Naked Eye

*Premier-in-waiting (and waiting) Barry O'Farrell isn't having much luck with the fairer sex. First up was the rumble in the jungle (of Papua New Guinea) with Kristina Keneally over whether he was a tough guy for walking the Kokoda Track. The Premier was less than impressed with his achievement of finishing the 96-kilometre trail in one piece, claiming: "Well, so did Miss Australia." You'd expect the state leaders to be going at it but then O'Farrell appeared to put his foot in it during a friendly exchange at the Liberals' budget reply on Thursday. The fund-raising breakfast at the Westin was hosted by former Liberal leader Kerry "Chika" Chikarovski. When she asked her former deputy why he planned to widen the government stamp duty relief for the over-65s to include the over-55s, O'Farrell quipped back: "I was thinking of you, Chik." Close, but still a clanger. The sprightly Chikarovski won't turn 55 until April next year. She later told Naked Eye she didn't mind in the least and by next budget she would qualify for the stamp duty relief. Earlier O'Farrell, 51, revealed that his wife Rosemary saw so little of him these days that sometimes she wasn't sure who it was slipping between the sheets at night. *Still on Chika. She's been working on a concoction for her "Chika Health" range that she says will help men lose weight. The all-natural powder will contain things like ginseng, capsicum, vitamin B and artichoke. Chika Health began selling a similar "metaboliser" product last month in Woolworths, Franklins and Chemist Warehouse. Chikarovski says she's lost eight kilograms since the beginning of the year by putting her mouth where her powders are. *He's roundly known as the good guy of state politics but that didn't stop Graham West incurring the wrath of his old friend the Premier when he chose the government's darkest hour to quit. Kristina Keneally could not bring herself to say the names of West and disgraced former events minister Ian Macdonald when she announced her umpteenth cabinet reshuffle last week. West, the member for Campbelltown, has been banished to the backbench equivalent of Siberia, wedged behind Clover Moore and opposition members on the wrong side of the chamber. He's even further from the action than Joe Tripodi. Now that's harsh. *On Naked Eye's count, the NSW government sent out 71 press releases on budget day. Some seem to have been produced in a hurry. Upper house MP Amanda Fazio's release was supposed to trumpet investments in Ballina. The second on the list: "$3.1 million for the start of construction on the state-of-the-art new Leichhardt Police Station"? A wee bit closer to Balmain than Ballina. Heath Aston nakedeye