Gina Rinehart sneaks into parliament for conservative senator’s debut

New Northern Territory senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price was a Sky News favourite well before her election to the red chamber in May.

Credit: John Shakespeare

And while few actually tune into the network’s notorious “after dark” programming – when conservative pundits rule the roost – those TV appearances have won Price some rather influential fans, among them Gina Rinehart, who dropped in on Parliament House for the Country Liberal senator’s first speech on Wednesday.

CBD spotted Australia’s richest woman masked up and being whisked down to the Senate car park right after Price’s address, in which the Warlpiri-Celtic conservative attacked the “pointless virtue-signalling” of an Indigenous Voice to parliament.

Rinehart was overheard singing the senator’s praises to her small entourage. We hear she’s been a fan for some time and showed up of her own accord. Despite a less pro-coal government in Canberra, perhaps we’ll be seeing more of the mining magnate.

Deves’ pub crawl

The defeated Liberal candidate for Warringah Katherine Deves’ anti-trans views poisoned many of her colleagues’ chances at the last election.

It turns out there are some Liberals still more than happy to be seen in public with her; Deves is guest of honour at the Western Sydney University Liberal Club’s social night this evening.

Described by the event as a “staunch defender of women’s sport”, she’ll be joining the baby Liberals for a tipple at Establishment Bar in the CBD (a good 25 kilometres east of the university’s Parramatta campus). It’ll be followed by a pub crawl through some of the CBD’s most predictable venues – the Ivy Pool club is next, followed by Little Felix and Ramblin’ Rascal.

Perhaps the rumours are true and Deves is a whole lot of fun to be around – so long as you’re cisgender.

Wilson’s property play

Teal independent for Goldstein Zoe Daniel has had a lot to think about this week as she took her seat in parliament for the first time – so the next election is probably the last thing on her mind.

But it looks unlikely that her vanquished opponent, Liberal Tim Wilson, will be up for a rematch in 2025.

Wilson, whose adventures in real estate have attracted attention in the past, most notably for charging taxpayers $37,000 last year while he stayed in his own Canberra apartment, has quietly put his Sandringham unit – bang in the heart of the electorate – on the market.

The former Human Rights Commissioner bought the Royal Avenue two-bedder back in 2016 with husband Ryan Bolger for $775,000 and has listed it – discreetly, there’s no ‘for sale’ sign on the property – with a guide price of $1.65 million.

We mentioned the listing to Wilson on Thursday and his reply was a little cryptic. “We always said it wouldn’t be easy under Albanese.”

Silky smooth

After a career working on the good side of finance as the former boss of AustralianSuper, Ian Silk has raised some eyebrows (and curled some large moustaches) with his appointment to the board of Crown Melbourne.

Silk’s appointment is hoped to ease the minds of the Victorian casino regulator, which last year found after a torrid inquiry that Crown had breached a laundry list of laws and governance principles.

One of those criticisms included the evidence given by Crown’s former Melbourne chairman Andrew Demetriou.

Silk’s history at AustralianSuper sits in stark contrast to that of Crown, with the country’s largest superannuation fund sailing through the 2018 Banking Royal Commission largely unscathed even after a bit of digging around into the fund’s financial support of The New Daily news site.

With that sort of governance background, one should hope that under Silk’s stewardship Crown Melbourne could regain some sort of standing in the community.

But Blackstone’s new man has had an interesting relationship with the pokies over the years. The Hawthorn footy club director campaigned against the Hawks being in the gaming business, while AustralianSuper, on Silk’s watch, held more than $1 billion in shares of poker machine manufacturer Aristocrat.

AustralianSuper CEO Ian Silk has been appointed to the board of Crown Melbourne.Credit: Louie Douvis

Two other new Melbourne-based directors have been appointed to the board of Crown Melbourne – Helen Silver, the secretary of the Victorian Government Department of Premier and Cabinet between 2008 and 2013, and Allianz Australia executive and Henriette Rothschild, a partner at KordaMentha and Richmond Football Club director.

Heston feasts

There’s been no shortage of people-watching opportunities around Parliament House this week. CBD spotted Heston Russell – former special forces commander turned Australian Values Party founder turned nude OnlyFans model turned bloke charged with assault after a punch-on at a pool party (charges he’s fighting) – doing the classic Aussies Cafe linger.

He managed to sort out meetings with Labor’s Luke Gosling and crossbencher Senator Jacqui Lambie, both former veterans. Russell’s AVP was a major flop in May, but perhaps his presence in the corridors of power is a sign that ambition hasn’t dried up completely.

Shaq’d up

Since retiring from professional basketball, four-time NBA champion Shaquille “Shaq” O’Neal has had many careers – businessman, DJ, motivational speaker, meme.

It’s a combination of all those identities which will bring the seven-foot one-inch Shaq (that’s over two metres for the youngsters) to Australia next month, where he’s set to do a series of “intimate speaking events”.

While his shows in Sydney and Melbourne are sold out to regular punters, the former Los Angeles Lakers star is also set to deliver an exclusive VIP “fireside chat” at Melbourne co-working space CreativeCubesCo.

The event, titled “Inside the Cube with Shaq,” will allow 100 or so lucky guests to hear O’Neal in conversation with CreativeCubesCo founder Tobi Skovron – a man who describes himself as “The Peoples [sic] Entrepreneur – “speaking on tips for success, offering unplugged and uncensored conversations about his life, and touching on many unspoken moments throughout his decorated career on and off the court”.