The Sauce: Did senior ETU members treat themselves to a secret Xmas harbour cruise?

Rumours a ETU members went on a secret Christmas harbour cruise; who stole a pollies’ cherries?; and which former minister failed to win preselection.

With Ausgrid cancelling end-of-year Christmas parties as a “screw you” to the industrial action taken by the Electrical Trades Union (ETU), it was no surprise when we heard union members had held their own knees-up.

The rumours on Friday were that the union branch “executive” – we guess this includes ETU secretary Allen Hicks – and paid staff treated themselves to a three-hour Christmas harbour cruise.

Just how many delegates were invited is unknown, as is which executives went, but no one was answering the phones at ETU headquarters when we called.

ETU secretary Allen Hicks. Picture: Richard Dobson

The usually outspoken Hicks was also uncharacteristically shy in commenting, passing on a message to us about “not buying into it” when we posed questions about the alleged cruise.

While the union this week reached an in-principle agreement with Ausgrid in the Fair Work Commission, a pay dispute with Sydney Trains and the government saw union members walking off the job on Thursday.

The move resulted in services on some lines being reduced by 40 per cent.

As for the broader action by union members, figures obtained by Opposition transport spokeswoman Natalie Ward show there have been 143 cancellations across Transport for NSW and Sydney Metro infrastructure projects across the state.

The government, which provided the figures to Ward in an answer to a Questions on Notice, said it was “not possible to fully assess the total cost” of the cancellations.

“Transport for NSW and Sydney Metro continue to work with contractors to mitigate the impacts of these cancellations,” the response said.

CHERRY-GATE

The communal fridge in the NSW Nationals parliamentary party room rarely contains anything too exciting beyond a sad staffer’s lunch or someone’s attempt at a sponge.

And so when party staff opened it last week to find 10 big boxes of premium cherries, they ripped in.

The Sauce was told several boxes were opened while others were taken home.

Cootamundra MP Steph Cooke. Picture: Facebook

However, their joy was short-lived with staffers soon informed that the cherries belonged to Nationals MP Steph Cooke and had been specially-selected from her hometown of Young and brought up to Sydney to be handed out as Christmas gifts for friends and supporters.

Such was the scandal that Nationals Dugald Saunders’ chief-of-staff – who when approached requested not to be named (sure, Rory) – offered to jump in the car and drive around Cooke’s seat of Cootamundra for more cherries, promising to return to Sydney by that afternoon.

However, The Sauce understands these had been “special” cherries.

In the end, Saunders’ COS – who took responsibility for the staff actions – ended up driving to staff homes around Sydney, reclaiming what was left to put back in the fridge.

Surely that deserves a box?

TAKE TWO

She was a Nationals MP for just over a year, before Labor seized her seat.

Nichole Overall.

But former Monaro MP Nichole Overall – who had succeeded ex-Nationals leader John Barilaro in the seat – is heading back to state parliament after winning selection to fill a casual NSW Upper House vacancy created with the departure of Sam Farraway.

Party sources claimed the “ghost of Barilaro” was in play when Overall won, with “old guard” members such as former minister Bronnie Taylor and Nationals leader Dugald Saunders allegedly apparently helping secure the numbers.

Farraway resigned to vie for the seat of Calare at the upcoming federal election.

While Overall has managed to resurrect her political career, the same cannot be said former long-serving Nationals MP Melinda Pavey.

Pavey missed out on being preselected for the federal seat of Lyne, with outgoing incumbent MP David Gillespie’s senior advisor Alison Penfold winning the race.

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