The Sauce: Kyle Sandilands’ manager on Chris Minns’ election-winning team

Radio king Kyle Sandilands’ manager was among the team that helped Chris Minns lead the true believers to victory last weekend, The Sauce reports.

He is Kyle Sandilands’ right-hand man, but radio producer Bruno Bouchet has also been quietly working on the side for another high-profile figure.

The Sauce can reveal Bouchet was among the team of Labor elders, political spinners and seasoned strategists that helped Premier Chris Minns lead the true believers to victory last weekend.

Bouchet, who is Sandilands’ manager, was on board as a paid consultant to oversee Minns’ “FM radio strategy”.

It is understood this entailed offering advice on what the push-button issues were among FM listeners — tolls, speed cameras, cost of living, “rather than privatisation” — and encouraging Minns to offer an audience a more personal side.

This advice clearly led to Minns turning up to KIIS FM’s Kyle & Jackie O program with his brother Jim’s Les Paul guitar to bust out the iconic AC/DC guitar riff from Thunderstruck.

Kyle Sandilands’ manager Bruno Bouchet was part of …

… Chris Minns’ election-winning team.

Kyle Sandilands introduced the two men, who have become friends.

Bouchet is understood to be a mate of Minns, the pair having met through Sandilands several years ago when the Kogarah MP became opposition leader

The story goes that Minns called Sandilands before being invited to drop around to the radio host’s house, where the pair hit it off.

Bouchet is understood to have been hired a few months before the election.

Former premier Dominic Perrottet also appeared on The Kyle & Jackie O Show during his own FM rounds.

WARNING SIGNAL

The day the entire Sydney rail network ground to a halt was the worst day of the election campaign for former premier Dominic Perrottet.

According to a source familiar with the internal party track polling, it was the 24 hours after the March 8 train debacle when voters who had overwhelmingly indicated their preference for the then-premier over Chris Minns logged their lowest approval rating at the Liberal leader.

Stranded commuters at Central Station on March 8, following the network-wide communications failure. Picture: Noah Yim

Sydney commuters were thrown into chaos with all lines on the Sydney Trains network experiencing significant delays and disruptions after a radio system failure brought trains to a standstill.

As for Perrottet’s highest approval rating, it was after the NSW Liberal Party launch when he unveiled the $400 yearly “future fund” for kids.

MAYBE LATER

With expectations the state election result would yield a minority government, independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich was in hot demand from media for election night coverage.

The Nine Network booked him in for a chat. The ABC wanted him to come into the studio to appear on a panel to explain what would happen in a minority government situation.

Independent MP Alex Greenwich. Picture: Jane Dempster

But as the count progressed — and talk of Labor heading for a majority reached fever pitch, including by the ABC — Greenwich went from hot commodity to being discarded like last night’s leftovers.

“I even had a whole group of supporters standing behind me for when I was to speak to a camera,” he said.

Once the Electoral Commission resumed counting — after taking a break on Sunday — Greenwich was back in demand as some seats tipped to head to Labor began swinging back to the Liberals.

With Labor now heading for minority government, Greenwich’s phone is unlikely to stop ringing any time soon.

DEEP DIVE

It was the first post-election meeting of NSW Liberal Party officials — and understood to have been one of the most constructive in recent times.

As well as veteran campaigner and NSW Liberal state director Chris Stone confirming he would be resigning, the meeting also discussed the terms of reference for the upcoming review into last Saturday’s loss.

The terms are expected to include the performance of the campaign and state parliamentary teams, the organisational wing, on-the-ground campaigning and “external factors”.

As for who will conduct the review, a shortlist is being drawn up, with names expected to be put forward by the next meeting of the executive.

One name that is doing the rounds is former NSW premier strategy executive director Julian Whealing, although some have also suggested former Liberal minister Stuart Ayres, given the experienced pollie is now without his seat of Penrith.

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