2 weeks Ago By Charlie Lewis
We’ve said it before and we’re going to say it again: Crikey has always been shaped by its readers, not least in the gossip and tips you send us. And in the six days since Anthony Albanese called the federal election, you’ve outdone yourself. We’ve been sent so many fun, weird details from tipsters that we’ve decided to re-jig the Tips and Murmurs format to mark the occasion.
First, we’re doing more — we’re going up to two columns a week. Second, we’re doing, well, more; more tips, shorter items, recurring features, juicy gossip and curious sightings. Let us know what you think of the new format, but mainly send Crikey a tip if you’ve seen or heard something fun, curious or just downright infuriating.
We want it all. Know something? Seen something? Get in touch with us securely via our tip-off form, Signal or WhatsApp. Cor(flute) blimey : Seeing corflutes with new names and faces pop up like daisies on your front lawn is all part of the campaign fun.
And if seeing all those poster-sized politicians smiling out from your neighbour’s fences feels like an imposition, spare a thought for the people of Tassie. As a tipster pointed out, the periodic election for three divisions of Tasmania’s Legislative Council is set for May 24 , overlapping with the national poll and bringing about an overabundance, a superfluity, an orgy, an embarrassment of corflutes: Fences groan and buckle under the weight of democracy! It’s gotten to the point where even state and federal candidates for the same party are battling each other for the same roadside real estate: Social media post of the week : Still in corflute corner, we must give credit where it is due. This , a reference to Kooyong independent Monique Ryan’s husband getting a bit grabby with one of her Liberal opponent Amelia Hamer’s posters, is solid: We’d hate to escalate things, but maybe Ryan’s people could retaliate by affixing this to the plinth outside the magnificent concert hall bearing this salt-of-the-earth voice of the people ‘s family name.
SPOTTED : A tipster tells us they saw former many things Craig Kelly “looking dapper in brown trousers” at Balmoral Beach on Tuesday at around 9am, with “two rather [we won’t use the word our tipster choose, let’s just say he got the impression they did a lot of exercise] minders”. Kelly is once again trying to return to Parliament, the safest haven in his long flight from reality, this time with the Libertarians . We would love to interrogate Kelly about the real issues — “Just answer the question: were these alleged trousers corduroy or more of a classic chino?” — but for whatever reason, our number for him seems out of date? Passing the Tesla : You’re hearing it more and more , and now it’s on Crikey ‘s favourite bargain-hunting site — and true pulse of the nation — OzBargain: there’s never been a better time to buy a second-hand Tesla .
A bounder and a Cadell : Nationals Senator Ross Cadell is famous among disclosure-watchers for comically long and florid additions to his disclosures, done with such frequency as to be hard to keep up with. Take this trilogy from last October: And while we certainly enjoyed the image of Cadell yelling “Itsth hotter than the sthun!” through a mouthful of pastry at one of his staffers like Alan Partridge , a tipster got in touch to point out a particularly interesting disclosure from last month : Does it have a label with a picture of him or something? If you’re unfamiliar with Cadell, quickly picture a male Nationals senator and you’re most likely pretty close. Don’t Tredea on me : The Age’s former chief football writer Caroline Wilson might be feeling a touch vindicated this week.
On Seven’s Agenda Setters , Wilson called former Port Adelaide skipper Warren Tredrea’s social media activity “divisive”, but was thoroughly rebuked by former St Kilda star Nick Riewoldt, who said the criticism was “beyond the pale”. Tredrea interviewed conspiracy theory Pete Evans this week on his podcast, where Evans repeated his pandemic scepticism and addressed the comic he shared in 2020 that included the Black Sun Nazi symbol (which resulted in his books being pulled from Australian shelves). “That Black Sun image, even though it is touted as a neo-Nazi image, from my understanding it was only used once on the floor of one senior figure in the Nazi regime.
I don’t know the name because I haven’t fucking investigated it, it doesn’t really interest me,” he said. We’ll save you the google, Pete: that “senior figure” was the head of the Nazi paramilitary, Heinrich Himmler . Got a tip? Write to us at letters@crikey.
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