Expectations are sky high – and so are the airfares you’ll be hit with to get there,especially if you’ve left it late.
The best deal CBD could find on Tuesday from Qantas – whose boss Alan Joyce will be a high-profile presence at the event – for summit-friendly return flights from $763 from Sydney and $1070 from Melbourne,leaving veteran travellers of the routes aghast.
A Qantas spokesman pointed out:you could get a better deal ($596 and $812 respectively) by going home a little earlier;these were “last-minute fares”;and most attendees would have booked much earlier. And besides,Virgin would charge a lot more!
That’s true,we checked. $1470 for an early flight to Sydney!
It gets even worse for anybody trying to dip out of the two-day gabfest early,with one-way Qantas flights on Thursday evening to Sydney (via Brisbane) coming in at more than $1000 (It’sonly about $1500 to Melbourne).
Anthony Albanese and Alan Joyce go to the fair.John Shakespeare
Of course,none of that is a problem if you fail to score an invite in the first place,and that’s what’s bothering Aged&Community Care Providers Association interim chief executivePaul Sadler who reckons he was on Health MinisterMark Butler’s list of people to invite but didn’t make the final cut.
Sadler tells CBD it was “disappointing and a bit surprising,given the focus on the aged care workforce” not to have been invited to the party,despite the Labor government’s election pledge to put a registered nurse in every aged care home 24 hours a day by July 2023.
Just wait till he hearsSam Elsom,chief executive of Australia’s biggest seaweed producer Sea Forest,got an invite,along with senior business and union leaders,academic experts,and Australian of the YearDylan Alcott.
Albo breaks bread with business lobby
Prime MinisterAnthony Albanese is set to grace the Business Council of Australia’s annual dinner with a keynote address on Wednesday night. Meanwhile,the council’s long-serving chief executiveJennifer Westacott insists she’s not going anywhere,although speculation that’s been around for months about her future isn’t going away.
CBD has been told some members of the lobby group has been sounding out replacements for their veteran chief executive who’s been in the role since 2011,but a BCA spokesperson made it clear on Tuesday that Westacott wasn’t going anywhere.
Westacott has been steadily expanding her extra-curricular engagements,with a recent appointment as chancellor of Western Sydney University. Since 2019,she’s been appointed chair of the Western Parkland City Authority,and Studio Schools of Australia,to go with a bunch of roles including a non-executive director gig with Wesfarmers.
That’s a lot of hats.
Eyes on the prize
After a two-year,COVID-induced hiatus,the Midwinter Ball returns to Parliament House next week – yes,yes we know it’s spring – giving pollies,journalists and assorted business types a chance to get loose and frocked up.
As is tradition,the event’s charity auction gives generous punters an opportunity to have fun with our elected representatives for a good cause,with proceeds going to charities like OzHarvest,Fearless Women and the Ukraine Crisis Appeal.
Prime MinisterAnthony Albanese is up for a game of tennis and a game of pool/snooker at The Lodge. Also on offer is a dinner date with Foreign MinisterPenny Wong and EnvironmentTanya Plibersek, a round of golf plus drink with Deputy PMRichard Marles,and an “NRL experience” watching the Brisbane Broncos with TreasurerJim Chalmers.
It’s not just time with the government up for grabs. Anyone curious aboutPeter Dutton’s reported warm,personal charm can pay for a night at the Big Bash with the Opposition Leader. There’s also a chance for dinner in Canberra with four of the teal independents –Kylea Tink,Allegra Spender,Zoe Daniel andMonique Ryan. Or if you’re more of a rugby sort,eat withDavid Pocock at one of Canberra’s best restaurants.
And if pollies really aren’t your thing,there’s return business class flights to London or Los Angeles,an AFL Grand Final package and,best of all,dinner with six senior political journalists at the National Press Club.
Recent balls have brought their share of drama – in 2017,former Nine political editorLaurie Oakes broadcastMalcolm Turnbull’s leakedDonald Trump impersonation,and now the Prime Minister’s customary speech is “on the record” we can’t wait to see what kind of roasts Albanese has in store.
Anything will go down better thanScott Morrison’s 2019 quip about stealing assembled journalists’ metadata.
Just Dandy
What a difference four years makes. Federal Liberal leaderPeter Dutton has never lived down the whacky claims he made in early 2018 about Melburnians being afraid to go out to restaurants on account of the “African gangs” the then home affairs minister claimed were terrorising the city.
But there he was,on Tuesday morning,with his mateJason Wood at the Tamil Community Centre in Dandenong,one of Australia’s most diverse communities and home to many African-Australians in Melbourne,for a “multicultural morning tea”.
Among the groups having morning tea with Dutton and Wood were some representing African-Australian communities – although the two Liberals did not go into detail about how the chat progressed.
What was clear though,was that the opposition leader’s conciliatory tone could not be further from the hard line he took back in 2018.
“The multicultural community here … shares values with the Liberal Party,” Dutton told reporters.
“There’s a natural affinity with many of the groups we’ve spoken with today.”
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