The Sauce: Tangled web of relationships in the upper echelon of NSW politics
When it comes to NSW politics, it is not only who you know – it’s also who you married, studied with or happen to be related to. Don’t miss the Sauce.
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When it comes to NSW politics, it is not only who you know – it’s also who you married, studied with or happen to be related to.
In the case of Premier Dominic Perrottet, his deputy chief-of-staff is the well-respected Monica Tudehope, daughter of Finance Minister Damien Tudehope.
Mr Perrottet’s sister, Francesca, is married to former University of NSW Warrane College tutor Thomas Ryan, who’s LinkedIn profile states that he is the deputy chief-of-staff to Minister Alister Henskens.
A picture of the couple on the Warrane College Facebook page shows the couple tied the knot in Wagga Wagga in 2017, with the college taking responsibility for “them meeting each other”.
The spiritual care of the college is entrusted to Opus Dei, an institution of the Catholic Church.
Minister Tudehope, who previously had another Perrottet on is staff — Jean Claude — also has links to the college, being listed among its past guests and speakers.
Another Tudehope staffer, Andrew Santucci, also went to Warrane with his two brothers, completing Bachelor of Arts degrees.
Andrew’s brother Nick, who is Dom Perrottet’s best mate, used to work for former deputy premier Troy Grant and right-wing former attorney general Greg Smith, before heading over to Star as a business development manager. He is now an adviser at Tabcorp.
Another Warrane College old boy, Anthony McFarlane, worked as a deputy chief-of-staff to Perrottet when he was treasurer.
The commercial lawyer is now a regional director for Business NSW.
An old article on the college’s website, written by Nick Santucci, said McFarlane’s 30th birthday was attended by a “cast and crew of about 40” Warrane old boys, including Dominic Perrottet.
Another Perrottet brother, Alex, was appointed Dean of Warrane College in 2021.
In other connections, independent Liquor and Gaming chairman Philip Crawford used to be a partner at Sydney law firm Henry Davis York, where Dom Perrottet worked.
Over in the office of Families and Communities Minister Natasha Maclaren-Jones is Rachel Merton, who is the daughter of former veteran Liberal MP Wayne Merton.
Ms Maclaren-Jones’ husband Damien is chief-of-staff in the office of Local Government Minister Wendy Tuckerman.
UGLY SPAT
It is supposed to be a Facebook page for women in the Liberal Party to support each other, hence the name “Women4Women”.
But this was not quite the tone of the conversation that took place between NSW Liberal Women’s Council president Mary-Lou Jarvis and NSW Liberal state executive member Sally Betts last week.
The pair butted heads after Jarvis posted a newspaper article on a confidential – and scathing – report that had been prepared by Wentworth Federal Electorate Conference, of which Betts is president, for the Liberal Party election review.
The report had noted how Liberal incumbent Dave Sharma had been “outnumbered, outsmarted, outfunded and outshone” by teal independent Allegra Spender. Questioning the merit of the report being made public, Jarvis asked the women: “Who on earth thought it was a good idea to leak this to the media!?”
CBA staffer and Liberal Women’s Council member Natarsha Terreiro replied: “YIKES. No one looks good out of this … definitely not appropriate for public circulation.”
Fellow Liberal Rhonda Holt also criticised whoever had leaked the report.
Betts professed her innocence while bizarrely accusing Jarvis of making the report public “to many more” by posting a link to the newspaper article.
“It was a confidential submission,” she wrote. “NO ONE should be spreading it, even Mary-Lou.”
A bemused Jarvis was having none of it, replying: “Sally Betts for goodness sake it was made public in a national newspaper!”
Sheesh.
NO JUNKET
CUSTOMER Service Minister Victor Dominello may be quitting politics, but he has managed to squeeze in a whirlwind business trip to the US.
But according to the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) – which sent a delegation along – the four-day May trip to San Francisco was “no junket”.
AIIA chief executive officer Simon Bush, who heads up Australia’s peak representative body for those in the digital ecosystem, said the group had a packed schedule, meeting all the major big tech players.
And having a minister along helped open doors for the delegation, he said.
“In places like Silicon Valley and San Francisco, having a minister along definitely helps open more doors,” Bush said.
Dominello – a self-confessed tech nerd – was also accompanied by his director of policy Jane Standish and Greg Wells, who is the Department of Customer Service chief information and digital officer.
The subsequent travel report submitted to the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet revealed Dominello met with organisations involved in the development of the metaverse, digital health, digital identity and cyber security.
This included PsiQuantum to discuss its work on building the world’s first full-scale commercial quantum computer, and Adobe, Apple, Microsoft, Salesforce, Cloudflare, Kaiser Permanente and Amazon Web Services.
The total cost of the trip was $43,803.
And keeping up with his Sunday tradition, Dominello still managed to tweet a picture of his mum with a bowl of Tuscan soup they shared before he left.
POLITICAL FUNDS
IT’S been billed as a housing forum to discuss homelessness, rental stress and falling rates of home ownership.
But the ticketed event has been seized on by local independent MP Gareth Ward who notes how the dollars from the ticketed event are heading straight into NSW ALP coffers.
To be held on Sunday, guests will include Ward’s rival, Labor candidate for Katelin McInerney, who will be joined by Opposition housing and homelessness spokeswoman Rose Jackson and former media executive Laurie Patton.
Describing it as “a bit tacky”, Ward said: “Only Labor can turn homelessness into a fundraiser.”
SPOTTED
Former PM Scott Morrison sitting in economy “cattle class” with wife Jenny and the kids on a Qantas flight from Melbourne to Sydney two weekends ago.
Spies say the plane was so packed there was no room for ScoMo’s luggage in the locker above his seat, forcing him to use one further down the aisle.
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