Backroom Baz: Josh Frydenberg promotional pamphlet appears out of the blue

Some Liberal MPs have raised eyebrows by adopting a familiar trick rife in the 2019 federal election — can you spot the difference?

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is shying away from party branding but no one is guessing which party he belongs to. Picture: Christian Gilles

Baz is noticing the re-emergence of a trend among some Liberal MPs, state and federal – avoiding any party branding in their promotional material.

It’s a familiar trick and was rife in the 2019 federal election. Last month, Wentworth MP Dave Sharma had to deny he was trying to distance himself from the Libs after questions about his logo-less material and a certain teal colour scheme. Eyebrows have been raised about some state MPs’ social media postings, too.

But federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has emerged as the most high-profile MP to be accused of shying away from party branding. (Not that anyone could not know to which party he belongs.)

Still, promotional material endorsing him and devoid of Liberal Party branding sparked a recent outcry – albeit for a different reason.

A controversial pamphlet distributed to Kooyong residents featured Guide Dogs Victoria chief Karen Hayes endorsing the Treasurer in his re-election campaign. Frydenberg shrugged off concerns, claiming the subsequent furore was “confected outrage” designed to take him down.

“At least it’s blue!” one well-placed Liberal quipped.

The CEO of Guide Dogs Victoria featured on a political pamphlet for Josh Frydenberg.

This spells trouble

And while on the topic of Liberal campaign material, it appears the candidate for Cooper, Jadon Atkinson, is a forgotten man. It seems whoever is pumping out the promo guff doesn’t know if his name is Jadon, Jason or Jaydon. The seat is safe Labor and with zero chance of him being elected, in Baz’s opinion, it doesn’t matter too much.

Perhaps those at Liberal HQ were only too happy to muddy the waters around him after Atkinson was exposed as a supporter of far-right former senator Fraser Anning, who blamed Muslim immigration for the Christchurch massacre in 2019.

Tim Pallas plays Roger Federer in virtual reality.

Pallas takes a virtual trip

If you were a Treasurer with access to virtual reality where would you go? Maybe you would transport yourself to a state without Covid-damaged bottom lines? Or relax in a magical land where local MPs can no longer bother you about their pet projects? For Tim Pallas, the answer is a tennis court with Roger Federer. While touring a new “living lab” by tech firm Infosys, the Treasurer couldn’t help but don their latest VR headsets and play a few virtual games against one of the all time greats. But it was when he started winning that even Pallas had to admit it was too good to be true. “I couldn’t even beat Josh Frydenberg at tennis,” he admitted after the display. Now there’s a game Baz would pay to see.

A new website asking people to dob in the state’s worst roads featured a stock picture of a road in Ukraine.

Have bungles put Coalition on road to nowhere?

Questions are again being asked in Spring St about how long the state opposition wants to remain in opposition.

The Coalition was again left red-faced after a new website asking people to dob in the state’s worst roads featured a stock picture of a road in Ukraine as one of its main images.

What started as a brilliant idea ended in utter embarrassment.

It may have been just a minor bungle, but it’s just one of a number of blunders and insiders say it’s an example of the slapdash way in which some in opposition are approaching the election year.

This is frustrating the MPs and staffers who are working their fingers to the bone – to good effect.

Baz is told many inside Labor HQ have been left rattled by the discipline of a “new and improved Matthew Guy 2.0”. Some are concerned the Coalition “could come out of nowhere and steal the election”.

It’s not impossible. But bungles like this won’t help.

Lindsay Fox’s $100m donation to the NGV has put an end to rumours of a rift with Dan Andrews.

Fox gallery gift puts Dan rift rumours to bed

If ever there was a way to put an end to rumours of a rift between Daniel Andrews and Lindsay Fox, a $100m donation, and a reward of naming rights to boot, is surely the way to do it.

Fox made the largest gift ever made to an Australian art museum by a living donor this week, and in return the new billion-dollar NGV Contemporary will be named The Fox: NGV Contemporary.

Last year, Mr Fox was at the centre of a wild conspiracy theory over how the Premier came to fall in an accident that left him off work for three months with a crook back.

The theory went along the lines of Andrews falling on stairs while drinking with Fox, a close friend, at his Portsea holiday home.

Both strenuously rejected the proposition, but rumours of a rift between the two persisted. If ever they could be put to bed, surely it’s now.

City of Melbourne councillor Stephen Mayne has upset traders in Melbourne’s east.

Answer to the Mayne question

Baz pondered last week about just what former City of Melbourne councillor Stephen Mayne had done to so upset traders in Melbourne’s east, the question prompted by a sign hung in Lower Templestowe’s Macedon Square begging voters to boot him off council at the next opportunity. Well, an answer, of sorts.

Baz is told council plans to upgrade the shopping precinct has left traders infuriated because they fear the plans will make the area less safe.

But they say their concerns are falling on deaf ears. And it would appear they have right to be worried.

One shopper was last year crushed by a car outside a cafe, prompting calls for increased safety measures.

Overheard by Baz: “I also want to thank ... most importantly Premier Andrews who has driven the renaissance of transport in this state.”

Public Transport Minister Ben Carroll scoring some brownie points with the boss. Transport renaissance? Baz has heard it all.

Guess who: Which major industry lobby group is desperately searching for Labor-aligned staff after falling foul of the state government?

Got any scuttlebutt for Baz? [e-mail] / Twitter: @BackroomBaz