Backroom Baz: Walters too close for comfort for Somyurek

Victoria’s hottest political gossip Backroom Baz hears that Local Government Minister Adem Somyurek’s past has been dredged up by somebody who now works in his office.

Local Government Minister Adem Somyurek. Picture: AAP

Local Government Minister Adem Somyurek would rather forget how his first stint in Daniel Andrews’ Cabinet ended.

But Baz has learnt the sorry saga was dredged up two months ago by rogue CFMEU boss John Setka’s wife Emma Walters. That’s the same Emma Walters who now works in Somyurek’s office.

On the day Setka was placed on a good behaviour bond for using a carriage service to harass her, Walters gave an interview to the Herald Sun.

John Setka and Emma Walters. Picture: Mark Stewart

 When she was asked about the Premier’s intervention against Setka, Walters immediately pivoted to the events of 2015.

“It was alleged by a chief of staff of Adem Somyurek that she had been bullied and harassed by him. There was a finding that involved him physically holding her face and shaking it,” she said, in comments which went unreported at the time.

“Mr Somyurek goes to the backbench then Mr Somyurek gets promoted to the frontbench. I think it’s very hypocritical of Mr Andrews.”

Somyurek denied making contact with his staffer and said the allegations were part of a union revenge plot.

Walters’s new job is seen to be an effort to shore up Somyurek’s factional alliance with the Industrial Left — but Baz reckons this might cause some awkwardness around the water cooler.

HORSE POWER

When Benambra MP Bill Tilley rolled into the Victorian Parliament car park in a souped-up shiny white Mustang, journalistsstarted asking questions.

Bill Tilley.

Had Tilley been a silly Billy and used taxpayer cash on the American muscle car?

To Baz’s dismay the speed-loving Liberal’s car is a private (and pricey) lease - much to his wife’s annoyance.

But it turns out Tilley is not the only politician with a fondness for horsepower.

Baz hears Eastern Victoria MP Harriet Shing is boosting her country credentials with some new livestock - although not theusual kind.

The Labor MP is scouting around for a pair of miniature donkeys to add to her small family of adopted greyhounds.

Baz has it on good authority that Shing adores tiny asses and he expects them to join her growing pet collective next year.

PRESIDENT SAYS NO TO CHINA

Legislative Council president Shaun Leane has taken to the role with gusto after toppling Liberal MP Bruce Atkinson from his 8-year-reign in the big chair.

Unlike his predecessor, Leane is taking a more local approach to his prestigious position and his first big move was axinga longstanding policy to receive visits from foreign consulates on behalf of the Victorian Parliament.

The change was accepted by most without fanfare, but apparently representatives of the Chinese Consulate-General in Melbournewere particularly persistent and wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Leane finally granted a meet-and-greet, but Baz hears he kept it brief and diplomatically sidestepped matters of foreign policy.

Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus.

QC, MP, TBD

It was all lining up nicely for Mark Dreyfus.

Labor would win the federal election, he’d become the Attorney-General, and then, when the time was right and the mood tookhim, the QC could get himself appointed to the High Court by Prime Minister Bill Shorten.

That was the speculation among some Labor types, at least until their world came crashing down on May 18.

But while the High Court appears to be out of reach - Attorney-General Christian Porter won’t be appointing the member forIsaacs to anything - Labor’s election loss hasn’t stopped the chatter among legal eagles about Dreyfus’s future.

Baz’s spies say the problem is finding an appointment commensurate with Dreyfus’s view of his abilities after a 20-year careeras a barrister.

He might not see the job of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria as beneath him, but alas, Anne Ferguson has onlybeen in the role for two years.

And despite some murmurings, close observers don’t think Chris Maxwell - the holder of the only other job Dreyfus would beprepared to consider - is about to depart any time soon as the President of the Court of Appeal.

So unless Dreyfus wants to lower himself to the County or Magistrates’ courts, the opposition benches might remain his homefor the foreseeable future.

MORE FROM BACKROOM BAZ:

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GUESS WHO?

Which Liberal MP has raised eyebrows by having her electorate officer regularly chauffeur her around?

GOT ANY POLITICAL SCUTTLEBUTT FOR BAZ?

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