Off The Record: The home of SA political gossip
ONE single male dancing with a lady whose husband was overseas. Was this Adelaide’s biggest scandal since Mike Rann was hit in the face with a rolled-up magazine? Find out in our round-up of the latest SA gossip.
EACH week, Off The Record will bring you the best gossip from around Adelaide’s corridors of power.
STEVEN REVEALS DANCING STIMULUS
ONE single white male dancing with a glamorous lady whose husband was overseas. Off the Record thought we had stumbled upon Adelaide’s biggest scandal since Mike Rann was whacked in the face with a rolled-up magazine.
But everything was strictly above board when Opposition Leader Steven Marshall boogied with Lady Mayoress Genevieve Theseira-Haese, pictured, last weekend.
The high-profile dance couple were at Saturday’s Diner en Blanc, at which thousands of white-clad guests met for a mass chic picnic in Rundle Mall.
When Off the Record photographed the prancing political pair, the potential premier flashed a smile, seemingly quite impressed with his moves. His enthusiasm was shared by Ava Abiad, pictured at rear, wife of Deputy Lord Mayor Houssam Abiad.
But in the cold light of day, Marshall conceded his disco dancing needed a bit of work.
“Fortunately for South Australians, I’m better at managing the books than busting a move,” he declared.
“A good jobs stimulus would be making me take dance lessons — I clearly need a few.”
A good-humoured Lady Mayoress said the pair were “shadow dancing”.
She said: “We took to the platform — while the rest of the party grooved on the assigned dance square. We moved to a different beat.”
And what was Lord Mayor Martin Haese up to while his wife was strutting her stuff with the Liberal leader? Listening to Leonardo Di Caprio, of course, who was addressing the Paris Climate Conference.
No word yet on whether budding movie mogul Jay Weatherill or his personal film crew have signed up the Hollywood star to feature in the Premier’s taxpayer-funded Paris climate change blockbuster. All South Australians no doubt hope it be completed in time for Oscar nominations.
COURT IN THE ACTION
ADELAIDE’S legal fraternity is a tight-knit bunch and one of its best-known names this week introduced a new member to the public via a notorious case.
Standing by the side of disgraced former MP Bernard Finnigan as he received his sentence on a child pornography conviction was Hannah Doyle.
Doyle, 31, is the youngest child of former Chief Justice (and the man who should have been SA’s first appointment to the High Court) John Doyle, and is part of a long line of talented lawyers. Her older siblings Sam and Ben are leading Adelaide barristers (Sam’s a silk), and Rachel is an SC in Melbourne, all of them having graduated from Adelaide University’s Law School.
Older sister Miriam, however, has broken with tradition and is a PE teacher at St Ignatius’ College’s senior campus at Athelstone.
Doyle is a former associate to Federal Court Judge John Mansfield and is now at Iles Selley Lawyers.
But she is only one among several lawyers whose family tree extends to the South Australian Bench.
Criminal and family lawyer Chloe Germanos-Kourakis is the daughter of Chief Justice Chris Kourakis, and barrister Sophie David SC’s father is retired Supreme Court Justice Michael David, who was the state’s longest serving judicial officer but now oversees the Louise Bell case.
David’s Bar Chambers colleague Tom Duggan, SC, is the son of retired Justice Kevin Duggan, whose other son Sam is a Sydney barrister. Former Supreme Court Justice David Bleby’s son, Chris, is a Crown SC, silk Tom Cox’s late father was Justice Brian Cox, while Justice John Sulan’s offspring David is also a silk practising in Sydney.
Barrister Tom Besanko is the son of Federal Court Judge Anthony and Rachael Shaw’s mother is former District Court judge Marie Shaw, QC, who quit the bench in 2009.
Another name with a legal background who would have also been pleased to see the end of the Finnigan case is Transport Minister Stephen Mullighan, son of the late Justice Ted Mullighan, who shared membership of Labor’s Right faction with the convicted criminal.
PARKING ENVY
WHEN you own a $400,000 Ferrari F430, a $49 parking ticket is unlikely to hit the hip pocket too hard.
And Adelaide entrepreneur Matthew Michalewicz, the proud owner of a yellow F430, can even see a bright side to the sticker licker busting him in Waymouth St.
Michalewicz, who grew his SolveIT Software company to $20 million in revenue before selling in 2012, parked his yellow Ferrari outside his favourite haunt, Georges on Waymouth, when he was caught.
“You always park, you buy a ticket, and meetings go on and you meet someone else and you inadvertently get a ticket,” he told Off the Record.
“The only upside of it is that a parking ticket in Adelaide is still less than a regular parking station in Sydney.”
In fact, Michalewicz was speaking from Sydney, where a CBD car park can cost $68 for two hours. Given Michalewicz’s $49 fine for overstaying his welcome outside Georges, we reckon he’s found a silver lining, of sorts.
FORGET ME KNOX
FOR a few moments this week, it appeared someone had forgotten to tell David Knox he had been ousted as Santos chief executive.
The amiable former boss of the state’s biggest company appeared at the nuclear royal commission on Thursday, hovering like Banquo’s ghost on the webcast above royal commissioner Kevin Scarce.
But Knox, who left Santos last month, couldn’t help but lapse into the present tense when discussing the company.
When referring to Santos’s controversial Narrabri gas project, Knox confidently declared: “We think we’ve found a way through that now.”
FACEPLANT
THE dangers of social media part 3452. Salisbury councillor Betty Gill is claiming the “my finger slipped’’ defence after sharing an anti-Islam post on her personal Facebook site.
Gill shared a cartoon that read “I wonder if I said ‘f — k Islam’ how many friends would say it also? Share and let’s see!” on her Facebook page.
Gill, who is chair of the Council’s Strategic and International Partnerships subcommittee, claimed she only shared it by accident. when scrolling through posts.
WOMAN OF NOTE
FILE this one under over-reaction. An email from an assistant at the national Women in Media organisation started with a friendly “Hi ladies’’. That was a bit much for the SA head honcho, Collette Snowden (pictured) who delivered a lecture in gender politics. “ ... could you please not address us as LADIES!’’ thundered Snowden, who runs Communication and Media at UniSA and who has a fondness for CAPS LOCK.
She continued. “There is a historic debate about the use of this term, which is worth respecting, and which is one of the reasons we are WOMEN in Media, and not LADIES in Media.’’
Sounds like a fascinating debate.
ALL CHANGE
THE musical chairs in television news land continues. James “Jimbo” Wakelin, the Power’s media manager and husband of Ten newsreader, and Messenger columnist, Rebecca Morse, is returning to Channel 9 as a senior producer in the new year.
While he declined to comment, it is understood he is replacing Chris Salter, an Off the Record regular after his defection to Seven.
Meanwhile, Attorney-General John Rau is still thinking about who should replace press sec Kate Baldock, who is heading offshore next week. A few have already declined the position, but Seven’s Caroline Kelly, knocked down a peg by Salter’s pending arrival at Hindmarsh, is one in the mix.
TREE FELLA
ALL politicians have a skeleton in the closet. In the case of Greens’ leader Mark Parnellthe skeleton is a tree stump.
Parnell was on his high horse this week, trying to legislate to make it more difficult for homeowners to cut down trees. But back in 2011 in a story published in SA Weekend, Parnell, wife Penny Wright and family posed on a tree stump.
As it turned out, the green champion had illegally logged a pine tree without council approval.
Parnell said it was an already deceased pine tree, but admitted “I did not follow proper procedures and I accept full responsibility for my mistake.’’