'Preference whisperer' Glenn Druery opens up about getting minor parties elected

He's been in politics — without having been elected — for a long time.

But come the departure of Derryn Hinch from the Senate after the federal election, the so-called "preference whisperer" Glenn Druery will likely find himself looking for new work.

Glenn Druery before the Senate voting reform committee at Parliament House in Canberra 2016Credit: Andrew Meares

Druery, who has been a staffer to Hinch and who freelances as a hired gun for minor political parties during election campaigns, is putting the finishing touches to his book.

The Preference Whisperer will be out in October, we are told.

Much of it is a rumination on what Australian politics would look like without Druery pulling the strings to get various minor parties elected to the crossbench.

Glenn Druery's forthcoming book, The Preference WhispererCredit: Wilkinson Publishing

And having worked across the politics spectrum from former Liberal Democrats senator David Leyonhjelm to the Sex Party's Fiona Patten, we're sure it'll contain plenty of juicy detail.

He's also had some spectacular falling out with some including Patten, who referred him to the Victorian Electoral Commission, and former One Nation senator Brian Burston, who used Parliament to accuse Druery of threatening to "tear out" Pauline Hanson's throat.

Apparently Druery's first meeting with Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie is one anecdote of interest which has made it through the editing process (so far).

Earlier today Druery was spotted at the launch of Hancock Prospecting billionaire Gina Rinehart's compendium of recipes from the various cattle stations she now owns.

It turns out Druery and Rinehart share a publisher: Wilkinson, the Melbourne press behind books from journalists Gideon Haigh and Phillip Adams to NSW One Nation leader and senator Mark Latham.

The event was hosted by Hancock Agriculture boss David Larkin and recently-resigned 2GB breakfast host Alan Jones and held at Manjits at King Street Wharf this morning.

Along for the show: former Liberal MP Bronwyn Bishop, McCabe Curwood boss Terry McCabe and businessman Michael Ibrahim, who last year was attempting to broker a deal to buy the Manly Sea Eagles NRL club on behalf of a syndicate of Middle Eastern investors.