Backroom Baz: Matthew Guy’s uncomfortable reunion with lobster at regional fundraiser
Matthew Guy’s infamous Lobster Cave dinner is still a sore point judging by his reaction to what was served up at a regional fundraiser.
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If Opposition Leader Matthew Guy could go back in time, Baz bets he’d decide to stay at home for dinner on April 12, 2017.
But he can’t, and the decision to attend a Lobster Cave dinner with, among others, vegetable grower Frank Lamattina and alleged (but strongly denied) mafia figure Tony Madafferi has haunted him since.
Quite separate from the brouhaha over political donations and what actually went down at the dinner, the Lobster with a Mobster moniker continues to plague Guy to this very day.
Matthew Guy is in Warrnambool doing a $1,000-a-head fundraiser tonight. Guess what’s on the menu for mains? 🦞
— Backroom Baz (@BackroomBaz) May 30, 2022
Can’t. Make. It. Up. #springst
Which is why he was, spies say, quite literally gobsmacked to be served a Lobster entree while attending a fundraising dinner in Warrnambool for colleague Roma Britnell this week.
It was chicken or beef for main, but by then the damage had been done.
A mortified event organiser telling Liberal HQ they “didn’t make the connection”. Oops.
Gold medal boring
Anti-abortion zealot, and new DLP leader, Bernie Finn may have lost support of the Liberal Party, but he’s got one outspoken conservative in his corner.
Broadcaster Alan Jones labelled the expulsion of Finn from the party over social media posts as a blow to free speech and on his digital TV show, Direct to the People, took aim at Victorian Liberal leader Matthew Guy, whom he describes as “the school prefect”.
“This blancmange, Matthew Guy, a political deadbeat who’s totally out of his depth, a gold medallist in the boring stakes, his big tough act is to expel Bernie Finn from the party.”
Jones later said Daniel Andrews was a “cunning politician” who would run rings around the Liberal Party in November.
Baz doesn’t think Guy will lose much sleep over the spray from a man whose ratings – opinion polls if you will – are not what they once were.
Running rumours hot up
Rumours are running hot of who will and won’t be running at the state election in November.
The latest to reach Baz’s desk is that Property Council chief Danni Hunter would be a strong candidate.
Hunter has fallen out with the government over its bungled social housing tax plans — with Daniel Andrews personally blaming claiming she reneged on a deal to support the move — and some say that’s made the job of running the formidable industry body a tough one.
Given she has worked with Matthew Guy previously, whispers around Spring St have been that the Libs would be keen to get her back into the fold.
Not so, says Danni.
“I have no interest in running for either side of politics,” she says.
“I am deeply committed to advancing the interests of the Victorian community and business sector in my current role as Victorian head of the Property Council”.
While Hunter has ruled herself out, prominent Werribee GP Joe Garra, a fierce critic of the government throughout the pandemic, is believed to be considering another run as an independent.
He ran in 2018 and picked up an impressive 19.9 per cent of first preference votes.
With the turn away from the major parties seen at the federal election, a strong local independent like Dr Joe could find himself with a new career come November.
PR Guy’s $18,000 drinking session
It’s the sort of stuff to make a Nigerian scammer proud.
Butter up unsuspecting online friends anonymously, then convince them to part with some hard earned.
That’s exactly what political activist PRGuy has done. Sort of.
The mysterious Dan Andrews sycophant recently announced he was quitting Twitter for a break (it didn’t last long), prompting real life medico Dr Daniel S. Garcia to ask PRGuy’s 76,000 Twitter followers to donate to a beer fund to say thank you for all his hard work.
More than 600 people donated $18,000 before the fund page was closed.
Right-wing activist Avi Yemini says he believes he's just days away from finally proving I'm a “secret government operative†working for Daniel Andrews. Mr Yemini has gone to great lengths to finally prove this. Get the eggs ready 😠pic.twitter.com/rYdO11oXiJ
— PRGuy (@PRGuy17) June 1, 2022
That’s a lot of pots. Or is it, with the Go Fund Me page now declaring the cash if for “obtaining legal advice and security, living and general expenses.”
Of course PRGuy is fighting a legal challenge that could force him/her/them to be unmasked, and needs the cash to keep the mystery going.
Not that $18,000 will go far with lawyers. Watch this space.
Full steam ahead
Former Rail, Tram and Bus Union boss Luba Grigorovitch is wasting no time on her bid for state politics and has already set up a campaign headquarters in Kororoit.
Locals will be left in no doubt what the hopeful Labor MP looks like given her face is splashed across the front of the office and her campaign launch included former Premier Steve Bracks.
Campaign is go. Taking lessons from the federal election and taking nothing for granted. Or…prepping for a byelection? #springstpic.twitter.com/abIRMSwPGS
— Backroom Baz (@BackroomBaz) May 31, 2022
Getting an early run-up to the election is a good way to show you’re serious about winning over voters.
But it also doesn’t hurt to be overly prepared when there’s a chance current Kororoit MP Marlene Kairouz will pull the pin and cause a by-election any minute.
The truth is out there
They confront serial killers and hardened criminals daily, but a brief encounter with a pair of journalists was too much to bear for a group of seasoned FBI agents.
When government spinners invited members of the fourth estate to rub shoulders with real life Agent Scully and Mulder during their whirlwind tour of Melbourne this week, panic ensued with the FBI freezing with fear that their secretive ways could be exposed.
Despite being told that questions and photos were A-OK, it seems the memo was entirely missed, sending staffers scrambling to find a compromise.
It seems the top-level FBI secrets will remain untold – for now. The truth is out there.
Taking an early break
Politicians regularly find themselves at the bottom of the list when it comes to public perception. Journalists, too, for that matter.
And sometimes it’s not hard to see why.
Take Zoe McKenzie, the new Liberal MP for the seat of Flinders, who Baz is told failed to show up to her first day in Canberra this week. Why?
Because of a pre-planned holiday. Now, really.
Given the shellacking the Libs copped at the election you would think the new kids on the block may want to try just a little harder.
Guess who
Which four-legged intruder crashed a Daniel Andrews press conference this week?
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