For a state that's banking on a tourism-led recovery, Queensland still has a way to go when it comes to rolling out the red carpet for VIPs.
Tuesday night's post-federal cabinet dinner in Brisbane was a case in point.
As if the indignity of dodging falling ceiling panels earlier in the day had not been enough, PM Turnbull and friends were ferried en masse for a celebratory dinner at the Victoria Park Golf Club. A council-owned golf club. The same one whose website boasts the impressive trifecta of "an 18-hole golf course, a bistro serving seasonal fare and Putt Putt mini golf". Because the function's organisers, the Queensland LNP, really know how to put on the Ritz.
And while the federal cabinet likes of Mr T himself, Arthur Sinodinos, Darren Chester and Michaelia Cash chewed their way through the 'chicken-or-beef?' main and winced their way through MC for the evening (and Gold Coast MP) Karen Andrews' turn at the mic (described by one attendee as "a three-hour-long audition for the role of prospective cabinet minister"), it was all our Foreign Minister Julie Bishop could do to make out the action from her vantage point in social Siberia.
Lest she be under any illusion that the Nats have the upper hand in the Coalition up north-a-ways, the J-Bish was relegated to a table near the back of the room. A spot you might reasonably refer to as the nosebleed section. The indignity!
As one faithful former Howard staffer in the room was heard to whisper loudly: "No one puts J-Bish in the corner!"
