Who is Sussan Ley’s millionaire BFF, Sarina Russo?

CHARTERED flights to her glitzy Gold Coast parties brought former health minister Sussan Ley undone. So who is businesswoman Sarina Russo?

Sarina Russo is a political donor who has reaped $1.8bn in government contracts. Picture: Claudia Baxter

CHARTERED flights to her glitzy Gold Coast parties brought former health minister Sussan Ley undone. So who is businesswoman Sarina Russo?

She prides herself on her unofficial title as Australia’s “jobs queen”. But the self-made millionaire — named as the nation’s 12th wealthiest woman by BRW in 2015 — could also be crowned the queen of networking.

The recruitment baron’s social media accounts are awash with details of her hobnobbing with the world’s political and social elite.

She’s got more selfies with celebs and pollies than most Aussies have had vegemite sandwiches: from the late Joan Rivers and Woody Allen to Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson and Molly Meldrum, plus the Clintons, Tony Blair, Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull, Clive Palmer, Michaelia Cash, Christopher Pyne and Julie Bishop.

Rubbing shoulders with Malcolm Turnbull on Brisbane’s Goodwill Bridge in early 2016.

Melbourne Cup 2014 with JBish.

Oh, and her BFF Sussan Ley, the Coalition’s former health minister who stepped down last week after it came to light that she had billed that taxpayer for her flights to events including Ms Russo’s glitzy Gold Coast 2013 and 2014 New Year’s Eve parties.

Ms Ley has said she discussed education and training policy with her businesswoman pal during the soirees held at the Palazzo Versace hotel.

Sussan Ley also billed taxpayers to attend the 2015 wedding of Sarina Russo’s nephew.

“What I’m saying is they were business conversations and they were important conversations to the future of our government’s agenda,” Ms Ley said when challenged on her decision to fly up for the events.

POLITICAL DONATIONS AND GOVERNMENT TENDERS

Now attention is turning to Ms Russo’s generous political donations and the lucrative government contracts that her employment services companies have nabbed over the years — totalling a whopping $1.8 billion since 2006, according to historical tender data.

Australian Electoral Commission records reveal that the businesswoman has donated tens of thousands of dollars to both sides of politics, with more than $100,000 to the Coalition and $50,000 to Labor over the past 17 years.

Ms Russo said then prime minister Tony Abbott, pictured in 2015, “really cares about jobs”.

Winning the Coalition’s $600 million Job Access tender in March 2015 was a major coup for the self-made entrepreneur, who had lost an earlier national contract under the Rudd Government in 2009.

“That was a crisis for me, where I lost $50 million worth of work,” Ms Russo told news.com.au last year.

But she quickly made up the difference by winning a United Kingdom government tender, and it would not be too long before a Coalition government would hand her the ultimate cash cow.

Sarina Russo Job Access is contracted to work with 60,000 job seekers with employers at sites across Australia, many of them disabled and unemployed people living in low socio-economic areas like Mount Druitt in NSW, Logan in Queensland and Footscray in Victoria.

“A dinner w Hon Julie Bishop was inspirational”, Ms Russo captioned this mid-2016 pic.

Last year, the government launched an investigation after thousands of jobseekers’ confidential data, including bank details, phone numbers, home addresses, employment histories and education records, were found in a skip bin behind a Sarina Russo agency in Melbourne’s Narre Warren, allegedly dumped by the company.

In the same month that the $600 million tender was published online, Ms Ley attended the wedding of Ms Russo’s nephew, a week after posting a selfie with Tony Abbott, along with the caption:

“Hon Tony Abbott - our Prime Minister is relentless in his leadership to our Nation!

One must admire his determination w his commitment to Work for the dole! If you can activate & get a job through gaining work experience - it’s a gift for longevity for u in the work place???? Go for it!!!”

The post is typical of Ms Russo’s effervescent communication style.

Ms Russo was on hand for Chrisopher Pyne’s book launch, declaring: “A best seller!”

The businesswoman — who is worth an estimated $100 million, shops at Dior and rubs shoulders with socialites at charity and sporting events — has previously spoken of her passion for helping the disadvantaged to get back on their feet.

“One of the greatest things that I’ve always taught is it doesn’t really matter what other people think; what’s really important is what you think,” she told news.com.au last year. “It’s all about self belief.”

A child of Sicilian immigrants, Ms Russo was famously sacked from a string of jobs in early adulthood before starting her own secretarial skills training network with nine students in 1979.

Her social media posts are peppered with her enthusiastic motto “See you at the top!”, a reference to her 2002 book Meet Me at the Top, but a glance through her Instagram feed reveals that she does not always back a winner.

She was an enthusiastic backer of Hillary Clinton’s failed bid for the White House, as well as an outspoken supporter of former Member for Fairfax Clive Palmer.

“An extraordinary global icon ... unstoppable!” Ms Russo captioned this Clinton snap.

Ms Russo described pal Clive Palmer as “a living legend” in the caption to this 2016 Instagram post.

Railing against the Courier Mail’s front page story about Mr Palmer, titled “Not fit to govern” last year, Ms Russo wrote:

“It’s disturbing for any entrepreneur to read this today; Australia needs to celebrate success & support entrepreneurs who have the courage to give it a go! Clive Palmer has done more for QUEENSLAND. Created thousands of jobs & dreams!”

Let’s hope her job seekers have better luck than Mr Palmer’s former Queensland Nickel employees.

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Originally published as Who is Sussan Ley’s millionaire BFF, Sarina Russo?