The Sauce: Seat of Cabramatta is not so safe for Labor
THINGS are getting ugly in south-western Sydney. Cabramatta should be a safe Labor seat, but revelations of the Liberals wooing high-profile Vietnamese councillor Dai Le to run is causing angst at Sussex St.
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ANGST FOR ALP
THINGS are getting ugly in south-western Sydney. Cabramatta should be a safe Labor seat, but revelations of the Liberals wooing high-profile Vietnamese councillor Dai Le to run is causing angst at Sussex St.
Sitting Labor MP Nick Lalich wants to run again, but he has up to nine rivals seeking preselection. As a result, the veteran parliamentarian is said to have told local branches last week that he would run as an independent should he be snubbed by the party.
Adding fuel to the rumour are the “Let’s Stick With Nick” stickers he was handing out at the recent moon festival.
Eyeing his seat is Vietnamese Community Association former president Tri Vo, whose base includes the not insignificant Vietnamese community.
Vo’s campaign has included an anti-China march, which is said to have been aimed at knocking out rival and former Labor staffer Sally Sitou, who is of Lao-Chinese heritage.
As a senior Labor source said: “It’s a cluster-f***.”
CANBERRA CALL
SENIOR Liberals are wooing NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance to run for the marginal federal seat of Gilmore.
The Sauce can reveal a formal approach was made to Constance shortly after the resignation of sitting MP Ann Sudmalis last month.
The Bega MP, who has previously considered a jump to Canberra, subsequently confided in local Liberals about such a move.
However, those close to the Berejiklian government minister say he has so far chosen to stay put in Macquarie Street. For Constance to run, the party would have to re-open nominations, a prospect not entirely out of the question with the resignation of Sudmalis leaving just one candidate, Grant Schultz, to run after others pulled out.
With the seat held by a 0.7 per cent margin, some Liberals believe only a high-profile candidate like Constance could stop it from changing hands.
JUST FRIENDS
HE abdicated his role as leader of the Liberal’s left faction almost two years ago, but the state’s most prominent lobbyist Michael Photios is never far from the action.
Fresh from helping secure the numbers for Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Photios wined and dined a host of federal and state ministers at Mr Wong’s on Monday night.
Those at the dinner included Communications Minister Mitch Fifield, NSW ministers Matt Kean and Don Harwin, federal MPs Trent Zimmerman, Jason Falinski and Felicity Wilson, and state MPs Gareth Ward and Eleni Petinos.
The dinner was one of several gatherings that followed a meet-up of around 200 moderates at the Bent Street Union Club earlier that night.
Photios, stressing the gathering was a catch-up of old friends than a “moderates” or business event, noted the attendance at the dinner of Attorney-General Christian Porter “who supported Dutton”.
BROTHEL BUSINESS
BOB Katter dumped him as the Wentworth candidate for the Katter’s Australian Party (KAP) after his links to a high-class brothel were revealed by The Sunday Telegraph last week, but tax accountant Robert Callanan is still running.
The former director The Penthouse — The Ultimate Gentleman’s Club in Pitt St told The Sauce he will continue on as an independent candidate.
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Callanan also clarified that he had been merely an accountant at the establishment, and not involved in the “day to day management”, before being promoted to director to deal with the “higher levels of insurance and finance, etc”.
Taking a dig at Katter, Callanan said his dumping had advanced his cause as “people can see that I am more broadminded when dealing with issues than the KAP are”.
RUNNING DEAD
HE visited the seat of Braddon no less than 14 times in the lead-up to the July by-election, while popping in to Longman on nine occasions. There were seven visits to Bennelong, four to Perth and two to Fremantle.
But so far, Labor leader Bill Shorten has given Wentworth short shrift.
The lack of the red shirt brigade surrounding Labor candidate Tim Murray has prompted questions from observers if Labor is running dead.
With independent Kerryn Phelps not preferencing the party, it seems the only chance Labor has of knocking off the Liberals is to ensure Murray comes third. This would allow his preferences to flow to Phelps, allowing her bump off Sharma.
The necessary sequence of events has led to the bizarre situation of the Liberals wanting Labor to do well.
Labor recently accused the Libs of tearing down their posters, but as a senior Liberal source told The Sauce: “That would make no sense. We actually need Labor to do well to stop Phelps.”
MUM’S THE WORD
PRIME Minister Scott Morrison may have been the star guest at the Surry Hills Police and Community Gala Ball, but it was his parents who stole the show.
When MC Ben Fordham asked Marion Morrison about her son’s ascendancy to the top job, she revealed she was as surprised as the rest of us.
“I went into a state of shock … the first we heard he was even standing was when we saw it on the television,” Mrs Morrison said on Friday night at the SCG.
Fordham then said “he could have called his mum”, to which she replied: “No, no, no … he doesn’t call his mum for advice.”
Morrison’s proud dad John, a former police commander, was also taken by surprise by the events in August.
“We thought it would happen one day but circumstances were changed, as they do in politics, and all of a sudden we’ve got a Prime Minister in the family,” Mr Morrison Sr said.
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