Bridget McKenzie’s staff flog their boss’ book, Mathias Cormann quietly takes a step away from the government orthodoxy, and we continue our rundown of 2020.
Booket McReadie Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie has penned a book on Country Party luminary and briefest of PMs John McEwen (“highly readable” says Paul Kelly in The Australian).
We know all of this, because of press releases sent out by her staff. And look, it won’t break the top 20 worst misuses of public money this year, but still, is it a proper use of ministerial staff to flog your book?
C’mon Cormann Prime Minister Scott Morrison was apparently weirdly reticent about using the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)’s 60th anniversary bash to directly campaign for Mathias Cormann, Australia’s former finance minister and pick to run the place. The final par of an Australian Financial Review piece gave us a possible clue as to why: