This was published 3 years ago
Opinion
A-list stays home as Australian Open winds up
By Samantha Hutchinson and Stephen Brook
Not only did Victoria’s short, sharp lockdown last week cost the Australian Open about $20 million over the five days it was devoid of spectators, but it has had another consequence: a deleterious effect on the calibre of celebrities who turned out at Rod Laver Arena on Sunday night for the men’s final.
Casualties sadly included the intriguing tennis bromance of Lord Alan Sugar (who in an amazing coincidence just happens to be the star of tennis broadcaster Nine’s forthcoming reality TV program, Celebrity Apprentice) and Oscar winner Russell Crowe, whose recent on-court hit-ups probably held their own against Sunday night’s finalists, Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev… in their own minds.
Novak Djokovic holds the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup after winning the Australian Open men’s singles final.Credit: Getty Images
Also absent were other interstate invitees including Matt Damon, Nicole Kidman and Idris Elba. Halfway along the main concourse of the Rod Laver Arena, a nondescript lift rises one floor to deliver invitees to “O”, the “private, iconic and exclusive” corporate hospitality area whose guest list is the personal preserve of Tennis Australia chair Jayne Hrdlicka and chief executive Craig Tiley.
A white neon O signalled the entrance to the vast hospitality suite with a peach pastel colour scheme and indoor pergola over the centre table. After dining on a menu that had included Port Phillip Bay scallop ceviche, Pakenham farmers’ power greens and Gippsland region A7+ Wagyu striploin bulgogi, guests could load up a box from the dessert station including Victorian wattleseed and chocolate eclair or a Mornington Peninsula strawberries and cream tartlet and descend directly onto their prized seats at one end of the arena.
The dress code was strictly business casual (tie optional, no jeans, no shorts under any circumstances) for guests including former premier Steve Bracks, Mushroom Group founder Michael Gudinski, Governor of Victoria Linda Dessau, Federal Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Dan Tehan, John Wylie from Sport Australia Hall Of Fame and Australian tennis legend Frank Sedgman and wife Jean.
Also spotted at the final: Nine chair Peter Costello, Shane Warne and former AFL footballer Majak Daw. Propping up the Piper Heidsieck champagne bar were swimming gold medallist Mack Horton, model Tash Oakley and Hawthorn footballer Jaeger O’Meara. Guests of Ralph Lauren included Andy Lee and partner Rebecca Harding, Victorian Sport Minister Martin Pakula represented the state government, Rupert Myer, scion of the retailing family, former Dan Andrews communications director Adam Sims now at IFM Investors, fellow spinner Mark Hawthorne at Civic, Maurice Blackburn lawyer Liberty Sanger, KordaMentha founder Mark Mentha and Lisa Mentha and Ivana Isidorovic, Chargé d’Affaires of the Serbia embassy and Nikola Isidorovic.
Gold standard
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg had his own encounter with Victoria’s “gold standard” public health efforts on Friday night as he returned to Melbourne at the end of the sitting week.
Travellers arriving on Qantas’ QF865 at 7.40pm were amused to see Frydenberg singled out of the stream of passengers by Victorian border officials.
Their request? The Treasurer’s entry permit for Victoria.
As readers will be aware, all travellers into Victoria require a permit which can be kept electronically or printed. Readers are also likely to recall it was only earlier in the week that Frydenberg declared NSW’s contact tracing and pandemic management efforts to be the standard other states should set out to emulate. That message would have gone down well with the health department burghers and border officials in his home state.
A fellow passenger on the flight said the permit request was a tough ask for the Treasurer. Clearly a traditionalist, a harried-looking Frydenberg spent some minutes rifling through a briefcase crammed with papers to find the document. After minutes of rummaging, he found the document and was given permission to proceed. Major embarrassment averted.
Off the wall
A newly installed piece of artwork is quite the talking point in Jacqui Lambie’s office.
The Tasmanian senator has decided to hang in her office a painting of herself donated by a couple of supporters that has to be seen to be believed.
Senator Jacqui Lambie in her office with the Bald Archies portrait depicting her as Princess Leia and Clive Palmer as Jabba the Hutt, which was dropped off by owners Ray and Elain.
Six years ago artist Lindsay Spears entered the work in the Bald Archy Prize, a cartooning parody of the Archibald portrait prize. The painting depicts Lambie in heroic pose as the bikini-clad Princess Leia from Star Wars, recreating the iconic scene in Return of the Jedi where she strangles the gruesome Jabba the Hutt with the very chain he has imprisoned her with. Even readers with only a passing knowledge of Lambie’s career will appreciate the parallel with her split from former MP Clive Palmer, who is depicted as the Star Wars villain.
“I think it’s brilliant,” Lambie told CBD. “Ray and Elain really made my week by gifting it to me, it’s an absolute treat. I’m hanging it in the office. I tell you what - you won’t see anyone else in Australia with control over Clive Palmer like that!”
In lights
Labor’s former deputy leader Tanya Plibersek was spotted in the audience at the Sydney Opera House’s Drama Theatre on Thursday night for the Wharf Revue 2021. The biting musical portrayal of the ALP’s factions, inspired by Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats, or a sketch skewering former Kevin Rudd’s predilection for jargon and self-aggrandisement didn’t prompt Plibersek to hold back. “She was roaring with laughter, behind her mask,” an audience member told CBD.
This year’s performance titled Goodbye and Good Luck marks the end of sketch writers Jonathan Biggins, Drew Forsythe and Phillip Scott’s near two-decade association with Sydney Theatre Company. Standouts on the evening included the trio’s take on Labor factionalism, dubbed Cats in the Ranks complete with characters including Rudd dressed as Mr Mistoffelees. Then there was Forsythe’s take on a relevancy-deprived Kevin Rudd - a rendition to rival Lawrence Mooney’s Malcolm Turnbull.