Senator Pauline Hanson complains about Lidia Thorpe’s seating arrangement in parliament
Is this what’s meant by keeping one’s enemies close?
Senator Lidia Thorpe’s defection to the crossbench is causing no end of grief for the Greens and apparently, of all people, One Nation senator Pauline Hanson. The arch foes routinely clash on politics, of course, but a residual bitterness has remained between them ever since Thorpe escalated a complaint about Hanson to parliamentary officials, alleging she was a workplace safety risk.
Now Hanson is firing back with a complaint of her own following the release of the Senate’s seating plan for 2023. Deliberately or not, it appears Hanson’s closest neighbour, Jacqui Lambie, has been bumped back a few seats in the red leather chamber to make room for Thorpe, placing her in spitting distance of the One Nation leader.
An administrative error? Or might it be a “very sick joke” and “publicity stunt”, as Hanson’s chief of staff James Ashby told Margin Call. He believes Labor Senate president Sue Lines was complicit in the matter.
“Lidia Thorpe made the approach to the Senate president to have the seating arrangement changed to put her beside Pauline,” Ashby said, confirming that a verbal complaint had been made to Lines.
“The president has helped facilitate a very sick joke. It should be rectified immediately.”
Senator Lines did not respond to a request for a response.
Aside from their routine splits on matters of politics and ideology – although not, ironically, on the matter of an Indigenous voice to parliament; it was recently revealed that Thorpe actually engaged Hanson on Twitter in 2017 to try to kill off the prospect – the two senators have famously harboured a most combustible relationship.
On Ashby’s account, Thorpe allegedly complained to former Senate president Scott Ryan that Hanson’s presence in the chamber created an unsafe work environment. On what grounds isn’t clear. “He met with Pauline to express the concern that was raised by Thorpe,” Ashby said.
In another incident on the floor of parliament, outlined by Ashby, Thorpe confronted Hanson in an “intimidating approach” and “came within inches of her face and tried to unnerve her”.
Thorpe, too, did not respond to a request for comment.
As for the seating bungle, it’s Ashby’s belief that Thorpe deliberately sought out the spot next to Hanson for a spot of pyrotechnics. And no, Hanson, who isn’t happy about the arrangement at all, was not consulted about the matter.
Strapping in for float
Over at Virgin there’s been a great deal of fuss over the appointment of advisers to the float of the airline. But what of the other strands being pulled by its owner, Bain Capital?
We hear FTI Consulting has landed the communications gig for what is shaping to be the market’s biggest IPO. No surprise there given FTI’s been in bed with the private equity group for decades; they’ve also been speaking on behalf of Virgin since it was dragged out of administration in 2020.
Clearly, FTI’s fixers have already been put to work by pumping out much fanfare about the airline’s return to profitability for the first time in a decade – and yet still no insight into what actually moved the numbers from red to black in the P&L statements.
Meanwhile, a couple of fresh appointments to the Virgin Australian board, with former Goldman Sachs banker Pippa Downes and former Macquarie chair Peter Warne strapping in for the float.
Neither have been made official with the regulator just yet, with Bain’s representatives still dominating the board.
We note Downes very recently settled on the purchase of an $11m home in the Sydney suburb of Waverley, too. No pesky flight paths to worry about there, of course, and it’s kind of close to the airport.
Building rich list place
Running a detention centre on Nauru earned Robin Murphy, founder of construction outfit Canstruct, a place on last year’s rich list after the company secured spectacular profits of more than $100m.
But even with Canstruct’s contract for garrison and welfare services on Nauru having ended in September, the accounts seem to show plenty of dollars still poured in for the family-run enterprise. Canstruct has been running the clink on the island republic since 2017 for a total contract value well north of $1bn.
Documents lodged for its parent company, Rared No 3, reveal a consolidated net profit after tax of $127m, much higher than previous years. Murphy and his three children are all named as directors of the company.
Having come in at 243rd place on The List last year, it stands to reason that Queensland-based Murphy may have time for an encore appearance.
Summit fare
The Albanese government’s Jobs and Skills Summit bore all the trappings and heraldry of a complete waste of time, but even worse were those pre-summit roundtables held to placate anyone who wasn’t invited. Turns out they were a drain on the taxpayer’s dime, too.
Resources Minister Madeleine King managed to host a gathering of 19 guests and two departmental staff at Brisbane’s Commonwealth Parliamentary offices on a frugal catering budget of $38.96, according to figures released to the Senate.
If only all ministers exercised such thrift, although we shudder to think what those at King’s roundtable actually ate.
Big-spending Industry Minister Ed Husic, who shares his department with King, charged taxpayers $11,940.51 for a two-hour digital skills gathering with 29 guests and 12 departmental staff at the Sofitel Sydney in Darling Harbour.
The venue hire came in at $3000, catering at $675, and the rest of the money was said to have been spent on audiovisual ICT costs. That’s one very fancy projector.
It seems a shortage of rooms in Sydney’s commonwealth offices was to blame for the spending, forcing provision of hotel space. At least Husic’s remaining roundtables came in at far more reasonable prices of a few hundred dollars each.
Declarations on target
Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie looks to have learned her lesson from the great sports rorts affair of 2020, which briefly ended her time in Scott Morrison’s cabinet.
Or maybe the Victorian senator just developed a very wry sense of humour during her months in purgatory?
It was McKenzie who memorably failed to disclose a free membership to the Wangaratta Clay Target Club; it was gifted mere days before she approved a federal grant for the venue, with the ensuing scandal causing her to step down as sports minister.
Her excuse? The gun club membership was valued at less than $300, so a declaration to the Senate was “unnecessary”.
Much has changed since, it seems. A glimpse at McKenzie’s most recent disclosures reveal line items for an R U OK sticker, a poster and some jelly beans from the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, a pin from Headspace, a stubby holder and a polo shirt – the latter two being gifts from the Mildura Clay Target Shooting Club.
Taking no second chances, or just taking the piss? Rules are rules.
Viticulture in house
Spotted in parliament this week was Treasury Wine Estates CEO Tim Ford, well astray from the Paris end of Collins St in Melbourne.
We’re told it was for an evening of restoratives with the Parliamentary Friends of Viticulture; Ford was said to have talked up a bright and sobering future for the popularity of booze-less vino. We’re sure he mentioned his own brands, of course.
Any coincidence that the gathering almost overlapped with Trade Minister Don Farrell’s sit-down with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Wentao? Supposedly not, we’re told. The event had been in the diary for months, allegedly.
South32’s succession confusion continues
A year ago South32 was interviewing candidates to take on the chief executive’s role, but there’s still no sign of Graham Kerr leaving the miner’s C-Suite.
Court sends Clive back to his swamp
Clive Palmer’s interminable efforts to get clear of prosecution over alleged breaches of the takeovers code were unceremoniously swatted aside by the Federal Court.