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In early 2004, Senator Pauline Hanson kicked off a tour of the central west of NSW with tight security. She had sniffer dogs, according to a news report from the time. There was even a bomb squad to conduct searches of drains and rooftops.
That trip would take Hanson to Dubbo, where, according to another news report, she faced a crowd of about 100 protesters. But when the One Nation leader returns to the central west next month, we imagine things will be a little different.
Next month, Hanson will head west with her star recruit Barnaby Joyce in tow to rally support for the party and raise a little cash before next year’s NSW state election.
The August 15 get-together has already sold out. But we couldn’t help wondering how many Dubbo locals will be attending in earnest, and how many residents of the long-time Nationals electorate have bought tickets only to taunt the party’s defector and his new boss. If responses to the event listing online were anything to go by, it’s anyone’s guess.
“I believe the event has a circus theme,” wrote one. “Will Barnaby be standing up?” wrote another. “If you sit next to Barnaby, make sure he doesn’t get you confused with his dog,” warned yet another. “Barnaby will be back with the nationals by then.”
Of course, compared to 2004, Hanson returns to Dubbo as a minor celebrity.
She now has the support of the nation’s richest person, billionaire Gina Rinehart, and the financial backing of an elite crop of conservative donors. She increasingly has the conservative media cornered – or, in the case of the Daily Telegraph, paid for, courtesy of Rinehart’s sponsorship of the newspaper’s Bush Summit – and will be back in Dubbo late next month to drop in on the event.
No doubt Hanson will be hoping locals are more sympathetic than they were 20 years ago.
The Joyce report
CBD this week brought word of a few events booked to coincide with the launch of former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce’s new book.
Well, the first of them took place on Wednesday evening. The relatively modest affair was open to the public and brought together a mix of “aerosexuals” – to borrow from the Joyce vernacular – and friends at Gleebooks in Glebe.
The ABC’s Fran Kelly pushed through a case of the sniffles to play host to a room occupied by what we would guess were mostly aviation enthusiasts. Even then, there weren’t enough of them to fill the room, which was dotted by a smattering of empty chairs.
A pretty sad affair, all told. Particularly when you consider the last time we found ourselves in that room was for the launch of ABC journalist Charlotte Grieve’s book, which was standing room only.
Not that this is any indication of how Joyce’s book is selling. We won’t get a real sense of book sales until at least next week. But at time of writing, Joyce sits at No.34 on the Amazon bestseller list, sandwiched between Cozy Corner: A Calm and Comforting Colouring Book, by Coco Wyo, at 33, and The Body Keeps the Score: Mind, Brain and Body in the Transformation of Trauma, by Bessel Van Der Kolk, in 35.
The next stop on the Joyce redemption tour was Canberra, where he made an appearance at the Australian National University with The Australian Financial Review’s political correspondent Ron Mizen on Thursday evening. Next week, he’ll head to Melbourne for a “rare and candid conversation” with the ABC’s Raf Epstein. At least Sydney set a low watermark.
ICAC soundtrack
Dylan Whitelaw, the baby-faced one-time Liberal Party staffer of ICAC fame, had a couple of long days in the box this week. So we were intrigued to get a peek at some of what he may have been listening to en route to the hearings.
Could he have been trying to gee himself up to the sound of Ariana Grande’s thank u, next? That one is the first track on his Spotify playlist “noushka”. Or perhaps a bit of Lil Uzi Vert’s XO TOUR Llif3, from the playlist titled “f–k it”. Also in the mix was Smokepurpp’s Audi, Allday’s Send Nudes, and f–kboi by gianni & kyle.
The playlists looked a little dated to us – no judgment, of course – so we tried to reach Whitelaw to check whether any of these songs were, in fact, in his ICAC rotation. When we got him on the phone, he hurriedly said he was in the middle of something. We left him a text message, but didn’t hear back by deadline.
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John Buckley is a CBD columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via email.From our partners
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