Mike Baird's shredder dies as staff dance on cabinet table

When Tony Abbott was relieved of the Liberal leadership in Canberra in September 2015, his staff, led by Peta Credlin, took their damn sweet time to vacate the Prime Minister's Office suite for the incoming Malcolm Turnbull and friends. By all reports they didn't leave a lot of helpful instruction manuals behind.

Well, it sounds as though Mike Baird's team – still in shock by their impending redundancy – last week adopted a Walter Wolf-like devotion to cleaning up after themselves, as though their very freedom depended upon it. But the enthusiasm they brought to the task brought them unstuck when, on Thursday afternoon, the Premier's shredder began emitting a burning black mist. The poor machine had for hours on end been force fed cabinet-in-confidence Reflex like Adam Richman filming Man v Food.