If parliament truly was a theatre, there'd be a lot of actors exiting stage left this year.
We've now had two politicians announce that they will be bowing out of the 2022 electoral race, and another choosing to stand aside.
Yesterday embattled former attorney general Christian Porter announced his retirement from politics and today federal health minister Greg Hunt announced that he too would be quitting politics.
Meanwhile cabinet minister Alan Tudge was asked by Prime Minister Scott Morrison stand down after his former staffer and lover, Rachelle Miller, accused him of abuse.
The PM said Tudge had agreed to stand down, despite refuting the claims. An official investigation into the matter is now under way.
Ms Miller said she was speaking out again to ensure the recommendations from the Jenkins review were implemented "in full, no sneaky loopholes for parliamentarians."
"The Liberal party doesn't have a women problem. It has a men problem. Labor have stayed quiet because they have just as many skeletons; the two major parties will work together when they're protecting each other," she said.
"I'm not here because I want to be but because speaking through the media is the only way that this government will listen."
It's fair to say the next election could feature a fair amount of new faces.
Calls for a federal anti-corruption watchdog are still ringing around with yet another Liberal crossing the floor on the issue.
Transparency Australia chief executive Serena Lillywhite said the groundswell of support made its implementation a matter of time. In fact, she suggested that it was "an unstoppable force".
Farmers across the country have battled plenty of unstoppable forces over the past few years - from drought to fire and floods, even a mouse plague.
And there are fears that the mouse plague could return as the weather warms up.
It would be nice if that didn't happen, seeing as La Nina is still wreaking havoc on crops all over eastern Australia.
Between political storms and the real kind, there are certainly some grey skies about lately.
Did you know you can receive this daily digest by email? Sign up here
THE NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW:
- Liberals to back religious discrimination bill - but no guarantee it will pass
- Australian Scrub Choir unites healthcare workers all over the world
- Indo-Pacific military deals a 'clear deterrent' to foes: Dutton
- The cartoons that would make a sailor blush
- Storms expected to increase and flooding to persist in eastern Australia
- Crowded House announce first national tour in 12 years
- Fishing for justice - when culture is a crime
- Australian conservationists to follow in Mawson's fateful steps
.png?w=600)
