Dance floor diplomacy

Spotted: George Brandis on the dance floor of Manchester’s popular gay club Cruz 101 with Liz Truss.

George Brandis, bottom left.

Spotted: George Brandis on the dance floor of Manchester’s popular gay club Cruz 101 with Liz Truss. The high commish has a close personal friendship with Britain’s new Foreign Secretary – he even took her as his plus one to the Press Gallery’s last Midwinter Ball in 2019 – who also counts equality among her cabinet portfolios. Brandis was a crucial part in Australia legalising same-sex marriage during his tenure as attorney-general … when he wasn’t backing in the rights of bigots or building custom bookshelves.

Strewth was sent a number of Instagram stories of the pair on the lash with some sweaty young LGBT Torys on Tuesday night. What songs were they throwing shapes to? Crazy in Love by Beyonce and Tina Turner’s Simply The Best, of course. (Their moves were much better than Michael “Jon Bon Govi” Gove.) The evening excursion was the unofficial after-party to Truss’s address at the Conservative Friends of Australia, an elite side event to the 2021 Conservative party conference. The reception was sponsored by Aussie expat and hedge fund billionaire Michael Hintze. Tiny plush koalas were handed out to guests (Brandis emphasised they were “made in Germany”, not China) and imported wine served (Tasmanian sparkling Jansz, and South Australian reds and whites from Shaw and Smith). Truss informed attendees that she believed Aussie bubbles were superior to French champagne.

George Brandis.

“My first interaction with Australia, like many people my age, was watching Neighbours on television and, of course, the great romance between Kylie (Minogue) and Jason (Donovan),” Truss declared. “But I think the UK and Australia are even closer than that.” The lubricated crowd cheered. Truss also revealed she is one of the more regular visitors to Stoke Lodge, Australia’s 2½-storey Georgian residence on the doorstep of London’s Hyde Park, for free-trade tussles. “There’s been some difficult breakfasts, there’s been some difficult dinners, there’s been some difficult late-night drinks, there’s been some very dubious karaoke,” Truss said. Brandis interrupted: “Too much information!” Will they hand the mic to Trade Minister Dan Tehan when he lands in London next week? What a shame that UK trade envoy and karaoke king Tony Abbott is in Taiwan …

Foreign secretary Liz Truss partying at the LGBT+ Tories party pic.twitter.com/mMAZIuMjzi

— Nadine Batchelor-Hunt #AfghanLivesMatter (@nadinebh_) October 5, 2021

If I ran the zoo

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson threw on his Dr Seuss hat this week: “I know there has been a certain raucous, squawkus from the anti-AUKUS caucus, but AUKUS is simply a recognition of the reality that the world is tilting on its axis, on its economic axis.” Was it this lyrical waxing that secured the return of Scott Morrison’s spurned lover, French ambassador Jean-Pierre Thebault, to Canberra?

Boris Johnson.

Contact high

The Otis Group isn’t happy with Penny Wong. Why? The Darling of the Left ruffled some factional foe feathers – or as one caucus colleague sarcastically put it, “spread light and love again” – during her tour of Perth this week. In a rare outing from Radio National, the Labor Senate leader found herself taking calls from the public on 6PR Mornings with Liam Bartlett. A spinner’s worst nightmare!

Caller Janet: “I just want to ask Penny Wong why the Labor Party continues to allow Bill Shorten to speak from the backbenches. He’s a very unpopular person, as far as I’m concerned, in the voter population. And I think it will do Labor a lot of damage for him to continue to promote himself from the backbenches. I just want to know what her opinion is on that.”

Bartlett: “That’s a hard one for the senator.”

Wong: “Yeah, look, Bill is a member of the shadow cabinet but he’s obviously not a member of the leadership group. As a former leader, sometimes he speaks outside his portfolio. That’s a matter for him. We are all very focused on trying to win the next election.”

Bartlett: “He still thinks he’s got a chance, doesn’t he? He still thinks he has the comeback kid thing in the back pocket.”

Wong: “Well, I just … Not many people have put that to me, I’ve got to say, that’s why I’m a little bit shocked.”

Bartlett: “Senator, one thing you’ve never been is shocked.”

Wong: “Well, I at least pretend not to be, how about that?”

Penny Wong.

Life is short

What could have upset caller Janet so? Maybe she was watching Sky News on Monday.

Host Andrew Clennell: “Now, Anthony Albanese’s gotten rid of your franking credits and negative gearing policies from the last poll, Jim Chalmers is reportedly talking about keeping the policy on taxing trusts. What do you make of that? Do you support that?”

Shorten: “Oh, I only know what I read in the newspapers about that last matter. Listen, I support that we took a pretty bold package of tax reform to the last election. Whilst we got close, we didn’t win. So I do support that we don’t take those policies to this election, that they’re not our policies. Full stop. … In terms of the trusts policy, I don’t know what the deliberations have been in other parts of the opposition. I know that Jim is conscientious and if someone’s chosen to sort of leak against him, well, that doesn’t – you know, that’s pretty backward, I would have thought. Pretty stupid.”

Jim Chalmers and Anthony Albanese.

Spill the loyal-tea

Shorten has come a long way since his trainwreck turn in the dunno-what-Julia-Gillard-said-but-I-agree-with-every-word interview in 2012. Last week, he called into 4BC Drive.

Host Scott Emerson: “Now Bill, today’s announcement by the Prime Minister Scott Morrison heading into national cabinet today on international travel — what’s Labor’s view about that?”

Shorten: “Well, I haven’t seen all of what my colleagues have said, but I personally hope it works.”

Bill Shorten.

Perro-tet-a-tet

It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times. NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has officially sounded the death knell on the daily 11am Glad Wrap of Covid cases. He’s too focused on what his Liberal lieutenants are calling “Free-Dom Day”. There’s been a bit going on in NSW politics this week, but it’s nice to see a few Labor pollies take time out of their busy schedules to attend the virtual “launch” of The Everest. Strewth’s spies spotted Yasmin Catley and Courtney Houssos on the call. State Minister for Better Regulation and Innovation Kevin Anderson appeared to have an issue with his microphone. The question on every political punters lips — will the horse named Home Affairs be a runner in the $15m Randwick race?

Dominic Perrottet.

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