Federal MP Josh Burns was conspicuously absent from a rally against anti-Semitism in Melbourne on Sunday.
Too busy to turn up? The demonstration – Never Again is Now – saw a healthy turnout of roughly 7000 members of the public, many of whom would surely have hailed from Burns’ electorate of Macnamara, home to a large number of Jewish constituents.
No sign of Burns, however. He said he was “dealing with the fallout from the previous days’ disappointing motions” at a chaotic Victorian Labor State conference, where anti-Israel recommendations were passed without much resistance. Burns had much to say about that, of course.
“Despite my best efforts to work with other delegates to find common ground, no agreement was reached.” No doubt a tough task to be one of the few lone voices on Israel in the Labor Party at the minute.
Yet still plenty of eyebrows being raised over Burns’ incongruous and very low-key relationship with Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell, a Pro-Palestinian activist who doesn’t mind attending rallies in support of the cause on the steps of the Victorian parliament – even when shrieks of “intifada” (suicide bombings, random civilian stabbings, etc) can be heard every few seconds.
Burns didn’t want to talk about Purcell when we brought it up.
Israel tour
Meanwhile, Senator Dave Sharma is actually in Israel right now with Kogan.com co-founders Ruslan Kogan and David Shafer on a week-long tour of the country.
Among them is Adam Sable, managing director of Sullivan’s Cove, MaxCap co-founder and racing identity Brae Sokolski, Vest Advisory founder David Naphtali and his brother Paul (co-founder of VC tech fund Rampersand), Tribe Group co-founder Leon Burman, plus Arnold Bloch Leibler partners Jeremy Leibler, Christine Fleer and Jeremy Lanzer.
Organised by the Israel-Australia Chamber of Commerce and the Zionist Federation of Australia, they’re all scheduled to meet President Isaac Herzog and former prime ministerNaftali Bennett, but also Israeli diplomat Mark Sofer, former air force commander Ido Nehushtan (now the president of Boeing Israel) the renowned Eylon Levy and senior Netanyahu government adviser Mark Regev.
Crinis in the race
A rumour on foot is that Peter Crinis is being eyed as a candidate to take over from Steve Rosich as the chief executive of Victoria Racing Club.
Which makes sense, because not only is Crinis a pal of chair Neil Wilson but the former chief of Crown Sydney and Crown Hotels is very much available, having stepped down from his most recent role as chief commercial officer with Helloworld in January.
Rosich, formerly the boss of Fremantle, announced his resignation last month.
Slim pickings
Times are so lean for the NSW Liberal Party that apparently it can’t even afford to feed state council representatives and Senate preselectors when they gather at the Fullerton Hotel in Sydney this weekend.
Tea and coffee is being provided gratis (how generous!) but austerity measures have meant those with an appetite will need to plan ahead, per the warning contained in an email sent around a few days ago.
“Please note there will be no complimentary meal or snack provided on this occasion,” the memo said.
Attendees have been given the option of slumming it in nearby food courts, or bringing their own damn food, or buying a $25 boxed lunch provided by the party, and which has to be ordered ahead because there are limited boxes available.
And if the depth of this disgrace sounds like we’ve reached its limit, we regret to report that the lunch consists of a dull-sounding sandwich, some flourless chocolate cake and a bottle of water.
As for the Senate preselection contest, it’s Andrew Bragg versus Holly Hughes versus Jess Collins, research fellow at the Lowy Institute, and Lincoln Parker, all of them vying for two spots on the ticket. Bragg’s been pushing his barrow hard in recent months, even holding a preselection bash in March at the Watson’s Bay home of Toga Group MD and Sydney Opera House Trust member Allan Vidor.
Western Sydney Giants chair Tony Shepherd turned up to help rally the troops on Bragg’s behalf.
Virgin departure
Seems that Virgin’s GM of communications Marsha Jacobs is on the way out of the airline, three years into her stint, and apparently because she’s tired of the Queensland commute and wants to spend more time with the family.
Well, it hasn’t stopped anyone from mentioning a slew of other recent departures at Virgin, including Chris Daffey, who left in July 2023, and Todd Reynolds, the GM of government and industry, who bowed out in January, among others.
Some are speculating on what the future might hold for corporate affairs chief Christian Bennett, brought in by CEO Jayne Hrdlicka in November 2022.
Will Bennett survive once Hrdlicka is gone?
He looks safe for the moment, but only because the CEO is carrying on as though she’s not actually going anywhere.
No date is set for her exit, no sign of her wrapping up, and yes, you bet people are starting to wonder what’s doing.
As for Bennett, he’s keeping busy filing book reviews on LinkedIn – this while plugging the gaps of personnel leaving in concerning numbers.
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