Big turnout for Liberals’ cash grab

Illustration: Peter Nicholson.

It was dubbed “Super Wednesday”. Sydney was carpet-bombed last night by Liberal stars in a multi-front fundraising attack. No wallet was safe.

At the Four Seasons, Assistant Minister for Cities Angus Taylor was joined by one of the few people more loved by the NSW Right faction, former prime minister John Howard. That was a $1000-a-head event.

Over at the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, NSW Liberal president Trent Zimmerman was joined in his electorate of North Sydney by the first lady, Lucy Turnbull. That function was a bargain, starting at $125.

And at two separate boardroom functions were cabinet ministers Christian Porter(visiting from Perth) and Simon Birmingham (visiting from Adelaide) doing their bit, with attendance at each priced towards $2000 a seat.

Also in Sydney for “Super Wednesday” were Julie Bishop and her partner David Panton, who were spotted in Circular Quay (accompanied by security detail) walking in the other ­direction to the Four Seasons — most likely to another ticketed dinner.

Julie Bishop and David Panton at another function last month. Picture: Christian Gilles.

The game plan is campaign in Sydney’s battleground seats out west by day, then rattle the can in the city by night.

If you are upset at missing Super Wednesday, never fear. It looks like it will be the same drill next week: starting with a dinner with Finance Minister Mathias Cormann in Sydney’s Rocks ($1750 a head).

No one said an eight-week campaign would be cheap. Especially when it’s being held not long after $1.5 million was stolen from the Liberals’ Victorian division (more on that soon), and after the NSW Liberals had $4.4m withheld by the NSW Electoral Commission for failing to account for more than $500,000 worth of donations.

Martyr to the cause

No one could doubt John Howard’s commitment to the Party. He began the day in Adelaide with under-siege Liberal member Matt Williams, before flying home to help the NSW division.

Former Prime Minister John Howard on a morning walk in Adelaide yesterday. Picture: Campbell Brodie.

Just as well Howard is in great shape thanks to those famous morning walks.

Yesterday’s had the eyebrows of a few rugby union fans raised, as Howard set off decked out in a Telstra Dolphins track suit, the costume of the nation’s swim team.

Surely Howard hasn’t turned on the Wallabies ahead of the imminent Eddie Jones-coached English invasion? Of course not. We gather the Wallaby kit was off at the dry cleaners after being on high rotation in Sydney over the past fortnight.

Stopping the grubs

To help improve their financial position, perhaps federal Liberal Party director Tony Nutt should consider enlisting Bruce McWilliam to help write the copy for upcoming campaign fundraising events.

Seven’s commercial director McWilliam — an old friend of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull — composed the punchy invitation to the exclusive gathering at Merivale boss Justin Hemmes’ beautiful Gothic mansion, The Hermitage, which is nestled in the Sydney harbourside enclave of Vaucluse.

“Do something great for your country,” McWilliam urged the select group of residents in Turnbull’s seat of Wentworth. “That is money well spent to return our PM” and stop “that grub (Bill Shorten) representing our great nation and polluting our airwaves.”

We can reveal the event has sold out since we wrote about it in yesterday’s column.

That’s despite the intimate fundraiser for Turnbull costing $10,000 a head (or $12,000 for a couple). Looks like a victory for plain English.

Damage control

Bringing in dollars is also front of mind for Liberals in president Michael Kroger’s southern republic.

For almost a year they’ve been cleaning up after former Victorian Liberal Party director Damien Mantach, who stole $1.5m from the party (and its donors).

Damien Mantach, former Victorian Liberal Party director. Picture: Nicole Garmston

After spending $200,000 on lawyers and forensic accountants, we hear the Victorians have managed to recoup almost $700,000 net of Mantach’s loot. Meanwhile, he is on remand outside Melbourne after pleading guilty to fraud.

The house Mantach owns in Ocean Grove has been left alone for the benefit of his wife Jodie Mantach and their children. She is believed to have filed for divorce and returned to work as a schoolteacher.

Caveats that she placed on the home, as well as one slapped on it by the Libs as the drama unfolded late last year, remain in place. The house is mortgaged to CBA.

And the Queenscliff cafe that the couple owned via their Mantach Enterprises has been sold for about $90,000. After expenses we hear about $75,000 has flowed to the party. The Mantachs are believed to have paid about $150,000 for the enterprise.

The party had considered running the cafe itself with Jodie Mantach as manager. But it was decided the Libs best stick to campaigning rather than frothing milk.

The cafe reopened on Good Friday with a new name.

A share portfolio held by Mantach has also been liquidated, while the value of a car driven by Jodie Mantach was paid out by her parents.

Now with the Nutters

Meantime, one of Mantach’s closest associates from his time running the Victorian division, Jocelen Griffiths, is still in the fold and is now working at Tony Nutt’s campaign headquarters in Canberra.

Griffiths, a former Victorian key seats manager, left the state office in March last year at the same time as Mantach pulled the plug on the party. Griffiths was a key player in the political success of the late Liberal Don Randall, whose passing prompted the by-election in the Perth seat of Canning. So after leaving Mantach she crossed the Nullabor to work on the Libs’ campaign to have 32-year-old former SAS soldier Andrew Hastie elected to the seat.

Now she’s back working in Canberra HQ, while Mantach — who pleaded guilty to his fraud and did not seek bail — awaits sentencing on June 20.

Girl’s best friend

Taking a different approach to conviction is 30-year-old insider trader Oliver Curtis, who will be sentenced three days before fellow white collar criminal Mantach, on June 17.

Yesterday the bailed Curtis was out and about driving his Bentley from their North Bondi bolt hole to celebrate the 36th birthday of his publicist wife, Roxy Jacenko.

It was his first sighting since last week’s guilty verdict in the NSW Supreme Court.

What else would an insider trader give his wife but a
$5000-odd Cartier Juste un Clou for the right ring finger, which Jacenko showed off to her Instagram devotees by midafternoon. “What a fabulous hubby,” one declared.

Curtis has had to surrender his passport and must stay at his Bondi apartment as conditions of his bail. He’s got plenty of friends in the block though, with Deborra-Lee Furness and her Wolverine Hugh Jackman up in the penthouse, and Fox Symes director Tim Odillo Maher and his fashionable partner Victoria Montano in the building until they move into Ellie and Charlie Aitken’s Darling Point home.

One thing’s for sure, it’s all a long way from Silverwater.

Ring my bell

There’s a lot that is strange about the cultural war being waged by ANZ boss Shayne Elliott.

For starters, so much of the trouble in ANZ’s recent past was located in its institutional bank, back when that part of the bank was run by Elliott.

The real nub of the problem was in the global markets team, back when it was run by Steve Bellotti, who was the proud hire of Elliott.

And, perhaps interesting to note, in light of the last fortnight’s allegations of sexism thrown at Bell Potter employee turned litigant Angus Aitken, guess who is also friends with Bellotti? The 74-year-old Bell Financial Group executive chairman, Colin Bell.

Colin Bell in his Melbourne office. Picture: Aaron Francis/The Australian.

We understand Bellotti has even been a guest on Bell’s boat (Southern Cloud, we believe it is called).

Not that we had any luck getting Bell on the phone. As best we can tell, Colin’s marathon meeting which began around noon on Friday continued through Wednesday.