By Kishor Napier-Raman and Stephen Brook
CBD is loath to join segments of the punditocracy in musing about what the victory of US President-elect Donald Trump means for Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.
There has been more than enough written by commentators with a myopic grasp of US politics, and plenty of hamfisted comparisons between the pair from the Escape to BlueSky crew without us adding our two cents worth, we decided. Or rather, we had decided. Now, however, needs must.
CBD was alerted to a fundraiser in Canberra on Monday night attended by Dutts at the smart Barton restaurant Chairman and Yip – “Canberra’s best pan-Asian Cantonese”. A favourite power dining spot in the Bubble, and hardly Trumpian.
Alongside the opposition leader were shadow treasurer Angus Taylor and junior shadow minister and Dutton fanboy Luke Howarth.
A passerby was intrigued to note the gang inside was conducting a fundraiser by auctioning MAGA hats. But not the MAGA hats you are thinking of.
Instead of Make America Great Again, the hats had a neat local spin that is sure to become a thing as election 2025 fast approaches.
Emblazoned on US-style baseball caps was a pertinent local slogan – Make Albo Go Away.
Intrigued, we checked in with the opposition. But didn’t hear back.
Greens gripes
When news arrived that Austin’s South by Southwest festival would be launching in Sydney last year, it raised hopes about bringing some much-needed vibe to our often culturally moribund town.
But after the second SXSW Sydney passed us by, barely registering a blip on the city’s collective consciousness, we remain a little confused about what the whole thing is about.
Is it a festival, or a week-long networking event for the skinny chinos and white sneakers set? Can an event that hosts a hackathon ever really be cool? What is Sydney even South by Southwest of, other than the Pacific Ocean?
But our healthy scepticism of SXSW pales in comparison with the brutal assessment offered by Greens City of Sydney councillor Matthew Thompson, who during a meeting on Monday claimed that “SXSW festival is low-key, a really shit event”.
“It’s $2000 for a ticket over three days, it’s entirely focused on industry, it’s not accessible to community members, it’s not for community,” he said.
“It’s for industry insiders, and that we’re doing something to fund that – I hate that.”
The discussion arose when councillors debated, and ultimately adopted, the City of Sydney’s new creative strategy. The Greens’ Sylvie Ellsmore moved an amendment proposing councillors reject a recommendation from council staff to provide $800,000 in funding over three years to SXSW Sydney.
The Greens were riled about the council doling out money to a foreign, for-profit festival, rather than spending money on affordable workspaces for artists and creatives. But Lord Mayor Clover Moore argued the council could do both.
“We can support major events that are so important to the global city in terms of the tourism industry, the economy, jobs, providing jobs for creative and cultural industries,” Moore said.
“We also can support [tier two], the community events and festivals.”
Ultimately, while the Greens provided some entertaining commentary, their amendment went nowhere, rejected with just two votes.
Cox out
When Steve Cox, formerly managing director of Dymocks Children’s Charities was drafted to run Destination NSW in 2020, his appointment raised a few eyebrows. Cox had no experience in tourism or government, after all.
And his confidence can’t have been helped by the typically brash claim of Racing NSW and Australian Rugby League Commission honcho Peter V’landys in 2022 that Destination NSW “wouldn’t know an event if they fell over it”.
But when Cox’s departure was announced on Wednesday, the suddenness was equally surprising. Especially when it came after what has been something of a “killing season” among the state’s cultural institutions – with high-profile departures at Create NSW, Opera Australia and the National Art School.
So sudden was it that Destination NSW’s media team was initially caught flat-footed by our enquiries about Cox’s departure, even though Arts Minister John Graham had put out a statement praising Cox’s leadership of the tourism body.
“Steve Cox has been a highly successful leader of Destination NSW. Under his watch, in the last financial year NSW has achieved a record $53 billion in expenditure in the visitor economy,” he said.
“On top of this, he led the agency through the pandemic, a particularly challenging time for the tourism industry.”
Destination NSW later put out a statement praising Cox for meeting the challenges of the pandemic, positioning the state as the largest and fastest-growing visitor economy in Australia, and launching the Feel New brand campaign, among other achievements.
“A recruitment process will be undertaken for the CEO role led by the Department of Creative Industries, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport, with details to be announced soon,” the statement said.
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