By Stephen Brook and Kishor Napier-Raman
It has been a headline grabbing few days for Victorian Liberals in the federal election campaign, with a special CBD shoutout to closet property investor Amelia Hamer in Kooyong and Goldstein campaign worker Frazer Hurst, who, to be fair, is in no way the first political figure to don a high-vis vest in an attempt to prove relatability.
So what actually happened at St Catherine’s Primary School in Moorabbin on March 4 when Liberal candidate for Goldstein Tim Wilson paid a visit to campaign outside?
Tim Wilson (second from right) posing with campaign staff.
Depends on whom you talk to. The headline-grabbing version is that overzealous Liberal campaigning outside the school was so off-putting to parents at the school gate that St Catherine’s called the cops.
“In response to concerns, we contacted the police to ensure the situation was appropriately managed,” the principal wrote to parents in an email. “Be assured that this activity was neither invited nor endorsed by the school in any way. We apologise for any inconvenience or concern this may have caused.”
One source cast doubt on whether the police actually fronted up. When CBD inquired, police media had no record of any officers attending the scene.
Liberal sources said it was school staff who proved to be overbearing and education authorities that run the school later apologised to Wilson and his team.
Officially it was a no comment from the Liberal Party and Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools, which runs St Catherine’s. One fact we noted: MACS executive Tim Udorovic is a former chief of staff to Tim Wilson.
Beat the traffic, take a tram
Spotted: Melbourne has not lost its reputation for egalitarianism. Late last week around the middle of the day, CBD spotted a prominent local billionaire on the No. 58 tram.
The public transport conveyance in question runs from the mansions of Toorak along Toorak Road before turning into St Kilda Road and then Kings Way. The prominent investor and philanthropist, heading off for lunch, alighted when it later reached the corner of William and Bourke streets.
Only in Melbourne, folks.
Exit time
Tasmanian salmon is so hot right now. Crisis hot, you might say. So it seems to us very odd timing for the industry body to be changing chief executives.
To recap: bacterial disease piscirickettsiosis killed 1 million salmon in February and is spreading, live salmon have been dumped in tubs with dead fish, and the world is worried about the industry killing off the endangered Maugean skate, the “thylacine of the sea”.
Senators react to Sarah Hanson-Young holding up a dead salmon in the chamber.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Leonardo DiCaprio has raised the alarm to his 60 million social media followers, while Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has waved a dead salmon (as she put it, a “stinking extinction salmon”) in a plastic bag in the Senate, the prime minister has vowed to protect jobs, and the government’s law changes to protect the industry have the entire environmental movement up in arms.
Even famed Hobart waterfront restaurant Mures has taken local salmon off the menu out of concern.
It is at this point that Luke Martin, chief executive of Salmon Tasmania, is outski after just two years in the job, with some lavish praise from the organisation’s chair but a lot of industry questions.
As the Tasmanian Times reported: “Luke Martin flees rotting salmon crisis.”
Tasmanian Labor leader Dean Winter.Credit: Brodie Weeding
But Martin has landed on his feet at a plum taxpayer-funded gig working for Tasmanian Labor leader Dean Winter.
The new guy in charge is Dr John Whittington, a former secretary of the state’s Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment Department, which used to regulate the industry.
Martin told CBD: “I’ll leave it to others to judge how successful I have been in this role, but from my perspective the Macquarie Harbour situation has been the most challenging process I have ever been a part of, and having now secured a resolution for the industry and the workers, it is an opportunity to go out on a high.”
Clive and co
To be fair, getting punters to pay $45 to watch a live-stream of Tucker Carlson was always going to be a tough sell, particularly when the American hard-right media personality already broadcasts free on the platform once known as Twitter.
So it came as little surprise when billionaire mining magnate and Carlson’s local impresario Clive Palmer pulled the plug on a series of local shows last week, citing concerns about having a foreigner comment on the Australian election. Also, Tucker’s dad, Dick Carlson, a former journalist of the more legitimate sort, recently died. Also, about 90 per cent of tickets were unsold.
Plug pulled: Tucker Carlson at the Republican National Convention last July. Credit: AP
Whatever the reason, Palmer’s Trumpet of Patriots roadshow wouldn’t be going ahead. Except nobody told the folks at Queensland Tourism. The state government’s official website still features a show for Tuesday night at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre among a list of things to do in the Sunshine State.
We had questions – why was a government-backed website listing Palmer’s latest bit of goofiness? Had it failed to pick up on the cancellation? The queries went unanswered.
Meanwhile, even without beaming into Australia, Tucker’s still making his presence felt, appearing alongside Palmer on the ubiquitous yellow billboards popping up around the country to mark the start of election season. In an act of typical Palmerian political trolling, there’s even one right outside Greens leader Adam Bandt’s electorate office in Fitzroy.
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