Cosying up to Mathias Cormann, Tasmanian Labor knows what voters want, and the prime minister’s unfortunate timing. Catch up with the latest tips and murmurs from the Crikey bunker.
Nice for some Is it standard procedure for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) to support the candidacy of Australia’s OECD candidates? That appears to be the treatment afforded to former finance minister Mathias Cormann — the website for his push to become secretary general is hosted by DFAT and bears the Australian government logo and .gov.au URL.
We asked DFAT whether this was their normal process, but didn’t get a comment back before deadline. But it did put us in mind of the last time a former politician asked for some help getting a plum international relations gig — former PM Kevin Rudd’s bid for secretary general of the United Nations.
The Cormann website must be particularly galling for Rudd, who had no one in his corner but the president of Botswana. He also copped a classic Turnbullian put-down after asking whether the lack of support for his bid was a partisan decision. As reported by The Guardian at the time:
Read the latest tips and murmurs from the Crikey bunker.
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