By Kishor Napier-Raman and Stephen Brook
Former Australian Women’s Weekly health columnist and Today show regular and briefly Wentworth MP Kerryn Phelps has had quite the career arc since her days running the doctor’s union, Australian Medical Association.
During the pandemic, Phelps, whose victory over Liberal Dave Sharma in a 2018 byelection that followed Malcolm Turnbull’s political downfall provided the blueprint for the subsequent teal wave, became an outspoken proponent of COVID-zero and mask mandates.
Later, after suffering a vaccine-related injury, the former Australian Medical Association president’s Twitter feed took on a more jab-critical hue.
And on Monday, Phelps took to the platform now known as X with a tweet that seemed more in line with Pauline Hanson’s One Nation than the genteel champagne socialists of Paddington. Phelps quote-tweeted a post from anti-immigration influencer Eli David, in which he featured a clip of British Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary claiming that sharia would replace democracy in the UK, France and Belgium within decades.
Kerryn Phelps’ deleted tweet.Credit: Twitter
“Wake Up Australia [flag emoji]” was Phelps’ message.
We asked Phelps whether she believed Australian democracy was at risk from sharia and received a lengthy essay, some of which we’ve quoted below.
“I deleted the tweet after some noxious responses and felt that the message needed more detail,” Phelps told CBD. Fair call there.
“I appreciate the opportunity to provide that detail,” Phelps continued, noting that she’d fought against discrimination throughout her career.
Kerryn PhelpsCredit: Illustration: John Shakespeare
“One of the greatest threats we face right now is the radicalisation of young people, particularly through social media. Yes, it is time to wake up to this threat,” she said.
Phelps then went on a spiel about pro-Palestinian protests at university campuses in the US and Australia, telling CBD they were “not benign gatherings” and accusing demonstrators, through their sloganeering, of supporting a terrorist agenda and calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.
She also claimed concerns about the conflict in Gaza had spilled over into an increase in reports of antisemitism, and that the boundaries between free speech and hate speech had been blurred.
“This is no time for complacency,” she said.
Which is all well and good, but leaves us none the wiser about the future of Australian democracy.
AYRES ROCK
Ever since CBD broke the news that former NSW deputy Liberal leader Stuart Ayres had landed a gig as chief executive of the Urban Development Institute of Australia, there have been plenty of anxious whispers around the lobby group.
Some UDIA insiders are concerned that the appointment of Ayres, who was never much for working across the aisle, will sour their relationship with the Minns government at a critical time for developers.
But at least he won’t be around forever. CBD hears the former sports minister is on a two-year contract – which is a pretty ideal time frame if you’re scoping out another crack at your old marginal seat at the next election.
DEAR DIARY
So while Ayres might struggle to land a meeting with Chris Minns, or any of his inner circle, that certainly isn’t the case for ex-Labor premier turned lobbyist Morris Iemma, who landed three meetings with the leader between January and March this year.
The latest drop of ministerial diaries reveals that Minns and Treasurer Dan Mookhey also got a bit of fanboy time with Tony Blair’s former spinner Alastair Campbell, whose second life as a hit podcaster made his Australian tour appointment viewing for local pols.
The premier even had time for a meet and greet with Jodi McKay, whom he usurped as Labor leader in 2021. How generous.
BABY BRUCE
The departure of Bruce McWilliam from embattled Seven West Media last month will leave journalists around the country missing Kerry Stokes’ long-term consigliere’s infamous wit and wisdom.
No longer busy firing off nasty little emails, perhaps Bruce, a noted trophy home collector, has time to appear on his son Andrew McWilliam’s new-ish Instagram venture propertytakes. So far, the page features clips of McWilliam the Younger wandering the eastern suburbs and making videos in front of harbourside mansions and other developments.
But if the aim is, as the page suggests, to share property insights in Sydney, then we couldn’t imagine a better father-son duo. Last December, Bruce successfully bid $3.4 million, on his son’s behalf, for a dilapidated Paddington terrace. Which says more about the state of Sydney’s property market than any aspiring influencer could.
DR WHO
How many honorary doctorates are too many? Ask former Labor climate change minister and now Future Fund chair Greg Combet, who on Monday received an honorary doctorate from UNSW, to add to the two he’s gotten from the University of Newcastle and the University of South Australia.
Combet, who ran the Australian Council of Trade Unions before entering parliament and worked with industry super funds since, received heady praise from the university’s chancellor David Gonski, who called him “one of the most impressive people I’ve met”.
He was joined by his daughter Anna, and partner, former ABC presenter Juanita Phillips.