The Sauce: Rumours Andrew Constance is eyeing Senate seat

He just missed out on kickstarting a new career in Canberra, but word is former NSW transport minister Andrew Constance is not yet done with politics.

He took a gamble on winning a federal seat – and lost – but Liberal Party sources claim former NSW transport minister Andrew Constance is not yet done with politics.

The fresh gossip in Canberra this week was that the man known as “Bega” may be among those putting their hands up for the Senate should rumours Marise Payne is standing down turn out to be true.

Constance, who missed out on the seat of Gilmore by just 373 votes to Labor MP Fiona Phillips, is regarded by his supporters as a talented operator, having managed the difficult transport portfolio as a Berejiklian government minister.

However, he is not without his critics, with his political rivals noting how he declared he was quitting politics after the Black Summer bushfires, only to run for a federal seat.

In fairness to the former Bega MP, he was being wooed by ex-prime minister Scott Morrison, who was looking for a star candidate to reclaim the seat.

Former NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance narrowly lost the federal seat of Gilmore, but may have his eye on a new political role. Picture: Jason Edwards

A Liberal source, who claims Payne has been telling people privately that she is going, said Constance will have to join “a flotilla of ex-politicians” who would put their hands up should she vacate.

“The names I’ve heard are Fiona Martin, Dave Sharma — basically an unemployment queue of ex-MPs,” the source said.

“And you can’t job-share.”

PRETTY PACKAGE

While all the focus on the NSW government overseas trade posts has been on John Barilaro, new details have emerged on just how lucrative the relatively new taxpayer-funded roles are.

Buried in the documents released to state parliament as part of the Upper House inquiry into the Bara appointment are the renumeration details for the UK trade post, held by Stephen Cartwright.

His employment agreement shows that taxpayers are paying Cartwright $487,050 per annum along with an annual allowance of $112,950 to offset costs such as housing, schooling and home leave flights.

Opposition leader Chris Minns says Labor is considering scrapping trade posts if it wins government in March. Picture Supplied.

This is in addition to one-off relocation expenses of up to $60,000, paid as reimbursement against receipt of costs incurred for flights to London for employees and immediate family of up to four people, temporary accommodation for up to three months, household goods shipment, and incidentals such as home/school search and tax advice.

Nice work if you can get it — but maybe not for long, given Labor is considering scrapping the posts should it win government in March.

“The UK trade post is an example of just how out of control and out of touch this trade commissioner program has become,” Labor leader Chris Minns told The Sauce.

“The UK post’s allowance alone is greater than the annual salary of a first-year policy officer, nurse or teacher.”

NO THRUST

Tony Abbott may not want to “thrust” himself on to the Liberal Party, but his supporters are not giving up on the idea of having him returned to a significant role.

The former PM is among several high-profile candidates whose names have been doing the rounds over the past few weeks as possible candidates for the NSW Liberal president role, presently held by former Howard government minister Philip Ruddock.

When grilled by political commentator Alan Jones last month about whether he would have a crack at the job, the ex-Warringah MP didn’t exactly rule it out.

Tony Abbott, Jeanette Howard and John Howard at the Coalition’s campaign launch in May. Picture: Jason Edwards

However, Abbott said he would leave it up to members rather than “thrust himself” on to the party.

“I certainly want to pull my weight in helping to get our great party back on track,” he told Jones.

“I’ve always said I want to give back to the party which has given so much to me, but the last thing I would want to do is to try to thrust myself on to a party that would prefer someone else.”

While Abbott has support on the right, the moderates are backing Jason Falinski, who is without a role after the loss of his blue-ribbon seat of Mackellar to “teal” Sophie Scamps.

The consensus candidate looks to be Michael Hughes — the brother of Lucy Turnbull and son of barrister Tom Hughes QC — unless talk of a deal between the right and left whereby a conservative and moderate takes either the presidency or NSW Liberal state director role pans out.

Nominations for the executive — which includes president — close on July 23, with the candidates expected to have been sorted by August 6 when the NSW Liberal Party holds its much-anticipated, post-election annual general meeting.

NEW RECRUIT

It has been a turbulent ride for Premier Dominic Perrottet since taking over the top job in October last year, so it is no surprise his office has added an experienced set of hands to the team.

What with the floods, Covid and the Bara trade post saga, Perrottet has had his work cut out.

To deal with the escalating media demands in the lead-up to the March state election, The Sauce can reveal Perrottet has poached Senator Simon Birmingham’s adviser Benn Ayre.

With Birmo’s blessing, the Canberra local agreed to jump back into the maelstrom, and will start work at the end of the month.

KEAN VENDOR

Treasurer Matt Kean has listed his Pennant Hills abode for sale — although The Sauce wonders why he left it so late given the market has turned.

That said, the Hornsby MP is unlikely to have any issues finding a buyer, given the “endless wow” the property apparently offers.

The Laing + Simmons billboard out the front describes the four-bedder “character bungalow” as having been “tastefully renovated” with a “magazine-worthy” tile-surrounded swimming pool, “soaring high ceilings”, skylight and French doors, and a wisteria-covered arbour carport — all sitting on 834.7 sqm of land.

As for the asking price: offers between $2,295,000 and $2,395,000.

MUSICAL CHAIRS

With outspoken NSW Liberal MP Catherine Cusack declaring her intention to resign over the Coalition’s handling of flood funding, the party has opened nominations for her Upper House seat.

And the talk is Aileen MacDonald, regional president at Business NSW and the wife of former Upper House MP Scot MacDonald, whom Cusack rolled in a preselection ballot, is among the frontrunners to replace her.

Other changes in the Upper House could occur as the party sorts its candidates for the March state election, especially if rumours Premier Dominic Perrottet wants a woman on the ticket are correct.

Should this be the case, one of the blokes hoping to fill the four winnable spots will have to go.

“It’s like Survivor, we are working out who to vote off the island,” one MP said.

Among the MPs being targeted are Matthew Mason-Cox and Lou Amato.

BUMPY LANDING

As if the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide staff hadn’t had a tough enough few weeks with hearings in Townsville, their plans to head home to Sydney and a rare weekend off went badly awry.

Around half an hour into their Qantas flight on Friday afternoon, the crew became aware of a technical issue that could have impacted pressurisation if not addressed.

After the plane returned to Townsville, engineers got to work with a view to resuming the flight, only for the issue to be unable to be resolved in time.

After Qantas announced there would be no flights that night to Sydney, the airline advised it would do its best to get the passengers home “within the next day or two”.

Some passengers were booked on the last available seats out of Townsville on other flights, while others managed to secure hotel rooms or Airbnbs.

Stranded passengers asking about accommodation learnt that much of town had been booked out for sporting events and school holidays, not to mention the Townsville Show.

A source familiar with the debacle told The Sauce how one “magnificent and helpful” representative in the Qantas Club lounge managed, single-handedly, to reroute dozens of passengers and scrape together two rooms.

However, other royal commission passengers outside the Qantas Club were not so lucky — even told by staff that the airport terminal would be closed for the night after they resigned themselves to sleeping overnight on the airport seats.

Staff obviously thought better of the arrangements, later offering taxi vouchers — to nowhere.

When The Sauce asked Qantas about the incident, the airline apologised for the disruption, but claimed every passenger had been given an accommodation option.

“Alternative flights and hotel accommodation in Townsville were extremely limited but our airport team stayed late ensuring that all customers had a place to stay,” a spokeswoman said.

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