Rat pack shows solidarity for what may be Josh Frydenberg’s last supper
Josh Frydenberg’s fourth budget might be the last time his famed rat pack or hype-boys assemble in Canberra, given how the polls are reading towards the May election.
And so it was with an air of solidarity that Justin Hemmes rolled back into the nation’s capital to support his friend, the Treasurer, as he threw out a final handful of Treasury fairy dust across the population. This year, no sign of Seven scion Ryan Stokes, who is overseas.
Meanwhile Dave Hughes managed a personal invitation from Frydenberg owing to their long association through the Carlton Football Club. The comedian told Margin Call he was “very excited to be here” as he was ushered away by an apologetic Erin Molan. “Direct invitation from Josh,” Hughesy added over his back, while clambering up the marble staircase.
While budget night might be a highlight of Canberra’s gruelling political calendar, there remained a distinct lack of glimmer and sparkle among the luminaries gathered for the regulation dinner inside the building’s Great Hall, hosted by Anne Fulwood and featuring cameo appearances from Scott Morrison and PwC Australia chief Tom Seymour.
Among the masses lining up for entry was Glenn Keys, founder of Aspen Medical, and colourful surrealist painter Charles Billich, who said he and wife Christa were guests of Liberal senator Hollie Hughes and David Van. “I’m here to determine the finances of Australia,” said Billich, dressed in a pair of velvet slippers.
The self-described Donald Trump fan had been scheduled to present an artwork to the Tandoori-hued former president this year at Mar-a-La – until Covid-19 scuppered those plans. “I got sick on January 1 and couldn’t meet him,” he said with regret.
Attending the banquet were several waning political luminaries including Brian Loughnane sans Peta Credlin, who was on air as the Daintree piccalilli barramundi was being served, as well as Christopher Pyne, Kerry Chikarovski and Steve Marshall, fresh from election defeat in South Australia.
If Frydenberg’s budget was a final roll of the dice to win over the voting public, the evening was a final pitch to fill the Liberal Party’s war chest ahead of polling day.
“Very, very average meal,” commented one industry chief. “I believe some people paid $10,000 for the privilege.”
Once again, Will Vicars of Caledonia was seen refreshing himself in the office of Financial Services Minister Jane Hume, where the guest list included Westpac chairman Peter King and National Australia Bank’s Phil Chronican, whose bank has managed to perform something of a veronica during the Bell inquiry into Star Entertainment; the hearings have unearthed documents clearly showing how the bank, colluding with the Star, helped gin up a method for high-rollers to move money out of China.
Also enjoying access to the minister was Google’s Michaela Browning and KPMG chair Alison Kitchen, as well as federal Liberal Party treasurer Charlie Taylor, recently of McKinsey, whose very private scribblings concerning Bennelong preselectors is doing the rounds among party colleagues in the state division. Taylor, the brother of Energy Minister Angus Taylor, allegedly jotted down a series of handwritten notes vilifying a senior NSW government minister, whom he termed a “right-wing f. kwit” in the margin of the page.
No surprises if he is not invited to NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet’s annual Christmas drinks.
Crammed inside Liberal MP Dave Sharma’s office – where the nibbles were limited to crisps and a few bowls of peanuts – were PremierState lobbyist Michael Photios, a man who always appears ripe with good living, as well as Wentworth FEC member Kellie Sloane, newly minted Blueprint Institute CEO David Cross, and investment adviser Marcus Droga, whose brother David – art collector, investor, political svengali – is supporting Mr Sharma’s opponent, Allegra Spender.
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Hail and farewell
Under the cover of pre-budget hype, former attorney-general and retiring Liberal MP Christian Porter said his formal and informal farewells to friends and colleagues he will leave behind in the nation’s capital.
Festivities began on Monday night when an exclusive collection of the now West Australian backbencher’s nearest and dearest gathered for dinner at one-hatted restaurant Italian and Sons in Braddon, where the impending release of the national accounts was far from anyone’s mind.
Porter, 51, is retiring after making the decision not to recontest the election in the wake of a historical sexual assault allegation that he denies.
Once mooted as potential prime minister, Porter is now preparing for life after parliament, recently establishing the corporate structure for his return to legal practice and possible writing ventures. Having recovered from the festivities of the night before, Porter then ventured to the House of Representatives late on Tuesday afternoon – with the budget lock up was under way – to deliver his valedictory.
Politics, he said, sees its players “age hard” and “lose paint”, but added that he had no regrets. “Was it worth it? Absolutely yes.”.
Porter also gave heartfelt thanks to his friends journalist Peter van Onselen and Defence Minister Peter Dutton, who he said “put themselves between me and the mob” amid the controversies he faced last year.
All that’s left for Porter to do now is write his book.
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Home and housed
With the budget behind us and the federal election closing in, attention turns to some of the most marginal seats in the land. And there are few as in play as Chisholm, held by Liberal MP Gladys Liu. The Hong Kong-born Australian pollie in 2019 won the seat by about 1100 votes. Since then, there’s been a redistribution in Victoria that has slashed Chisholm’s margin to just 0.2 per cent.
Yet already Liu looks to have one up on her fresh opponent, Labor’s Carina Garland, who’s a Victorian Trades Hall assistant secretary with a PhD in gender and cultural studies.
After spending two-thirds of her first term living outside the electorate, Liu mid-last year made the move to Mount Waverley, forking out $1m for a three-bedroom unit without the need for any mortgage. This added to her already extensive property portfolio, which is more than Garland seems able to claim.
The 39-year-old lives in an apartment she owns in Clayton South, smack in the middle of Labor MP Claire O’Neill’s seat of Hotham. Garland’s vote might count for her team but not for herself in a tight race where every mark is going to matter.
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