Margin Call: Michaelia Cash shines at dark Kiwi lunch as PM builds tunnel connection

Australian Jobs Minister Michaelia Cash and Jobs for NSW chairman David Thodey David share a laugh. (AAP Image/Dean Lewins)

Almost 1,000 of prime ministers Malcolm Turnbull and Jacinda Ardern’s nearest and dearest gathered for an intimate lunch today at Sydney’s International Convention Centre.

Always an entrepreneurial character, Turnbull attempted to recruit New Zealand’s deputy PM and Foreign Minister Winston Peters to do some tunnelling work on the federal government’s “Snowy 2.0” hydro project.

It was news to us that in the 1960s, the younger Peters did some tunnelling work on “Snowy 1.0”.

“Prime Minister [Adern], you might have to give [Peters] a little leave. Perhaps he could come over on weekends and do a bit of tunnelling?” Turnbull inquired.

Adern answered that, no, she would not authorise Australia pinching Peters “for your tunnelling needs”.

Worth a shot.

In an apparent attempt at cultural sensitivity by the Australian hosts, the lights in the cavernous room were almost entirely dimmed.

A tip for future events: while the flightless Kiwi bird is nocturnal, people from NZ aren’t. Turn the lights on next time.

Among those squinting in the darkness was our foreign minister Julie Bishop who escorted Peters, NAB’s boss Andrew Thorburn (a dual Australian-New Zealand citizen, that special breed), his likely successor Mike Baird (popular as ever among the business set), Lucy Turnbull who enjoyed the company of Air New Zealand boss Christopher Luxon, the PM’s head mandarin Martin Parkinson (spotted over the summer on a NZ driving holiday with his mandarin wife Heather Smith), the BCA double act Jennifer Westacott and Grant King (both recent guests of President Donald Trump’s Washington court), DFAT boss Frances Adamson (who has recently rattled some of the leadership teams of our international student dependent universities) alongside Treasury’s worldly boss John Fraser, Ardent Leisure’s Kiwi-born, lead guitar playing chairman Gary Weiss (whose brother Johnny Weiss founded the Trans-Tasman Business Circle) and Kerry Stokes’s trusted adviser Warwick Smith (who this week retired as ANZ’s NSW managing director ambassador but continues to help Shayne Elliott out on Middle Kingdom matters).

And who was that next to Jobs for NSW chairman David Thodey? A silver blazered, preternaturally expressive Michaelia Cash. Great to see the sparkling Minister emerge from her Canberra whiteboard.

Read the full Margin Call column tomorrow in print and online.