A Bob each way:Carr confesses to sending same tweet from two accounts

CBD wondered on Wednesday if all these late nights were starting to catch up with us,while reading former NSW premierBob Carr tweeting congratulations to Labor comradeAnthony Albanese for spurning an invitation to the upcoming NATO summit,which Carr called a “solid national interest decision”.

“Case-by-case partnership as with Ukraine and Afghanistan fine but integration with NATO not part of our international character,” Carr wrote,in his typically florid style.

Just an hour earlier,we’d read the same sentence word for word in the comments section of this masthead’s scoop of Albanese’s no-show.

The name of the commenter:Anne Carr.

So far,so spooky.

We contacted Bob Carr on Thursday to ask about these strange goings-on and he fessed up that the two posts were in fact from the same source.

“Yes it was me,” Carr told CBD. “My technological ineptitude means I didn’t know how to shift from[wife] Helena’s name (Anne Helena Carr) in which we take the[SMH] subscription.”

“I assumed people would guess it was me. Next time I will sign it.”

You do that,Bob,and don’t stop subscribing.

Anti-Voice campaigner’s surprise inspiration

For a bloke who’s poured millions into conservative causes,most recently bankrolling the No campaign to an Indigenous Voice to parliament,financierSimon Fenwick is rarely seen or heard.

But Fenwick popped up last week for a radio discussion hosted by former Liberal MPRoss Cameron along with arch libertarian storage kingSam Kennard. Naturally,the chat went down on TNT Radio,a fringe online station known for promoting all sorts of fruity types and giving disgraced broadcasterChris Smith a career lifeline.

“They have not gone through the lobotomy that takes place for many Australian corporate leaders,” Cameron said when introducing the duo.

After much blokey backslapping,the two waxed lyrical on the state of the economy,and their opposition to the Voice,which Fenwick dismissed as akin to other “silly,well-intentioned plans” like the apology to the Stolen Generations.

Later,the duo were asked to name their most inspiring business figures.

Fenwick’s choice ofWarren Buffett intrigued us,given the billionaire investor is a very generous donor to the kind of progressive causes his Australian admirer is trying to fight. Kennard went with the safer option ofGina Rinehart.

Their appearance followed a more controversial guest – pro-Putin social media figureSimeon Boikov,aka The Aussie Cossack,currentlyhiding in the Russian embassy demanding Moscow engineer a prisoner swap to get him out of Australia where he faces criminal charges.

“You won’t hear that inThe Sydney Morning Herald,” Cameron gushed,after Boikov’s spirited defence of Russia’s invasion.

SBS goes west

It never quite made sense that Australia’s multicultural broadcaster SBS is headquartered in Artarmon,the least glamorous corner of Sydney’s north shore.

So moves to relocate it to somewhere in western Sydney haven’t been met with quite the same vitriol as the ABC’s Parramatta expansion. Ultimo,where Aunty broadcasts from,is a whole lot nicer and more central than SBS’ digs,a stone’s throw from Royal North Shore Hospital.

The push for SBS to move west was made by several local councillors last year and received support from Prime MinisterAnthony Albanese. New documents revealed under freedom of information show further representations were made to the SBS board,including from Parramatta MPAndrew Charlton,a champion of western Sydney who lived in a Bellevue Hill trophy home until he was preselected about five minutes ago.

“Parramatta[heart emoji] SBS and SBS[heart emoji] Parramatta,” Charlton wrote in an email to the broadcaster’s managing directorJames Taylor last year,offering to meet and give him the pitch.

Also lobbying SBS was Fairfield MayorFrank Carbone,pushing for the broadcaster to set up shop in his south-west Sydney fiefdom.

A local political kingmaker who helpedDai Lebeat Labor in Fowler last year,and who extracted a $115 million hospital upgrade promise from PremierChris Minnsmerely by threatening to run at the state election,the independent Carbone is pretty good at getting what he wants.

So we’re expecting a strong pitch.

Ah,McGain

The Liberals’ disastrous Aston byelection defeat still looms large overPeter Dutton’s leadership.

So does the defining image from that inauspicious night;Dutton,trailed by defeated candidateRoshena Campbellwalking past a row of ashen-faced volunteers.

Looking back at that image,we couldn’t help but notice youngBarclay McGain – CBD’s favourite junior Liberal activist – a beer in hand and look on his face bordering on despair.

You might remember McGain as the former chairman of the Gold Coast Young Liberal National Party branch,sacked from the office of controversial former-Liberal MPAndrew Laming a couple of years ago after sharing racially offensive photos on the socials.

McGain later attracted attention by dressing up as US vigilante gunboyKyle Rittenhouse – who killed two Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020.

We last encountered the intrepid Queenslander at the Victorian state election trying,unsuccessfully,to toppleDan Andrews.

But McGain had better luck in the NSW state election last month,where he helped LiberalTim James holdGladys Berejiklian’s old seat of Willoughby for the party. Just.

You win some,you lose some.

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