More sloppy paperwork from Labor MP Andrew Charlton; Brittany Higgins’ fiance David Sharaz quits radio job;

Charlton, a bazillionaire, will be ironically leaning into the grilling of Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe today.Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Labor MP Andrew Charlton just can’t help being sloppy with his paperwork – again. Aren’t economists supposed to be extremely geeky about details?

First, he mucked up his electoral forms while running as a candidate for Parramatta, claiming to live at an address some time after moving out.

Now, a gander at his political disclosures suggests he’s done it again, omitting a slew of interests held by his barrister wife, Phoebe Arcus.

Arcus is a director and shareholder of two family companies, Bootle Pty Ltd and Fogo Pty Ltd. Then there’s her shareholdings in a third family company named Kiveeno Pty Ltd. At least one of them is probably a superannuation trustee.

Andrew Charlton MP at North Parramatta.

Omitted, too, is Arcus’s interest in 5 Wentworth Pty Ltd, the legal chamber where she plies her trade as a barrister.

No word of reply from Charlton when Margin Call came knocking for an explanation. At a minimum he might want to consider the always-comical Paul Fletcher response. For years Fletch has been claiming on paper not to know any of his wife’s additional holdings or interests – because he never asks her. It’s certainly one way to avoid any inconvenience – keep your head in the sand!

Meanwhile there’s a mild sense of irony that Charlton, a bazillionaire, will be leaning into the grilling of Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe on Friday when he’s queried, presumably, on the small issue of the nation’s monetary settings.

Ironic because Charlton is a guy with a $16m mansion in Bellevue Hill unencumbered by any mortgage and a $2m property in North Parramatta, purchased outright a few months ago, renting for about $750 per week.

Not that we’re knocking his success, but Charlton is hardly pinching pennies either. The best advice he might receive from his minders is to stay in his economic lane.

Out of office

David Sharaz, the partner of former government staffer Brittany Higgins, resigned from his role with regional television and radio owner Southern Cross Austereo on Thursday, just two weeks after receiving a defamation notice from Liberal senator Linda Reynolds.

An otherwise forgettable item of news – first reported by Margin Call, admittedly – the story received an expected breath of life during the afternoon when Higgins took to Instagram posting a strident defence of Sharaz.

That was after the Daily Mail published a parasitic article thinly implying that Sharaz quit his job in proximity to Higgins’ workplace settlement with the commonwealth, landing her a reported amount of $3m.

As some wags rudely pointed out, with that kind of money, why bother continuing to work at all?

“What a hit job,” Higgins wrote. “No one walks away from employment without a job to walk into. David has been nothing but a supportive partner in an incredibly difficult time. Read between the lines.”

Liberal senator Linda Reynolds. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Between the lines? Well he has no other job to speak of – that much Margin Call has been able to confirm – so Higgins is clearly whisper-shouting that Sharaz was helped to the exit by SCA management. Sharaz, of course, declined to comment when contacted and an SCA spokes­woman begrudgingly handed over some lines confirming only that the resignation occurred. We hear it was all inked on ­mutual terms.

If there has been a change of heart by SCA management towards Sharaz, then it certainly flies in the face of two years of unwavering support that they’ve shown for their Queensland head of news operations, who required time off work on several occasions.

Those absences were mainly to accompany Higgins to the criminal trial of her alleged ­assailant, Bruce Lehrmann, butalso to participate in an internal investigation of staffer skulduggery, peripheral to the Higgins matter, ordered by the Morrison government.

An explanation for the souring of relations with SCA might combine his growing public profile, his prolific tweeting, and the surfacing of a defamation complaint brought by Reynolds last month against him. SCA management, naturally, would wonder what implications this would all carry for the brand.

The senator’s lawyers have accused Sharaz of defaming her in two tweets published in January and December of last year, the content of which, they claim, held imputations that she bullied Higgins, interfered with the police investigation into her 2019 sexual assault, and that she leaked privileged material concerning Higgins’ compensation claim.

Littleproud owner

Meanwhile, Nationals leader David Littleproud doesn’t seem to fear any further ratcheting-up of interest rates after free diving into the Queensland property market.

He’s purchased a beachfront apartment on the Gold Coast with partner Amelia Dobson, forking out $1.375m and settling in February. Perhaps it was just a coincidence that he waited until Valentine’s Day to reveal the investment.

It’s mortgaged with the Commonwealth Bank, of course, where Dobson happens to hold an executive role.

Sayers’ new recruit

A plum hire over at Melbourne investment advisory Sayers Group, which has scooped up Jaala Pulford mere months after she retired from Victorian politics.

The former Andrews government minister served for 16 years before calling time in October during a cabinet exodus, one that saw off James Merlino, Martin Foley, Lisa Neville and Martin Pakula.

Former Victorian minister Jaala Pulford. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nicki Connolly

Given that Dan Andrews went on to win the November 26 election, Pulford’s recruitment could be regarded as a savvy tactical play owing to her healthy relationships with not only the refreshed Andrews ministry but also federal Labor figures in the Albanese government.

Not that Luke Sayers, the Carlton president and chairman of Sayers Group, doesn’t have suction at the state and federal level himself; Andrews was a noted attendee at Sayers’ 50th birthday party some years ago and was said to have been one of the last to leave.

Pulford’s appointment, which has already begun, follows a separate announcement this month of her recruitment to the board of the Children’s Cancer Foundation.