Her pick,Melbourne campaigner,activist and authorSally Rugg,has quite the progressive bona fides. A former executive director of Change.org,campaign director with the decidedly left-leaning GetUp! for five years (where she played a key role in the marriage equality campaign),and most recently running Australians for a[Rupert] Murdoch Royal Commission alongside former Labor PMKevin Rudd.
Kooyong MP Monique Ryan at Parliament House.James Brickwood
Rugg told CBD she’d been drawn to Ryan since her barnstorming performance in a town hall debate against Josh Frydenberg midway through the election campaign.
“What drew me to Monique was obviously the policy priorities – climate change,gender equity,integrity and transparency in politics – but also her approach as a grassroots,community-connected independent,” she said.
It will be interesting to see how the high-profile Rugg,who makes regular appearances on TV,radio and in columns,handles what is typically a more behind-the-scenes role.
WATTS NEW,PM?
Over in Albo-land,long-time staffer Moksha Watts is returning to the show as a senior adviser to the PM after six months gardening leave following her exit from Virgin.
Watts quit as chief corporate affairs adviser to hard-charging Virgin CEO Jayne Hrdlicka last November,after two former staff complained about Watts’ behaviour,though others at Virgin who worked with her described her as tough but fair,and say they never had an issue with her.
Moksha WattsLinkedIn
Watts previously worked for Arnotts,Qantas,Jetstar,had six years with Albanese from 2007 to 2013 when Labor was last in government and had stints with Jenny Macklin andKevin Rudd. But she’s best known for the time she took an attempt to claim “high class” clothes from Harrods as a tax deduction right to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. She lost.
Deputy PM Richard Marles has hired Sky News’Caitlin Taylor as a media adviser,while Communications MinisterMichelle Rowland has nabbedDan Lloyd from Vodafone,who brings a wealth of corporate and telco experience,plus a year withGareth Evans way back in the ’90s.
The new opposition also made some last-minute hires,with deputy Liberal leaderSussan Ley appointing formerScott Morrison andMichael McCormack flackDean Shachar as chief of staff.
ScoMo’s former head of strategy and researchDave “not Hughesy” Hughes has stuck around too,landing a senior role inPeter Dutton’s office. AndMolly Hughes,an economic adviser toMathias Cormann andSimon Birmingham also joins team Dutton.
SQUID GAME
CBD was excited,if not entirely shocked,by the news former treasurerJosh Frydenberg is headed to multinational investment bank Goldman Sachs,as senior regional adviser for Asia Pacific.
The institution,often caricatured as a “giant vampire squid” in reference to its role in the 2009 Global Financial Crisis,seems like a natural home for the would-be future prime minister,who was unceremoniously booted from office by the usually reliably-Liberal-voting electors of Kooyong.
Josh Frydenberg goes corporate.Shakespeare
He follows former prime ministers Malcolm Turnbull (KKR) andPaul Keating (Lazard) on a well-trodden path to the investment banking world,while ex-NSW premierMike Baird headed to NAB after quitting politics.
And while it should put a brief end to the speculation about Frydenberg’s future (I mean he was never going to run the AFL come on),well ... not really.
CBD hears Frydenberg is still keeping commercial office space at South Yarra’s Como Centre,which he leased right after the election. Given Goldman has two floors at the rather posh 101 Collins Street,you’d only keep that if you had a few extracurricular activities in mind.
It’s no real secret that Josh is open to a future in politics,and that plenty of Liberals want him back. While Kooyong might not be ready for a second coming in three years,the Como Centre lies in the neighbouring seat of Higgins,another former Liberal stronghold snatched by Labor’sMichelle Ananda-Rajah in May. But the margin’s only 2.1 per cent.
A SELECT FEW
The Victorian Liberals are close to finalising the team they hope can take downDan Andrews’ Labor government this November with preselections for the Coalition’s upper house ticket to be voted on in the next couple of weekends.
Pick of the bunch this Sunday is the contest for the very winnable Metro North-East seat being vacated byBruce Atkinson,which pits controversial former federal MPGladys Liu – seen as an outside chance – against oncologist andGuardian columnistRanjana Srivastava,who has the backing of Atkinson.
A Srivastava victory would represent a couple of firsts for the Victorian Liberals who’ve never had a woman of colour – or aGuardian scribbler – in state parliament,but first she’ll have to overcome a determined challenge fromNick McGowan,very good pal of party leaderMatthew Guy.
McGowan,a factional stablemate of former party presidentMichael Kroger and former federal ministersJosh Frydenberg andMichael Sukkar,has had a few chops at snaring himself a seat and you feel that he is so well-connected that one day he just has to succeed. Eventually.