Hunter or be hunted

Sure, Labor hasn’t held the NSW state seat of Upper Hunter since 1910. But that hasn’t stopped colleagues from going full Monty Python on NSW Labor leader Jodi McKay.

Jodi McKay on Sunday.

Sure, Labor hasn’t held the NSW state seat of Upper Hunter since 1910. But that hasn’t stopped colleagues from going full Monty Python on NSW Labor leader Jodi McKay. Bring out your dead! “Apart from an inability to win an election, McKay doesn’t share any other qualities of a Labor leader,” one Sussex St spy told Strewth. During Saturday night’s spin session, senior Labor figures were adamant of a win in the Upper Hunter state by-election. In a WhatsApp group chat between spinners and journalists, seen by Strewth, the true believers said preference flows from Kristy O’Connell — the independent backed by Malcolm Turnbull — were going to Labor candidate Jeff Dreyton. “Jodi and Jeff intend to address our election night party shortly,” one Labor insider wrote at 8.11pm. “We think this is still too close to call. There are still big numbers to get out of Muswellbrook prepoll, which will not be counted tonight … it will be tough for us from here but we remain hopeful that preferences will flow our way. We’ll have more to say over the coming days.” Twenty minutes later, ABC state politics reporter Ashleigh Raper replied bluntly: “Well Antony Green has just called it for Nats”. It took till 2pm on Sunday for a “shell-shocked” McKay to concede, safely back in Sydney. The latest loss has earned her the nickname “Ms 17 per cent” within Labor ranks, a nod to The Bulletin’s infamous cover story from December 20, 1988, on John Howard — “Mr 18 per cent. Why on earth does this man bother?” That Morgan Gallup poll reported Howard had an approval rating of 30 per cent, but an 18 per cent “better prime minister” result to Bob Hawke’s 69 per cent. Howard was dumped six months later for Andrew Peacock and took eight years to come back as Liberal leader. A poll last week put McKay’s “preferred premier” popularity at 17 per cent, with NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian scoring 57 per cent. But Deputy Premier John “Pork” Barilaro puts Nationals candidate David Layzell’s victory down to one man. “Let me start by saying thank you, Mr Turnbull,” he told the Singleton Diggers Club. The Judas kiss?

Dave Layzell and John Barilaro.

Very stable

A horse walks into a polling booth and Barnaby Joyce asks, “why the long face?” Well, sort of. In the tiny town of Aberdeen – population 2084 – local Frank Daley arrived to vote on horseback in the Upper Hunter by-election. Perhaps he wanted to get the Nationals’ how-to-vote card straight from the horse’s mouth? Daley was surprised by the shock reaction from the out-of-town voting station neighsayers. “I think it’s very typical — Upper Hunter, horse capital of Australia, what else would you expect,” Joyce told The Daily Telegraph. He then tried his hand at a joke. “I think it’s going to be a tight race, everyone is going to be on a horse but there is no red-hot favourite and the Nats are going to win by a nose — but we won’t know until very late in the evening. Maybe he’s barn with it, maybe it’s Neighbelline.

Frank Daley and Barnaby Joyce.

New Blue belt

The Liberal push into Paterson was plain for all to see last week, when Scott Morrison’s closest chums Stuart Robert and Ben Moreton accepted an invitation to the Maitland Business Chamber in NSW. Brother Stuie, who prayed with ScoMo before the 2018 Liberal partyroom meeting where he became leader, was recently reshuffled to the wordy portfolio of Employment, Workplace, Skills, Small and Family Businesses. Perth-based Moreton is Morrison’s Assistant Minister and his number one numbers man. What better duo to advance the area, located in the lower Hunter Valley, while the Prime Minister took a bite from the Apple Isle. Robert hit Western Sydney before heading north of Newcastle, where he preached the Messiah from the Shire’s message to local 2HD radio. “We’re all doing God’s work. No question about that,” Robert said. The guest list for Maitland’s movers and shakers event last Monday included the current Labor member for Paterson Meryl Swanson and her husband Nick Swanson, owner of the local Harvey Norman franchise. A fact which no doubt makes for awkward conversation between Swanson and her caucus colleague Dr Andrew Leigh, given his public crusade for Gerry Harvey to repay $22m in JobKeeper payments. Also in attendance was the Prime Minister’s senior adviser Julian Leembruggen and his solicitor wife Brooke Vitnell, the Liberals’ presumptive candidate for Paterson. Robert and Moreton’s mission to Maitland indicates the Liberals have Labor in their sights, as part of their marginal seat plan. Strewth’s sources say the Liberals’ NSW targets include Eden-Monaro (Kristy McBain), Dobell (Emma McBride), Gilmore (Fiona Phillips), Greenway (Michelle Rowland), Hunter (Joel Fitzgibbon), Macquarie (Susan Templeman), Parramatta (Julie Owens), Richmond (Justine Elliot) and Shortland (Pat Conroy).

Stuart Robert.

Time flies

Last week was a historic one for Scott Morrison. He leapfrogged Edmund Barton to become our 18th longest serving prime minister. In just over two weeks, ScoMo will overtake Kevin Rudd. The Labor leader’s double term totalled two years, 286 days. Top of the list is fellow two timer Robert Menzies, with a seemingly unbeatable 18-year run. Runner-up is Howard with 11 years and 267 days.

Scott Morrison and John Howard.

Holden out

Here’s one you might have missed last week, care of ABC Sydney’s breakfast radio team. Geoffrey Robertson QC was the guest of honour, plugging his rescheduled stage show, It’s No Longer Hypothetical. Host

Robbie Buck asked how Robertson felt to come back to Sydney after so long in the UK. Robertson replied: “It’s like that Simon and Garfunkel song, you know — ‘gee, but it’s great to be back home again’. It’s a natural instinct. You remember rolling Jaffas down the aisle of the local cinema … learning to make love in a Holden …” Buck laughed, before wisely observing, “That’s too much information”. And before 9am, too!

No fin compares to you

Here’s another gem from England’s deputy chief medical officer on the subject of relativity. Professor Jonathan Van-Tam compared the risk of holidaying in countries with higher and lower levels of COVID-19, after vaccination, with sharks. “When you go abroad, jumping into a pond with one shark in it or jumping into a pond with 100 sharks in it, it changes the likelihood that you’re going to get bitten,” Van-Tam told Brits dreaming of beaches abroad. Have there ever been 100 sharks in a pond? No, it’s fin-ite.

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