By Kishor Napier-Raman and Stephen Brook
It might have seemed a chore last November for Australian officials to meet a Nebraska-born former school teacher, sports coach and retired US Army non-commissioned officer-turned-state governor when he visited these shores on a trade tour.
Tim’s talk of the town.Credit: SMH
But given that said visitor was Tim Walz, 41st governor of Minnesota and now Kamala Harris’s running mate, those who put in the time to meet his trade delegation are hoping the relationship-building pays off after November’s US presidential election.
Walz waltzed into Sydney and Melbourne, meeting NSW Premier Chris Minns but not Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan. Instead, the southern state offered up Deputy Premier Ben Carroll and Victorian Governor Margaret Gardner. Allan’s loss, we feel.
Walz visited companies in what the delegation organised by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) termed “MedTech, CleanTech, Agriculture and Higher Ed”.
Walz endeared himself to locals by issuing them with a “Minnesota Passport,” an unofficial but convincing-looking 35-page, passport-sized fact book about the 32nd state.
Readers, did you know that Australia is Minnesota’s 13th-largest trading partner? And that about 40 Minnesota companies operate down under at more than 700 locations? You do now!
Walz used an interview with this masthead to express surprise that Australia had not legalised marijuana and that all politicians must strive for reform.
“You don’t get elected to get re-elected,” he told the Herald.
We’re also told he seemed shocked at Sydney’s housing prices. Fair enough.
The governor’s itinerary included a reception hosted by MinterEllison Melbourne managing partner Matt Hibbins at the law firm’s Melbourne office, where he won some local fans.
“He comes across as someone who would appeal to typical voters. A country guy who has risen to the top. He spoke from the heart, not from prepared notes,” veteran MinterEllison partner Peter Bartlett told CBD.
Elsewhere, the University of Melbourne’s School of Biomedical Sciences was beside itself to recall Walz’s visit there, and was moved to recently issue a release headed “A November to Remember: Reflecting on Governor Walz’s visit amidst vice-presidential run.”
The effusive praise can only grow as November 5 approaches.
GETTING INKED
It was a regular Saturday at Classic Ink Tattoo in Melbourne’s Yarraville when a client walked in requesting a collar tattoo from an infamous union t-shirt slogan that read: GOD FORGIVES THE CFMEU DOESN’T.
It was a straightforward, albeit painful commission, a couple of hours of work.
Former CFMEU Victorian secretary John Setka has inked up.Credit: Instagram
No one at the shop, including apprentice Josh, known by the online tag No Future Tattoos, realised that their client was one of the most famous men in the nation – former union powerbroker-turned-national pariah John Setka.
“He was a super easy client,” one bystander told CBD.
By Monday, the ink job for the former CFMEU Victorian secretary who quit after his union was engulfed in a corruption scandal was national news. Posing for the shop and apprentice tattooist’s Instagram accounts @classicink_ and @no.future_tattoos Setka wore a defiant expression that says he means business.
But the simple fact is, after he resigned – hours before this masthead’s Building Bad expose was published and rewrote the industrial landscape – Setka has no business left. The world has turned and left him in its wake.
MACKELLAR MOVERS
The Liberal Party’s hopes of reclaiming Mackellar, the reliably blue northern beaches electorate lost to Sophie Scamps in the 2022 teal wave, now look to rest with former RSL NSW boss James Brown, a serial preselection aspirant who twice challenged unsuccessfully for a vacant Senate seat.
Brown, whose interest in Mackellar first became evident when he bought a $1 million Great Mackerel Beach holiday home off Wentworth teal independent MP Allegra Spender last year, is still probably best known for previously being married to Malcolm Turnbull’s daughter, Daisy Turnbull.
Coincidentally, the younger Turnbull briefly dated the seat’s last Liberal occupant, Jason Falinski, back in the day. While the pair have been seeing a bit more of each other lately, Falinski has no intention of challenging for Mackellar again.
With another high-profile candidate, former NSW planning minister Rob Stokes also not interested, the other main name in the mix is disability advocate Dave Brady. He was meant to run for the party in Warringah in 2022 before some genius decided to go with anti-trans campaigner Katherine Deves. We all know how that turned out.
PASSING GRADE
CBD recently reported that independent MP Gareth Ward, currently awaiting trial over historic sexual abuse allegations (which he denies and is pleading not guilty to), was studying for the bar exam.
So seriously did Ward take his prep that he even fired off a few cranky questions on notice to Attorney-General Michael Daley asking whether NSW was planning to overhaul the exam.
He needn’t have worried. Last week, Ward confirmed he’d passed, posting a picture on LinkedIn decked out in wig and gown.
“Having passed the (horrendous) Barristers exam, it was time to get fitted up!” the cheery former Liberal MP wrote.
As for why it was so horrendous, Ward informed us the exam was very difficult, with a notoriously high fail rate. The Kiama MP also maintained that nobody should see him sitting the exam as a sign he might be looking for a new job.
“I think members of parliament should always look to improve their skill set and also read widely because these are not forever jobs,” he told CBD.