The Sauce: Covid close calls ramp up as pollies get festive

The festive season turned into a game of virus dodgeball last week as politicians, staffers and media stared down Omicron to attend key Sydney events.

The festive season turned into a game of virus dodgeball last week as politicians, staffers and
media stared down the Omicron variant to attend key Sydney events.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison was among those leading the charge, turning up to the packed Sydney Institute dinner on Monday to deliver a keynote address about the nation being back on the “road to recovery”.

Scott Morrison has had a few close encounters of the Covid kind. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

On Friday, many attendees — including Tourism and Western Sydney Minister Stuart Ayres, prospective Gilmore candidate Andrew Constance, Senator Jane Hume, Telstra chief executive Andrew Penn, former prime minister John Howard and his wife Janette, and PremierNational managing director Ian Hancock as well as chairman Michael Photios — were receiving Service NSW alerts about a confirmed case at the event and advice to monitor for symptoms.

At least ScoMo knew he was in the clear after having already undergone two
Covid tests — one after Monday night, and both negative — from previous potential exposures.

MERRY CHRIS-MINNS

Doing his best impression of Mark Darcy from Bridget Jones’s Diary, NSW Labor leader Chris Minns put on a special Christmas shirt for his end-of-year drinks with staff, who all joined in.

Chris Minns (centre) with his staff at their Christmas party at Parliament House this week.

The Minns team had planned to hold their end-of-year drinks at East Village in Darlinghurst on Friday afternoon, but decided to cancel the booking.

Instead, the party was held at Minns’ office in Parliament House, with takeaway from the venue ordered instead.

As for the “Merry Chris-Minns” shirts (it was funny at the time), they were organised by a staff member.

IT’S MOOKHEY

Labor treasury spokesman Daniel Mookhey is used to the odd mispronunciation of his surname.

But while it may not be “Smith”, or “Jones” — or, God forbid, “Harding” — as surnames of an ethnic origin go, one would expect “Mookhey” to roll off the tongue for most.

This appears not to be the case for iCare chief executive officer Richard Harding, who repeatedly pronounced Mookhey during last week’s worker’s compensation inquiry as “Moo” and “Key” put together.

Shadow Treasurer Daniel Mookhey (left) with Labor Leader Chris Minns. Picture: Dylan Coker

For the record, Mookhey rhymes with “cookie”.

Despite being corrected, Harding persisted with his own preferred pronunciation, to the point even government MPs began chiming in to correct him.

Such was his insistence to stick to “Moo-Key” that Mookhey is of the view it was being used as a tactic to be demeaning.

“To err once is understandable,” Mookhey said. “But to get it wrong repeatedly after multiple encounters — it starts to become extremely offensive.”

CUTTING GRASS

With Erin Molan turning down an offer to become the Liberal candidate for Eden-Monaro, locals are wondering who else may be tapped for the job.

One name doing the rounds last week was none other than former deputy chief medical officer Dr Nick Coatsworth.

Is former deputy chief medical officer Dr Nick Coatsworth bound for Canberra? Picture: AAP Image

Given Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s penchant for a celebrity candidate — although he’s yet to snag one — The Sauce was not going to discount Dr Coatsworth without hearing from him first.

This was his reply: “I was out on my property in Yass trying to slash six-foot-high grass with a whipper-snipper after all the rain.

“I’ve got a long way to go before I could run for Eden Monaro.”

You read it here first.

LOW-KEY PARTIES

While the pollies may be partying, the finance sector has been taking a more cautious approach — even at the “Millionaires Factory”.

Macquarie Bank, which famously turned Cockatoo Island into a gothic extravaganza with cathedrals, coffins and ARIA Award-winning acts one year, has put its lavish Christmas parties on hold, with teams hosting their own individual events capped at 50 people.

However, The Sauce heard even some of those were cancelled this week, to ensure staff would not miss Christmas with their families.

Also doing small, team-based parties are Commonwealth Bank, EY Australia and PricewaterhouseCoopers, while NAB staff are holding Christmas lunches.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce held Christmas drinks at the Hilton, with Energy Minister Angus Taylor in attendance.

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