Is Christian Porter the next Kevin McCloud?

There’s no time like a pandemic to do a bit of taxpayer-funded handy work.

Attorney-General Christian Porter.

Grand Designs

There’s no time like a pandemic to do a bit of taxpayer-funded handy work.

Or $663,507.05 worth if you’re an agency attached to the Attorney-General.

Who knew Christian Porter was the Kevin McCloud of the Morrison government! Did he apply for HomeBuilder?

While the pyjama public service spent the year working from home, the Fair Work Commission dropped $405,256.79 on renovations. The Industrial Relations agency refurbished 47 workstations, four offices, two meeting rooms, two kitchens and added a new interview room.

The Fair Work Ombudsman paid $118,980.66 to update its Cairns and Wagga Wagga workplaces.

The Coal Mining (Long Services Leave Funding) Corporation spent $131,401 on building works, including a mothers’ room, installing a “curved wall to create archive storage” and a “curved credenza”. Watch out with those credenzas! As we learnt from the Prime Minister’s plane, Shark One, the sideboards are easy to scratch and expensive to fix.

Safe Work Australia spent a modest $7,868.60 in 2020 to replace broken fridges and a dishwasher. However, in 2019 it forked out $399.84 on cutlery for its staff kitchens and $138,178 to demo four small rooms.

“I don’t know how government ministers sleep at night when they are kicking many Australians to the kerb, and stopping JobKeeper next month, all the while keeping federal government offices as lavish as a set in Bridgerton,” opposition government services spokeswoman Kimberley Kitching told Strewth.

Until recently, Kitching headed up the government accountability portfolio for Labor — a role she did so efficiently (11,000 questions on notice and counting) Anthony Albanese replaced her in last week’s reshuffle with not one but two politicians— deputy Senate leader Kristina Keneally and assistant Pat Conroy.

Albo shuffles the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Isn’t it ionic?

Pity Scotty Cam is no longer on the books!

Or is he?

The Block star is still front and centre on the Department of Employment’s website, despite dropping his $347k job.

“Mr Cam’s role as the inaugural National Careers Ambassador ceased with the finalisation of his contract on 31 December, 2020. Mr Cam is no longer being paid by the department,” Michaelia Cash’s mandarins told Strewth.

“The department’s website is dese.gov.au. The previous departmental website employment.gov.au, which displays Mr Cam’s image, is scheduled to be decommissioned on 1 February, 2021.”

The gold logie winner is no longer working for the government.

Revolving door

Anthony Albanese isn’t the only one playing musical chairs. Labor HQ boss Paul Erickson is waiting on a new Right faction assistant secretary after Jon Persley quit the posting at the end of November.

Persley didn’t last long as Erickson’s 2IC. He was officially appointed in June, after the fallout from Jay Weatherill and Craig Emerson’s “warts and all” look at the election loss (and Strewth’s revelation of a nearly $1m accounting discrepancy discovered 48 hours before the poll) but served in the federal role for only a few weeks before taking a secondment to campaign in Queensland, eventually leaving to become Annastacia Palaszczuk’s deputy chief of staff.

Safe to say Persley is in the Right’s bad books.

The faction is yet to make a formal decision on his replacement but we can reveal the two frontrunners for assistant secretary are Megan Lane and Ian McNamara.

Lane served as Jim Chalmers’s press secretary until Christmas, when she took a job at Dee Madigan’s agency Campaign Edge.

McNamara has a more, shall we say, colourful past.

After serving as Bill Shorten’s director of strategy, he was recruited to do “special projects” for Australian Workers Union head Dan Walton. His nickname, the “Joe Triprotege”, was earned during his time as a lieutenant in NSW Labor, working in senior roles for former state leaders Luke Foley and John Robertson. He is best known in comrade circles for copping a glass of sauvignon blanc in the face from former Sussex Street operative Dave Latham when McNamara weighed into the Jamie Clements sexual harassment allegations.

But we digress. SDA boss Gerard Dwyer will be the most significant voice in determining which Right figure secures the job. ALP president Wayne Swan and the factional warlords will also have to agree. Strewth’s sources suggest there could be AA issues at play.

If Lane sticks it, this will be the first time the Right has put a woman up for a senior national position.

Well overdue. We understand Erickson, a Jeremy Corbyn fan who hails from the Left, is keen for someone to start as soon as possible.

The next regular meeting of Labor’s national executive is due at the end of February.

Labor's national secretary Paul Erickson.

A toast to the groom

A congratulatory clink of champagne to assistant minister Trevor Evans, who popped the question to his partner, Roger, on Australia Day.

How patriotic!

“I’m overjoyed that Roger said yes. I’ll always remember his wide, shocked smile as it dawned on him what I was doing,” Evans told Strewth. “I had a big speech prepared in my head about how happy he makes me and our adventures together but I only got half of it out before he interrupted and asked if he could try the ring on, so my final words were ‘You have to say yes first!’ Which he did!”

Sounds just like the postal survey!

Evans fought for marriage equality, and is understandably happy he had a role in changing the law that let him propose.

“I believe the trickiest phase of public policy is implementation, and that’s why I needed to try out the marriage equality laws I helped co-author,” he said.

We’re told drag queen Wanda d’Parke, who campaigned for Evans on election day 2019, has offered to lie on a baby grand piano and sing at the couple’s wedding. “Wise men say, only fools rush in ...”

Safe as houses

Liberal backbencher Julian Leeser has upgraded his property portfolio.

The member for Berowra in September sold his three-bedroom period home at Pennant Hills on Sydney’s upper north shore for $1,685,000, a tidy profit on the $749,800 he purchased it for in 2010. He and wife Joanna have upgraded into adjoining leafy Thornleigh to a $2.02m four-bedder.

In other changes to member’s interests, Tim Wilson has updated his share portfolio. After divesting from Rio Tinto, the Victorian has personally invested in Betashares Australian Small Companies Select Fund, among the top performing ETFs in the past year. Wilson and husband Ryan Bloger’s superannuation fund has also purchased shares in Centuria Industrial Reit, the Adore Beauty Group and Betashares Asia Technology Tiger.

[e-mail]