That Mike Baird is clearly a cat man.

Addressing the National Youth Leaders Day for Primary Schools at the Sydney Entertainment Centre on Monday morning, the Premier related an anecdote that doubles as a personal political metaphor:

"We had a Siamese cat called Simon. Has anyone had a Siamese cat? They're crazy, aren't they? These Siamese cats, they've got big personalities, he was a bit of a character. He was such a character that one day he went into our neighbour's house and took a chicken off their table.

"If he came home at night you had to watch out because Simon would jump off the stairs onto your back. He had something about him.

"We had a little Maltese dog, a white little fluffy dog. One day there was a neighbourhood dog that came and actually attacked our Maltese and she was in a lot of trouble. I came running out of the house and as I was trying to save it, who do you think came charging out of the tree?

"Simon came! And he came with his claws out and he jumped on the back of this dog which was about 10 times the size of Simon. He was massive. And Simon was there to save his little mate Suzie. And guess who won? Simon won.

"And that dog never came back. Don't you mess with Simon.

"But it's a good reminder to all of you, to be a good leader at times you'll need courage."

Across the great divide

The great Sydney east/west divide split open again as candidates for the seat of Sydney addressed a meeting of concerned macchiatoists in inner-city Ultimo.

The subject of shifting the Powerhouse Museum to Parramatta to make room for high rise development came up. Alex Greenwich, the local Clover Moore-backed independent MP for Sydney, spoke against the government's proposal. So too did the Greens member for Balmain Jamie Parker and Labor's Verity Firth and Labor's candidate for Sydney, Edwina Lloyd.

But Greenwich went a step further, allegedly confessing: "I have been to the western suburbs – once, or maybe twice."

He continued, "We should keep the museum in Sydney. The western suburbs can have the Formula One."

Shocked that opponents may be attempting to verbal him, we checked with Greenwich, who cheerfully admitted he'd said words to that effect.

"My responsibilities are to the people of Sydney, not western Sydney," he said. "It was Mike Baird who suggested the Formula One."

The storm in a coffee cup did not abate, however. Yimmi Seifert, chair of the Ultimo Village Voice, phoned to say nothing untoward was said about western Sydney at the community meeting.

Ironing things out

As Labor and Liberal bash one another into electoral exhaustion, it is heartening to learn that Malcolm Fraser was not the only master of the 180-degree swerve.

On Saturday night, the film Pig Iron Bob debuted at the Wollongong Town Hall with some 800 people in attendance.

The film, directed and produced by Sandra Pires, tells the story of how Port Kembla wharfies stopped loading Australian pig iron on the Dalfram ship, which was headed for Japan in November 1938.

The workers believed the pig iron would be used by Japan in the invasion of China, where thousands had already been killed. Their actions sparked a nine-week stand-off with the Australian government and prompted the then attorney-general and future prime minister, Robert Menzies, to visit Wollongong to end the dispute.

The founder of the Liberal Party's Wollongong work earned him the droll and enduring sobriquet Pig Iron Bob.

Menzies' daughter, Heather Henderson, and Suzanne Roach, daughter of the late Waterside Workers Federation South Coast secretary Ted Roach, stood together on the Wollongong stage after the film screened.

"I think that was a really powerful moment for a lot of people in the audience," Pires told the Illawarra Mercury.