Bridget McKenzie exit frenzy on Twitter

A spate of anonymous sources suggested Bridget McKenzie’s fate was sealed at a Turkish pizza dinner with Scott Morrison at The Lodge.

Should she stay or should she go? The latest round of shots fired at Bridget McKenzie came via anonymous sources on Thursday. At 12.10pm Sky News tweeted: “#BREAKING: Bridget McKenzie is expected to resign from the frontbench by Friday afternoon.” At 12.18pm, this paper’s Peter van Onselen weighed in: “Breaking: I’m very reliably informed Bridget McKenzie had dinner with the PM (Scott Morrison), Michael McCormack and Josh Frydenberg last night. She is almost certainly gone. Will likely announce tomorrow at latest is my mail.” A minute later Jennifer Bechwati wrote: “Bridget McKenzie’s office has told #7NEWS the minister will NOT be resigning and ‘is confident there has not been a breach of ministerial standards’.” McKenzie’s office issued a statement at 1pm: “The Minister is not resigning. She is actively engaging in the process and is confident there has not been a breach in Ministerial standards.” 1.06pm, PVO had another go: “At last night’s dinner the PM and Treasurer told the DPM McKenzie has to go, but McCormack said that he’s worried about how that might open the door to Barnaby Joyce coming back onto the frontbench. What a mess … and this btw doesn’t even speak to the wrongdoings.” By 1.38pm, the saga came full circle when Sky News’ Laura Jayes tweeted: “Bridget McKenzie has personally told me she is NOT resigning and is not being pressured to.” Two hours is a long time in Australian politics. For the record: The PM said McKenzie wasn’t invited to the Turkish pizza dinner at The Lodge. Ouch.

Shoot me now

Asked about the McKenzie misfire, one ministerial source tells Strewth: “Some days I think we couldn’t organise a root in a brothel, or perhaps more apt — a firing in a shooting range.” They also note that as sports minister McKenzie gave $100,000 in taxpayers cash to Shooting Australia as part of Move It AUS — a program aimed at getting Australians more physically active. Back in 2017 she also charged taxpayers $2279.67 for an overnight trip from Melbourne to Sydney for the Shooting Australia Awards of Excellence.

Lifting dunny lid on Libs

“We’re not hanging people out to dry. We’re not listening to the Twitter crazies,” Peter Dutton insisted to 2GB’s Ray Hadley about the sports rorts pile-on. “We are looking at the facts, and we make decisions based on that.” But we know that the PM’s team listens to Twitter. On August 29 Nine News political editor Chris Uhlmann tweeted a photograph of a toilet door sign at the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet that read: “PM & C is committed to staff inclusions and diversity. Please use the bathroom that best fits your gender identity.” Hours later Morrison told 2GB’s Ben Fordham he wanted the “ridiculous” unisex bathrooms removed. A week later they were.

Is the end nigh?

On Saturday there was smoke. Tuesday, golf-ball-sized hail. Wednesday, an out-of-control bushfire. Thursday, a dust storm, grounded flights and rolling blackouts. It seems biblical Canberra’s weather just won’t end. the capital has checked off two of the 10 plagues that hit Egypt — darkness and hail. What’s next? Water turning to blood? Frogs, lice, flies, locusts? Disease on livestock or unhealable boils? We hope not the death of a firstborn.

Ghost of a chance

Malcolm Turnbull is officially a miserable ghost, offering this critique of his successor to the BBC: “It’s just not consistent with the way in which a prime minister would or should act in a national crisis like this … Rather than doing what a leader should do, and preparing people for that, he downplayed it and then, of course, chose to go away on holiday in Hawaii at the peak of the crisis.” Some cynics might point out Turnbull’s book is due out in April. But here’s what Tony Abbott told the crowd at Joe Hockey’s farewell in Washington on Saturday: “Some people say there are some pretty big egos in Washington … and therefore it’s a pretty hard place to work these days. For Joe, it’s been a piece of cake compared to Canberra. At least two of the last four Australian prime ministers have had narcissistic personality disorder. I’ll leave you to guess who they are.”

Return, Jacinda

Don’t be sheepish, Jacinda Ardern. Chatter suggests the NZ PM will announce an election date, due by November 21, at the start of the political year. September 19 is attracting the better odds — it avoids a clash with school holidays and All Blacks games.

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