Kevin Rudd plays cupid while Cameron Dick unleashes
Kevin Rudd caused quite a stir on TikTok a few weeks back when he acted as cupid for a young woman in a bar, offering some boozy advice to a potential suitor.
The TikTok video, posted by student Amy Short, came about when she ran into the former PM at Brisbane’s Howard Smith wharves and asked if he would record a video for her friend, Cory, a fan of Rudd.
According to the Junkee website, Rudd asked Amy if Cory was a boyfriend and when she said no, he then moved into matchmaker.
He told Cory on camera that Amy was a “serious sheila,” would be “great for your future” and not to “f..k around”.
Fair shake of the sauce bottle, Kevvie, who calls a young woman a “sheila” in this century.
Chooks has since learned that Rudd had been at the wharves most of the afternoon.
It started with a lunchtime love-in, of sorts, with Queensland’s deputy premier Steven Miles and United Voice union state secretary and Labor Left factional boss Gary Bullock.
As discussed on @breenie9 & @NewsTalk4BC - a few ALP heavyweights having a catch up & popping the bubbles at Howard Smith Wharves #auspol#qldpolpic.twitter.com/zc0kBL1T4f
— Tim Arvier (@TimArvier9) November 11, 2021
One can only wonder the topics of discussion among the trio as the lunch poured into the afternoon.
While readers know Rudd and Miles well, it should be pointed out that Bullock is among the most powerful, but little-known players in Queensland politics.
To borrow a phrase (from Kevvie), Bullock is one of those factional “faceless men” of the Labor Party he once blamed for his demise in 2010.
Treasurer unleashes on Morrison
Cameron Dick seems to have enthusiastically assumed the role of Palaszczuk government attack dog voluntarily vacated by Steven Miles after a tough year in the role.
As reported by the Chooks in September, Miles had privately bemoaned the job of putting his head up to take potshots at the federal government, fearing it was damaging his credibility and credentials as a future premier.
The Left faction leader’s likeliest rival to succeed Annastacia Palaszczuk, Dick, has relished the vacancy.
The Treasurer took to Scott Morrison with gusto in Parliament on Wednesday, offering criticism and advice on matters from cancel culture to diplomatic relations with the French.
Dick lashed out, dubbing the Prime Minister deceptive and blundering over his handling of the submarine deal fallout.
“When the heat was on, what did Scott Morrison do, he leaked private text messages,” Dick said.
“It just proved that Scott Morrison cannot be trusted and he cannot tell the truth.”
Dick managed to loosely relate his spiel to his job as Trade Minister by saying the dispute with the French would impact investment in Queensland.
The Opposition’s own head kicker Jarrod Bleijie took to Twitter to share his view of Dick’s statement, calling it “treasonous and ridiculous”.
“He’s obviously not on team Australia,” Bleijie said.
Dick continued to punch high during question time when he bizarrely answered a Dorothy Dixer about Queensland’s economic recovery by discussing the contributions of Coalition figures in the book Australia Tomorrow.
The publishers describe the book as an “anthology of political essays by prominent centre-right thinkers, politicians and business leaders, is designed to propose the Australia of tomorrow”.
Dick singled out contributions from LNP Senators Amanda Stoker and James McGrath for their supposed conflicting views on cancel culture and the ABC, Barnaby Joyce and Tony Abbott for their views on the Covid-19 pandemic and Opposition Leader David Crisafulli whose chapter talks about the need to dream for a better government.
“The Leader of the Opposition dreams of cuts—just not savage ones—and of vaccinations but no mandates,” Dick said.
“He dreams of winning big but just keeps on losing.”
Two Clives on vacation
Clive Palmer has been making waves again, but this time aboard his newly-acquired $40 million superyacht, Australia.
Just a few weeks after taking possession, the billionaire ordered the crew to head north to Hamilton Island.
The arrival of the 56m luxury runabout on Sunday caused quite the buzz with the island community and media believing it was the temporary residence of movie stars Julia Roberts and George Clooney, who are shooting a movie in the area.
But, alas, our spies were a little disappointed to learn it was just Clive and his family on-board.
Meanwhile, some of the former employees of Palmer’s Queensland Nickel refinery near Townsville will lament the boat’s arrival from Europe without the passenger everyone wants to see back in Australia - Palmer’s nephew Clive Mensink.
Mensink skipped out of the country shortly after the refinery collapsed back in 2016.
He’s been on a funded sabbatical in Bulgaria ever since but has made it clear he hopes to return to Australia.
Mensink lost his bid in September to have his arrest warrant and contempt charges thrown out of the Federal Court.
He was charged with contempt over his failure to front up to hearings regarding the Queensland Nickel collapse.
Mensink’s lawyers were due for a date with the judge again on Tuesday but the matter was vacated at the last minute.
Protest opposes mandates
The balconies of Parliament House drew a crowd on Wednesday to watch the advance of hundreds of anti-vaccine mandate protesters through the Brisbane CBD.
Politicians and staffers, eager to find out what was creating all the racket outside during the lunch break, jostled together on the verandas to catch a glimpse of the horde.
Police put an end to the stickybeaking, blocking off access to some of the balconies to prevent the crowd from becoming more incensed at the sight of a curious MP.
The gates to Parliament House were sealed off for a time and dozens of police officers, some on horseback, guarded the street to prevent the Eureka Stockade flag-toting crowd from getting near.
Follow the money
As Australia inches closer to the next federal election, millions of dollars in donations have been flowing into the back accounts of the major political parties.
Chooks has trawled through hundreds of donations, declared to Queensland’s electoral commission in the past 12 months to reveal which party has amassed the largest war chest.
Since November 16 last year there have been $4 million in donations declared by all parties, about $1 million of those are yet to be reconciled meaning one party is still to lodge a matching return.
Labor has come out on top with $1.75 million pouring into the coffers of the state branch.
The Liberal National Party came a close second with $1.60 million declared. A ban on donations from property developers has hampered fundraising efforts.
Third was the Greens ($355,965), Katter’s Australia Party ($105,000) and then One Nation ($11,700).
Lobbyists, some of whom helped elect the people they now lobby, have helped bump up the bank balances of both major parties.
Anacta Strategies, whose founder Evan Moorehead doubled as a lobbyist and Labor campaign adviser at the last state election, donated $72,451 to the ALP the past year.
Govstrat, run by former Queensland Labor treasurer Damian Power, gifted $16,247 to the ALP and $5500 to the LNP.
The firm, which boasts former Nationals leader and Premier Rob Borbidge as a consultant, lobbies for Rio Tinto and Village Roadshow.
SAS Consulting Group, who helped get Brisbane’s Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner re-elected, donated $18,026 to Labor and $5500 to the LNP through the party’s QForum fundraising club.
The group’s senior consultants include former Palaszczuk staffer Nino Lalic, Lisa Palu - who advised LNP Premier Campbell Newman - and former federal ALP politician Bernie Ripoll.
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