Instead,the hyper-ambitious former treasurer is living his best life as a very well-paid civilian and dad,having been spotted manning a stall at Melbourne’s Camberwell market on Sunday morning.
Eager to confirm it was the former prime minister-in-waiting himself,our spy hovered over a $5 elephant formerly belonging to the Frydo brood before the now Goldman Sachs executive threw in an extra plastic dinosaur free to get the deal across the line.
“Everything is for sale,except for the kids,” he spruiked.
Seems like Josh’s passion for negotiation remains strong – although it’s not quite guiding legislation through a hostile crossbench.
Last month Frydenberg put his political comeback on hold after being appointed as the chair of the multinational investment bank. It’s much better pay than politics,plus you don’t have to deal with a fraction of the nonsense.
Don’t worry – the proceeds of the stall go to charity. With dad running Goldman,the Frydenberg house isn’t in the flea market game for the money.
He wasn’t keen to comment when contacted by CBD,preferring to get on with his Sunday.
PARTY PLAYERS
It’s still a crowded field in the race to succeedMarise Payne as the next Liberal senator for NSW,with former state transport ministerAndrew Constancestill the likely frontrunner.
Constance fell short of winning another Senate preselection contest earlier this year,as didMalcolm Turnbull’s former son-in-lawJames Brown,who’s also running again and just quit his job as chief executive of the Space Industry Association of Australia to spend more time with his campaign.
Second time’s a charm:Senate hopeful Andrew Constance.Janie Barrett
During the last race,which followed senatorJim Molan’s death,Brown couldn’t get up despite an endorsement fromJohn Howard.
When Brown was sat next to Howard and his wife Janette at a $1500-a-head dinner last week to celebrate former planning ministerAnthony Roberts’20 years in parliament,it got a few tongues wagging. Among the 400-strong crowd were fellow preselection rivalsMonica Tudehopeand former ACT senator and junior ministerZed Seselja.
Meanwhile,education department media managerSophie Lambertis the latest to put her hand up to help the Liberals take back North Sydney fromKylea Tink.She’s clearly no fan of the teals.
“The traditional blue-ribbon seat we all thought we knew was stolen at the last election by a concerning new wave of politics,one which sadly proved attractive to voters while failing to represent their needs,” Lambert wrote in a preselection brochure.
That’s certainly an interesting way to describe losing the hearts and minds of the north shore.
The brochure also prominently features a picture of Lambert out campaigning for anti-trans former Warringah candidateKatherine Deves – clearly some Liberals still like her!
There’s also an endorsement from independent former North Sydney mayor and current councillorJilly Gibson,who runs for local government as an independent.
RACE TO THE BOTTOM
Peter “Showbags” V’landys at the state dinner hosted by US President Joe Biden.Alex Ellinghausen
Racing NSW boss Peter “Showbags” V’landys has a way of living rent-free in the heads of rival Victorian sporting administrators.
After all,none of them managed to score a seat at a White House state dinner with Prime MinisterAnthony Albaneseand US PresidentJoe Biden.
Last Friday,Victoria Racing Club chief executiveSteve Rosich (who CBD readers might recall showed up at V’landys’ Everest Race recently) had a dig at Showbags over Racing NSW’s attendance figures at the Victorian Chamber of Commerce annual Spring Racing Lunch at Flemington.
Speaking at the Victorian Chamber of Commerce annual Spring Racing Lunch,Rosich said Flemington would have 250,000 to 260,000 attendees across the four days of the carnival next week – Derby Day,Melbourne Cup Day,Oaks Day and Stakes Day. “Which is the four largest-attended race days anywhere in Australia,” he said.
“And they are legitimate numbers,as I look up north,they are legitimate numbers here in Victoria.”
All a bit of interstate rivalry on which V’landys,who’d just landed from the States,declined to comment when reached on Sunday.
This won’t be the last we hear of the rivalry. Especially not with the news King Charles III is likely to attend next year’s Everest after an invitation from V’landys himself.
GATES OPEN
Microsoft founder and the on-again-off-again world’s richest manBill Gates takes a bit of an interest in what happens Down Under.
During a trip earlier this year,Gates met with Albaneseand hosted a private dinner with a few local tech billionaires,including Atlassian co-foundersMike Cannon-BrookesandScott Farquhar.
Gates also appears to keep an eye on Australian elections,with documents released under Freedom of Information showing the ever-polite Gates writing to the prime minister,plus his predecessorsScott Morrison andMalcolm Turnbull,to congratulate them on making it to The Lodge.
In other correspondence Turnbull is praised for his “commitment to Australian innovation”,while Gates positively gushes about his last visit Down Under.
“I came away from my visit even more convinced of how much Australia has to offer in solving problems in climate,health and development,” Gates wrote to Albanese after his February trip.
If only the rest of us shared Gates’ boundless optimism.
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