The Sauce: Mark Philippoussis denies Mark Latham’s claims of friendship, gifts

Mark Philippoussis has once again denied being friends with Mark Latham after the politician posted thanks on social media for a gift he claims the tennis star sent him.

The friendship between independent NSW MP Mark Latham and former tennis star Mark Philippoussis seems to be very one-sided.

Five days before Christmas, the controversial MP posted on X he had received an early present from “old mate” Philippoussis.

“How good in the mail today,” Latham tweeted.

“Tickets for each of the 2025 Grand Slam tennis tournaments. I love the Poo.”

Mark Latham. Picture: Instagram

Mark Philippoussis. Picture: Getty

Yet, Philippoussis has now denied for a second time that he even knows Mr Latham, let alone keeps giving him tickets.

“This is ridiculous,” a spokesperson for the athlete said.

“As Mark has previously stated, he has no relationship with Latham whatsoever – completely false.”

Philippoussis has previously denied knowing Latham after the MP declared the The Poo gifted him free entry to Wimbledon in 2023 on his official gift declarations

Mr Latham did not respond to requests to comment on his claims, but he did follow up with a second X post late on Saturday night.

The Poo of course has denied this to the Daily Telegraph.
He does that not to upset his other friends who get jealous.
💩 😂💩😂💩😂💩😂

— Real Mark Latham (@RealMarkLatham) December 28, 2024

But it begs the question, if not Mr Philippoussis then who is giving Mr Latham free tickets to the tennis?

JUNIOR MINISTER’S $25K PARIS TRIP

It’s a well-known fact that government ministers often love to fly business class on their overseas sojourns, but it is unusual for junior ministers to spend tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars on international travel.

Yet when Assistant Public Service Minister Patrick Gorman travelled to Paris in July, just before the Olympics, the six-day trip cost him nearly $25,750. Of this Gorman spent more than $20,000 on business class flights for himself and an adviser.

With Paris being the expensive destination that it is, Mr Gorman’s meals and accommodation came in at nearly $850 per day.

All that, and he didn’t even get to stay for the actual Games, leaving the week before.

What was such a junior minister doing in Paris at that time of year?

Assistant Public Service Minister Patrick Gorman has been criticised for spending $20k on business class airfares to Paris. Picture: Colin Murty

According to Mr Gorman’s office he was there to launch the first direct flights between Perth and Paris, meet with French trade representatives and lay a wreath at the grave of Australian Olympian Cecil Healy at the Somme.

Mr Gorman’s trip was almost as expensive as Sport Minister Anika Wells’s trip to the Olympics one week later.

Sports Minister Anika Wells. Picture: Martin Ollman

Ms Wells and her chief of staff spent more than $27,440 over eight days — with nearly $24,900 of that going to business class airfares.

A spokesperson for Ms Wells said the minister had “engaged in high-level diplomatic meetings during the Olympics”, including with the World Anti-Doping Authority and Commonwealth sports ministers.

Ms Wells spent nearly $900 on meals and accommodation over the eight days.

Receipts from her time in Paris show that during the trip Ms Wells enjoyed a couple of glasses of red wine from Languedoc, while on another occasion opted for a glass of 17 euro sancerre.

Opposition spokesman on government waste James Stevens told The Sauce he thought Mr Gorman had enjoyed his trip to Paris far too much.

“While many Australians can only dream of visiting Paris, they were given no choice but to pay for a junior minister’s business class flights to the City of Lights,” he said.

Dom’s Christmas

In a very rare personal update from former premier Dominic Perrottet, it seems the family has settled in nicely to the cold and gloomy Christmas weather they have up in the northern hemisphere.

Sharing a photo with his wife Helen and their seven children in their new Washington home, where the family have lived since Perrottet took a job with BHP, it was all glazed ham, roast meats, potatoes and a lot of smiling faces.

Pity it didn’t look like beach weather outside.

Mr Perrottet was not the only (former) politician enjoying the holiday break.

The man who replaced him as premier left after Christmas to spend a week on the NSW coast with his family.

Labor sources told the Sauce Premier Chris Minns has been nervous about overseas holidays ever since his trip to Japan was turned around after the Bondi stabbings in April. For the time being it looks like he’s sticking with domestic holidays only.

Housing Minister Rose Jackson has no such fears, enjoying a family holiday in Japan over January.

Energy and Environment Minister Penny Sharpe can be spotted relaxing near Jarvis Bay, doing a bit of fishing and “keeping an eye on the weather” in case she needs to rush back for any blackout warnings.

Linda Silmalis is on leave

Originally published as The Sauce: Mark Philippoussis denies Mark Latham’s claims of friendship, gifts