By Kishor Napier-Raman and Stephen Brook
Just when we thought NSW Labor wasn’t as trouble-plagued as it used to be, former transport minister Jo Haylen was revealed to have used a ministerial chauffeur to repeatedly ferry her to and from her Caves Beach holiday home.
Haylen, who had a gaffe-ridden few years in Chris Minns’ ministry, is gone. Housing Minister Rose Jackson, whose boozy birthday lunch at a Hunter Valley winery kicked off the chauffeur scandal, but who played no part in organising the driver, survived.
No bad blood: Taylor Swift fan and Housing Minister Rose Jackson managed to shake off any fallout from the chauffeur controversy.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
The opposition, struggling for relevance under Mark Speakman’s anaemic leadership, can’t get enough of the controversy.
During question time in the Legislative Council on Thursday morning, shadow education minister Sarah Mitchell quizzed Jackson on her use of drivers.
“In relation to the Taylor Swift concert of 23 September 2024 [it was in February, actually], for which the minister declared a gift of three tickets valued at $2700, did she use a ministerial driver to take her to or from this concert?” Mitchell asked, clearly sniffing a viral moment.
Jackson saw her coming. She had attended the concert in an official capacity in the Venues NSW box, and was “happy to report” that she used the ministerial car, Jackson said.
“In fact, I gave a lift to former premier Dominic Perrottet and his three kids.”
Bipartisanship is a beautiful thing.
Merch madness
The Albanese government we encounter sputtering towards the next election seems tired, feeble and in desperate need of a facelift.
It looks like someone in Labor’s head office has heard the call and cooked up a cunning plan to turn the tide – merch. Fresh new merch.
Right in time for Valentine’s Day.
A whole new line of swag bearing the slogan “ALBO 2025” dropped on the official ALP shop this week. The range includes T-shirts and a tote bag (how very teal). And a box of what looks like mints, which seems very Arthur Calwell to us.
The early reviews? We heard of one former senior Labor Right figure say he’d “rather be seen wearing a keffiyeh”. Make of that what you will.
You’ve got mail
Full steam ahead for Michelle Ananda-Rajah, the Labor MP for the federal seat of Higgins, which is being abolished at the next election.
Dr Michelle Ananda-Rajah’s Higgins electoral update.
She is charging ahead campaigning for a Senate seat – on your dime.
How else to describe a glossy pamphlet landing in the ornate letterboxes of the inner south Melbourne electorate, home to the Liberal Party for decades until Ananda-Rajah wrested it from them at the 2022 election.
Only for the Australian Electoral Commission to wipe it off the electoral map in the latest redistribution.
We had thought Ananda-Rajah was taking a victory lap with her February 2025 mailout, of which we utterly approve.
The subsections are devoted to listing Labor achievements on “cost of living”
“Homes for Australia”, “Supporting students” and “Labor for Women”.
As well as a QR code to peruse the MPs farewell speech. But wait, there’s more.
“Serving Higgins has been an honour. But I can see there is more to do.
“That’s why I will be running for the Australian Senate.
“I will bring reason and pragmatism, so that a second term Labor government can pass changes that matter.”
The MP’s spokesman told us: “The February newsletter has been produced in the conduct of Dr Ananda-Rajah’s parliamentary business and was therefore claimed as a printing and communications work expense.
“Prior to claiming this expense, Dr Ananda-Rajah sought pre-approval from the Ministerial and Parliamentary Services PBR Frameworks Branch that her newsletter would be compliant with her overarching obligations imposed by the Parliamentary Business Resources Act 2017 (PBR Act); and the specific restrictions imposed by the Parliamentary Business Resources Regulations 2017 (PBR Regs). This was confirmed before the newsletter went to print.”
OK nerds, we get it. The Department of Finance confirmed that Ananda-Rajah was continuing to represent the electorate and the printing was allowable. But when we asked, it refused to say how much it cost.
Meanwhile, in Higgins adjacent news, remember those job-share candidates Bronwen Bock and Lucy Bradlow?
Having failed to persuade the AEC not to abolish Higgins, and having failed to persuade the AEC to allow them to stand for the Senate, the duo are taking the AEC to the Federal Court. The pair have managed to recruit a “best-in-class pro bono legal team” for their political phone a friend effort – Professor Kim Rubenstein, the ACT Women’s Legal Service, Emrys Nekvapil, SC, and barrister Julian Murphy.
And Bock and Bradlow are asking for donations for their “history making effort”. Of course.
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