Life of the party
Taxpayers have forked out more than $10m to the Liberals, Labor and Greens to help their ‘sister parties’ overseas in the past five years.
Taxpayers have forked out more than $10m to the Liberals, Labor and Greens to help their “sister parties” overseas in the past five years. Why? It’s part of the little known Australian Political Parties for Democracy Program created by John Howard’s government in 2005. The APPDP pays for political staff and politicians to campaign in foreign elections; attend networking events and conferences; conduct training; and for overseas delegations to visit Australia. Strewth obtained copies of the Department of Finance’s APPDP records via a Freedom of Information request, including receipts dating back to 2016. Labor has taken home the most money in the past five years, a whopping $5.2m. The Liberals pocketed $3.7m and the Greens $1.1m over the same period of time. Despite COVID-19 travel restriction, the amount each party requested (and received) didn’t decrease in 2020-21 — Labor and the Liberals trousered a cool $1.1m each and the Greens $220,000. Unlike 2019, when APPDP funds were used on the ground during the UK election to help both Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn’s camps, the major parties assured us no one had left the country to campaign since March 2020. We understand all international engagements have taken place online or within Australia. A Liberal spokesman told Strewth: “The Liberal Party’s international program has obviously been significantly curtailed as a result of the pandemic. Under the Australian Political Parties for Democracy Program, unspent funds are returned to the commonwealth.”
Never left alone
So who scores an invite to the international party we’re all paying for? The Liberals list of like-minded friends include centre-right parties in Papua New Guinea, East Timor, Fiji, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Maldives, Mongolia and Malaysia. Oh, and the US Republican Party, British Conservative Party, NZ Nationals and Canada’s Conservative Party. Labor has fraternal friends in the US Democratic Party, British Labour Party, NZ Labour Party, Ireland Labour Party, Israeli Labour Party, Canada’s New Democratic Party, Germany’s Social Democratic Party, France’s Parti Socialiste and Italy’s Partito Democratico. Plus other “progressive, social democratic and labour parties” organisations and think tanks in Belgium, Norway, The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Timor Leste, The Philippines, Myanmar, PNG, Indonesia, Mongolia, India, Maldives, Malaysia and South Africa. Labor also lists the Chifley Research Centre as one of the places “to be visited and assisted” as part of its “development of a bespoke approach … (to) organisational development, party building and knowledge-sharing opportunities”. The Greens’ convoy of environmental allies include parties hailing from Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan, Palestine, Solomon Islands, South Korea and Taiwan.
What’s in a name
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw was left red-faced at the official opening of the new National Operations State Service Centre last week. As per the usual pomp and ceremony, a little curtain was installed so Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews could dramatically unveil the building’s plaque, commemorating the occasion for future generations. There was just one slight hiccup — the signage said the structure was opened by “Karen Edwards”. Whoops! Strewth’s spies say Kershaw was fuming about the typo, which somewhat undermined Andrews’s announcement of a 30 per cent female AFP workforce target by 2028. Apparently the minster was quite a good sport about the whole affair, quipping something to the effect of “that’s not the worst I’ve been called”. Strewth would have understood if she went the full Karen and demanded to speak to the manager (presumably while brandishing a copy of the Constitution). To be fair to our nation’s top cops, to err is human. Andrews took over the portfolio from Peter Dutton only six weeks ago, and is yet to make her Home Affairs debut in question time. A spokesman for the AFP was quite solemn when Strewth came knocking. “The AFP acknowledges this occurred. It was human error and members apologised on the day,” the AFP said. “A new version of the plaque is being made.”
Float like a butterfly
Eric Abetz may have been demoted to the third spot on the Tasmanian Liberal Senate ticket this weekend but his colleagues are “absolutely confident” he’ll be back. Assistant Minister Jonathan Duniam secured the coveted top spot, with Wendy Askew second and 27-year political veteran Abetz third. “This is not a fight in any way, this is a democratic process where people make a decision about what they would like to see,” Duniam said. “All three of us have been endorsed by the party to represent us at the next election; the three of us working together as a team will deliver three seats.” Equally surprising for some was the New England challenge predicted to be a Nationals David and Goliath battle. Barnaby Joyce survived 112 votes to 12 against Alex Rubin, an army officer whose impressive resume boasts a role in the Thai cave rescue operation. Joyce was well rested for the knock-out blow after spending the previous weekend in the Whitsundays for the wedding for his former press secretary William Rollo. Strewth’s dance floor friends say Joyce and partner Vikki Campion were at pains to let everyone know they had personally paid for their economy airfares.
Cows come home
“And he’s quiet. The way I think: if they’re not eating, they’re not quiet, then they’re not putting on muscle. A bit like politicians. So it’s the quiet politicians that produce the results,” Liberal MP Gavin Pearce said of his six-year-old bull Lumberjack.Farmer Pearce gave Melbourne-based Liberal MP Jason Wood an up-close-and-personal tour of his northwest Tasmanian farm last week, including a hug with the one-tonne Angus. Here’s another Pearce analogy: “Going into a breed is a bit like electing a politician — you may as well feed a good one because they’ll eat the same amount of tucker.”
strewth@theaustralian.com.au
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