Off the Record: Predictions are in for Christopher Pyne’s next job and its Sally v Kouts on Twitter
In this week’s Off the Record, predictions are in for Christopher Pyne’s next job, Sally Zou v Kouts on Twitter, and what is Nu Skin and why is David Ridgway meeting with it?
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In this week’s Off the Record, predictions are in for Christopher Pyne’s next job and its Sally Zou v Kouts on Twitter.
Plus, what is Nu Skin and why is David Ridgway meeting with it?
Legal gig for man who’s a law unto himself
The retiring Christopher Pyne might have gone back to the future today when he debated Labor defence rival Richard Marles at city law firm Thomson Geer.
The debate, which was co-presented by The Advertiser and telecast live on Sky News, was organised by the legal firm, where Pyne once worked, and GC Advisory, the lobbying firm now run by his former chief of staff Adam Howard. One betting firm is already running odds on Pyne’s post-political ventures, so here’s our best bet.
Given Pyne has declared his interest in private enterprise when he retires at the election expected in May, there are signs he might hang up his shingle at his old law firm.
It is understood Pyne intends to remain in Adelaide and is considering options including advisory and board roles.
There are plenty of defence firms in Adelaide for a former defence minister to advise, courtesy of the $90 billion in naval shipbuilding projects centred on Adelaide that Pyne has boasted of his key role in delivering.
Given his longstanding control of the SA Liberal Party, there would be plenty of State Government-related work.
But we can’t imagine Christopher treading the corridors of Parliament House as a lobbyist — he could leave that to Howard, if the pair formed a professional alliance. And what better place to forge an Adelaide base than the law firm at which he worked as a solicitor from 1991 to 1993, alongside the now chief executive partner Adrian Tembel.
Of course, Pyne is busy as Defence Minister until the election and, with a lifelong parliamentary pension in the order of $200,000 a year, he won’t need to rush into a new gig. The ministerial code of conduct prevents, for 18 months, a former minister lobbying, advocating or having business meetings with members of the government, parliament, public service or defence force on any matters on which they have had official dealings as a minister in their last 18 months in office.
That might prevent business-related chats with his Sky News co-host Marles.
Perhaps Pyne can take some advice from his former nemesis, Alexander Downer, who in 2008 was forming corporate advisory firm Bespoke Approach, with Ian Smith and Labor powerbroker Nick Bolkus, even before the by-election had been held to replace him in Mayo.
Mates helping mates
It’s one big happy family in the state Liberals’ moderate faction.
Premier Steven Marshall’s new chief of staff, Courtney Morcombe, is the wife of federal Trade Minister Simon Birmingham. The pair fell for one another after she was Birmo’s campaign manager for his unsuccessful 2004 bid for the-then marginal western Adelaide seat of Hindmarsh.
At the time, Morcombe was an adviser to Sturt MP Christopher Pyne. And another helper on that campaign was the-then state Young Liberal president James Stevens, who Morcombe replaced as Marshall’s COS when he quit seeking Lib preselection in Sturt to replace Pyne. This picture shows Morcombe, Stevens and Birmingham on the campaign trail in 2004.
Sally’s glorious Twitter return
Off the Record’s unofficial poet laureate, the enigmatic Sally Zou, has made a long-awaited return to Twitter in recent weeks, after a long and lamented (by her followers) hiatus.
Famous for strikingly bizarre tweets, including the notorious million dollar cheque whose digits spelled out Premier Steven Marshall’s birthdate shortly before last year’s state election, Zou soon after deleted all of her missives and kept her own counsel.
But as she tweeted out on March 1 “some birds aren’t meant to be caged, their feathers are just too bright”.
Opposition attack dog Tom Koutsantonis must think Christmas has come early, but to be fair Tom, “if your heart is a volcano, how shall you expect flowers to bloom?” as Zou tweeted out this week.
Koutsantonis’s succinct “More from Steven Marshall’s largest donor.” earned the rejoinder: “Hi Tom, You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist. Only passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great things …”
Wise, and unfortunately, also now deleted words.
So what inspired this return to the Twitterverse? We can only speculate — Zou is notoriously media shy, but she did make a return not long after The Advertiser reported she was having some serious issues with a mining project in New South Wales, which has been shut down amid breaches of its operating licence, including being implicated in the death of a large number of kangaroos.
Less than a fortnight later Zou tweeted out a picture of the solar system with the words: “The universe doesn’t give you what you ask for with your thoughts; But it gives you what you demand with your actions … All our dreams can come true, if we have courage to pursue them …”
Zou’s company’s actions have landed it in hot water with the NSW mining regulator so we can’t fault the truth of this one.
A lack of character in some of these references
The Labor health spokesman Chris Picton laid into former PM John Howard last week for writing a character reference for convicted paedophile priest George Pell.
Picton wrote on Facebook Howard’s actions were a “complete disgrace’’. And that’s a defensible argument. But what of consistency?
Picton is the member for Kaurna. A couple of streets away in the neighbouring electorate of Reynell is the Don Hopgood Theatre. Hopgood was member for Baudin which takes in much of Kaurna.
Hopgood was a Labor deputy premier for seven years until 1992, but in 1978 as Education Minister gave a personal reference to a known paedophile. During 2015’s royal commission into institutional sex abuse, Hopgood admitted he rescinded the sacking of paedophile teacher Gregory Robert Knight, even though he knew he had sexually assaulted three students.
He allowed Knight to quit and gave him a personal reference that helped him find work as a teacher in Queensland and the Northern Territory, where he kept assaulting students.
Off the Record doesn’t recall Facebook posts from Labor MPs decrying that.
Picton told Off the Record he “deplored” any references written for paedophiles, but that Hopgood had apologised and it was “written 41 years ago’’.
Nu in town
Last year, Trade Minister David Ridgway met twice with a bunch called Nu Skin.
In technical terms, Nu Skin is a direct selling firm. Other people have referred to them as a pyramid scheme.
In the US, they have paid millions of dollars in fines for deceptive advertising and overstating how much its distributors earn. Chinese authorities also fined them.
The talks were about whether Adelaide could host one of its “incentive’’ programs. One on the Gold Coast in 2016 brought 1300 of its distributors to the area.
Check it out
Politicians must have some seriously big pockets. How else to explain how they carry around all those novelty cheques?
The curse of the outsized offering was on display again this week when Liberal Boothby MP Nicolle Flint was seen posing with another giant gratuity. Don’t politicians have access to EFT like the rest of us?
Of course, Flint is following in well-trodden footsteps. Mayo Liberal candidate Georgina Downer has been at it, Labor MP Jayne Stinson was fond of it as a candidate. Who will be next?
Tree Fellas
There’s no splinter in cabinet that we know of but one prominent member of the government and their family are keen to see two trees get the chop out Unley way.
A family member has already seen two dropped limbs smash a car and destroy a gate and there are fears worse will happen. Especially as the Minister regularly parks in the street to pick up grandchildren.
Residents have let the council know of the potential personal (and PR) disaster they are dicing with and Unley Mayor Michael Hewitson is now involved in discussions.
Battle to save animals on the brink at Outback reserve
Conservationists are battling to save animals at an Outback reserve from the effects of the worst drought in recent memory, and have received a funding boost to redouble their efforts.
Country tradie to face court over incomplete work
A country tradesman will face the Elizabeth Magistrates Court over allegations he was not licenced and refused to refund money to clients.