Backroom Baz: Daniel Andrews Question Time blows land below the belt
Baz has been around long enough to expect more theatre than answers from parliamentary Question Time — but has Daniel Andrews taken it too far?
Victoria
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Baz has been around long enough to expect more theatre than answers from parliamentary Question Time.
And the jibes across the floor between the government and opposition are always entertaining.
But has Premier Daniel Andrews gone too far?
Known for his super quick wit and running commentary on members of the opposition benches, the Premier revels in the art of parliamentary theatre.
But he’s come under fire for attacking Opposition Leader John Pesutto’s height on Tuesday, saying: “we should give him a little box to stand on”.
Baz reckons almost all is fair in the public debate, but picking on a physical appearance seems below the belt.
But it’s nothing new for Andrews who used to pick on Pesutto’s predecessor Matthew Guy over his height too.
And who can forget him fat shaming former Liberal MP Andrew Katos in 2016? The Premier later personally apologised to the then South Barwon MP for poking fun at him after Mr Katos asked a question about police and gangs in Torquay prompting a Labor MP to interject: “We didn’t see that coming”.
Mr Katos said Mr Andrews then interjected and said: “First time anyone has said they didn’t see him coming”.
Poor form. On the other hand, Public Transport minister hit the mark, prompting even Andrews to burst out laughing during the same session this week.
After a ministerial statement bragging about the government’s work to address transport emissions, Carroll also took the chance to have a dig at Pesutto.
“I know the member for Warrandyte is not in his chair,” he said of Ryan Smith, who unsuccessfully challenged for the Liberal leadership following last year’s election.
“I think he is out driving a bus right now. We know where he is headed: straight for the Opposition Leader”.
Giggle in the gallery
Question Time in parliament is always guaranteed to see a few MPs from either side booted from the chamber, but Baz has never seen a member of the fourth estate being sent packing. That almost happened this week, when two press gallery reporters got the giggles mid session. The laughter was so intense, and so unusual for a session of Question Time, it caught the attention of the Serjeant-at-Arms who sent a staffer on a wild-goose chase around parliament to find the jovial journos and issue them with an official warning that they’d need to escort themselves from the media gallery if they got the giggles again. But it was the parliamentary officer who was left red-faced after he realised the reporters that copped the warning weren’t the culprits.
Only net for record
Poor old minister for fun Steve Dimopoulos might never live down referring to legendary Australian basketballer Lauren Jackson as a netballer. At least by anyone who witnessed it. Because you’ll no longer find any mention of it in the official record of the parliament, Hansard. Dimopoulos’ speech has now been edited to correct the record, so no one will ever know. Jackson, who appeared miffed at the blunder, probably won’t forget it in a hurry.
Listen, we had a win
In a rare week where the opposition appeared to have a senior minister on the ropes, by way of the Danny Pearson shares scandal, you’d think all would be well in Coalition land. But it seems tensions were still running mile high. Baz is told there was a fiery outburst from a senior staffer to a national media organisation amid concerns enough attention wasn’t being paid to the scandal. Yelling and screaming was once a staple of the government’s media henchpeople, but they’ve well and truly moved on from those days. Maybe the opposition didn’t get the memo?
Financial advice
Baz caused quite the stir last week when he wrote of the entry on new Labor MP Luba Grigorovitch’s register of interests pointing out “my partner jointly runs Australia’s largest private equity firm BGH Capital”. She was of course referring to Ben Gray, and questions about whether the claim was right caused a bit of upset. Grigorovitch was keen to set the record straight telling Baz: “BGH raised its first private equity fund at $2.6bn in 2018 making it larger than PEP’s $2.5bn private equity fund and recently raised its second private equity fund at $3.6bn significantly larger than PEP’s $2.5bn … so yes BGH is well and truly the largest private equity fund in Australia. PEP has some other non private equity type funds but when it comes to private equity, BGH is the biggest by quite a margin.” Noted!
Big build fire sale
After watching eight years of Labor’s “Big Build” and a few too many episodes of The Block, are you ready to build your own crisis-plagued piece of infrastructure? If so, now is the time to get off the couch as Gray’s have been selling off the moulding sections used to make concrete sections of the under-construction West Gate Tunnel. Although the sale is closed for now, it’s never too late to make an inquiry so that you can finally build your own personal toll road between home and the pub. But budget wisely, these things have a habit of taking a while and can cost about $3.9bn more than expected.
Graduate to projects
Speaking of the Big Build, the government is on the hunt for workers. Graduates from a wide range of disciplines can now apply to work on projects including the Level Crossing Removal Project, Major Road Projects Victoria, North East Link Program, Rail Projects Victoria and West Gate Tunnel Project. If successful, graduates will undertake a two-year program. Last year more than 1600 graduates applied to be part of the 2023 cohort, with 138 making it through to hiring. Graduates wishing to apply must have completed a degree since January 2021 or be due to graduate by January 2024, hold a bachelor’s or master’s degree relevant to the role applied for and have full Australian working rights at the time of application.
Guess who
Which senior government MP pulled rank to jump the queue into parliament this week?
Overheard
“As an ex-journalist, following the member for Malvern, I feel a bit like Justin Bieber following Pavarotti,” Nationals MP Danny O’Brien on being called to give a speech after ex-lawyer and former Liberal leader Michael O’Brien.
Originally published as Backroom Baz: Daniel Andrews Question Time blows land below the belt
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