Even the editor of The Examiner, Fiona Reynolds, was asked to submit her bag for a search by security staff, revealing all and sundry in the world of handbag contents. She wasn't complaining, still managing to keep the questions to the leaders under wraps.

McKim's mission: Premier David Bartlett has placed great importance on the Council of Australian Governments health summit due in Canberra on April 11, and has used it to boast his superior credentials of experience and better rapport as a Labor leader with the Rudd Labor Government. In last night's debate, he said the alternative was Will Hodgman going to the COAG summit with all his inexperience. "Or Nick McKim" yelled the very partisan and considerable number of Greens supporters in the audience.

Cheer squad: Labor and Liberal heavies were a bit resentful at last night's debate that Nick McKim seemed to draw all the audible cheers and murmurs of approval from Green supporters. One wonders why. Given the ample number of Liberal and Labor supporters spotted in the audience, it's a wonder that the Bartlett and Hodgman camps had not wound them up a notch to match the Greens' cheer squad.

Trustworthy: The Examiner's chief reporter, Alison Andrews, was about to have her bag searched by security at the debate until one of the security staff said: "She's OK, my wife used to teach her children." It's a small world.