The Sauce: Coalition at war over Lib deputy leaders and portfolios
Forget the stoush over who should be the deputy Liberal leader, tensions are exploding in the Coalition over the delays in appointing shadow ministers. The Sauce reports.
NSW
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Forget the stoush over who should be the deputy Liberal leader — a farcical row given it is just a token role anyway —— tensions are exploding within the Coalition over the delays in appointing shadow ministers.
While the Minns government will on Sunday roll out its legislative agenda ahead of the return to parliament on May 9 — that’s in 10 days, folks — Coalition MPs are yet to find out which portfolios they will be getting.
It is understood the Nationals are becoming particularly restless at the Libs not being able to sort out their mess in time for the resumption of parliament.
However, several Liberal sources claim it is the Nats that are holding up the process by demanding extra portfolios.
It understood Nationals want to add health to their cluster of portfolios — in exchange for handing back education —— while also keeping police.
However, the Liberals are discussing former treasurer Matt Kean shifting to health, with Damien Tudehope becoming opposition treasury spokesman and Natalie Ward the transport shadow.
The ballot on deputy leader position will be held Monday week at 1pm, with MPs to first vote on whether to change the existing party rules to allow upper house MPs to participate in choosing who should fill the role.
A second vote will then occur on who the deputy should be, which will include Ward if upper house MPs are allowed to vote, but also former planning minister Anthony Roberts, and potentially MPs Felicity Wilson, Robyn Preston and Wendy Tuckerman.
Under the party rules, two-thirds of MPs need to back a rule change. As of Saturday, the motion appeared to be a few votes short.
A Liberal source said the stoush over the deputy leader role was unrelated to the delays in the allocation of portfolios, as “robust” discussions were under way with the Nationals on the number of shadows and who should get what.
“They are the best horse traders,” the source said.
“The Nats could walk in behind you in a revolving door and walk out ahead of you.”
REPLY-ALL FIASCO
When the chief-of-staff of former NSW speaker Jonathan O’Dea hit “reply” on his email in response to a message sent by upper house president Matthew Mason-Cox, he clearly overlooked the fact the recipient list would not just be Mason-Cox but “EveryoneAtParliament”.
Mason-Cox’s email included a link to a new video exploring the parliamentary career of Sir Francis Suttor, president of the NSW Legislative Council from 1903 to 1915, as part of an “Immortals” series to celebrate the bicentenary of the Legislative Council.
“I encourage you to take a few minutes to watch the videos and to share across your personal networks,” he wrote.
A few hours later, everyone received another email from Paul Blanch, the ex-chief-of-staff in the office of O’Dea.
Blanch, who clearly thought he was replying only to Mason-Cox, wrote: “Interesting Matthew, the Suttors still live on the family property at Bathurst —— I think they killed a few of our Indigenous cousins.”
In the hour that followed, Blanch was clearly made aware his email had gone beyond just Mason-Cox, as he followed-up with another — this time intentional — reply all.
“Hi Matthew, well that was a Friday special of mine!” he wrote. “I have just been told I sent my reply to the entire parliamentary community — I thought it was to you privately.
“I do apologise.”
As for the Suttors: “The Suttors I know well as fellow farmers in Bathurst and friends of my wife’s family,” he wrote.
Upon seeking a comment, Blanch told The Sauce that the email had been “recalled” and noted he had apologised.
“It is private and confidential communication,” he wrote. “It was an accident using iPhone technology. I have apologised. It was recalled.”
Blanch said he was disappointed the email had been sent on, but “not surprised”.
Has happened to the best of us.
PARLIAMENT TURF WAR
The offices and party room on the top floor of Parliament House — some of which have views of Sydney Harbour Bridge — are hot real estate.
So when word swept the Macquarie Street corridors that Labor MP Anna Watson, in her role as former opposition whip, was single-handedly trying to evict the tenants, a revolt was always on the cards — especially when the tenants are Nationals MPs.
One claim included how Watson had allegedly stuck Post-It notes on office doors asking for the premises to be vacated.
According to Nationals MPs, Level 12 has been occupied by the party irrespective of whether it has been in government or not.
The party room includes a balcony where MPs — many travelling from the country — would gather for Monday pre-parliamentary session barbecues.
Portraits of Nationals leaders past hang on the walls.
Such was the revolt we hear Nationals leader Paul Toole picked up the phone to a senior Labor MP close to Premier Chris Minns who in turn declared he would “sort it”.
A source close to Watson claimed no Post-It notes were written, but confirmed she had “explored” the possibility of the Nats moving.
The Sauce was told the Nats had been reassured they could remain on the floor.
BY-ELECTION BANTER
With former premier Dominic Perrottet expected to quit state politics in the coming year, questions are being asked about who may put their hand up for his blue-ribbon seat of Epping.
While there has been speculation former roads minister Natalie Ward may want to have a tilt at a lower house seat, senior Liberals say former City of Sydney councillor Craig Chung is also in the frame.
Chung was endorsed as the Liberal candidate for the seat of Kogarah for the March 25 state election but was no match for Chris Minns, who easily retained the seat on the back of statewide swings to Labor.
However, Epping will also not necessarily be a shoo-in, given the swing of 5.3 per cent against Perrottet to Labor.
SWEDISH SAGA
As Labor MPs packed up their offices in Parliament House to move into new digs on Level 8 — with Lib MPs moving into theirs — one passing spy could not help but notice a handmade sign near the belongings of Environment Minister Penny Sharpe and Roads Minister John Graham.
The sign boldly declared: “NSW Libs NOF NIDEA”.
The sign — looking suspiciously like an abbreviation, with some Swedish umlauts as accents — was promptly shared among Coalition MPs before the image made its way to The Sauce.
“It’s bad,” our source said. “It’s a German thing.”
After some investigation, it can be revealed the sign came into Sharpe’s possession during one of the annual Ernie Awards, the poster having been brought to the annual sexist comments awards night by a group of “naughty girls” dressed up as Swedish activist Greta Thunberg.
It was among a bunch of signs Sharpe had collected during the awards, and had only resurfaced during the move.
Sharpe, who has been on Level 11 since 2005, said she put it aside to throw it out, and had not left it as a welcoming present for Liberal MP Damien Tudehope who was moving in to the office. “That would have been rude,” she said.
Sharpe did, however, leave Tudehope a welcome present: “I actually left him an Albo coaster and a nice bottle wine.”
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