Last weekend, Tony Abbott, who as prime minister appointed only one woman to his first cabinet, told this masthead the Liberal Party needed to pick more women MPs.
Even Tony, it seems, has realised that the Coalition under Peter Dutton can’t bloke their way back into power.
Tony Abbott.
But actions speak louder than words. Just last month, Abbott was in Adelaide, speaking at an event organised by firebrand conservative Senator Alex Antic, who has made a name for himself fighting the political battles that matter most to Middle Australia like drag queens and vaccine mandates.
The discussion was billed as a fascinating opportunity to mingle with the former prime minister, and hear about “the Abbott years” from the man himself. Last we checked, there was just one full Abbott year – he was rolled shortly before what would have been his second anniversary in the Lodge.
We digress. The day after Abbott addressed local Liberals, Antic managed to convince those same party members to knock former minister Anne Ruston off the top of the South Australian Senate ticket.
Alex’s antics weren’t well-received among many of the party’s cooler heads. It arguably contributed to the South Australian Liberals losing a byelection days later, and hasn’t helped the perception about their women problem. Antic did his best to inflame this further, by mouthing off about “gender cards” and “grievance narratives”.
All this went down after Scott Morrison was replaced by a man in Cook, and former transport minister Andrew Constance beat another man for preselection in Gilmore. In Western Australia, former SAS officer, Survivor winner and author of Chinese invasion fanfic Mark Wales just got the nod, while further south in Forrest, former senator Ben Small was the sole candidate to succeed outgoing MP Nola Marino. Meanwhile, the preselection clash in Julie Bishop’s old seat of Curtin, now in teal hands, was contested by two men.
Four men are vying to replace outgoing former minister Karen Andrews and Dutton had to intervene to save rising star Melissa McIntosh from losing her seat to a man.
No wonder even Tony is worried.
CHAIR’S SHARES
Investors in billionaire manchild Elon Musk’s $US516 billion NASDAQ-listed behemoth Tesla, who have already copped a 6 per cent loss in value this week – and 33 per cent this year – after the electric carmaker’s worst delivery slump in years, might want to take note of what company insiders are doing with their shares.
We’re indebted to US stockwatcher GuruFocus for pointing out that Tesla chair Robyn Denholm, one of the most successful Australian women in the global tech sector, unloaded about $US16 million worth of her stock in the company last month at $175 a pop.
The sale of just under 94,000 shares brings to more than 187,000 the number of shares in the company Denholm has sold in the past 12 months while buying zero.
Tesla chair Robyn Denholm has unloaded about $US16 million worth of stock in the company.Credit: Jozsef Benke
It fits with a company announcement in January that Denholm would look to offload up to 281,116 shares under an option arrangement that expires in August.
It’s part of a broader pattern, GuruFocus explained in its US-trading lingo which refers to company officers as insiders.
“There have been no insider buys and 37 insider sells, indicating a trend among insiders to reduce their holdings in the company,” the stock pickers wrote.
Now we want to be clear that nobody is suggesting that Denholm, a western Sydney native, or anyone else associated with Tesla has engaged in insider trading. That’s illegal.
Rather, as GuruFocus makes clear:
“Insider transactions can provide insights into a company’s internal perspective on its stock’s value and future prospects.
“The recent sell by Denholm may attract attention from the market as stakeholders evaluate its implications.”
BATTLE FOR THE SHIRE
In despotic regimes, the demise of a leader is often followed by a chaotic, disorderly and bloody power struggle. Something eerily similar has been happening among Liberals in the Sutherland Shire since Scott Morrison’s retirement.
On Saturday, former McKinsey partner Simon Kennedy is certain to win a byelection that Labor isn’t even contesting. But a month after Kennedy’s preselection triumph over Sutherland mayor Carmelo Pesce, long tipped as Morrison’s heir-apparent in the seat, the real battle in the Shire is between local Liberal personalities, who’ve been engaging in weeks of bitter backgrounding and mudslinging.
Things reached their ugliest two weeks ago, after a 2022 video emerged of local powerbroker and Kennedy backer Kent Johns gyrating his buttocks and reciting a homophobic ditty about (openly gay) Liberal MP Chris Rath.
Johns has since apologised to Rath, and stepped aside from his council duties. But he remains on the campaign committee for Kennedy, who’s an outsider to the area and its weird old internecine blood feuds, and has managed to stay above the fray so far. Rath declined to comment.
The committee also includes colourful former property developer Matt Daniel, who recently appeared with Peter Dutton on the hustings, before the Opposition Leader swiftly purged a picture of the two from Instagram following questions from this column. There’s also Marie Simone, described in these pages as a Maserati-driving ex-bankrupt, who was rejected for Liberal preselection before the 2021 council elections. She’s hoping to have another crack at this year’s elections. Also hanging around is Scott Briggs, of Mike Pezzullo fame.
With such an interesting casting call of characters involved, we reckon the warring is going to last well beyond Saturday’s vote.
RACE RELATIONS
Sydney’s deluge broke on Saturday in time for day one of the championships to go ahead at Royal Randwick.
Far from the sodden track, CBD’s spies spotted a few from the Labor side making merry at the TAB marquee – the betting giant is particularly adept at wooing politicians to its shindigs.
Among them was attorney-general and former state leader Michael Daley, Roads and Arts Minister John Graham and Police Minister Yasmin Catley, who’s been embattled for much of Labor’s year in power.