After Taylor Swift plays to 80,000, the PM will be off to a private Katy Perry show

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will attend a private performance by Katy Perry at the Melbourne mansion of billionaire Anthony Pratt with a crowd of 200 of the country’s most prominent corporate leaders and political figures.

The event – held in celebration of the food and beverage industry with which Pratt’s packaging company, Visy, does business – was due to be attended by outgoing Woolworths chief executive Brad Banducci, but he pulled out recently as public scrutiny ramped up on alleged price gouging.

Anthony Albanese will attend a very exclusive performance by Katy Perry at packaging magnate Anthony Pratt’s mansion on Saturday evening.Credit: Getty, Alex Ellinghausen

Sources familiar with the planning of the event, who were not authorised to speak publicly, said Albanese had RSVP’d to the event and would likely use his weekend in Melbourne to campaign in the seat of Dunkley before the March 2 byelection in the bayside electorate.

The prime minister’s office declined for three days to confirm or deny his attendance at the function since this masthead questioned the office on Tuesday.

On Friday, 2GB’s Ben Fordham was first to report the event and that Albanese had been invited.

On Friday afternoon, a spokesman for Albanese said he was “attending the annual food and beverage manufacturing dinner”.

The prime minister spent Thursday night at Sydney’s Fullerton Hotel for a fundraiser with the full Labor ministry. On Friday evening, he is due to attend Taylor Swift’s concert in Sydney.

US ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan is heading to the soirée, along with US ambassador Caroline Kennedy and leaders of major firms, such as Wesfarmers and Lion Nathan, this masthead has confirmed.

Coles executives were initially expected to attend, but a spokeswoman for the supermarket said it would have no presence.

Visy and Pratt’s personal media adviser did not respond to questions about the event at the magnate’s famous Raheen mansion in the inner-east Melbourne suburb of Kew.

“Anthony Pratt … looks forward to welcoming you on Saturday night for dinner to celebrate Australia’s food and beverage manufacturing industries, featuring a live performance by Katy Perry,” an invitation to the event, seen by this masthead, states.

The sources familiar with the event said Pratt had paid Perry about $1.5 million to travel to Melbourne. She is not holding any public performances in Australia.

Pratt hosted a similar event in 2022 attended by then-prime minister Scott Morrison, Barnaby Joyce and Josh Frydenberg. Performers Kylie Minogue and Keith Urban have appeared at previous Pratt events.

While the attendees at these events do not pay a fee or donation to a political party, Pratt usually makes a personal donation to the political party to coincide with the event, according to Liberal and Labor sources aware of previous iterations.

Pratt has previously boasted about his ability to use his wealth to curry favour with powerful figures, describing his riches as his “superpower”.

An October exposé in this masthead showed Pratt claimed on covert recordings that he had donated $1 million to the Voice referendum’s Yes campaign because he had fielded a request to do so from a senior adviser to Albanese.

The report showed Pratt hired former prime ministers Tony Abbott, on a retainer of $8000 a month, and Paul Keating, on $25,000 a month, to provide political advice. “What I’m trying to do is network with people who can be useful,” Pratt said in a leaked recording of a conversation published in this masthead’s October report.

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