By Kishor Napier-Raman and Stephen Brook
Who would’ve thought a well-intentioned effort to expand the minds of Sydney’s poshest private schoolboys could end in so much strife?
Last year, CBD revealed that Sydney Grammar had abruptly cancelled a planned talk from former Socceroo turned human rights advocate Craig Foster, citing the potential impact on the “wellbeing” of some in the school community. They didn’t mention Foster’s outspoken pro-Palestinian advocacy, but they didn’t need to.
Sydney Grammar’s headline act, former foreign minister Julie Bishop.Credit: Oscar Colman
It was a move which divided parents at the $45,000-a-year school (which has an old boys’ network boasting the likes of Malcolm Turnbull), with a rebel faction of Grammar mums chipping in to give Foz a sell-out platform at the State Library of NSW.
Anyway, it seems like Grammar are trying their utmost to avoid any controversy with this year’s choice of speakers. Kicking things off this month is a talk from former Australian of the Year Richard Harris, the anaesthetist best known for his heroic role in the 2018 Thai cave rescue.
But the big get is in March, with former foreign minister turned occasional red carpet favourite Julie Bishop. She’s the first Liberal, or in fact Australian pollie of any stripe, to appear at the school’s Ithaka Lectures series since it was inaugurated in 2023 – and possibly the first guest speaker to have recently dined with America’s Next Top Model creator Tyra Banks.
It’s surely a choice the shy Tories in the Grammar community could take no offence with.
A bone to pick
The Australian Electoral Commission’s belated Monday dump of political donations data from the 2023-24 financial year revealed plenty of money from the big end of town is still flowing toward Climate 200 and the teal independents.
Among those bucking that trend was prominent Sydney stockbroker Angus Aitken, who debuted on the donors list after he gave $230,000 to the Liberals and Nationals plus a further $50,000 to Pauline Hanson’s One Nation in the first half of last year. He’s also since chipped in $200,000 to the right-wing rabblerousers at Advance Australia.
Political awakening… Sydney stockbroker Angus Aitken has debuted on the donors list.Credit: Janie Barrett
When CBD got in touch to quiz Aitken about his political awakening, he told us he’d donated money to a range of conservative causes because he was “disgusted” by the rise of antisemitism under the Albanese government, whose management of the economy he slammed as “diabolical”.
He then offered a few rather candid observations about the country’s current leadership.
“Albo is the single worst PM in memory. It is a miracle he can stand upright given he has no backbone. He will be cast alongside Turnbull and Rudd as our worst PMs, and we hope Dutton is the next PM to set us back on the right track,” he told CBD.
“If there is a minority Greens/Labor government then the stock market will fall 30 per cent and I don’t want to see that happen.”
We’ll keep you posted on how that one pans out.
Tram 1 Abbott 0
SPOTTED: At 12.42pm on Monday at the Paris End of Melbourne, a 12a tram was ringing up a storm, getting irate at a figure clad in a pressed blue business shirt and suit trousers standing too close to the tracks at the intersection of Collins and Spring streets.
Not even the iron political will of former prime minister Tony Abbott, (now a distinguished fellow of the conservative think tank the Institute of Public Affairs) could win in a tussle against 21 tons of transport infrastructure. So PM28 neatly stepped back before crossing the road.
And whom should he bump into, strolling up Spring Street, fully suited despite it being 36degC?
None other than Abbott’s former cabinet colleague, ex-foreign affairs minister Alexander Downer, who was either overcome with the luck and happenstance of the chance encounter, or heat, and immediately removed his jacket. The pair then crossed Spring Street in the direction of that Australian Labor Party stronghold, otherwise known as the Victorian State Parliament.
Bye Bligh!
Farewell to Anna Bligh, the former Queensland premier turned chief executive of the Australian Banking Association.
Bligh, who is turning 65 this year, is retiring, after the federal election. Yes, the press release even used the r-word.
Bye bye, Anna Bligh. The Australian Banking Association boss has announced her retirement.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos
The path from public service to private industry is well trodden but Bligh was an early exemplar, joining the ABA in 2017, just in time for the wrath of the nation to descend upon the banks during the 2018 to 2019 royal commission.
“When I started in 2017, the banking industry had lost the trust of the Australian community and has since worked tirelessly to earn back that trust,” Bligh said, pointing to the mortgage relief banks gave customers during the pandemic.
We guess Bligh is right – the blame for the cost-of-living crisis is firmly laid at the feet of the federal government, not the big four banks.
Qantas, Coles and Woolworths are far more hated than NAB, ANZ, Commonwealth or Westpac. So mission accomplished, Anna Bligh!
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