Matt is as Kean as mustard

Fact check. Remember when Scott Morrison said on January 20 that ‘most of the federal cabinet wouldn’t even know who Matt Kean was’?

Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Hornsby MP Matt Kean NSW Government Cabinet swearing-in ceremony at Government House. Picture by Salty Dingo

Fact check. Remember when S cott Morrison said on January 20 that “most of the federal cabinet wouldn’t even know who Matt Kean was”? It was after the NSW Energy and Environment Minister claimed federal Liberals “from different states, different factions” wanted Morrison to “take stronger action” on climate change during the PM’s non-hose holding handshake of a Hawaiian summer. Well, it turns out Scotty from Marketing was wrong. Cheeky Labor senator (and Otis Group member) Kimberley Kitching sent a formal question to each cabinet member on January 21 — asking, “Does the Minister know who Matt Kean is?” — requiring each to officially put on the record once and for all how Kean they are (pun intended) — 17 replied yes. The first to respond on February 4 was Communications Minister Paul Fletcher: “Yes.” Then, Indigenous Minister Ken Wyatt on Feb 7: “Yes.” Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, Feb 11: “Yes.” Environment Minister Sussan Ley, Feb 11: “The Minister has a relationship with all her Environment Minister colleagues.” Agriculture Minister David Littleproud, Feb 12: “The Minister is aware who Matt Kean is.” Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, Feb 14: “Yes.” Employment Minister Michaelia Cash, Feb 17: “Yes.” Science Minister Karen Andrews, Feb 20: “Yes. Minister Kean represented the NSW Government at a Building Ministers’ Forum I chaired in February 2019.” Energy Minister Angus Taylor, Feb 20: “Yes.” On Feb 21, Defence Minister Linda Reynolds, Trade Minister Simon Birmingham and Education Minister Dan Tehan all said: “Yes.” Only days into the job, newbie Resources Minister Keith Pitt, 21 Feb: “The Minister is aware who Matt Kean is.” Infrastructure Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack,Feb 24: “Yes”. Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton gave by far the most thorough and amusing answer on 21 Feb: “(Kean) is an integral part of the Berejiklian government’s efforts to keep the Sussex Street Labor crooks and spivs from again destroying New South Wales.”

Ignorance is bliss

Two ministers didn’t reply to Kitching’s curly question, Foreign Minister Marise Payne and acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge. Four claimed ignorance is bliss, despite all being around during Kean’s 2018 sexting scandal (when he was publicly outed for cheating by ex-girlfriend Caitlin Keage, who at the time was an adviser to then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull). Social Services Minister Anne Ruston claimed, “The minister doesn’t recall having ever met Mr Matt Kean.” Attorney-General Christian Porter and Health Minister Greg Hunt both replied “I do know” and NDIS Minister Stuart Robert said: “The Minister was not previously aware of Matt Kean.” Kean must be celebrating the news of his new-found celebrity in the bubble. The state minister joked to Strewth: “Now when I go to Canberra I don’t have to wear my name badge anymore!”

Them’s fighting words

Sarah Henderson made a declaration on Monday morning that shook some of her Liberal colleagues. The Victorian senator told Sky News she was the “de facto member for Corangamite”. Last we checked she lost her seat and returned to Canberra only after former cabinet minister Mitch Fifield departed for the UN. The actual member for Corangamite, Labor’s Libby Coker, told Strewth: “My predecessor can’t quite get over the fact that in May 2019 she was dumped by the people of Corangamite, despite $3bn of funding promises … and despite the Coalition being returned to office.” By Strewth’s calculations the Liberals’ 41 campaign promises in the marginal seat were the equivalent of $26,500 per voter! Coker continued: “Now she has been parachuted back into the Senate without facing an election. Voters in the rest of regional Victoria — Ballarat, Warrnambool, Bendigo — must be a little peeved with the Senator’s obsession with Corangamite, the place where she lives and where she lost. Voters chose who they want as the Member for Corangamite and it wasn’t Sarah Henderson. If Ms Henderson has the illusion that she and the policies of the Coalition are so popular … then I would welcome her resigning her Senate spot and standing again at the next election.”

Bad luck, sport

Not to throw stones in glass houses but we enjoyed Monday’s mea culpa from the Telum newsletter: “In last Friday’s Australia Alert Telum incorrectly stated that Clint Thomas was leaving his role at the ABC to become the WA Sport Minister. This was an error, he will be joining the Office for the WA Minister for Sport and Recreation as a Senior Media Advisor.”

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