The (hard) border line

Oh no, there’s a soap opera-sized feud within the Dick Dynasty!

Annastacia Palaszczuk and Milton Dick.

Oh no, there’s a soap opera-sized feud within the Dick Dynasty! Federal politicians were understandably peeved last week when they learnt via text that Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk had banned them from returning home until September 8. No more so than Labor MP Milton Dick, who just happens to be the younger brother of Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick. Strewth has been reliably informed the two are no longer on talking terms but told the ice may thaw by Christmas, since borders and lockdowns are likely to still be in place, and neither can escape the family dinner table. Palaszczuk has quietly reversed her two-week pause on arrivals from the ACT, NSW and Victoria — but only for “essential worker” politicians and not their staff. And yet … a group of football WAGS flew into the Sunshine State on a charter flight from Sydney on Monday. A Queensland Health directive seen by Strewth specifies: “Government elected representatives from declared Australian hotspots who are travelling to Queensland to perform official duties are permitted to come to Queensland despite the two-week pause”. That’s news to the Morrison ministry. Strewth’s sources say Peter Dutton, Stuart Robert and Karen from Home Affairs are still waiting for the green light to go home when parliament rises on Thursday. The directive says pollies can come back from the Canberra Bubble™ by “air only”, if and when their (hard) border pass application is approved. Queensland residents must home-quarantine for 14 days and can leave for only a “limited number of essential reasons (such as seeking medical assistance or escaping harm)”.

Cameron Dick.

Take it teasy

Dick Sr suggested Gladys Berejiklian’s cabinet was “chock-full of crazies” during Queensland question time on Tuesday. “It is no accident that these LNP governments keep falling into these errors. That’s because these LNP governments are chock-full of crazies,” he said. “They don’t believe in border controls. Some of them don’t even believe in Covid.” He agreed to withdraw the unparliamentary language (with implications about mental health) after being prompted by Speaker Curtis Pitt.

Buoyed support

There’s a sinking feeling within federal Labor over the family finances of South Australia senator Marielle Smith. Many want her hubbie Clint Feuerherdt, chief executive of SeaLink, to pay back $20m in JobKeeper payments after the global transport and tourism company posted a $37.8m profit. To complicate matters further, the 34-year-old senator’s father, Neil Smith, also sits on the SeaLink board and is one of the largest shareholders. Smith wouldn’t say whether she agreed with a majority of her Labor caucus on the creation of a name and shame list to prompt JobKeeper paybacks. Or whether she had even spoken to her husband about the money. Smith stuck to the line that the two are separate people … but, presumably, with a joint bank account? Feuerherdt blamed the current economic uncertainty on “premiers suggesting that they might deviate from the plan of opening up at certain vaccination levels.” Premiers such as Mark McGowan, Dan Andrews and Palaszczuk?

Clint Feuerherdt.

Founder flounder

If SeaLink follows Harvey Norman founder Gerry Harvey and offers the ATO a refund, it would be another feather in the cap for Labor crusader Andrew Leigh. The opposition’s assistant Treasury spokesman first called out Feuerherdt for taking a $500,000 bonus last year after SeaLink scored $8m in JobKeeper (on top of support from similar schemes in London and Singapore). But will Leigh’s latest win ease tensions with his caucus colleague Meryl Swanson, whose husband Nick Swanson owns the local Harvey Norman franchise in her electorate of Maitland?

Karma chameleon

“They’ve had more positions on JobKeeper than the karma sutra. They claim credit for inventing it but now they hate it,” one Liberal source complained to Strewth about Labor’s latest payback. And yet … deputy leader of the house David Gillespie couldn’t find a single LNP MP to defend the payment plan during Tuesday’s MPI debate, so the good Dr had to do it himself.

Chat 10, looks 3

Let’s take a quick look at the leader’s chat stats for August. Scott Morrison: 15 press conferences, 21 interviews (that have been transcribed). Anthony Albanese: 3 door stops, 56 interviews (the majority on soft regional radio). Here’s Albo spruiking his $300 jab payments on Geelong’s own K Rock.

Albo: “Around the world, there’s all sorts of incentives. There’s free beer in various places. In the US, some of the states are doing tuition fees, getting that paid for the universities. In Indonesia, they are giving out chickens. In Hong Kong, you get eggs. In Bangladesh, you can go in a lottery to get a cow.

Lauren “Loggy” Temuskos: “I would love a cow.”

Albo: “You’d love a cow? Where would you keep it?”

Loggy: “At home.”

Albo: “Fair enough.”

FM radio rarely misses pic.twitter.com/9TZV8ajuBu

— Alice Workman (@workmanalice) August 31, 2021

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