Welcome to the harsh reality of media scrutiny, Julian Burnside, property investor

One of the drawbacks of entering politics is the media scrutiny. The Australian, yesterday:

Julian Burnside, a wealthy barrister who has amassed a $20 million property portfolio including a Victorian mansion, multiple waterfront apartments in Melbourne­ and Sydney and a spectacular clifftop beach retreat, wants to end tax breaks for future ­investors. The property wealth of the Greens’ candidate for Kooyong, some of it hidden within company structures or registered to his wife, sits in gleaming contrast to the policies of his new party, which laments a “rigged’’ housing system that enriches investors while locking first-time buyers out of the market.

And it can dig up old enmities. The Sydney Morning Herald, March 7:

High-profile barrister Julian Burnside’s nomination as the Greens’ star recruit to contest the blue-ribbon Liberal seat of Kooyong has been greeted with scorn by his old adversary, former Patrick boss Chris Corrigan. “I suspect his time arguing fruitless legal cases will prepare him to embrace and advocate the ludicrously insane economic platform of the Greens,” Mr Corrigan said, describing the QC who acted for the Maritime Union of Australia in the infamous 1998 waterfront dispute against Patrick as “a self-promoting dandy”.

Moreover, politics can reshape a person’s habits of a lifetime. The Guardian Australia, March 9:

The Greens candidate Julian Burnside has resigned as a member of an exclusive all-male Melbourne social club, after being questioned about it during an appearance on Sky News on Friday night. The human rights barrister and candidate for the federal seat of Kooyong declared that “same-sex only clubs are a relic of the past” … and said he was resigning from the Melbourne Savage Club — which ­describes itself as “one of Australia’s oldest private members’ clubs”.

An exclusive caucus for female politicians? Peter Moore, Geelong ­Advertiser, yesterday:

Just as Julian Burnside is coming to grips with what isn’t acceptable now he’s in politics, one of his colleagues, in the form of South Australian Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, would prefer to have two bob each way. Hanson-Young, who also doesn’t believe in men-only clubs, has come up with the brilliant idea of women parliamentarians forming a women-only caucus. Yup, that’s right. No men, just women. “I really believe it’s time for women to unite. We need to support each other in a more ­upfront manner. It’s time for a women’s caucus,” she explained.

One woman won’t be part of this brave new caucus. Former Vic­­torian Greens MP Samantha Dunn unloads, Facebook, yesterday:

I resigned because the Greens are too toxic to be part of my life anymore. The Greens are distracted by populism, self-interest, power, ego, nar­cissism, megalomania … while exercising that old-war strategy of divide and conquer.

Cut & Paste quoting the Greenpeace website, yesterday:

(Patrick Moore) also exploits long-gone ties with Greenpeace to sell himself as a speaker and pro-corporate spokesperson, usually taking positions that Greenpeace opposes. He did not found Greenpeace.

Another page on the Greenpeace website:

There’s an old joke that in any bar in Vancouver you can sit down next to someone who founded Greenpeace. In fact, there was no single founder, and the name, idea, spirit, tactics, and internationalism of the organisation (that became Greenpeace) … founders and first members included: Paul Cote, law student at the University of British Columbia; Jim Bohlen, former deep-sea diver and radar operator in the US navy; Irving Stowe, lawyer; Patrick Moore, ecology student, University of British Columbia; and Bill Darnell, social worker.