The Sauce: Anthony Albanese in a pickle over who should replace MP Linda Burney

Albo’s seat dilemma; stressed-out pollies visited by mediation guru; and did MPs miss a vote because they were stuck in a bathroom? It’s all here in this week’s Sauce.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is in a pickle. A “Mexican stand-off” is playing out among prospective candidates to replace Linda Burney in the Sydney seat of Barton.

It is probably why the PM is delaying a decision about whether to intervene with a captain’s pick, or allow a rank-and-file preselection to occur.

However, the stalling has become too much for some of the wannabe candidates, who believe it is a sign the PM is planning to install a “stooge” candidate.

In a post to social media, former right-wing NSW MP Shaoquett Moselmane said he had been contacted by candidates concerned about the delay “and of senior government members seeking to impose their own stooge candidate”.

“Why trash the ALP’s preselection rules and yet again deny local branch members the right to select their own? They ask,” he wrote. “This will no doubt cause significant local and broader damage to the party as has been the experience.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is presiding over a factional blue in Barton Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Former NSW MP Shaoquett Moselmane says locals do not want a ‘stooge’ candidate to replace Linda Burney. Picture: Monique Harmer

Names doing the rounds of possible candidates include right-winger Sam Crosby, who happens to be married to left-wing Homelessness Minister Rose Jackson.

Jackson herself had been rumoured to be a possible candidate, but The Sauce has been reliably informed she is happy working for the Minns government.

NSW Upper House MLC Mark Buttigieg is also understood to be interested in the seat.

Buttigieg was in the left faction before joining the right when he joined the right-wing Electrical Trades Union – which has since switched to the left.

Homelessness Minister Rose Jackson was mooted for Canberra, but is happy working for the Minns government Picture: NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

Part of the reason for the stand-off is because Barton has traditionally been a right-wing seat.

But with left-wing Burney seen as the best candidate at the time, Moselmane helped support her in return for his re-election on the NSW Upper House ticket.

Now the right want their seat back, and believe this can be achieved via a rank-and-file preselection.

However, there is talk Albo still wants a left-wing candidate and has reached out of former assistant secretary of Unions NSW Emma Maiden.

Former Labor candidate Sam Crosby understood to be keen to run for Barton Picture: Craig Wilson)

There are also rumours left-winger and ex-Local Government Association president Linda Scott is also interest.

The talk has enraged some local Labor members, with one telling The Sauce: “What Anthony wants, Anthony will get – but he would likely burn capital.”

STRESS SESH

While some hand-selected NSW MPs will be oohing and aahing at King Charles and Queen Camilla at an exclusive barbecue in Parramatta on Tuesday, those stuck in Parliament House will be practising their “oms”.

The Sauce can reveal Indian spiritual leader Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar will be conducting a special meditation and “breath work” for stressed-out MPs as part of his Australian tour.

The theatrette session will be far cry from when he appears in the International Convention and Exhibition Centre on October 20.

It is understood a long list of MPs have been invited to the event.

Among those understood to be attending include Lynda Voltz.

ON LEADERSHIP

Treasurer Daniel Mookhey was spied engrossed in a book during Question Time last week.

Given its bright red cover, we guessed correctly that it was former British prime minister Tony Blair’s latest release called On Leadership.

According to its reviews, the book includes the ex-Labour leader’s personal insights that show aspiring leaders how to “go from talking about change to making change”.

With just one question asked of him, Mookhey had completed the book by the following day’s Question Time.

Asked for a review, he gave it a “9 out of 10”, adding that he was “auditioning the book as a potential Xmas present for some of my friends in the Opposition”.

“I felt that finishing it in QT is an excellent use of Question Time, as the Opposition rarely asks me any questions”.

STUCK IN BATHROOM

NSW MP Ray Williams once warned that moves to provide women more bathrooms in Parliament House would mean MPs would never “get anything done in parliament”.

It turns out his prophecy was correct.

This was clearly the reason why several female Coalition MPs were seemingly absent from the chamber during the vote on independent MP Alex Greenwich’s controversial equality bill last week.

Alex Greenwich’s equality bill passed this week. Picture: Gaye Gerard

The bill allows transgender people to update their birth certificates without undergoing gender-affirming surgery, and makes it easier for courts to issue parentage orders for families who have had children through overseas commercial surrogacy.

While some pollies such as Liberal MP Felicity Wilson drew consternation from her Coalition colleagues by crossing the floor, others appeared to be “stuck in the bathroom” during the vote.

Among female MPs who missed the vote or needed to be paired out were Liberal MPs Leslie Williams, Kellie Sloane and Jacqui Munro, and Nationals MPs Tanya Thompson and Sarah Mitchell.

Despite their absence, Greenwich’s bill passed.

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Originally published as The Sauce: Anthony Albanese in a pickle over who should replace MP Linda Burney