By Kishor Napier-Raman and Noel Towell
It’s been just over a month since Anthony Albanese’s election win, but Labor is still grappling with the slow task of staffing its offices with ministerial advisers.
Among the big name hires (well big in the Canberra bubble, anyway) are Claudia Crawford, who is returning to Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ office. The pair have worked together on and off for a decade, going back to the Wayne Swan days.
Skye Laris, a veteran Labor staffer, AGL policy wonk and former Getup! campaigner (though that bit seems to have fallen off her LinkedIn profile) has taken up a senior adviser job in the PM’s office. Laris is also married to Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke.
Chris Owens, who’s worked for former ministers Nicola Roxon and Kate Lundy, NAB and most recently the departed Kristina Keneally, has been snapped up by Albanese’s office as “governance director” – responsible for wrangling the crossbench.
We wish him the very best of luck with that.
Perhaps most intriguing are the goings-on in deputy PM Richard Marles’ office. The Defence Minister – who somehow thinks basing himself in Defence HQ in the Canberra suburb of Russell will stop him being captured by his department – has lost long-time chief of staff Lidija Ivanovski. She’s off to work at former Queensland Labor powerbroker Evan Moorhead’s lobbying shop, sparking much talk on the hill.
Ivanovski posted the official version on LinkedIn, conceding it was fair to ask why she was leaving after “winning a premiership” but said she wanted to be at home more to support her wife. Spending more time with the family. We’ve heard that one before.
Marles, meanwhile, has brought Samantha Ferry back to the show as a senior adviser. The lawyer and veteran staffer cryptically noted on her LinkedIn that she was once an adviser to the 26th prime minister of Australia. We didn’t realise saying Kevin’s name was still verboten.
Retro Rudd fashion out of style
Speaking of KRudd, if you’ve always regretted not getting hold of one of those iconic Labor campaign T-shirts from the 2007 “Ruddslide election” – and there must be someone out there – you’re in luck.
Campaign classics: from the Kevin 07 crusade.Credit: Shakespeare
Head on over to hipster online op-shop Depop where you can pick up what you’d think by now would be a seriously collectible piece of textile; an original “Kevin Rudd: fresh ideas, fresh thinking” T-shirt in blue on white.
You don’t see many of those around these days, unlike the generic “Kevin 07″ numbers available on Redbubble for $25.
Downsides: the shirt on Depop is XXL, the vendor wants $200 for it and it’s been listed for more than 18 months
Perhaps not as collectible as somebody thinks.
Knock, knock, knockin’ on Albo’s door
Fresh from their “how to win friends and demand more staff” PR campaign, the newly elected Teal MPs arrived in Canberra on Tuesday for a couple of days of politician school.
Aside from setting up their offices, learning a bit about how the Parliament works and discovering the resources available to them (don’t mention the Parliamentary Library!) they also got a tour of the sprawling 250,000 square metre building-inside-a-hill.
One of our Labor spies reports that, during the tour, newbies were taken past the ministerial wing – with a helpful attendant pointing out some of the suites off the blue carpet.
“Which one is the door to the PM’s office?” one of the indies immediately asked. Something for Albo to look forward to when he returns from Europe.
Guardianistas’ swish birthday bash
It’s been nine years and one month since the venerable Manchester Guardian came to our shores with its local version Guardian Australia (at the request of Malcolm Turnbull no less!) and the site’s hierarchy have decided a slightly belated celebration is in order.
In its first near-decade the masthead has attracted some serious names in journalism, but acquired a reputation in media circles for a reluctance to pay big money – a select few star employees excepted.
So we were a little surprised to learn that the bosses are flying the entire non-Sydney-based staff to the harbour city on Friday night – accommodation included – for a soiree at the Harbour View Hotel in The Rocks, where editor-in-chief Lenore Taylor and managing director Dan Stinton are expected to hold court.
Such generosity is not unprecedented – staff from far-flung bureaux have been flown into Sydney for Christmas parties in the past – but editorial numbers now exceed 120, many of them based in growing offices in Melbourne, Canberra and Brisbane, so this exercise won’t be cheap.
It’s unclear if contributors made the guest list, so we don’t know if Guardian medical columnist Ranjana Srivastava will be there on the night.
The oncologist and Fulbright scholar may be too busy with her nascent political career, which has begun with a tilt at preselection for the Victorian Liberals on their upper house ticket for November’s state election, where she’s up against former Morrison government star Gladys Liu.
If Srivastava is successful, The Guardian’s editorial brains may have to decide if having a regular columnist for their left-leaning outlet who is also running for Victorian Opposition Leader Matthew Guy’s outfit, which skews a fair way in the opposite direction, might be a little ... off-brand.
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