By Kishor Napier-Raman and Noel Towell
Labor turncoat, serial preselection hopeful and leading figure in the No campaign against an Indigenous Voice to parliament Nyunggai Warren Mundine has a habit of going off-script, which was on full display during last year’s referendum campaign.
And while the spotlight has moved on, Mundine’s verbal meanderings continue. On Monday, he was one of the guests at a private waste sector lunchtime event in Barangaroo, where decarbonisation and a net-zero future were on the agenda. The event was subject to Chatham House rules, so we’ve got to be careful with the details.
We can say that during a panel discussion a senior industry CEO told a former British climate minister that there was as much evidence for the reality of global warming as for moon landings. This was enough to set Warren off. Grabbing the mic during audience questions, and promising to “have a go,” he launched into a lengthy spiel, accusing the CEO of being responsible for Brexit and the rise of Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again political movement.
To be fair, it’s hardly a radical departure from the stuff Mundine says on Sky News, but in a room full renewables sector types, it went down like a lead balloon. After five minutes of enduring the diatribe, the moderator tore the mic off him.
But Mundine picked up where he left off when CBD called him on Tuesday, telling us he took issue with dismissing climate sceptics as “flat-earthers,” and making big, apocalyptic pronouncements about global warming.
“The problem I have – and this is why Brexit succeeded, and this is why the Yes campaign failed – is that we don’t take people with us,” Mundine told CBD, while singing the praises of Labor’s economic narrative during the Hawke-Keating years.
“I just want people to take a chill pill, and take Australians with them. There’s one thing worse than being stupid, that’s to be called stupid. Then your ears close,” he said.
As for how all this went down in the room, Mundine reckoned the crowd wasn’t all that hostile.
“I think the bulk of people in the room got it. I was handed a few notes that said when you say some things, you speak for us.”
AJAKA AXED
When Liverpool’s Liberal mayor Ned Mannoun appointed former state Liberal MP John Ajaka to a $537,000-a-year gig as the council’s chief executive in 2022, it sparked accusations of another “jobs for the boys” moment.
But after just over a year in the role, Ajaka could be out, with Mannoun pushing for his sacking in a closed-door meeting due on Wednesday, after simmering tensions between the two boiled over during a separate meeting last week.
But Ajaka seems to have united strange bedfellows to his cause. Speaking to Ray Hadley on Tuesday, the Labor-aligned United Service Union’s Steve Donley was quick to sing the former Liberal MP’s praises.
“It’s a fantastic job he’s done, to be treated like this is disgusting,” Donley said.
Hadley said he’d be making representations to Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig calling for the council to be sacked and an administrator, perhaps Ajaka himself, be appointed if the former MP got axed.
Looks like Ray better get on the blower because we hear Mannoun has the numbers to get his way.
COMEBACK KENT
When footage circulated last month of Sutherland Shire councillor Kent Johns making homophobic comments about openly gay Liberal MP Chris Rath, it looked pretty obvious that the party powerbroker’s career was toast.
In the aftermath, Johns apologised, took a leave of absence from his council duties and stood aside from a government relations job at the National Electrical and Communications Association.
So when Johns returned to council chambers for a meeting on Monday evening, it’s fair to say a few eyebrows were raised. Kent told us the leave of absence was still a thing – he just came to speak on one item, relating to a flood study.
The councillor began his remarks by referring to the leave of absence, but said he “felt the matter was so important to the residents” that he felt compelled to show up.
Turns out it was all for nought – Johns lost the ultimate vote.
MERCH MADNESS
Lucy Bradlow and Bronwen Bock will be delighted with the blanket coverage of their bid to be “job share” MPs for the posh inner-Melbourne seat of Higgins.
Now, the scepticism of constitutional law expert Anne Twomey, whose counsel the duo strangely didn’t seek before embarking on the PR push, should pour cold water on this latest brain fart.
But CBD has been unable to find any constitutional impediment to selling branded merchandise, which Bradlow and Bock have taken up with gusto.
While generations of Liberal, Labor and Greens volunteers would be aghast at the idea of paying for campaign t-shirts, the political aspirants’ are selling theirs for $45.
For the colder months, Bradlow and Bock have got you covered with an $85 hoodie, and if that’s not quite the Toorak look you’re after, there’s a $20 tote bag. Of course they’ve got a tote bag.
We were desperate on Tuesday to talk fashion with the political debutants, but no dice. Bradlow told us the pair felt they’d already covered all bases when they spoke to this masthead last week.
HONEY TRAP
As the nation’s leaders grapple with X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk’s open mockery of our eSafety Commissioner and courts, our thoughts turn to the question of what to do with Honey Birdette.
The retailer (which is a “sensuality boutique” or a “sex shop”, depending on who you ask) has recently copped its 70th violation – 74th by the count of porn-critical activist group Collective Shout, which monitors these things very closely – from advertising regulator Ad Standards.
The latest series of indiscretions, which were described by one complainant as “straight-up porn” related, as usual, to Honey Birdette’s advertising in its dozens of shopping centre storefronts around the country, where families have no control over children’s exposure to the sexualised images.
Over the years, complaints against the chain – which is touted for sale by its owner, Playboy parent company PLBY – have been upheld over videos played on screens in display windows showing BDSM, upskirting, choking and orgies, but Honey Birdette has developed a simple but effective technique for dealing with the regulator’s rulings.
It mostly just ignores them. Rarely engages in the process, seldom responds to calls or letters and doesn’t remove or modify offending content.
The regulator is powerless to do anything else because the industry-funded body has no legislative power or any real official standing under the “self-regulation” model.
Honey Birdette’s CEO Kim Kidd remained on brand when we got in touch on Tuesday for a chat: she ignored us.
Ad Standards executive director Richard Bean told us the retailer was a “a unique challenge” to the regulator “because they do not accept that the complainants raise legitimate issues, and they control the advertising medium via their shop fronts.”
“If Honey Birdette were to display their ads in another medium, they would face almost certain removal when a complaint is upheld,” Bean said.