Backroom Baz: John Pesutto’s office on the war path over Workcover game plan leak

Leaks out of shadow cabinet about the game plan for dealing with the government’s Workcover reform legislation have caused major angst inside John Pesutto’s office.

Victorian Opposition leader John Pesutto. Picture: David Geraghty

Leaks out of shadow cabinet caused some major angst inside the Liberal Party this week.

Details of deliberations about how the party would deal with the government’s Workcover reform legislation weren’t supposed to be made public, and the unauthorised release of information didn’t go unnoticed inside leader John Pesutto’s office.

Baz is told frustration has rapidly escalated over a lack of team unity, with a handful of MPs from the party’s right routinely fingered as those most unable to keep tight-lipped. Baz suspects that’s become a convenience for the leader’s office, but it masks the reality that leaking from within the party runs deep: from the left, and the right. Even, Baz is told, from within the leader’s office itself, with some party figures recently voicing serious concerns about the way in which some pretty serious background briefing has been going on. One wonders what it will take to get the team singing from the same hymn book.

John Pesutto is overseeing a party that can’t keep tight-lipped. Picture: Aaron Francis

Opa! Nick Reece’s Crete tribute

Town Hall watchers may have noticed Melbourne’s Deputy Lord Mayor, Nick Reece, recently sporting a Euro tan.

Turns out he had been on a family holiday in Greece – not a ratepayer’s dollar spent! – meeting relatives of his wife, Felicity Pentelidis.

It wasn’t all lamb and ouzo; Reece met with the mayor of Athens, Kostas Bakoyannis, according to Greek-Australian newspaper, Neos Kosmos. The University of Melbourne executive and former ALP state secretary later visited the small town of Sfakia, in Crete, renowned for its mountain scenery and stunning beaches but also for its importance to Australian armed forces during World War II. Thousands of ANZACs were captured in Crete, but many fled from advancing Nazis via the little port town of Sfakia, where a memorial now stands.

After spotting the tattered Australian flag hanging at the site, Reece fired up and had a word with Veterans Affairs Minister Matt Keogh on his return. Reece said he felt it was only right to have a fitting memorial display “given the sacrifice and the bravery shown by so many ANZACs who once fought there”.

It sounds like Keogh agreed. “I have now been informed that new flags are now flying in this special place,” Reece has confirmed. Opa!

Nick Reece and Mayor of Athens Kostas Bakoyannis. Picture: Supplied

The Australian flag flies at the port town of Sfakia in Greece.

SEC — Soaring Energy Costs

Question their fashion sense if you will, but the Victorian Nationals again showed-up their Coalition partners this week.

Both the Nats and Libs are fiercely railing against the government’s promised revival of the SEC on a unity ticket that the whole thing is a sham that will do nothing to drive down energy costs.

Enter the Nats hats, and their play on the SEC acronym to say Soaring Energy Costs. The Libs had the same idea, but missed the mark. A press release put out by shadow energy minister David Davis left the party red faced when it declared “the SEC should stand for ‘Surging Electricity Prices’.”

Baz is told the press release was proof read by multiple people. Missed it by that much.

The Victorian Nationals have rebranded dubbed SEC ‘Soaring Energy Costs’. Picture: Supplied

Unite for Sprite

It’s rare to see genuine bipartisanship in our great halls of parliament, but that’s what senior shaggy Sprite brings.

Baz was not shocked at the outrage after the elderly rescue was booted from coming to parliament last month. Several media articles weren’t enough to overturn the Department of Parliamentary Services’ edict, so furious MPs have taken matters into their own hands.

Almost 60 pollies – from all sides – have now penned a petition calling for the goodest boy to be let back to parliament for the final sitting week of the year. Watch this space.

Liberal MP Jess Wilson with her Cairn Terrier, Audrey.

Overheard

“It is a shame that you laugh about this, and in particular the Greens, who appear to be allergic to housing for communities by virtue of the narrative that unless it is 100 per cent one species of housing then the entire thing amounts to a failure,” Housing Minister Harriet Shing takes a whack at the Greens.

Guess Who

Which former Premier caught a session of Question Time this week prompting questions about whether he was reminiscing or critiquing?