The good news is, I am told, it matters little what pressure is brought to bear by The Star and its supporters, nor what I or others write - because the Independent Planning Commission is a body of real integrity, and the likelihood is that it will reject it without blinking. "They will recognise," says my source, "that while you can tweak rules here and there, you can’t allow through something that breaches regulations by a factor of eight, because by so doing you weaken planning regulations across the board." Alas, should the Independent Planning Commission reject it, that is not the end of it. Another closely involved notes, "Not even Star really expected to get it through, which is why the Premier has already directed the Greater Sydney Commission to review the area’s planning rules." If that review recommends changes, and those changes go through, the whole thing will be back on the agenda for real. Stand by, sports fans. This might go for years!

Zali watch Hulloa! It is Zali Steggall off the starboard quarter, in my local cafe, the first time I've seen her since the election. And no, she hasn't returned my calls or texts since that time, as I badger her on a couple of issues, but we'll get to that. The main thing is, 111 days into her new role as the member for Warringah she seems to be going well. When Maxine McKew beat John Howard in the seat of Bennelong back in 2007, it is little exaggeration to say we just about never saw again, but Steggall shows no signs of so disappearing and has been outspoken in recent times on a number of issues, from Alan Jones' misogyny to the need for action on climate change, to the fact we don't need a religious discrimination bill. Watch this space .. Independent MP for Warringah Zali Steggall. Credit:Peter Rae Her greatest satisfaction, she says, has been appointing a grants officer to her electorate office to help community groups get whatever grant money is going, and she looks and sounds for all the world like someone in it for the long haul. Which brings me to the point, Ms Steggall.

What of the two rumours? The first is that you might jump to the Libs before the next election? And the second rumour - the one I have been hearing more around the electorate traps lately - that you might form a third force in Australian politics, a progressive party? (Perhaps like Pauline Hanson's One Nation, but sane, decent and not embarrassing?) "My answer to both those questions," she says with a laugh, "hasn't changed from what I replied to your texts." And that is nothing at all! But she is one to watch. Westmincer And they say we Australians are a weird mob. Your humble correspondent has been mesmerised during the late nights last week by the live broadcasts from Westminster. Beyond the endless theatrics of Prime Minister Boris Johnson - my guess is, if he long ago played a tree in a children's pantomime, it would have been a tree in a cyclone - most compelling has been the erudite Speaker John Bercow.

Loading Altogether after me: "Ord-ah. Ord-ahhhh. ORD-aaaaaaah!" Add fire, mix with rising frustration, and repeat 50 times an hour while your eyebrows look like a couple of dancing caterpillars becoming ever more vigorous as the music builds to a crescendo. Most wonderfully though, while the Speaker displayed only moderate ire with Johnson calling His Majesty's Leader of the Opposition Jeremy Corbyn "a chlorinated chicken" and a "great big girl's blouse", while describing his economic policy as, ahem, "shit", he really had to draw the line somewhere. So it was that, as recorded in the Herald, when Johnson called the Opposition Leader by his name, instead of observing the protocol that is to refer to him as "the honourable gentleman" or "my honourable friend", Speaker Bercow came down hard.

"We don't name people in the chamber," he all but wagged his finger. "People must observe the rules." Of course. Still, what the chlorinated chicken dressed in a great big girl's blouse thought is anyone's guess. QUOTE OF THE WEEK "[The Prime Minister] isn't winning friends in Europe. He's losing friends at home. His is a government with no mandate, no morals and as of today, no majority." - Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn taunting Boris Johnson about losing his majority in the Commons. WHAT THEY SAID

"Now we'll sit back, reflect and look forward to a big couple months to finish off the year." - Ash Barty after leaving the American Open in the fourth round. Oddly, despite losing, she was reinstalled as the world's No.1 female tennis player in the rankings. "I am not pre-empting legal processes. It will reveal what it will reveal, but from the evidence that has been given before ICAC this week, there is enough evidence in there to require a comprehensive response of structural reform of NSW Labor." - Federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese "I am very glad there's a killer off the streets. What I'd wish for James Todd, and what I believe Eurydice would wish, is that he gets better." - Jeremy Dixon, father of Eurydice Dixon, whose killer was sentenced to life imprisonment last week. "As the scripture says, 'He who puts his hand to the plough and then turns back is not worthy of the Kingdom.'" - Tony Abbott speaking to the centre-right think tank Policy Exchange in London about Brexit in support of Boris Johnson. There must also be something in the Bible about not willfully running off a cliff? "At the moment we hold government by 50 plus two. I am one of those two, and there is another colleague of mine, who have told the Premier and the Deputy Premier that if they do not make essential amendments to this bill, we will remove ourselves from the party room. This means, we will disconnect ourselves from the leadership of the Liberals and Nationals which means the government goes into minority government." - Mulgoa MP Tanya Davies, on possibly plunging the Coalition into minority government if her proposed amendments are not made to the abortion bill

"Language shouldn't be allowed to die. At citizenship ceremonies, one of the first things I say is do not let your children not retain your mother tongue. Why wouldn't you allow them to keep the window to the world they've come from?" - The Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Ken Wyatt, who was a teacher and later director of Aboriginal education in WA before entering politics, in an interview to mark Indigenous Literacy Day on Wednesday. "I don't normally like to mix religion and politics, but I want to make an appeal to the Prime Minister. This is an opportunity for the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, to show what Christian leadership looks like. It is compassion. It is welcome. It is the story of the Good Samaritan." - Senator Kristina Keneally, shadow Home Affairs Minister, on the Tamil family facing deportation. She is making her mark, and it is a good one. "The City and County of San Francisco should take every reasonable step to limit those entities who do business with the City and County of San Francisco from doing business with this domestic terrorist organisation [the NRA]." - The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passing a resolution against the National Rifle Association JOKE OF THE WEEK A young woman brings her fiance home to meet her deeply conservative parents, and after dinner the father invites the fiance for a chat in his study.

"So, what are your plans?" the father begins. "I am a biblical scholar," he replies. "A biblical scholar? Admirable, but what will you do to provide a nice house for my daughter?" "I will study, and God will provide for us." "And how will you buy her a beautiful engagement ring, such as she deserves?"

"I will concentrate on my studies, and God will provide for us." "And children? How will you support children?" "Don't worry, sir, God will provide." And so it goes. Later, the mother asks, "How did your chat go, honey?"