The Upper house small bar

Set the scene, its early evening in a small bar, there is lots of dark wood, leather upholstery and red carpet. Its intimate, but not uncomfortable. There's less than 50 people in there, but more than 40. Graham Wests new laws have been passed, and the people of NSW are slowly discovering how to interact with each other without Bob Carrs pokies and flashing plasma screens giving them sensory overload and reducing attention spans to that of a two year old.
The door opens, and we go in... a small crowd mills around...

Enjoying a glass of Andrew Frasers Coffs Harbour red and discussing horticulture are gardeners Tony Catanzariti(ALP), Rick Colless (Nats),  Greg Donnelly (ALP), Duncan Gay (Nats), and Tony Kelly (ALP). Lee Rhiannon(Greens) declines the red but joins in the conversation enthusiastically.

Catherine Cusack(Lib) gets out the guitar, and she has a spare for Robert Brown(Shooters Party) who is a bit rusty, but can still play. They are soon joined by the Rev the Hon Dr.Gordon Moyes(CDP) son and the niece of Mick Veitch(ALP) - who are musicians, with the brother of Helen Westwood(ALP); Dave Wray (aka Frank Bennett) acting as MC and playing sax.

Charlie Lynn(Lib) and Ian Cohen (Greens) pair off and plan their next bushwalk together, whilst Christine Robertson(ALP) and Roy Smith (Shooters) discover that they both like fishing

Thespians Ian West(ALP), Amanda Fazio(ALP), Don Harwin (Lib) and Marie Ficarra(Lib) read a script of Dons Party in preparation for an election night performance, which is now able to be hosted in the Upper House bar under Frank Sartors great new entertainment laws.

Lawyers Trevor Khan(Nats), John Ajaka(ALP), Greg Pearce(Lib) and especially Matthew Mason-Cox (Lib) are feeling nerdy but they are soon into the swing of things when Robyn Parker(Lib) gives them a dancing lesson.

Without the 20 second grabs we get from television, in conversation we learn that there is more to the Rev the Hon Fred Nile than the media portray, and we are soon joined over a pint of Peters Murray-Darling Black by Jenny Gardiner (Nats) who is hanging an exhibition of her recent photos around the bar.

Patrons who want to smoke can do so inside the back room that has an open wall, thanks to the previous Health Minister John Hatzistergos(ALP) -  who foiled attempts to kill the 25% smoking laws by publisher Sylvia Hale(Greens), now happily hosting a literary corner with bookworms Penny Sharpe(ALP), Dr John Kaye (Greens), Kayee Griffin(ALP), Eddie Obeid (ALP) and Ian MacDonald(ALP).

NSW I.R. Maestro John Della Bosca(ALP) would be enjoying the music, but he has a niggling worry about NSW musicians being  ripped off by venue consultants,  notorious for exploiting a loophole in the Entertainment Industry Act  he has neglected to close off that means they dont need a separate account for artists funds or to pay in any time frame.

Finally, Coalition house dealer Michael Gallacher (Lib) plays blackjack with NSW head croupier Michael Costa (ALP), who in a moment of quiet reflection on the music, art, literature, dancing and theatre going on has an epiphany, and realises that vibrant and creative activity gives value to our lives, and that he should have increased the arts budget, rather than cutting it just because he wanted to make life uncomfortable for a minister who may not be his cup of tea.