Off The Record: Healthy self-promotion’s what the doctor ordered
AN election candidate is treating himself to the title of doctor, even though he never qualified. And how did Gina Rinehart get gala guests shaking to ABBA?
Opinion
Don't miss out on the headlines from Opinion. Followed categories will be added to My News.
THIS week Off The Record finds an election candidate is treating himself to the title of doctor, even though he never qualified. And it reveals how did Gina Rinehart got guests shaking to ABBA at a gala dinner.
Healthy self-promotion’s just what the doctor ordered
LIBERAL upper house candidate Kuldip Chugha has been working hard to raise his profile recently. That’s not too surprising given he occupies the unwinnable No.7 spot on the party ticket.
On Twitter he has been especially vocal on the subject of health. Recent Chugha missives have include posts on the Modbury Hospital, waiting lists and budget cuts.
Which is all very fascinating since in a court judgment in August 2009, Chugha was found by then judge David Lovell, now a justice, to have lied to various people about being a doctor.
The information came to light in a hearing to determine how much in damages should be awarded to Chugha following a 2001 car accident.
Lovell found that Chugha had suffered back, neck and psychological injuries and awarded him more than $500,000.
However, the judge was unhappy that Chugha had in “sworn answers in the Affidavit of Loss stated he was a qualified doctor”.
Although Chugha had studied medicine in his native India, he had never completed the degree.
“It is likely that he has over the years in the Indian community referred to himself as ‘doctor’,” Lovell wrote. “No doubt this was an attempt to ‘promote’ himself in the community.
“Why he persisted with the position that he was a doctor remains unexplained.”
It’s a habit that’s hard to shake. In a Facebook post celebrating the Indian Diwali festival, Chugha is referred to as “Dr”.
Chugha is the head of the Punjabi Association and guests at the Diwali gala were Liberal leader Steven Marshall and MP John Gardner.
Attempts to reach Chugha and Liberal Party state director Sascha Meldrum were unsuccessful.
A community like no other
THE butterflies could be fluttering in the office of Sport Minister Leon Bignell over the next few days, and especially for his chief of staff Paul Flanagan.
Off the Record understands that Auditor-General Andrew Richardson has completed his report into a contentious $757,000 grant given to a group called One Community before the 2016 federal election.
It means the Auditor-General could table his report into the grant as soon as Tuesday. This will be the last sitting week before parliament rises for the year, unless an optional session starting on December 5 is taken up. It’s also the last sitting week before the State Election in March.
However, the Legislative Council has already passed a motion that the report can be tabled even if parliament has risen for the year.
One Community shot to fame before the federal election by campaigning against Malcolm Turnbull’s education policies, issuing report cards on various political parties and manning polling booths. It presented itself as a nonpartisan outfit campaigning against education cuts, but was run by people with Labor links. One Community co-ordinator Leon Cernak went on to work for Water Minister Ian Hunter. Former Labor staffer Brad Chilcott and party member Matt Osborn also worked for One Community.
Intriguingly, One Community lodged a grant application with the State Government on May 6, and it was approved the same day. The approver? None other than Flanagan, who was Jay Weatherill’s strategic communications director. He left the job soon after but was re-employed by Bignell in August.
Speaking of Bignell, the Sport Minister has told an interstate journalist there is no chance of a new soccer stadium being built in Adelaide because fans can’t even fill Hindmarsh. Under that logic, Adelaide Oval would never have been rebuilt. How long since the Crows or Port filled Footy Park before the move? At least Adelaide United hasn’t resorted to tarps.
Gina plans to shake Australia great again – with tambourines
A $40,000 cheque presented to Barnaby Joyce by Gina Rinehart might have grabbed national attention, but there was plenty going on behind the spotlight at a gala dinner for National Agriculture and Related Industries Day.
It was a star-studded affair at the Australian War Memorial on Tuesday night, headlined by Rinehart, who was the day’s founder and inaugural patron. She urged Australians to follow Donald Trump’s lead in cutting tax and red tape.
Guests included pearling company chief Nick Paspaley, former federal opposition leader and Australian War Memorial director Dr Brendan Nelson, Rinehart’s partner in S Kidman and Co, Gui Guojie, and a host of Coalition politicians, including Nigel Scullion, Luke Hartsuyker and even state Liberal primary industries spokesman David Ridgeway. Speculated Liberal defector George Christensen was also among those seeking Rinehart’s ear.
Most entertaining was an ABBA cover band, to which guests clapped along with tambourines placed at tables – a clever idea by Rinehart to enliven the crowd.
Jay steels himself for the Pageant
TWAS the hour before the Christmas Pageant and renowned Central Market cafe Lucia’s was packed.
Inside were Premier Jay Weatherill, billionaire Whyalla steelworks boss Sanjeev Gupta and Economic Development Board chair Raymond Spencer.
Gupta, the subject of a BBC documentary to air next week called Man of Steel, might have been talking about his $700 million plans for large-scale renewable energy projects in SA.
“It’s clear to me that Mr Gupta has a commitment to South Australia that goes beyond his investments in the Whyalla steelworks. It was good to share a Lucia’s coffee and hear some of his exciting ideas for our state,” Weatherill told us later.
Shortly after the meeting, Weatherill tweeted pictures of his daughters “having a fabulous time on the stocking float”. The girls were waving happily to the photographer, presumably their Dad.
The Power of none
WHILE many regard The Advertiser’s footy guru Michelangelo Rucci as the defacto Member for Port Adelaide, the thought of him joining the ranks on North Terrace provoked much mirth in Off the Record towers yesterday.
Rucci received a phone call from an online newsletter claiming he was about to link with Nick Xenophon for the state election. A flummoxed Rucci said he had recently bumped into SA Best staffer Frank Pangallo but that was it. Rucci also stressed federal politics was a no go, as he wouldn’t be forfeiting his Italian citizenship.
Come again?
YOU have to wonder what they have been watching behind closed doors at the Town Hall.
In one interview this week Lord Mayor Martin Haese, in explaining why he had reservations about proposed new Riverbank lighting, called it the city’s “money shot”. He said it twice.
In another interview, councillor Megan Hender also used the phrase “money shot”.
Now Off the Record is an innocent in such things, but is told that phrase is the property of the porn industry and denotes how a particular action sequence is concluded.
On the move
FORMER Santos public affairs chief Christian Bennett has joined Woolworths Group as head of government relations and industry affairs.
The affable Bennett has had a diverse career, including serving as Australian High Commissioner to Brunei from 2004 to 2006, as a staffer for then foreign minister Alexander Downer and also as BHP’s vice-president for government relations and public policy.
Bennett was at Santos from 2006 to 2011, when it had a large PR team.
Reader letters: World War II POWs — we remember them
August 15: Readers have their say on Victory in the Pacific Day and a Melbourne traveller saying you can “basically do whatever you like over here” when it comes to social distancing.
Silly COVID restrictions need to go now
Despite SA’s coronavirus “cluster” passing, we’re still not allowed to stand at the pub or have more than 10 people at home. These restrictions are needlessly hurting businesses and families, writes Caleb Bond.