Our dollars at work, with pride; McGowan’s pandemic sleight of hand

Ambassador Kevin Rudd with Kitty Glitter at his June Pride Party.

The last time Kevin Rudd threw a Pride Party at his ambassadorial residence in Washington, the reaction back home was one of confusion, even indignation, at the puzzling expense of it all.

That was a year ago, and questions were rightfully asked in the aftermath over the $20,000 spent on chefs, waiters, little rainbow flags, drinkie-poos, a 20ft balloon garland, a drag queen named “Kitty Glitter” and another one who dubbed themself “Crystal Edge”.

Undeterred by the fuss he caused, Rudd doubled down and held another Pride Party on June 13 for 323 guests, the cost on this occasion dwarfing the 20 large of 12 months ago, according to documents released by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

We’re talking a nearly fourfold increase of $71,878 for a bash that was roughly the same size as in 2023 but held at the newly opened Australian embassy in DC instead of the Ruddbot’s mansion, White Oaks.

An examination of the invoices, using Margin Call’s very own brand of detailed programmatic specificity, revealed blowouts to the catering budget ($18,500), event equipment ($21,800), performances by electronic musicians Electric Fields ($11,000), plus a variety of miscellaneous costs that are a bit easier to shrug off, like beer, wine and spirits ($6000), hotel rooms ($2700), more drag queens ($3500), more balloons ($3475, including a photographer and photo booth) and special magnets ($448).

Anticipating a backlash, DFAT published a statement on Thursday defending the exorbitant cost of the party. It said this year’s event was “deliberately designed to mark the handover from Sydney WorldPride to the next year’s WorldPride host” of Washington DC. Presumably that explanation will be a salve to taxpayers who paid for it all.

“This was also the first time this event was able to be held in the new Australian Embassy in Washington DC,” the department said.

Your dollars at work.

Little to show

Mark McGowan’s reward for keeping Western Australia’s resources sector open during the pandemic was the creation of a $750m partnership with some of the country’s biggest mining groups.

Announced amid the fanfare you’d expect, this joint-venture was formed with BHP ($250m), Rio Tinto ($250m), Gina Rinehart ($100m) and $50m each from Woodside, Chevron and Chris Ellison’s Mineral Resources.

Except no physical cash was handed over.

Instead, the money was earmarked for a “pipeline” of projects that included a sprucing up of an Aboriginal cultural centre, the redevelopment of Perth’s zoo and a refit of Perth’s concert hall.

Sure, one could argue this was all just Labor’s way of tacking its brand on to community spending that the mining industry was always intent on completing regardless. We wouldn’t be so cynical.

But two years on since the RCII launched and the only commitment of any note, beyond abstraction and promise, has been $20m from Rio Tinto to help with the extension of Pilbara Hospital.

Mark McGowan kept the wheels of WA industry turning during the pandemic so where’s the promised cash reward? Picture: Sharon Smith,

So what gives? The government told us that it’s “working with a range of companies that contributed to the RCII to allocate committed funding to projects”.

And yet still no sign of any cash actually being moved into meaningful projects.

This type of stalling might have been passable during the years of uninterrupted prosperity in the mining industry.

But you’ve seen the headlines: the tumble in iron ore prices, the belt-tightening across the industry, the job losses, the price increases to cookies and coffee at MinRes HQ. Money is drying up; the opportunity to get anything done could conceivably be lost.

Incredible, really. There isn’t a politician in the country who wouldn’t know how to porkbarrell $750m to keep punters in the suburbs happy.

Only in WA, eh? Couldn’t organise a pyramid scheme in Cairo.

Curious comeback

A bizarre development out of medicinal cannabis outfit Vitura Health, a company that’s been at war with its former chief medical officer, Dr Benjamin Jansen, for nigh on 24 months.

Jansen was pretty much sacked by Vitura two years ago over what the company termed a “repeated pattern of inappropriate behaviour, lack of judgment and poor performance”.

His revenge was to try to spill the board one month later and put himself up as a director with a selection of pals.

That bid failed, leaving no love lost between Jansen and Vitura. Or so we thought until a fortnight ago, when Vitura suddenly released a statement announcing the appointment of a new CEO, Geoff Cockerill.

Buried on the second page of that announcement was a surprising update to Vitura’s board and advisory groups, which named arch-nemesis Jansen as an appointee of its Clinical Governance Advisory Committee.

The company even gave him a fawning write-up. Vitura chair Robert Iervasi said he was pleased “to have access to Dr Jansen’s knowledge” and said Jansen will play a “critical role in pursuing excellence in clinical care for our medicinal cannabis operations”.

Say what?

Ben Jansen is now an appointee of Vitura’s Clinical Governance Advisory Committee. Picture: Patrick Woods.

A curious move reappointing Jansen given he’s being pursued in the Queensland Federal Court by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Aged Care.

Court documents suggest his outfit, CDA Express, had been marketing CBD (an active ingredient in cannabis) using “prohibited representations” for the “treatment, cure or prevention” of illnesses where the products had “not undergone full pre-market evaluation”.

And the case isn’t settled, either. It’s listed for a management hearing in February.

Speaking of Iervasi, it’s worth noting the movement of Vitura’s share price since he was appointed chair in February. It was 24c at the time; on Thursday it was down to just 8c.