Last month,One Nation leaderPauline Hansondeclared a new gift – a portrait painted by Queensland artistMerry Sparks.
When CBD tracked down the portrait in question,we were surprised to see that Pauline had been painted in the style of Chinese dictator Mao Zedong,framed in striking,Communist Party red. In fact,look closely and you can see the Chairman’s sinister silhouette lurking in the painting’s background.
It’s an odd choice for a woman who launched her career saying awful things about Asian people,and has warned of a Chinese invasion.
But the portrait clearly came from a place of love. Hanson frequently goes on telly wearing Sparks’ creations on T-shirts,even rocking one at an anti-vaccine mandate rally back when that was a thing. She also posed with Sparks,who even trimmed the One Nation leader’s hair for the painting because she couldn’t get to a hairdresser during a lockdown. The painting was entered,unsuccessfully,into last year’s Archibald Prize.
“There is a general observation from many that the Archibald appears to be woke,lean to the left,and is biased,” Sparks wrote of the snub on Instagram.
“That is not how I think,” she clarified.
Sparks previously listed the painting as up for sale on her website,and we’re glad to see it’s going to a loving home.
PEZZULLO’S PAL
At last,theMike Pezzullo defender has logged on.
The Home Affairs boss stood aside pending an investigation last week after theHerald revealed his brazen attempts to become a political influencer through a barrage of encrypted messages sent to Liberal powerbroker Scott Briggs.
Mike Pezzullo,secretary of the Department of Home Affairs,during an estimates hearing in parliament.Alex Ellinghausen
The word around Canberra is that a comeback for Iron Mike looks unlikely.
But Pezzullo found a willing keyboard warrior inRobert Potter,the media-savvy co-founder of cyber-security startup Internet 2.0. Now,CBD sympathises with anyone game enough to fire off a contrarian take,even if we disagree mightily with the substance of it.
And Potter’s screed published by our stablemates atTheAustralian Financial Review,entitled “Australia needs more public servants like Mike Pezzullo” is a particularly contrarian effort.
Pezzullo,the self-appointed geopolitical expert,is depicted as the kind of fixer and hard-nosed brawler we need for the impending conflict with our neighbours to the north,that sort of thing.
Among our favourite lines:
“The Lilliputians have rallied for a good old Aussie tall poppy cut-down,a favourite and much-loved sport in Canberra”.
Potter kicks things off with an anecdote about his own work with Pezzullo on ransomware,noting how the Home Affairs supremo circulated Internet 2.0’s ideas in the White House,and made them a good part of the government’s Ransomware Disruption Taskforce.
What Potter neglects to mention is how his objectivity might be blurred after Internet 2.0 landed a $338,580 limited tender contract from Home Affairs for just one month’s work on … a “ransomware targeting framework”.
We asked Potter about that curious omission,and he was good enough to tell us he’d disclosed his work with Home Affairs and friendship with Pezzullo prior to writing the piece,but conceded:“The only thing I left out is that we were paid a very small amount for the work. You wouldn’t get a ransomware targeting framework from PWC for 300K.”
Fair point,we guess,but seems like a lot of money to skate over.
ALL THE AJE
It was a decent showing for fashionable Australians on Sunday as the latest iteration of the industry power index the Business of Fashion 500 was unveiled at the height of Paris Fashion Week.
The most eye-catching local new addition to the list is likely to be Sydney “accessible luxury” brand – if $155 for a T-shirt counts as accessible – Aje,founded in 2008 byEdwina Forest andAdrian Norris.
The label has certainly had no trouble attracting attention,in the papers on the weekend for snagging the services of modelGemma Ward to help launch one of its collections,and doesn’t lack confidence either.
It was only a couple of months ago that Norris told theFinthat Aje was “chasing the tail” of go-to Australian fashion success story and BOF regular Zimmermann.
Hollywood royaltyMargot Robbie is also a debutante on the BOF 500 this year,after the success of the Barbie movie “cemented her status as a pop culture and style icon”.
K-pop outfit NewJeans – which has two Australian members – also made the cut,as didJoshua Cox,educated at Swinburne Uni,who has found success as one of the founders of Sole DXB,one of the go-to showcases for middle-eastern streetwear.
Now,if that sounds a bit broad,the fashion 500 has a place for all contributors;designers,obviously models and muses,entrepreneurs,retailers,executives and even the media. CBD’s call-up must have got lost in the post.
The 29 Australians – or Australian-identifying – to have made this year’s list are in exalted company,withPharrell Williams,Naomi Campbell andTommy Hilfiger among the hundreds joining BoF founder and CEO at the Paris Shangri-La ballroom on Saturday night.
Sounds nice.
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