Of the meaty questions occupying the minds of the biggest players in the nation's capital, easily the most vexing is who exactly pulls rank between our esteemed Minister for Defence, Marise Payne, and our equally-esteemed Minister for Defence Industry, Christopher Pyne.
Certainly it's a cause of some confusion among the press gallery who almost daily are peppered with joint press releases from the duo in which top billing is exchanged in a seemingly haphazard manner.
One day Pyne takes out press release pole position, the next day its Payne. And always with their names in the same size font and carefully positioned side-by-side at exactly the same height on the page.
So how do they decide whose name appears first? Do they take turns? Sort it out over a quick game of scissors-paper-rock? And if we were to draw an organigram, who would sit above whom in the official government hierarchy?
"For the press release, it depends on the subject who takes priority," a staffer told us. "And in terms of hierarchy, Senator Payne sits on the National Security Council but Minister Pyne is a more senior member of Cabinet and Leader of the House."
Sounds like a political mine field to us. Munitions pun intended.
We can't begin to imagine how the jostle plays out in the Canberra digs the duo shares during sitting weeks. Breakfast must be a loaded affair.
