Tanya
Plibersek
You don’t get to
Opposition deputy without
knowing how to play
Tetris. She has a personal
story that resonates (her
husband was a once-jailed
drug addict) and she’ll
ride the gender divide to
attention and to office.Gina Rinehart
You’vegottoloveitwhen
acountry’srichestwoman
chooses a public stage to
handathendeputyPMa
$40,000 cheque for being
achampionofagriculture.
We just wish it was an
oversized, novelty number
–andwebetBarnabydoes
tooassurelythey’reharder
to give back? Rinehart is a
donor to the Nats and has
open access to Canberra.Scott Morrison
Heturnedbacktheboatsandthenturned
himselfintotheTreasurer(arolehedoggedly
hunteddown).He’snowgothiseyesonthe
topjobandhasthebackingofmany.Scoring
himselfacontemporarynickname(ScoMo),
hehasdeliveredpalatableeconomicvision
and has even leveraged the banking royal
commission for positive soundbites – despite
hisoriginalobjection.Whilehewouldn’t
swear on R ay Hadley ’s Bible, Mor r ison’s
devout Christianity provides him further
powerinthetrenches,especiallyamong
conservative Coalition MPs.Kerry Stokes
Billionaire head of the
Seven Network, owner
of a newspaper monopoly
out west, known Liberal
Party donor and a man
central to media reform
in regards to the abolition
of TV licence fees and
the change to ownership
laws. And then there’s
Stokes’ lucrative
mining interests.
Michael
O’Connnor
The National Secretary
of the CFMMEU – that is,
the most powerful union
boss in the country. Julia
Gillard’s labeled him her
“closest confidant”; he’s
a known and powerful
lobbyist and very well
connected given his
shadow frontbench
brother Brendan.Richard Di Natale
The Greens, under Di Natale, have been an interesting
lot – though with Lee Rhiannon now disendorsed from
her Senate seat, the future waters will be less choppy.
Still, Di Natale’s power is really only held as a result of
being a party leader with an ability to make noise with
some at-times obtuse utterances.James Ashby
Threads were fraying at
One Nation at the time of
writing – though it’s unlikely
to dent Ashby’s swagger
and persistent claims that,
when not flying about on a
donated plane, this chief-
of-staff is the one propping
up Pauline and pulling the
party strings.Michael Pezzullo
Covering immigration,
terrorism, cyber security
and more, the Home Affairs
super-department has
some of Australia’s most
sweeping responsibilities- making Pezzullo, the man
running the office, one of
the most powerful public
servants in the country.
Michael Photios
Look upon Photios
as the man who
almost sin le-
handedl brou ht
the NSW Libs
back to bein
controlled b the
moderate faction.
Wh should that
matter? It’s ke
in proppin
up Turnbull.AUGUST 2018 GQ.COM.AU 133