NSW Minister Victor Dominello in Tinder ‘catfish’ incident
He may be single but Digital and Customer Service Minister Victor Dominello confirms he is not on Tinder — but someone is using his picture on the dating app.
NSW
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Senior NSW government minister Victor Dominello has become unwittingly caught up in a catfishing incident with an impostor posing as the Ryde MP chatting to women on the Tinder dating app.
Catfishing is when a person creates a fake persona online to form relationships with other people.
The Digital and Customer Service Minister, who happens to be single but says he’s “100 per cent not on Tinder” was alerted by a woman that her mother had been approached by somebody acting as him on the popular dating site.
“Someone on Tinder is using your photo to catfish my mum and she called him out on it,” the woman’s message to Dominello declared.
Coincidentally, Dominello, who immediately confirmed to the woman that the “Victor” on Tinder was definitely not him, said he was alerted to the impostor just after he had finished watching an ABC documentary about artificial intelligence “deepfake” technology that can make people appear to say and do things they never actually did.
“I had just finished watching the Foreign Correspondent documentary Deepfakes And The End of Truth when I got the message,” he said.
“But I can reassure everyone it is not me.”
That said, Dominello is aware that he is – as he described it – “the last man standing” when it comes to being in a relationship.
“Now that the Premier has found someone, I am the last man standing,” he said.
The Sauce understands Dominello is open to finding the right female partner “but not via the catfish model”.
SANITISER IN DEMAND
Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall is probably the last person right now you would seek out for a hand sanitiser.
But it appears many have, with only a few bottles of the “99.99 per cent effective” product bearing his picture and name left from the 500 that were produced.
In fact, The Sauce hears they’ve become a collectable item.
Given that no other MPs have yet tested positive, despite Marshall being a known “office popper in-er” and persistent talk that he at one stage shook Health Minister Brad Hazzard’s hand (both Marshall and Hazzard’s offices have denied it) the sanitiser must do the job.
ROCKIN’ BUDGET
When Treasurer Dominic Perrottet was reading out his budget speech last Tuesday, he planted a secret homage to one of his favourite bands from his youth.
Despite being banned by his mum from joining his older brother in attending a Jon Bon Jovi concert at Easter Creek, Perrottet still has a soft spot for the big-haired ’80s rockers.
During the part of his speech that discussed the Treasurer’s “financial literacy challenge”,
Perrottet made a reference to “Tommy in kindergarten” and “Gina in her teens” whom he said would be empowered with lifelong skills for a securer financial future.
Tommy and Gina are fictitious characters who feature in two of Bon Jovi’s most famous songs, including in the 1986 mega-hit “Livin’ On A Prayer” where Tommy is “down on his luck” while Gina has been working “the diner all day”.
The couple reappear in the 2000 hit It’s My Life, a song about living life to the fullest and not being “a face in the crowd”.
The Sauce can confirm the use of the names was no accident, with Perrottet, who also missed out on a Guns N’ Roses gig for being too young, making “no apologies” for their use.
“My staff were like, ‘you can’t do that’ and I said ‘yes I can’,” Perrottet said.
Bon Jovi were not the only ’80s rock reference the Treasurer made – he also paid tribute to Swedish pop group Roxette, finishing his speech with “NSW, get dressed for success”.
BEARD BONDING
Isolation does strange things to people – including pollies.
Deputy Premier John Barilaro and Environment Minister Matt Kean are arch political rivals, but the pair appear to have put aside their philosophical differences in the name of growing the best “iso beard”.
Kean issued the challenge, and told The Sauce that Bara had accepted (although we understand the Hornsby MP is worried the Monaro MP may have the edge).
Both ministers are in 14-day isolation after being deemed close contacts of Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall who tested positive to Covid this week.
Kean said he was thankful to have his cat, Blade, to keep him company.
“Trevor the turtle is in hibernation, so I've got the cat at least,” he said.
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