By Noel Towell and Kishor Napier-Raman
CBD was disturbed to learn on Wednesday that former car-crash state Liberal MP Tim Smith had found his way to Ukraine, which has suffered enough during Russia’s illegal and brutal invasion.
We also heard that the former member for Kew’s nascent political comeback in the state seat of Warrandyte, following the abrupt pin-pulling of incumbent Ryan Smith, was over almost before it began, with Tim Smith declaring he wouldn’t contest the Liberal Party preselection after all.
Former state Liberal MP Tim Smith.Credit: Justin McManus
People asked us, though, wouldn’t legal ramifications from Smith crashing his Jaguar into a house on Power Street in Hawthorn one drunken night in 2021 complicate any attempted return to parliament?
The answer – for which we’re indebted to our dear colleagues on the crime desk – is no. The constabulary confirmed this week that a “38-year-old man [you-know-who] from Kew was issued with an infringement notice for exceeding the prescribed concentration of alcohol”.
So that’s that. No arrest, court case, prosecution, conviction or criminal record, just 12 months off the road and no legal impediment to Smith returning to parliament – he would have had to be convicted of an offence carrying five years or more jail time for that.
Smith did have something else to say about the Warrandyte preselection, where he is backing former Institute of Public Affairs boss John Roskam, who faces stiff competition from well-credentialled Liberal women including Jemma Townson, Sarah Overton, Allison Troth and Nicola Werner in his fourth attempt to jag a seat.
“I support John Roskam because he’s actually a genuine Liberal ... which is obviously sorely lacking in the Victorian parliamentary Liberal Party,” Smith told The Age.
“The Victorian Liberals need to learn to stand for something, so the next byelection should be in Bulleen.”
Bulleen is the electorate of Smith’s former good mate and ex-party leader Matthew Guy, with whom he fell out after the crash. Looks like Tim learnt a bit in Ukraine about throwing grenades.
TURNING TABLES
We brought word yesterday that an appearance by embattled consulting firm PwC at Anna Bligh’s Australian Banking Association’s annual conference this week had been cancelled as the firm leans ever more heavily into its keep-a-low-profile approach to the scandal over misuse of confidential Tax Office information.
Anna Bligh shares the stage with Treasurer Jim Chalmers at Wednesday’s conference.Credit: Peter Rae
We should mention that Bligh and the association were gracious enough towards their absent friends to point-blank refuse to answer our questions. That’s the kind of old-fashioned hospitality you don’t see enough of these days.
A couple more upcoming PwC appearances have also gone by the wayside: the firm had a table booked at the Walkley Foundation’s Mid-Year Celebration of Journalism in Sydney next week – where The Age has a bunch of finalists – but now won’t be attending.
Those seats will go instead to 10 up-and-coming female media professionals.
PwC has also uninvited itself to the federal parliamentary press gallery’s Midwinter Ball in Canberra’s House the following week, where the firm had bought a table. Things might have been a bit awkward, in fairness, if equity partners found themselves sharing the dance floor with their parliamentary inquisitors Deb O’Neill from Labor or the Greens’ Barbara Pocock.
The firm has donated the tickets back to ball organisers, who can either sell them again or save the expense of a table full of food and grog for the evening, boosting the returns to the various charities in whose aid the event is held.
So some good has come out of this saga, after all.
SING LOWE
Hallowed investment bank Morgan Stanley is not renowned for its sense of humour, but someone there – or their event organisers – must have been playing for laughs on Wednesday morning as Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe took to the stage to address the firm’s fifth Australia Summit.
Philip Lowe spoke at Morgan Stanley’s conference.Credit: Louise Kennerley
Lowe’s entrance music: Justin Timberlake’s jaunty 2016 earworm Can’t Stop the Feeling!
Y’know, the one that goes “got that sunshine in my pocket …”
An inspired choice for the man who has had to explain 12 times in 13 months why he and the RBA board had only a hatful of heartache for the nation’s mortgage holders.
However, CBD is disappointed to note the irony seemed lost on the crowd of well-heeled investment and finance types crammed into the Four Seasons to hear Lowe speak.
Another thing that’s becoming more jarring is Lowe’s home-spun household budgeting advice – the bloke earns $911,000-a-year – to Australians watching their mortgage repayments climb beyond their means to pay.
Last month, Lowe came for our spare rooms with advice for people doing it hard to consider getting housemates. This time, the governor has our spare time in his sights, advising strugglers to consider taking a second job to help make ends meet.
If he’s out again next month explaining yet another rate hike – and don’t bet against it – we wonder if Lowe might be advising straitened householders to take any unused valuables down to their local pawn shop to try to raise a few extra bob.
BY THE YARD
Despite being an avowed republican, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese showed up in style to pledge allegiance to King Charles at the monarch’s coronation last month.
Luxe coronation weekend... The prime minister and staff shacked up at a $740-a-night hotel in London.Credit: John Shakespeare
The PM travelled to London with an entourage of about 18 people, according to documents obtained under freedom of information. It’s a marginally smaller cohort than he took to Queen Elizabeth’s funeral last September.
The squad included six staffers from the Prime Minister’s Office – two representing the media team, plus a sizeable posse of bureaucrats from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, and Defence.
It was a luxe weekend for those who got a ticket on Toto One.
Team Albo booked out 20 rooms in London’s Great Scotland Yard Hotel, where the going nightly rate starts around 400 quid (about $740) – although we imagine they were going for a lot more during coronation weekend.
RED ALL ABOUT IT
It’s come to something when the Communist Party-controlled Chinese media will tell you more than your own democratically elected state government, but that’s the truck of this particular matter.
Local journalists were refused entry on Monday night to Melbourne’s Park Hyatt hotel, where Premier Daniel Andrews, the city’s Lord Mayor Sally Capp and former Liberal government trade minister Andrew Robb were giving speeches at a Post Pandemic China-Australia Economic Co-Operation Forum.
Andrews’ office did not issue copies of the speech by the premier until Wednesday evening. Andrews said he spoke from notes to the forum organised by an outfit called the China Institute for Innovation and Development Strategy, and that he made some broad points about the importance of partnership between the two trading nations and he had no idea why the journalists were denied entry.
So imagine the surprise when a detailed account of the speech turned up in the online edition of China’s People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of that country’s ruling Communist Party, and it was hardly Dan’s best effort, big on motherhood statements but short on detail or anything pointy.
We reckon that had the hacks gained entry to the hotel on Monday, Dan’s speech might never have even made the local papers.
DANNY BOYS
Staying on state government accountability, the current round of budget estimates committee hearings – PAEC for short – in the state parliament have lived up to their title in sheer dullness, in stark contrast to the liveliness of the estimates process the federal parliament regularly presents.
The highlight so far from Spring Street came late on Tuesday when Danny O’Brien, the Nationals MP for Gippsland South questioned Danny O’Brien, the Cladding Safety Victoria CEO.
But O’Brien – the MP – soon came to share CBD’s conclusion, after a lengthy question-and-non-answer session with Mental Health Minister Gabrielle Williams on Wednesday tested the member for Gippsland South’s own psychological equilibrium.
“This is a joke, you guys are a joke,” O’Brien exclaimed. “You have no interest in transparency ... you should be ashamed, or embarrassed.”
O’Brien added this one later.
“Well done, minister, you’ve wasted a good 10 minutes of our time.”
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.