In 2013, Bandt introduced legislation to the federal parliament extending protections for Commonwealth firefighters who contracted cancers. Support was unanimous. A nice win.
Neither man got back to us when CBD got in touch.
Blue wedding
A big CBD congratulations to state Liberal MP Chris Rath, who married his partner, Patrick Wynne, in a small but glamorous black-tie affair at the State Library of NSW last Saturday.
For those lucky enough to score an invitation, it was the (moderate) Liberal event of the year. Rath’s new husband was a staffer to current Opposition Leader Mark Speakman while he was attorney-general in the last Coalition government, and now works in government relations for Transgrid.
Spotted enjoying the festivities were several leading lights of the party’s moderate wing, who posed for a current and former MPs photo with the happy couple. Among them was the Mods’ factional powerbroker Michael Photios, federal senators Andrew Bragg and Maria Kovacic, current state MPs Mark Coure, James Griffin, Jacqui Munro and Matt Cross, and former pollies Matt Kean, “Teflon” Don Harwin, Trent Zimmerman and Fiona Martin.
Current and former Liberal politicians gathered to celebrate the wedding of state MP Chris Rath (centre) and David Wynne at the State Library of NSW.
A few eyebrows were raised at the absence of Speakman from the picture. Turns out he was overseas, as were state MPs Natalie Ward and Kellie Sloane and Senator Dave Sharma. And of course, most of the eastern suburbs.
Going, going, gone
Readers might be bemused by the flurry of Labor staffers quitting their jobs just months after helping Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to a landslide election victory. Why help to secure a stonking mandate and then, er, quit? It’s like pouring time and effort into baking a delicious cake and then refusing to tuck in.
CBD has one theory. Staffers who leave in a two-month window after the election get a far more generous severance payout of about four times more than they’d get if they left during regular times. Because Canberra. The deadline for those departures came this week, which explains the sudden rush for the exits.
And so, here are a few more. Former Labor deputy national secretary Nick Martin, once touted for a federal seat before Kevin Rudd intervened, has left as Health Minister Mark Butler’s chief of staff. He’s also the ex-husband of Labor strategist turned TikTok lobbyist Sabina Husic.
Albanese’s digital media guy Lachlan McKenzie is leaving the PMO. His other half, Liz Fitch, departed as the prime minister’s top spinner in late 2023, but has since landed a gig heading government relations for Microsoft.
Katie Connolly, strategic communications director, is also out the door at Albo’s office, as is media adviser Irene Oh, a long-serving and loyal former electorate office staffer. By our count, it still leaves eight bodies in the PM’s media team to dodge CBD’s calls.
Meanwhile, Lanai Scarr, formerly political editor at The West Australian, has quit as deputy chief of staff and press secretary to Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth.
Former ABC political correspondent and one-time press gallery journalist of the year Lyndal Curtis has left a job with Infrastructure Minister Catherine King and jumped ship to Assistant Treasurer and Labor rising star Daniel Mulino’s office.
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