Not true,said Perrottet. He wasn’t wearing his glasses because he had reversed over them. “Yesterday,running around. My glasses fell off … and when I came home I realised I’d reversed over them and they are now completely smashed.”
The premier would do well to take better care of his specs – for the sake of his constituents,if not for his wife.
Trouble behind the wheel:Pollies Dom Perrottet and Tim Smith.Shakespeare
A study by German and Dutch researchers found that while glasses signal unattractiveness,they also increase perceptions of competence,especially – pay attention,clear-sighted Labor leaderChris Minns – for left-leaning candidates.
In the United States,glasses increased politicians’ fortunes,particularly when intelligence was important. “Wearing glasses can robustly boost electoral success,” the study found.
If CBD may humbly offer Perrottet some advice,it’s that a spare pair of glasses can come in handy – one for the car,perhaps,and another for the office.
Team Tink
North Sydney Teal independent MPKylea Tink has pulled off a recruiting coup with her new media adviser.
The newest member of Team Tink,Michaela Boland,has quite the CV. A story she did as arts reporter forRupert Murdoch’sThe Australian on looted antiquities that ended up in the National Gallery of Australia prompted major changes to collecting practices at the nation’s cultural institutions.
She has also had stints as the ABC’s arts,culture and entertainment reporter,and was the Australian correspondent for Hollywood’s must-readVariety.
But Boland has big boots to fill. Her predecessor,Eleanor Docherty, has been in the spin game for 18 years and lists cricketersGlenn McGrath,Michael Clarke,Shane Watson,Michael Bevan,Darren Lehmann andMatthew Hayden,and entertainersJessica Mauboy,The Wiggles,Sonia Kruger andJames Morrison as former clients.
But after a high octane year with Tink,including the gruelling federal election campaign,Docherty tells us that she’d rather hang out with her two young children than face the political commute to Canberra,so famously described as a “bugger of a life” by former MPJackie Kelly.
Sure shot
Lefties had a blast,by all accounts,as online magThe Shot – published byCharles Firth,late of the ABC’s Chaser troupe – got some of its star performers together on stage in early October for a wrap of the year that was.
Now the show is going on the road and heading to Sydney. On Monday night Adelaide Writers festival directorJo Dyer, who emerged as the chief pursuer of former attorney-generalChristian Porter over historic sex abuse allegations,which he denies,will be performing. Joining her on stage will be the lawyer for Porter’s late accuser,Michael Bradley,who has emerged as something of a darling of online progressives in his own right,and who assures punters that “nobody will be defamed-ish” on the night.
Firthhimself and the Shot’s editorDave Milner – a dogged defender of the Andrews’ Victorian Labor government in his columns for the site – will also be on hand,and Kooyong TealMonique Ryan has been added to the bill to “recap a year full of disasters like flooding,war andTim Smith’s driving”.
Sounds great,but we worry that the gags about Smith,a Victorian Liberal state MP who crashed his Jaguar and his political career after a boozy evening out last year,might shoot straight over the Sydney audience’s head.
Silicon on the roof
Sydney was treated to a visit from Silicon Valley royalty on Tuesday when celebrity venture capitalistBri Kimmeland her actor-comedian boyfriendJimmy O. Yang, ofCrazy Rich Asians and HBO’sSilicon Valleyfame,held a “fireside chat” on the roof of the Museum of Contemporary Art.
Kimmel reminded the audience of the five years she spent living in Australia,and that “every single good cafe in Brooklyn is run by Australians”.
Yang cracked only a handful of jokes as he warmed up the ground for his equally successful partner,but he did quip that there were those in the crowd who were in tech,those who were curious about it,and those “who got tired of waiting for their bus at Circular Quay”.
It was a decent turnout at the museum’s Sculpture Terrace but not jam-packed,although Yang’s three-show tour of Sydney,Melbourne and Brisbane was a sellout.
Nu true
We brought word on Tuesday that Medibank Private were a little surprised to read in media reports that they were working with troubled Aussie tech outfit Nuix in sorting out the insurer’s disastrous data breach.
They’re not,and their polite requests to Nuix to remove those references were promptly acted upon.
Nuix also mentioned,in the same material distributed to journalists in the days after the company’s AGM last month,that its platform was being used by Optus to help pick up the pieces of the telco’s own data hack debacle.
Optus has confirmed for CBD that this time Nuix’s story checks out. But we thought we’d just ask.
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