo back: 'Pork and Beans'. And then it turned out that the rest of the album was unlistenable dreck.