By Stephen Brook and Kishor Napier-Raman
Putting the national capital on alert – Liz Truss is incoming.
Truss, Britain’s short-lived Conservative prime minister and – fun fact! British Airways Sapphire Class frequent flyer – has already created headlines due to her weekend appearance at the CPAC conference in Brisbane. Her star turn at the conservative chinwag was, readers will recall, predicted by yours truly at CBD.
Former British prime minister Liz Truss.Credit: AP
But wait, there’s more. CBD has learnt that Truss will grace the corridors of power in Parliament House this week, courtesy of a meeting invitation from Truss superfan and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.
“Between you and me, I don’t know why you would be hocking her around,” CBD’s resident psephologist said to us – and at one level we get the sentiment.
But Britain’s record-breaking (and not in a good way) 44-day prime minister is still an object of fascination.
Truss – forced from office after her calamitous mini-budget tanked with the financial markets in 2022 – was spotted by CBD agents enjoying the Qantas Chairman’s Lounge hospitality on Friday before flying in seat 1C from Sydney to Brisbane ahead of the conference, where she predictably dissed the Albanese government and the ABC.
That should set her up nicely for Canberra. Truss, who lost her seat of South West Norfolk at the general election this year that swept UK Labour to power, is no stranger to the bush capital. She attended the federal parliament’s Midwinter Ball in 2019 as British trade secretary at the Qantas table.
On Tuesday, she is expected to attend question time and sit in the chamber as a guest of parliament.
On Thursday, Truss will attend an exclusive lunch in Sydney hosted by the Menzies Research Centre “for a discussion on global affairs and trade”. Unfortunately, it looks like another Truss superfan, former prime minister Tony Abbott, won’t make the event as he is overseas.
MRC won’t reveal the venue until the day before, giving proceedings a splendid 1990s rave culture throwback feel.
We can confirm Truss likes a dance. CBD wrote a few years ago how she was spotted at a party hosted by LGBT+ Conservatives along with George Brandis, who was Australian High Commissioner to Britain at the time but is now a columnist for this newspaper.
WONG GONE
The first anniversary of the October 7 massacres is understandably a fraught time for Australia’s Jewish community.
Much angst has been directed towards political leaders aiming to attend a community commemorative event organised for Monday.
Now CBD hears Foreign Minister Penny Wong has pulled out of attending the Jewish community event in Melbourne on Monday night that she had planned to attend. The Foreign Minister now plans to attend an event in Canberra, organised by the Israeli Embassy at which Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles will also be present.
Over the weekend, Jewish community members were outraged that Zionism Victoria, which is organising the biggest community event, had invited political leaders including Wong. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is also due to attend, as well as Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan and state Opposition Leader John Pesutto.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
A message circulated widely on WhatsApp urged people to protest. “Let’s make the change we need now, starting with letting PM Albanese and FM Wong know they are not welcome to mourn next to us,” the message read.
Descriptors such as “the community has gone mental” and “we don’t want to see her” and “breakaway event” circulated as the Jewish community celebrated the Jewish New Year holiday of Rosh Hashanah.
Meanwhile, Dutton is attending an event in Sydney.
In Melbourne, Albanese will face lawyer Mark Leibler, who criticised the government’s foreign policy in a tough but nuanced piece in The Australian.
Heightening tensions was a column in The Australian based on a speech by former Liberal federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg which accused the Albanese government of “abandoning Israel”. Some readers assumed Frydenberg would deliver his speech in front of Albanese and Wong, but he is speaking at a separate event.
Jeremy Leibler, the president of the Zionist Federation of Australia and Mark Leibler’s son, said the community event would allow “the Jewish community and friends and allies including political leaders on both sides to commemorate the largest loss of Jewish life on any single day since the Holocaust” and “send messages of support and solidarity to the people of Israel as they continue to face existential threats on multiple fronts”.
In a bid to quell tensions, no Australian politician will give speeches at the Melbourne event.
That is unlikely to satisfy dissidents, who in their “Urgent Action Needed” WhatsApp message were so angered by circumstances that they managed to misspell the prime minister’s name.
SITUATION VACANT
“Be part of history.” That’s the enticement from the Australian Navy as it starts recruiting officers for its AUKUS nuclear submarine fleet.
Ads for the jobs, which will pay more than $100,000 and are based in Darwin and Melbourne, state that a typical day could see successful candidates in charge of “nuclear reactor and nuclear propulsion system operations” and “onboard weapons systems management”.
“You’ll enjoy a competitive salary package, career stability, opportunities for continuous progression and an adventurous lifestyle, all while making a difference to Australia,” the navy promises, adding recruits will be “paid from day one to gain all the skills needed with extensive on-the-job training”.
Which comes as a relief, given the navy is advertising the jobs on LinkedIn as “Nuclear Submarine Officer – No Experience”.
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