Former NSW Labor general-secretary Kaila Murnain has been living a quiet life since her sensational exit four years ago under the weight of the most famous Aldi shopping bag in Australian political history.
The Sussex Street supremo was suspended and later quit after an Independent Commission Against Corruption probe heard she failed to report a $100,000 donation in a plastic Aldi bag to the party by Chinese property developer Huang Xiangmo.
Kaila Murnain was the first female NSW Labor Party general secretary when she was appointed in 2016.Credit: Dallas Kilponen
Murnain walked away with a payout of around $700,000 and a promise from then-NSW Labor leader Jodi McKay that she’d have no future in the party, although ICAC’s final report published last year made no findings of corrupt conduct against the former boss.
Despite being very much out of the politics game, Murnain has landed a new job at mega lobbying and communications firm SEC Newgate, where she’ll be working three days a week while finishing up a master’s degree in psychology.
According to an internal email circulated last week, Murnain was excited about working in “as diverse a range of projects as possible.” So far she hasn’t appeared on the state or federal lobbyists’ registers, although CBD hears her work at the firm will be focused on the research side of things, rather than walking the corridors of power in Macquarie Street, or helping Newgate’s latest client – News Corp.
COME TO BRAZIL!
Credit: Jozsef Benke
Controversial neurosurgeon Charlie Teo has few friends left in the medical community. Last week, a disciplinary committee found him guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct, and placed more restrictions on his ability to operate.
Evidence provided during the hearing earlier this year found not a single neurosurgeon in Australia and New Zealand was willing to speak up in Teo’s favour. Teo contends all this is part of a decades-long campaign by jealous rivals to ruin his reputation and freeze him out.
But all this means the doctor has been forced to look overseas for neurosurgical love, doing operations in India, China and Europe since he first faced restrictions at home. And coming up on the list of destinations in Brazil, where a neurosurgical body is spruiking Teo’s trip to three cities in the country’s north-east later this year.
Teo certainly has a good relationship with Latin America. Appearing on a podcast last week, the surgeon boasted about receiving a distinguished service award from former Cuban leader Fidel Castro after doing voluntary work there.
“I love the fact that I can change someone’s life … but to be able to change the course of medicine in an entire country, that’s a real honour,” Teo said.
“It makes up for all the negative stuff. All the antagonism from colleagues, all the vilification, all the persecution by governing bodies, all the tall-poppy syndrome stuff from the media, it pales into insignificance.”
We’re sure he’ll find a more sympathetic audience on Brazil.
KING IN THE EAST
CBD has reported before about the comeback of former Wentworth MP Peter King, who recently ousted incumbent Sally Betts for the presidency of the harbourside seat’s Liberal federal electorate conference.
King held the seat for a single term, before losing an acrimonious preselection battle to an ambitious up and comer named Malcolm Turnbull. He responded with a dummy spit in the form of running against Turnbull as an independent at the 2004 election, and was banned from the Liberal Party for a decade.
Now back and in control of the local branch, King has unveiled a plan to win back that old heartland seat from what he insists on calling the “teal party”. So far, that’s involved annoying moderates by inviting anti-Voice campaigner Nyunggai Warren Mundine to give a speech, and now creating a series of new subcommittees, with a little help from the family.
King’s son Alasdair King is on both the “Menzies talks” and “reclaim Wentworth” subcommittees. The party’s former NSW vice-president and perennial preselection hopeful Mary-Lou Jarvis is chairing the branch development subcommittee.
The Mundine event held earlier this month apparently brought in a good bit of dough, according to King, who in an email to members last week claimed Wentworth was now the first Liberal FEC in the country to pay its party levy to assist candidates in other seats.
Covering some of Australia’s wealthiest postcodes sure does help with that.
GREAT NORTHERN
Warringah Bowls Club in genteel Mosman was last week engulfed in a debacle that can only be described as peak Sydney. First, the club copped a warning from Liquor and Gaming NSW after some joyless locals complained about noise from trivia nights and a children’s jumping castle.
Since then, an unhinged email from an anonymous club neighbour has done the rounds, claiming that sight of people enjoying themselves at the bowlo was “something you would find in the Northern Territory, not Mosman, Sydney”.
At least the club has maintained a sense of humour about things – on Sunday, CBD’s spies spotted the Northern Territory flag flying outside the establishment. Bless them for committing to the bit.
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