By Noel Towell and Kishor Napier-Raman
Let’s set sail for the not-so-tranquil waters of the Mornington Yacht Club, which has weathered a storm over some of the sexually suggestive names that some members have chosen for their boats.
In the heat of the controversy, the club promised to develop a code of conduct to ensure vessels moored there did not carry lewd or offensive names.
The yacht Himalayan Women passed the club’s taste test.
Now, the code is out, and it looks shipshape, on paper anyway, with a whole clause dedicated to tackling what’s proved to be a tricky issue.
Members with “boat names that denigrate a person, or group of people based on gender, age, ability, sexual orientation, religion, or ethnicity”, will be asked to rename their vessels or leave the club, the rules state.
The club’s general committee, made up of eight men and one woman, is the arbiter of what is offensive and has already cast its eye over the boat at the centre of the storm, the vessel named Himalayan Women – what a hoot! – and given it a pass.
There’s also a new rule in place to help prevent leaks, always wise in a nautical setting, with members forbidden from denigrating the club, its members or administration.
Which is why one Mornington yachtie didn’t want to be named, saying that the code was “not worth the paper it’s written on if offensive boat names like Himalayan Women still get the green light”.
We gave the club an “ahoy” on Monday, to see if they fancied a chat. They didn’t hoy back.
VOICES OFF
If the “Yes” campaign for this year’s Voice referendum, backed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, is to win the support of working-class Australians, then it will have to do it without the help of a fair slab of one of the nation’s biggest blue-collar trade unions.
A voice divided: Anthony Albanese and John Setka.Credit: John Shakespeare
The Victorian-Tasmanian CFMEU construction branch, led by John Setka, confirmed on Monday that it would not be following the lead of the broader labour movement and its own national leadership, which is campaigning vigorously for a Yes vote, and would instead sit out the whole thing.
At a meeting last week of the branch’s Koori Committee – lots of First Nations people work in construction – concerns were raised about the Voice proposal. Now, the national leadership of the CFMMEU (we know it’s a slightly different name, but it’s complicated, OK) stressed that neither the meeting nor the branch resolved to support a No vote, but they wouldn’t be out there for the Yes camp either.
“The CFMMEU nationally supports a constitutionally enshrined First Nations Voice to parliament,” a spokesman for the national outfit told us.
“We respect our First Nations brothers and sisters have a diversity of views on this issue.”
It’s not the first time the union has had to suck up a diversity of views from Setka’s branch. Won’t be the last either.
CALIFORNIA DREAMING
CBD fancies itself as a patron of the political art of taking-out-the-trash, and we are heartened to see Anthony Albanese’s federal Labor government refusing to be outdone in this vital area of endeavour by Daniel Andrews’ Victorian state operation.
And this one is a beauty. As the nation’s chattering class lost its hive mind on Friday over Catherine Holmes’ doozy of a royal commission report into the robo-debt scandal, Albanese’s Trade Minister, Don Farrell, slipped out the wheelie bin containing the appointment of Labor mate Chris Ketter to the very handy gig of consul-general to San Francisco, on a salary likely to be in excess of $250,000 plus extras, s’il vous plait.
Now, if you’ve never heard of Ketter, you wouldn’t be alone, but we’ve got you covered.
The former Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees – aka “the Shoppies” – union official was a Labor senator for Queensland who lost his seat at the 2019 election when his leader Bill Shorten made a less than overwhelming impression on the Sunshine State.
Since then, Ketter has been working in the office of Richard Marles.
In his discreet announcement on the consul-general post, Farrell justified the move by saying his man had “extensive experience across government, and in the defence industry and critical technologies sector, which will help bolster Australia’s AUKUS objectives”. All valid points.
The minister didn’t mention Ketter’s Labor or union background, which is a little weird because Farrell himself is a fellow Shoppie, widely considered the top Shoppie, actually.
As we often have cause to reflect in these pages, it’s a small world, right?
KEEPING COMPANY
Former federal minister Stuart Robert quit politics without so much as a valedictory speech before the robo-debt royal commission’s final report was released last week.
Former federal minister Stuart Robert.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
So as voters in his former seat, Fadden, prepare to vote this week on a successor, CBD was curious about post-political life for the close Scott Morrison ally.
Turns out, that Robert is, as of June, director of a company called Robert Estate.
Filings with the corporate regulator show Robert registered that company in April, a month before resigning from parliament. Two of his siblings are co-directors.
It has all the makings of a wholesome post-political family business venture, and while we were keen to hear all about it, Robert couldn’t be reached to discuss any further.
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