Mark Latham got two tickets to the Australian Open,courtesy of Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting.John Shakespeare
Turns out corporate Australia also has plenty of time for the NSW One Nation leader. A recent interest disclosure tabled in parliament shows there are plenty of people who still want to hang out with him.
In January,Latham got two tickets to the Australian Open,courtesy ofGina Rinehart‘s Hancock Prospecting. Rinehart is pretty generous to her favourite politicians.Peter Duttonhas received a few freebies,while the billionaire mining magnate showed up atJacinta Nampijinpa Price’s maiden Senate speech. Nobody else in NSW Parliament got any love from Hancock.
Latham also got a spot in the Foxtel box at last year’s Boxing Day Test at the MCG,plus a lunch date from Cricket NSW in Sydney during the rain-addled New Year’s Test.
Latham’s disclosures also reveal two properties in the Hunter are subject to Family Court action as part of a property settlement related to his divorce fromJanine Lacey. Last year,the former Labor leader announced,abruptly,that the marriage had ended “in rather unique circumstances” – later explained as a reference to the challenges of COVID restrictions.
SHARING IS CARING
Those disclosures tabled before parliament last week reveal a few interesting tidbits about our current class of state politicians.
While one of Prime MinisterAnthony Albanese’s early directives after winning last year’s federal election was to force his ministers to divest their shareholdings,such an order hasn’t yet hit Macquarie Street. Environment MinisterPenny Sharpe has some shares in Telstra.
ClubsNSW,the pokie lobby group that found itself in the middle of a political firestorm after its bossJosh Landis was ousted after a slur against Dominic Perrottet’s Catholicism,was good enough to provide Christmas hampers toChris Minns and former treasurerMatt Kean.
Minns,at least,had the good grace to donate his to a local school.
FASHIONABLY LATE
Sydney’s Fashion Week got into its stride on Monday,and it’s a tricky scheduling clash that got people at the event talking.
Fashion Week fixtureMichael Lo Sordo was set to unveil his “Showgirls” 2024 collection – a hotly anticipated event – on Monday at Carriageworks with shows at 7.30pm for the industry and at 8.30pm which mere mortals could attend,for up to $260 a seat.
Trouble was,Vogue was throwing a sponsored gin party with homegrown Hollywood power player Margot Robbie,leaving many of the fashionistas with quite the scheduling dilemma.
It was no question forVogue editor-in-chiefChristine Centenera – partner of another Australian acting export,Joel Edgerton – who missed the Robbie event. With just one day in Sydney to catch the first Fashion Week of her tenure,she wasn’t going to risk spreading herself too thin.
In the end,Centenera managed the clash by simply showing up to the early Lo Sordo show.
BY THE BOOK
Let nobody pen any eulogies for the Liberal Party’s broad church just yet. A new book,edited byHarry Stutchbury,a former Young Liberal president and staffer to former NSW transport ministerAndrew Constance,showcases the full range of ideological viewpoints kicking around the party of opposition.
Markets and Prosperity,published by noted conservative press Connor Court (whose bestsellers tend to be books that call climate change a scam),contains missives from the usual suspects in the party’s thought leader faction. There’s an essay by SenatorAndrew Bragg on cutting emissions,ex-Mackellar MPJason Falinski on “the opportunity gap”,and perennial losing candidateGeorgina Downer (daughter of Alexander) writing about Menzies,obviously.
Even former Labor trade ministerCraig Emerson gets a look in with his essay on whether markets are anti-social. So we were surprised to see a contribution from that famous intellectual titan of the Australian right,SenatorGerard Rennick,best known for saying silly things about vaccines,climate change,the Bureau of Meteorology,and childcare.
Stutchbury,son of AFR editorMichael Stutchbury,last caused a stir a few years ago when hisHeraldopinion piece on housing affordability drew the ire of senior figures in the party,including then state and federal ministers David Elliot and Alex Hawke.
NEW CHANNELS
The last government was a good one for Liberal-aligned lobbyists DPG Advisory,whose bossesScott Briggs andDavid Gazard were on very friendly terms with former PMScott Morrison.
Unlike some of their counterparts in the lobbying game – Barton Deakin just closed its Canberra offices – DPG has adjusted to the new Labor-teal era. Last year,the firm snapped up former Australia Institute bossBen Oquist,who used to beBob Brown’s chief of staff.
Put in charge of climate and environmental,social,and governance matters,Oquist expanded DPG’s client base. The Australia Institute joined as a client earlier this year. And now the firm has started doing pro bono work for sexual consent advocateChanel Contos.
Oquist had already been acting as an informal mentor to Contos,and is hoping to help navigate the Canberra bubble and manage her interactions across the political spectrum. Given Contos just joined forces with former prime ministerJulia Gillard on her Global Institute for Women’s Leadership,we reckon those Canberra connections are already pretty good.
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