The Sauce: Rumours ex-Premiers Dan Andrews and Dominic Perrottet to join forces
The hottest rumour on the eastern seaboard is that former Victorian premier Dan Andrews has called up NSW counterpart Dominic Perrottet to talk about a consultancy partnership.
NSW
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The hottest rumour on the eastern seaboard this week is that former Labor premier Dan Andrews has called up his former NSW counterpart – ex-Liberal leader Dominic Perrottet – to ask if his Covid buddy was interested in “setting up shop” together.
With Perrottet expected to leave state politics and Andrews having already quit, talk about a potential consultancy partnership rocketed through the political gossip network in both NSW and Victoria.
But while Perrottet told The Sauce that he and Andrews still chatted, the Epping MP laughed off the talk of a joint business venture as “just another rumour”.
Perrottet, who recently turned down a million dollar job as Business Council of Australia CEO, has been the subject of an almost weekly rumour as to his next gig, including senior positions at Macquarie Bank and McInsey & Company management consulting firm.
The Sauce was unable to reach Andrews.
BATTLE LINES
Former federal member for Robertson Lucy Wicks is widely tipped to put her hand up for her old Central Coast seat once the Liberal Party opens nominations.
Wicks is still awaiting the outcome of an independent investigation the Liberal Party has launched into her complaint against her former staffer, NSW MP Taylor Martin, with whom she had a relationship.
In a lengthy and detailed written complaint to the party, Wicks accused Martin of having sent a barrage of “abusive” and “degrading” texts over a five-year period.
Martin, appointed to the upper house in 2017, subsequently removed himself from the Liberal Party room to allow the investigation to take place.
While admitting to using heated words during an “ugly and undignified” break-up, Taylor has declared there are “two sides to every story”.
Wicks has also alluded to there being more to the matter, although has kept further details within the confines of the investigation.
Both parties have engaged legal counsel as the investigation progresses – Martin enlisting lawyer Rebekah Giles, whose clients have included Brittany Higgins and former federal attorney general Christian Porter.
Liberal MPs were this week discussing how the party was keen not have the matter drag over into next year.
However, that will be up to the party-commissioned investigator Patricia McDonald SC.
McDonald has been busy as the Crown prosecutor in the Defence whistleblower matter, in which former military lawyer David McBride last week pleaded guilty to leaking confidential information about war crimes investigations to journalists.
PARTY MOVES
He is known to make dodgy builders dance, but the State’s building watchdog also has a few moves of his own.
The Sauce was this week sent a photograph of NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler on stage at the Chinese Builders Association Gala event last weekend.
Chandler told The Sauce how he had been attempting to leave after participating on a panel when he got the call-up as the entertainment part of the night began.
“I suspect the plan was to single out a few guests – me at the top of the list,” he said.
“I used to be good at dancing. Not these days, but I tried!”
Chandler said he got off lightly, recalling how at another industry Christmas party he had been challenged to eat a fish eyeball.
“Then they flipped it over and I had to swallow the second!”
The association’s members represent about 20 per cent of Sydney’s housing supply. The event drew a crowd of more than 900, with Chandler awarded with a “leadership award” on the night.
However, by the time the award was issued, Chandler had long gone, no doubt readying himself for his next pounce on a dodgy builder somewhere in NSW.
LONDON CALLING
The absence of One Nation MLC Tania Mihailuk from state parliament this week has raised eyebrows given Upper House MPs debated the Climate Change (Net Zero Future) Bill.
One Nation has been highly critical of Labor’s net zero plans, and so many expected Mihailuk to be leading the debate.
Instead, the former Labor MP was in Westminster on a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) trip.
The association provides opportunities for parliamentarians across the Commonwealth to take part in different events in the interests of sharing knowledge and experiences.
Mihailuk, who was joined by Liberal MP James Griffin and two Queensland MPs, was participating in the three-day Parliamentary Scrutiny and Oversight of National Security conference.
“Focusing on scrutiny and oversight, the conference will explore global trends in national security, exploring topics such as conflict resolution and peacebuilding, cybersecurity and climate change, among other salient issues,” the agenda said.
Asked about the matter, former One Nation-turned- independent MLC Rod Roberts claimed he was aware of discontent among his former party’s ranks about their MP’s absence.
“This is the most important and controversial bill that the Labor government has put forward,” he said.
“One Nation has campaigned long and hard against the fallacy of Net Zero and the damage it will do to our economy and lifestyle, and she is not there.”
PARADISE LOST
It’s home to celebrities, retired Qantas pilots and Bondi refugees seeking a quieter life among its tree-lined streets.
Residents in Pittwater were also “more at one” with their natural environment than many other parts of Sydney, according to Liberal MP Rory Amon.
And that’s how everyone wants the area to remain, he said.
With the Minns government scouring Sydney for potential development sites to meet its housing targets, Pittwater locals are clearly worried.
“Insular peninsular” Pittwater encompasses the suburbs of Palm Beach, Whale Beach, Avalon, Newport and Clareville.
The areas features some of Sydney’s most expensive real estate – Atlassian founder Mike Cannon-Brookes splashed out $14.25m on a house in Newport, next door to a $24.5 million estate bought back in 2020, while Jennifer Hawkins and her husband Jake Wall listed their Newport trophy home Casa Paloma for more than $20m.
Speaking in parliament this week about the “Labor Government’s plan for a development onslaught in Pittwater”, Amon urged Minns to stay away from “paradise”, noting how locals were “more at one” with the natural
“Pittwater is paradise,” he said.
“Our homes are nestled among trees; it is not a matter of trees being nestled among homes. We are more at one with the natural environment than many other parts of Sydney.
“Make no mistake, significant development outside of Pittwater but on the northern beaches will harm our way of life.”
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