Backroom Baz: Jeff Kennett tackles the PM

Scott Morrison might have thought he was in for a nice day at the footy on Easter Monday as the guest of fellow Liberal Jeff Kennett. But the Hawthorn president had other plans for the PM in his pre-match address, writes Backroom Baz.

Scott Morrison got burned by Jeff Kennett at the footy on Easter Monday. Picture: AAP

Victoria can be a tough place for a rugby league-loving PM from “the Shire” in Sydney.

Scott Morrison went to the Hawks v Cats match at the ‘G on Easter Monday and might have expected a few free kicks at Hawthorn’s pre-game president’s lunch, hosted by Hawks president and former Liberal premier Jeff Kennett.

Kennett wasn’t interested in party loyalty, however, lining up the PM for failing to stump up cash for the club’s Dingley redevelopment.

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Baz’s spies say Jeff had the room in stitches saying the PM had come south to eat our food and drink our beer but should be more generous with the Hawks’ funding requests.

Funnily enough Morrison was hit by a similar message out on the ‘G in the second half, where Daniel Andrews was throwing taxpayer money at wall-to-wall ads saying Canberra has dudded Victoria.

Still, it could have been worse for Morrison. At least he wasn’t at the Anzac Day lunch that served up food poisoning.

Jeff Kennett and Scott Morrison at the footy on Easter Monday. Picture: Michael Klein

Calling all volunteers

Northern Victoria is not what you would call a Labor stronghold. Which might explain why the party’s candidate for the seat of Nicholls — Bill Lodgwick — is so desperate for volunteers to man booths.

So desperate, in fact, he’s emailed state Liberal MPs for help.

Northern Victoria Liberal MP Wendy Lovell got one such invitation from “Fletcher, on behalf of Bill Lodgwick”.

Bill Lodgwick is looking for a bit of help on election day.

For what it’s worth, Lovell assured Baz’s spies she will be busy handing out for Liberal candidates in Indi and McEwen. But at least Lovell is based in the area.

Ferntree Gully MP Nick Wakeling also got the call-to-arms to man booths at Shepparton, Echuca and Cobram, quite a drive from Melbourne’s eastern suburbs where Wakeling is based.

Keep trying, Fletcher.

Red Ted blogger back

The Victorian Liberals may have sold their long-term headquarters at Exhibition St, but they still lease a floor of the building.

Some Libs joke it will be hard to leave a place with so many political memories. Like when Liberal staffers ran an anonymous blog undermining then-Opposition leader Ted Baillieu — or “Red Ted” as he was often referred — from campaign HQ computers.

One of those staffers, John Osborn, is back on deck. Osborn, who was fired along with Simon Morgan as the crisis came to a head in 2008, is helping acting director Simon Frost.

Osborn has even been spotted at Morgan’s old desk, but sources say he’s far too busy to blog these days.

A Canberra spill

Last year a political incarnation of the poo jogger was sprung leaving an almighty mess in the ladies toilets in the ministerial wing at Parliament House.

The situation was so bad a paper sign appeared in the ladies’ loo calling on the offender to stop “disgracing” themselves.

Now the situation has spread to the mens’, with a permanent metal sign (probably funded by you and I) affixed in a cubicle in the male toilets near the Parliamentary Library. Baz knows Canberra is used to spills, but not this kind.

A sign in the men’s toilets at Parliament House.

it’s Just Fiona, thanks

The federal seat of Higgins in Melbourne’s inner southeast has long been a stronghold for the Liberal Party.

But with sitting MP Kelly O’Dwyer retiring, it is shaping as a three-cornered contest between Liberal Katie Allen, Green Jason Ball, and Labor’s new candidate Fiona McLeod.

The seat includes Toorak and South Yarra, suburbs where people typically wear honorifics with pride.

But not all voters in the seat must be so enamoured with OAMs and the like. Perhaps this is why McLeod, SC, has dumped the Senior Counsel title from her Facebook profile.

An eagle-eyed reader was amused at the change, much like their view of McLeod’s promise to move from Fitzroy if enough Higgins voters raise it as a concern.

Fiona McLeod, SC, has dumped the Senior Counsel title from her Facebook profile.

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