Could we see “Gai the Musical”?

“We could easily. It would be very topical,wouldn’t it.”

Who would play you?

“Oh,God,it would be hard to cast,I can tell you.”

Late Declaration

Ever since former AFR Rear Window columnistJoe Aston’s new book alleged thatAnthony Albanesehad liaised with ex-Qantas bossAlan Joyceto secure flight upgrades,a claim the prime minister’s office eventually denied,the news cycle has been dominated by intemperate bickering over the whole “perks for pollies” snafu.

The Liberals,who famously never accept goodies from the big end of town,smell blood and another opportunity to paint the public housing boy made good as woefully out of touch. So it is CBD’s solemn duty to remind our readers that both sides of politics have a few cracks on the disclosure front.

So it is interesting to note that born-again NSW Liberal SenatorDave Sharmadoesn’t disclose membership of the Chairman’s Lounge on his register of interest declaration. Given all pollies are routinely invited,except for the few bolshie Greens and teals,we were surprised. Maybe there’s something we don’t know about,we wondered?

During his last stint in parliament – Sharma was the member for Wentworth before voters ditched him forAllegra Spenderin 2022 – he declared lounge access. When CBD invited the good senator to clarify,he left us on read.

Sharma isn’t the only Liberal whose membership status is ambiguous,however. Shadow Attorney-GeneralMichaelia Cash also doesn’t list Chairman’s Lounge membership. The former Morrison government minister’s people pointed us to a line in the disclosure explanatory notes for Senators saying there was no need to declare airline lounge membership.

Meanwhile,there’s been a flurry of disclosures made by politicians since all this kicked off. Three days after the extracts from Aston’s book were published inGood Weekend,Labor frontbencherAndrew Gilesdisclosed an “unrequested Qantas upgrade” to business class. To be fair,he’s declared a few of those.

On Thursday,Liberal MPJenny Waredisclosed three upgrades,including on a Qantas flight back from Bali,adding that they were not requested. Expect more of those.

Fallen Star

Star Entertainment Group looks more like Monty Python’s black knight than a casino operator.

The first flesh wound was delivered in 2021,when an investigation by this masthead alleged Star had enabled widespread money-laundering,fraud and criminal activity through its casinos for years,despite the board being warned,which was followed by a suspension of the company’s Sydney casino licence after a damning inquiry a year later.

Just this year alone,Star has lost chief executiveRobbie Cookeand chairDavid Foster,reported a $1.69 billion loss,cut hundreds of jobs,copped a $15 million fine from the NSW casino regulator and had its Sydney licence suspension extended to early next year.

It’s hardly a surprise,then,that when Star’s annual report was released this week,none of the company’s top executives received a short-term bonus.

But that didn’t stop Cooke,who quit after just 18 months,walking away with a $5.1 million pay packet. The report doesn’t reveal incoming chief executiveSteve McCann’sincredibly good wicket – he’s set to get $22.5 million over his first three years in charge.

Ms Worldwide

Independent senatorLidia Thorpecan lay a fair claim to being the most famous Australian politician in the world.

Her provocative tirade atKing Charlesin the Great Hall of Parliament House made global headlines and became an obsession of the British media.

Fleet Street’s paper for the middle market,theDaily Mail,recently dispatched one of its star reporters all the way from London to Melbourne (business class!) to write an investigative feature on the former Greens politician.

The piece,by the paper’s swashbuckling feature writerGuy Adams,ran over two pages on the weekend and was strong stuff,headlined “Tearing itself apart over race”. Headlined in red ink,no less.

“After the King was barracked by a senator of Aboriginal descent,a troubling dispatch,” theMail continued.

TheMail visited Maxine’s Gentleman’s Club in Brunswick,outside of which Thorpe yelled profanities at a group of men at 3am one Sunday last year,leading to her lifetime ban from the establishment.

The piece also had a go at the ubiquity of welcome to country announcements and interviewedSam Newman. As you do.

The piece does not appear to be available on the Daily Mail Australia website,which on Thursday launched itsMail+ subscription service for $1.99 a month.

Even theHerald’s sister newspaperThe Age got a mention in the piece,after an editorial saying Thorpe had a right to speak up.

It was described as “Melbourne’s Left-wingAgenewspaper,the local equivalent ofThe Guardian”. How very dare you!

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