How their words come back to haunt them. A recording has surfaced of The Man Who Would Be King (but probably won't be) from 2 decades ago.
Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott was once a fiery University student . Unlike other students Tony railed against further money for Universities and demanded the government cut funding because it produced "left wing thinking" and as he says scathingly, courses at Sydney University like The Politics of Lesbianism.
Abbott has been referred to as a 'Manchurian Candidate' due to his adoration of Cardinal George Pell and his worship at the lap of the strange right-wing Catholic Bartholomew Augustine Santamaria
B.A.Santamaria (1915-1998) was warning of conspiracies long before they were invented and in his Catholic Worker newspaper railed against Communism, the USSR and Socialism but claimed Capitalism was an even greater threat.
Fast forward to 2012 and Tony Abbott's sister Christine Foster -seen her in our snap from Deborah Thomas' council campaign launch last week- has not only declared herself to be a card carrying lesbian but a politcal one at that !. Chrsitine is standing in the September council elections against Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore. Hear a young Tony at this link:
http://media.crikey.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Nationwide.mp3 ***********************
And the man who most likely will be Opposition Leader when Julia Gillard wins again in November 2nd, 2013 with a slightly increased majority (take it from us-we know these things) Malcolm Turnbull has paid a touching tribute to the late Robert Hughes in Parliament today.
Hughes was the uncle of Malcolm's wife Lucy Turnbull and the pair cared for him after his shocking car accident. During the speech Malcolm cruelly taunts his leader Tony Abbott :
Malcolm Turnball: “It was the year of the republican referendum and Bob, first in a wheelchair, and then with his calipers became a prominent advocate for the yes vote. I think he had a swing at you Tony in one of those debates."
Tony Abbott: "He missed"
Malcolm Turnball: "He missed? What a loss to the nation it would have been if he had connected."
Ouch!
The Prince Edward Yacht Club boasts one of Sydney's premier locations. Right at the end of ritzy Point Piper with commanding views of the harbour, it reeks of old world charm with it's wide verandahs and commanding views of the harbour.
Any excuse to visit the club is taken but the opportunity to wish council aspirant Deborah Thomas well for her bid for a seat on the Woollahra Council couldn't be turned down.
Malcolm Turnbull & Deborah Thomas
Andrew & Penne Peacock
Really, the folks of the Eastern Suburbs should be so lucky to be represented by a quality candidate like Thomas. Deb's day job is the Media Manager for ACP Magazines. She used to be editor of the Australian Women's Weekly, the magazine that is the basis for the Packer family fortune. Kerry Packer knew the top selling magazine would be in good hands when he handed the reins to Deborah. After all, her mother and grandmother had been editors of the Weekly in their days.
Joining us for the launch was Liberal MP Malcolm Turnbull (they say he talked Deborah into standing) and former Liberal party leader Andrew Peacock with wife Penne. Penne Peacock is a great pal of Laura Bush (Andrew famously had a long affair with Shirley MacLaine who will star in the next series of DowntonAbbey)
Also there to wish Thomas well, Christine Foster (right: who just happens to be the sister of Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott) who will be challenging Lord Mayor Clover Moore.
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DESPITE SEVERAL NEWSPAPERS and radio shows claiming noted private investigator Frank Monte would be standing for the Mayoral elections in September, the Shuttle can reveal he has dropped out of the race at the very last moment.
Frank Monte & fiancee Sharon Sargeant
Monte says he had to make a quick decision last week on the day nominations closed and decided against throwing his hat in the ring: " I had great feedback especially from business owners in the City and Kings Cross who are fed up with Clover Moore. However there are good reasons I decided not to run at the last moment. I had information that both Labor and Liberal would be throwing big bucks at the election as they perceived Moore is vunerable. It takes at least $30,000 to mount a reasonable campaign and I would rather wait until the General Election next year and run as an Independent. And I have to travel for business in the next 3 weeks which would complicate any campaign"
"To Rome by any chance?" the Shuttle asked. Our spy disguised as a humble gaffer at the famous Cinicitta Studios in Rome tells us Monte is booked in as a consultant for a new Italian TV series about the Mafia.
"I have nothing to say about that" replied Monte before the phone went dead!
The Boy Who Loved Apples is Amanda Webster's true and inspiring story of a family's struggle with their son's anorexia.
Amanda realised her eleven-year-old son
Riche was not just a little too skinny but dangerously ill.
Malcolm Turnbull and the author
"Do boys get anorexia ?" people would ask. And then," How did he get it?"
That was the question Amanda asked herself, too. As a trained doctor she knew that every disease has a cause. And if her son had an eating
disorder, she wondered what the cause could possibly be -was it something
she and her husband Kevin had done—or failed to do?
Quick to blame both Kevin and herself, worried about how her two other kids
were coping, Amanda also found herself at odds with a medical
establishment that barely understood Riche’s illness, far less how to
treat it. And as she embarked on the long, agonising process of saving
her son’s life she found herself battling not just Riche’s demons but
her own.
Brave, honest and ultimately uplifting, The Boy Who Loved Apples is a compelling and beautifully written account of life with an eating disorder, and a gritty, moving testament to a mother’s love.
Malcolm Turnbull MP launched the book on Monday at Ariel Bookshop in Oxford Street Darlinghurst. It's also available on Amazon kindle.
Tim Draxyl,Kevin Bishop,Xavier Samuel,Kris Marshall
As the Golden Globes unfolded, movie history of another kind was being made at Bondi Junction with the premiere of Stephan Elliott's A Few Best Men. Stephan's latest offering looks set to succeed at the box office if the comments at the after-party are anything to go by.
Rebel Wilson
The Shuttle had to attend the Sydney Theatre Awards but made to the drinks following the movie and the audience were in agreement.
A Few Best Men looks set to break Elliott's run of bad luck that has seen recent box office flops and a broken leg from a skiing trip which put an end to plans to do a bio-pic on the failed wedding of Prince Lorenzo Montesini and Primrose Dunlop in Venice.
Performances to watch out for- Olivia Newton John , Rebel Wilson , the dazzling good looking Xavier Samuel and Laura Brent who is also working on The Great Gatsby.
Elizabeth Debicki & Laura Brent
The film also sees the return of costume designer Lizzie Gardner who won an Oscar for her work on Priscilla, Queen of The Dessert.
At the premiere: model Tahnya Tozzi (right- a Shuttle discovery) visiting from New York and Malcolm & Lucy Turnbull.
Former Federal Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull has been having a hard time lately with Liberal Party supporters of the leader, TonyMad Monk Abbott out to ensure Turnbull never becomes leader again.
Turnbull was never popular with the hard right. The self made millionaire, former barrister and banker (estimated worth : $300M) is seen as a bit of a latte sipping elitist probably more suited to the Labor Party which it's reputed he once tried to join.
The problem for the party is that Turnbull is popular amongst the rank and file members who see Malcolm as their best bet to return to power, if only he could act like a politician. He does have a tendency to cut to the chase having come lately to politics.
Perhaps he should turn to his cousin the legendary actress Angela Lansbury for acting lessons on how to present himself as a politician rather than a man in a hurry to get to the top job so he can show the country just how it should be done.
Lansbury was out last week in New York and attended the Actors Fund Annual Gala at the New York Marriott Hotel. As our picture show, she is remarkably fit looking and as large as life at the fabulous age of 87.
Angela Lansbury & Hunter Ryan Herdicka (Rob Rich)
Turnbull's mother was the academic and actress Coral Lansbury who is Angela's cousin. She split with Malcolm's father when he was nine and went to live, like Angela in the USA.
Turnbull is not only the richest politician in the country, he's probably one of the smartest as well. He worked for a number of years as Kerry Packer's personal lawyer before taking on the might of Margaret Thacher's government in the famous Spy Catcher trial when he successfully defeated the British government's attempts to block publication of the memoirs of the former MI5 officer Peter Wright.
He made a motza with the merchant bank he started with Nicholas Whitlam, the son of former Labor PM Gough Whitlam and then sealed his fortune during the dot.com boom. As chairman of the Republican Movement Turnbull really felt the loss of the referendum when the country voted in 1998 to keep the British royal family as head of state.
Turnbull blamed the loss on the machinations of then PM John Howard but he joined Howard's Liberal Party as a minister which most perceived as Howard's attempt to 'keep his enemies closer'.
When Turnbull produced an excellent paper on housing affordability recommending the adoption of European style housing associations and co-ops plus spending more on government housing, the paper was quietly shelved by Howard.
Turnbull is clearly in the wrong political party. He should ask his cousin for some tips. The Lansburys have long been on the left of the political spectrum. Angela's father was a politician and member of the British Communist Party and her grandfather was the leader of the British Labour Party.
Angela now lives in a New York apartment having returned from Ireland where she lived for a number of years. She starred in the film Gaslight when she was just 19 and went on to make a string of Hollywood films co-starring with the leading Hollywood stars of the day. She's probably most famous for the long running TV series Murder She Wrote.
At the Actors Fund Gala Bebe Neuwirth was honoured while Al Pacino received The Lee Strasberg Artistic Achievement Award
We counted 4 billionaires and a dozen multi-millionaires whose wealth is the hundreds of millions amongst the 750 guests. And a host of young heirs and heiresses who will inherit those fortunes.
adding colour-Ruby Jacenko
Property tycoon Lang walker, the Nutrimetics founders Bill and Imelda Roche, Aussie Home Loans boss John Symonds, TV network supremo David Leckie and his wife Skye, Opposition MP Malcolm Turnbull (possibly the next Prime Minister) and wife Lucy, Grant Vandenburg (he manages Russel Crowe), dentist to the stars David Carr (Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman and a host of Hollywood stars sport his perfect molars) while British banker Duncan Mount and his clan paid a visit from Byron Bay (he bought Paul Hogan's country estate but is planning a move back to Sydney).
Duncan & Sally Mount (centre) & clan
Rounding the corner of New South Head Rd into Rose Bay and the sight to behold was something special. Marquees snaked around the promenade, each one dedicated to one of the world's most renowned chefs who were going to prepare a sumptious banquet for the Flood Appeal in association with the Salvation Army. Every penny-and it's estimated one million dollars was raised (at $1000 a head), will go to the Queensland flood victims.
Chefs included Neil Perry, Matt Moran, Bennelong's Guillaume Brahimi and Maurice Terzini from the Bondi Icebergs. The event was the mastermind of Catalina's Michael & Judy McMahon and everyone from the local council, waiters who donated their services, providors and vineyards to the Rose Bay police performed admirably as the night went as smooth as silk.
Jessic Mauboy
Russell Crowe's manager Grant Vandenberg & family
The wonderful indigenous singer Jessica Mauboy sang up a storm as a gentle breeze cooled the air and fruit bats filled the sky on their nightly vigil from the Botanical Gardens to their abode in the east. The moon was full but no craziness ensued.
Emirates Airways provided a raffle prize in the form of a first class world trip as did Paspaley Pearls with a stunning necklace worth $200,000.
# Paspaley also hosted a charity party on the same night at Ottos on the Finger Wharf in Woolloomooloo with guest Xavier Samuel of the Twilight series and entertainment from Australian Idol winner Wes Carr raising $325,000 for the same cause.
One glamorous guest at the Lavazzi calendar launch on Monday evening in Potts Point was hotelier to the stars, Terry Schwamberg.
Terry Schwamberg
Terry owns a few boutique hotels here and there along with some luxurious houses you can hire by the night or month-Paris, Byron Bay, Bali, Palm Beach , the Amalfi Coast, and some of Queensland's most beautiful tropical beaches and of course, the Medusa Boutique Hotel just near Kings Cross-a favourite with Hollywood movie stars filming at Fox Studios including Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen during the Star Wars trilogy and Keanu Reeves who called it home for a few months.
Terry reports that one of her Bedarra Island beach huts was borne aloft by the terrifying Cyclone Yasi and vanished in the wind as it swept through QLD twelve days ago. But fortunately that was the only damage and considering the island was in the eye of the storm she reckons she got off lightly.
Sadly business will preclude her from attending tonight's Rose Bay Flood Relief Fundraising Dinner at the Rose Bay Promenade to aid victims of the dreadful floods that preceded Yasi. 750 guests at $1000 a head with food prepared by Michael McMahon's Catalin and other prominent chefs. It should be something quite amazing. Providing the weather holds.
Bedarra Island
Also raising funds for flood and cyclone victims in Queensland were 400 prominent businessmen at the Hilton Hotel last week at a lunch hosted by the Hon Bruce Baird AM , chairman of the Tourism and Transport Forum and sponsored by Qantas.
Anna Bligh
Guest speaker was the QLD premier Anna Bligh who through adversity in her home state has surely resurrected a faltering political career with her approval rating jumping a whopping 35% . There are whispers that a Federal Parliamentary seat now beckons.
Anna's heartfelt speech at the lunch , just as she has delivered on several TV news broadcasts, some that were screened on the BBC has impressed all with her ability to empathise with the flood victims. Watch out Julia Gillard. A competitor is on the horizon.
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In the interests of always bringing Shuttle readers the latest in gossip and innuendo with the knowledge that today's tittle tattle is tomorrow's news, we can report the latest rumblings in both state and federal politics.
Our mole disguised as a Qantas trolley dolly reports on a conversation overheard on a recent flight from Melbourne to Sydney between two very senior Labor Party identities who know what's what and whose tongues loosened as the Chardonnay was sipped.
If Prime Minister Julia Gillard has Anna Blair already breathing down her neck, party heavies have given her just six more months to impress the electorate. Should she fail and the axe falls-Assistant Treasurer BillShorten, former union heavyweight is waiting in the wings with a lot of support.
And it's not so rosy for Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott. The very strong mail out is that Shadow Treasurer, the large and cuddly Joe Hockey is ready to takeover, sooner rather than later.
Joe Hockey
Not that Joe will around for long. Step forward- Malcolm Turnbull, the man who would be king and as predicted by the Shuttle many moons ago, will finally claim the crown.
Stateside-when ruling NSW Labor is swept aside in 5 weeks and the ever so nice but dull state Liberal leader Barry O'Farrell who could surely win a gold medal with his Olympian efforts at boring an audience witless becomes premier, he shall remain for 12 months which is about how long Coaltion heavies figure it will take NSW voters to realise they have elected a dud of Titanic proportions. Which takes us to March 2012-the Ides of March and all that as knives come from all directions aimed at Barry's ample back.
In his place will be the member for Manly, the clever, young and good looking Mike Baird, co-incidentally the son of former MP Bruce Baird, host of last week's flood lunch.
That gives Mike 3 years to consolidate the Coaltion's 10 years of power to come.
There must be something in the water in the southern NSW city of Wollongong. Labor Party MPs are falling like ninepins.
steam lover David Campbell MP
Today poor David Campbell , the former Minister for Transport is splashed across the tabloids pictured emerging from the famous / infamous Ken's gay steam baths last night where he spent 2 hours.
It isn't apparent what Campbell's "crime" is that forced his resignation that came after a heated argument in his parliamentary office late last night with Labor bigwigs. We thought the days of gay bashing were over
Gay sex is legal and although he drove himself there in his government provided car, having given the chauffeur the night off, that is still within MP rules. In fact as far as anyone knows, Campbell could have just been taking a healthy steam bath.
The point of the Campbell travesty is that the people of NSW generally gave up any misgivings about whether their representative's sex orientations years ago and the leader of the Greens, Dr Bob Brown is openly gay and the Australian electorate have never judged him on his sexuality-just his policies. Likewise former Minister for the Environment in the Gillard government Penny Wong is a lesbian and it's obviously a matter her electors couldn't give a toss about-to coin a phrase.
Shock jocks and prudish journos were quick to accuse the man of living a 'double life' and 'betraying' his family. As though they knew the intimate goings-on within the Campbell's household. All without the slightest bit of proof. Campbell's family and wife were quick to jump to his defense and express their love for him.
We feel a Gay Rights demo will emerge from this tale and a backlash for the cowardly Labor heavies.
instant update : our psychic abilities are still in top form. As we blog the excellent Sydney Morning Herald political writer Andrew West has ripped into the reporting on Campbell's gay life and resignation. Campbell had committed no crime or sin even though he is a married man. He was pushed by increasingly desperate Labor Party heavies. This will backfire in spades.
Ken 'Candy' Johnson
For the naive, Ken's has had a long and varied life beginning in the late 1960's as the Purple Onion featuring spectacular drags shows that drew huge audiences on a Sunday night including any visiting international celebrity.
Ken 'Candy' Johnson the owner was the first to cash in on the gay steam bath business changing the premises to Ken's Karate Klub and eventually just Ken's featuring various steam rooms, plunge pools and cubicles where folks could meet up with a stranger , perhaps a 'bear' (in gay parlance) like Mr Campbell to discuss Ugandan politics.
Campbell was the former mayor of Wollongong before he became the local member. 3 years ago. Wollongong's council came under the attention of the Independent Commission for Corruption as bribes and all manner of rorts where uncovered between property developers and the local Labor Party dominated council (there is no suggestion Campbell was ever involved or knew).
Older readers may remember that a former Labor mayor of Wollongong FrankArkell was accused in parliament by fellow Labor MP Franka Arena of being a paedophile and shortly after in 1988 was murdered in a brutal slashing in his home. Arena went on to similarly name a judge who gassed himself the following day in his garage. Under constant fire from her own party for anti-gay and witch hunt style statements, Arena retired when gay rights groups threaten to expose her twin sons who they claimed were active gays at the then illegal age of 17. Both boys fled abroad and have never returned.
In our last story we spoke of the MP for the neighboring electorate Kiama, Matt Brown who put in an appearance at the opening of the Art Bar in Kings Cross last week. He smiled warmly for the cameras at first and then curled his lip as he realised our snapper was from the media.
Brown's first career as Housing Minster collapsed 3 years ago as he stared into the TV cameras at a news conference and snarled that "public housing is a privilege not a right" to put the fear of God into public housing tenants and within the fortnight was discovered to own a few luxurious apartments in the docks area of Pyrmont where he had packed in visiting Asian students from floor to ceiling at outrageous rents,.
Briefly re-instated as Police Minister, further misery followed for the handsome MP when it was claimed he table topped danced at a Wollongong party in his underpants and "titty f*cked" MP Nora Hey. He has always denied it happened.
Where this leaves Labor Party heavy Nicholas Whitlam who moved to Wollongong after flogging his share of the merchant bank Whitlam Turnbull which he owned with Liberal Party MP Malcolm Turnbull (the nephew of British actress Angela Lansbury) to operate a luxury pub and pull a few political strings is a mystery. tSS knows Whitlam's wife Judy isn't fond of the working class city of Wollongong and perhaps this will give her the chance to convince Nick to move back to Sydney as the entire Wollongong shire will surely fall to the Liberals at the next election.
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Which leads us nicely into the small tale we related 2 days ago to Murdoch's Daily Telegraph that the great Labor Party hero and saint, former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, Nick Whitlam's, dad who broke the stranglehold of the conservatives 23 year rule federally in 1972, and now wheel chair bound, had moved into a luxury Potts Point retirement home at the age of 93. What was meant to be a column filler was soon shunted to page 2 and was picked up be every TV news broadcast that evening.
No news yet whether Gough's "adopted son", the very handsome Argentinian Andrew 'Bacci' Whitlam visits his benefactor at the nursing home, just as the Great Gough regularly visited Bacci in his Rose Bay flat to seek relief away from the stress and rigors of politics and knowing Mr Whitlam's huge intellect, no doubt indulged in fascinating discussions on Argentinian politics.
Claudia Marie & Sharon Sargeant
Even more pleasing was the picture spread sent to us by our Las Vegas operative of up and coming marketing executive and fiancee of the world's most famous private eye Frank Monte, Ms SharonSargeant which we kindly supplied the same Daily Telegraph.
Run as a double page spread in Annette Sharp'sSydney Confidential, the pneumatic Sharon had suffered a similar wardrobe malfunction as she had in a tale a few months ago.
Whilst Frank was doing PI business with a client, she and 2 friends crashed a party at the luxury hotel they were staying at only to discover it was an Adult Industry convention. The fun loving Sharon was soon dancing with gay abandon with all and sundry including a busty blond who we discovered is one of the USA's most famous porn stars Claudia Marie. Her website is here but not recommended for the feint of heart,
The on-line picture feature which is fairly tame compared to the print published version had gone mental and the hits had reached a staggering 800,000 by 4pm that day and over a million by 8pm.
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And do they ever listen ?. No. Five months ago Malcolm Turnbull announced his retirement from politics and said he would not stand for the seat of Wentworth at the next election when in a party room coup he was exchanged as leader for Tony "Mad Monk" Abbott. We predicted Malcolm would return to politics.
"Your predictions are useless" cried our critics. With smug satisfaction we raised a flute of excellent Nicholas Feuillatte champagne (proud sponsor and now the 4th biggest selling champagne in the world) as 2 weeks ago Turnbull announced he had changed his mind and will now remain as MP and when the Federal Liberals, despite their current hysteria over a few polls are trounced later this year at a Federal election, Turnbull will be elected as party leader again but have to wait until 2015 before he becomes Prime Minister. Put your money on it.
3 months ago tSS predicted then Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull would either start a new political party or defect to Labor if he lost a leadership battle.
Today he has announced he will cross the floor on a crucial vote on climate change proposals, defying his leader Tony 'Mad Monk' Abbott. Abbott's climate policies will turn out to be a lame duck mess when examined in full (and when he actually decides what they are). They'll receive as much impact as when he recently announced viginity was a virtue before marriage. Thousands of teens yawned , looked mildly bemused and went on rutting as before.
It has begun.
The Liberal / National Party Coalition shot themselves in the foot when they booted Turnbull. The Rhodes scholar, ex-merchant banker, barrister and Kerry Packer adviser has notched up bigger scalps than the current PM Kevin Rudd.
He took on Margaret Thatcher's government when they tried to ban the memoirs of ex MI5 spy Peter Wright and his SpyCatcher book. Turnbull trounced them in the English courts. Turnbull succeeded in the Maralinga nuclear fallout trial in Britain when he led the cause for compensation for indigenous people whose lands had been bombed relentlessly by British nuclear testing in the 1950's. A few weeks after the testing ended in 1961 some signs were stuck about the sacred Aboriginal lands warning of the potential radium fallout-written in English.
When a reluctant former PM John Howard added Turnbull to his ministry he consistently ignored Malcolm's advice. With home ownership stretching beyond the grasp of thousands of Aussie families, Turnbull introduced radical proposals for mass housing programs based on age old European and British housing societies that had served those communities so well for decades. They were ignored.
5 years ago at a political party function tSS told Turnbull his dreams would be dashed by joining the Liberal Party. His natural home was the centre left Labor Party that would leap upon his obvious talents.
While political pundits and timeservers on daily newspapers delight in a brief re-surgence in the Coalition's poll fortunes they ignore the quickly shifting populace that is Turnbull's constituency that no longer takes in just the well-heeled Eastern Suburbs of Sydney that house the richest in the nation, but also now include working class areas and the gay and lesbian conclaves of the inner city. Turnbull scraped in at the last election when a blue ribbon Liberal seat began turning left. Malcolm has less than 12 months before a general election to do the obvious-switch parties if he wants to retain his Wentworth seat or just leave. The line of succession has already been decreed. Rudd will serve as PM until 2015 after he increases his majority next year, wins a further election and then hands over to the first female Oz PM, Julia Gillard.
It is then Turnbull will be in a commanding position if he joins Labor now. As it is, he is a dead man walking as is the entire Coalition for at least 10 years.
Why will they not listen ?
# fact: Turnbull's cousin is the British actress Angela Lansbury
# fact 2. The British Maralinga tests make Australia the most nuclear bombed country on the planet with 21 major devices and many smaller ones exploded. Some areas are still contaminated.
# fact 3 'Maralinga' is an ancient Aboriginal word for "field of thunder".
Update : Crikeyhas done a round-up of various political writer's views on Malcolm Turnbull's speech in Parliament on climate change. Most agree his views were presented with more conviction than PM Kevin Rudd's. Has Turnbull singled the first move in a tactic that would see him placed in a powerful position and having a direct influence on whoever governs ?. The Demcrats under Don Chipp dominated in the Upper House for decades when they held the balance of power with just a handful of senators with both main political parties negotiating deals . The Greens under Bob Brown have almost claimed that position but a small break-away Senate party could scupper their plans and Turnbull with just 2 other Senators could become kingmaker.
Malcolm Turnbull has a fortune estimated at $100M. He is only interested in politics for one reason-to affect change. You read it here first.
tSS agrees and nothing demonstrates this more than today's Galaxy poll conducted for the Murdoch Sunday Telegraph about the new premier of NSW, American born Kristina Keneally.
Keneally's rise to the top has given her a 73% approval rating with the punters, as opposed to state Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell-now into his 6th year in the job and floundering at 42% approval. Significantly-70% of Coalition voters approve of Keneally. In other words, they, as tSS has been saying for yonks-haven't warmed to their own party leader.
Keneally and Deputy Premier Carmel Tebbutt tSS outdid all other news outlets-television, radio and print by predicting Keneally would be Premier by November-she was on the 3rd December. At the time of the prediction one well know political pundit said at a party we were 'batshit crazy" .
Following Keneally's election in a party-room spill both News Ltd and the normally sane FairfaxNewspapers went on a crazy rampage-accusing her of being a "puppet premier" to Labor powerbrokers Eddie O'Beid and Joe Tripodi .
Both newspaper outlets ignored the fact that the Federal Coalition dumped their best chance at scoring a hit against PM Kevin Rudd by sacking the only man who-given time-would give him a run for his money, the extremely clever ex-merchant banker Malcolm Turnbull. Turnbull was dumped via the influence of right-wing Coalition power brokers like Nick Minchin who seem determined to lead their party to oblivion with the 'Mad Monk' Tony Abbott (right) in charge.
That's power brokers on all sides of politics guys-just like it's always been and will be ever after.
Even the pompous Peter Harvey of Channel Nine news tonight pontificated that a certain percentage of voters perceive Keneally as a "puppet" !. Yes Peter-you have been one of the dingbats pushing the line since she was elected but get a grip-the majority of the state's voters aren't buying that line. Political journalists like Harvey have completely lost their way once they repeat tosh from tabloids.
Both newspapers ran bizarre 'people's petitions' demanding an immediate election seemingly oblivious to the fact that 4 year fixed terms are now mandatory and could only be changed by a referendum in 18 months time at the next state election and the end of the err.. current 4 year term.
The tone of these 'people's petitions' changed slightly after about a month when both newspapers changed tack and began demanding Keneally and Labor visit Governor Marie Bashir and offer themselves up for election (still an impossibilty under current law) .
The Fairfax Sydney Morning Herald's law expert RichardAkland, who describes NSW politics as "some of the nastiest on the planet" finally felt obliged to point this out to his own colleagues.
If an 80 year old social snapper, a 6 a day G&T drinking blogger and a useless sub-editor cat at tSS can get these things right, as opposed to some of the oldest and most established news outlets on the planet, what hope is there for the printed media that cannot perceive that the great unwashed public just isn't interested anymore in their attempted machinations of public opinion ?.
In 2007 Kevin Rudd made a conscious decision to ignore Murdoch's hysterical political pundits who were out to destroy his election campaign-furious that he wasn't paying the appropriate homage to them. Murdoch's pride and joy The Australian leapt into the fray with gusto reporting in shock and horror a lunch Rudd attended with lobbyists Brian Burke and business partner Julian Grill . Burke was a former WA Labor premier who had served a jail term.
The Australian thought it was on a winner until ex-Labor PM Paul Keating-himself the victim of a vicious News Ltd smear campaign stepped in to describe Burke ( right )and Grill as the "Arthur Daley and Terry of West Australia politics", delightfully trivialising the whole affair. The only victim was then Murdoch favoured PM John Howard who had huffed and puffed with outrage at Rudd, but then had to accept the resignation of one of his own ministers who had also lunched with the pair.
Again they came up with the startling story that Rudd, as a diplomat , had visited a New York strip club with New York Post editor and Murdoch favourite Col Allan ( in the USSR it used to be called a honey trap). It backfired badly-the church attending Christian Rudd was just seen as a bit more human-his approval ratings dramatically rose.
Then came the great 'utegate" scandal when Malcolm Turnbull-supplied with dodged up emails by a News Ltd hack, accused Rudd of attempting to assist a car dealer friend. The resulting damage winded Turnbull but The Australian political writers leading the charge were mortally wounded-their credibility shot.
President Barack Obama deliberately sidelined Fox News in his campaign. He was vindicated. Only Britain is still enthralled by the tabloids as both PMGordon Brown and Conservative Leader David Cameron fling themselves at the feet of tabloid writers and in particular, grovel for the affection of the Murdoch clan.
Unfortunately one important matter is being lost with the plunging credibility of tabloids and newspapers. Real investigations. To their credit it was Murdoch's Australian journalists who perservered and uncovered the appalling fibs and illegal activities of the Australian Federal Police who had incarcerated the innocent Indian born Dr Haneef after the Glasgow Airport bombings in 2007.
Next Wednesday sees the first Australian singing appearance of Tallulah Rendall-the daughter of 'Christian TheLion' author John Rendall and London publicist and star of 'Ladette to Lady'Liz Brewer.
The Vanguard,a small venue in the very alternative suburb of Newtown says the night is already a sellout with a 100 booked for dinner. Expect Rendell to pull out all the stops for Tallulah's gala appearance with guests like Lady Sonia McMahon and her pal Glen Marie Frost along with Lady Atwill. Presumably John, flush with cash will deliver Tallulah in the vintage Roller he has just had shipped from London.
For those who have already forgotten the Christian the Lion saga-here is the youtube clip that made Rendall and partner Anthony 'Ace' Bourke famous. (It's a vicious rumour a camera assistant was standing behind the pair waving a hunk of raw meat.) Followed by a piece on Ivana Trump with Tallulah's mum LizBrewer.
When NSW premier Kristina Keneally said in November 2009 that she "would never be premier ofNSW", tSS chortled into our G&T(s). We knew better as we had confidently predicted 3 months earlier that she would be premier by November. She was by the 3rd of December.
Like most psychics, we are sometimes a little out in our sooth-saying but certainly score better than every other media outlet in the State. Indeed, most of the media including the normally sane Sydney MorningHerald have gone into a overdrive proclaiming her the 'puppet premier" of Labor Party power brokers Eddie Obeid and Joe Tripodi-pictured left- (as if any political leader gets to the top without strings being pulled).
Even Kristina's soft and pleasant American accent came in for a xenophobic bashing as nameless (to spare them blushes) political pundits declared Aussies would hate her accent, oblivious to the fact 21 million of them are glued to television every night watching Yankee crime shows.
Born in Las Vegas and a former aide to the Governor of Ohio-with a BA in political studies and a stint as a union organiser with the powerful US Teamsters Union, Keneally is also a committed Roman Catholic who met her husband Ben, nephew of writer Thomas Keneally at the World Youth Day in Poland in 1991. And therein lies the rub. Political journos in their ivory towers continually ignore the power of the Catholic church in Oz. Obeid and Tripodi have plotted this move for over 12 months now and tSS goes on record with another bold prediction.
No-the deck chairs haven't been re-arranged on the Titanic as the very amusing song below says-mimicking the dingbats on the Herald and Daily Telegraph who have been running on pure hysteria for a month now with their 'citizen's petitions' demanding an early state election (seemingly oblivious to the fixed 4 year term that prevents such an action)-we now announce that Keneally and her deputy premier Carmel Tebbit will be swept back into power in 12 months time.
Why will they not listen ?.We urged the Federal Liberals not to ditch the cleverest leader they have ever had-Malcolm Turnbull, which means they will be thrashed at the polls by Kevin Rudd in '10 and Turnbull may well form a break-away political party (you heard it here first) or defect to Labor.
And we suggested they do away with their ever so nice but dull state leader BarryO'Farrell (formely Fatty O'Barrel until his weight loss) as it's written in the stars and predicted by us-he will never lead the state. I've seen it all in the tea-leaves.
A stiffy arrives with a request to share Christmas drinks at the splendiferous Point Piper mansion of Federal Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull and his charming wife Lucy, former Sydney Lord Mayor.
Rhodes scholar Turnbull, a cousin of the famous US based British actress Angela Lansbury and Lucy, the niece of art critic Robert Hughes are under attack from within the Liberal Party as the rather odd Kevin Andrews announces he will challenge Malcolm this week for the leadership role.
Andrews-who fortunately has a head of wavy hair that grows blacker as he ages, is one of the reasons his party was thrown into the wilderness 2 years ago. It was he that bungled the Dr Mohamed Haneef debacle when the hapless Indian doctor was arrested at Brisbane Airport on his way home to visit his new-born child and incarcerated illegally for nearly 3 weeks by Federal police, following the Glasgow Airport terrorist bombing.
Haneef was a distant relation of one of the bombers and despite a Scotland Yard terrorism expert visiting Oz and declaring there was nothing in the matter, Andrews solemnly intoned there was a case to answer-as the cards came crashing down around him.
Dr Haneef now lives in the Middle East and is still negotiating a compensation settlement some say will be as high as $5M.
Turnbull-urbane, intelligent and very very rich, inexplicably incurs suspicion from his party colleagues and the public alike and is possibly more to the left of the political spectrum than the ruling Labor Party. As a former merchant banker and solicitor to media mogul Kerry Packer he is worth about $200M. As a barrister he successfully defended former MI5 boss Peter Wright when the UK government attempted to ban his 'Spycatcher' book about his life as a top spy and prosecuted the case in the English courts for compensation over the Maralinga nuclear bomb testing site.
Although it seems unlikely he will topple the most popular PM ever, Kevin Rudd, the Liberals would be foolhardy to ditch him this soon. RSVP-invite accepted !
************************************************** footnote : The Maralinga bomb site makes Australia the most nuclear weapon bombed country on the planet with 8 major devices and numerous small ones being exploded between 1955 and 1963.
How their words come back to haunt them. A recording has surfaced of The Man Who Would Be King (but probably won't be) from 2 decades ago.
Abbott has been referred to as a 'Manchurian Candidate' due to his adoration of Cardinal George Pell and his worship at the lap of the strange right-wing Catholic Bartholomew Augustine Santamaria 
