The Sauce: Men’s rights advocate Bettina Arndt denies financing Bruce Lehrmann

Men’s rights advocate Bettina Arndt has denied financing Bruce Lehrmann, but is keen to publicise an upcoming conference her group is sponsoring where he will be a keynote speaker.

Former sex therapist Bettina Arndt has long been rumoured as a potential secret financier of Bruce Lehrmann — a claim the men’s rights advocate denies.

But while the Australia Day Awards recipient rejected the assertion — expressly telling The Sauce last week that she was “not providing any financial support for Bruce Lehrmann” — Arndt was keen to highlight an upcoming justice conference her group Mothers of Sons is sponsoring where Lehrmann is listed as a keynote speaker.

Called the “restoring the presumption of innocence conference”, the June 1 event will also hear from fellow speakers Margaret Cunneen SC, vice-president of the Rule of Law Institute Chris Merritt and Perth-based law professor Augusto Zimmerman.

A flyer for the event declares that equality before the law “no longer exists” in Australia, with the presumption of innocence having been “tossed aside”.

The justice system is also tilted to favour “victims”.

Bettina Arndt has flatly denied providing Bruce Lehrmann with financial support Picture: Jonathan Ng

Lehrmann will be guest speaker at the ‘restoring the presumption of innocence conference’. Picture: David Swift

However the “rot” was now being exposed, with 400 current sexual assault cases currently being audited by NSW public prosecutors to determine whether, “as six judges have claimed”, such cases are being pushed through to trial with insufficient evidence, the flyer says.

While this audit was under way, it was the “perfect time” to bring together “some of the real experts” to discuss the issue “and to talk about what’s needed to achieve a fair system.”

Hosted by the Australians for Science and Freedom — a group “founded by concerned doctors, lawyers and academics who objected to the government’s response to the pandemic” — the conference will be held in Rushcutters Bay.

Back to Lehrmann: There has long been speculation about his financial situation, given he hasn’t worked full-time since mid-2021 and now Seven is no longer paying his rent.

On Friday, the former Liberal staffer was seen moving out of his luxury $2000-a-week apartment in Balgowlah.

Either way, there’s no chances of money rolling in from another lucrative TV deal anytime soon … if ever.

‘PART-TIME’ PREMIER

Labor leader Chris Minns has been dubbed a “part-time premier” by his Liberal opponents after he slipped out early during a parliamentary sitting week to attend a Labor UTS “parliament drinks” event.

The Liberals, who have been tracking Minns’ “pair requests” — an arrangement between two parties whereby two members from opposing sides do not vote on a particular occasion so that one or both can be absent — noted the Premier requested one for March 20 from 3pm.

Minns cited “family reasons” for requesting a pair.

Premier Chris Minns. Picture: Damian Shaw

The pair was granted, only for Coalition spies to find Minns at a Labor drinks event.

According to the Liberals, Minns has asked for more than 20 pairs since May 9 — not all of which have been granted — with the premier citing “family reasons” for lodging the request on four occasions.

Other pairs were requested due to illness — including Covid — to attend special events such as one with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and another with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and to meet flood victims up the coast.

State opposition legal affairs spokesman Alister Henskens said the Premier’s pair requests were on top of Labor only setting aside 45 parliamentary sitting days this year — among the lowest number in the past decade.

“We have a part-time premier that doesn’t want scrutiny,” Henskens said.

Defending Minns, a Labor source said the Premier had dropped in to the Labor event for “15 minutes” on his way home, while noting that pairs were also requested by Coalition MPs — and not all for illness or “family reasons”.

In the case of Vaucluse Liberal MP Kellie Sloane, a pair was requested for November 21 to attend an event at Scots College during the Duke of Edinburgh’s visit, while Liberal Manly MP James Griffin had requested pairs from November 21-23 while he took a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) trip to the UK, the source said.

As for sitting days, it’s how you look at it. The source noted that in 2022, under the former Coalition government, both houses sat for a combined 84 days — six days less than this year if including the sitting days of both houses.

OPEN HEARTS

Rock legend Jimmy Barnes, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and heart transplant recipient Fiona Coote were among the VIPs to attend the St Vincent’s Heart and Lung Transplantation Program 40th anniversary dinner last week.

The event was not just to celebrate what has been achieved at St Vincent’s over the past four decades, but to also announce the formation of a national heart health alliance and summit.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (left) and rock legend Jimmy Barnes at the St Vincent’s Heart and Lung Transplantation Program 40th anniversary dinner.

St Vincent’s Health Australia group CEO Chris Blake said the summit would be the largest gathering of Australian heart health experts, who would discuss the future of heart health, treatment and disease prevention in Australia, including home-based care.

“We continue to dream big because there is much to be done,” he said.

Cardiovascular disease accounts for one-in-four of all deaths, claiming the life of one Australian every 12 minutes.

The number of Australians reporting having heart attacks is on the rise, with an Australian hospitalised for heart disease every 80 seconds, equating to more than 1,100 people per day on average.

The summit will be held within the next 12 months.

PARRA BOYS

They’re two passionate westies with a friendly rivalry that stretches back over a decade.

Now Christopher Brown AM, who is the chairman of the Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue, and David Borger OAM, a former Labor minister and the executive director of Business Western Sydney, have joined forces in a new advisory venture called StratWest.

The consultancy — which they insist is “not a lobbying firm” — is designed to assist businesses and organisations get a toehold into Western Sydney, while lending support for campaigns involving the development of more affordable housing, opening recreational water access, Indigenous advancement and securing arts funding.

The outfit was launched at an intimate cocktail event in Parramatta on Thursday night, with “Brownie” and “Borge” announced as advisory board members of the new consultancy, alongside Jacqueline Vozzo, who is the board director of Western Sydney Lakes — aka Pondi — and senior adviser and director Kathy Jones.

The firm is being headed up by one-time Dialogue business executive, Faith Halliday, who is also an honorary Board member of the Parramatta Women’s Shelter.

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