The details are murky,but it looks like the press team got their wires crossed – way to go for a bunch of professional communicators – about whether the game would go ahead on a soggy Canberra morning. It appears there may also have been some trepidation about facing Perrett,whose robust approach to the beautiful game has been remarked upon in the past.
The journos also pointed out the all-male composition of their would-be opponents,claiming the gallery would have had a 50-50 gender split,if they’d shown up. They’re hoping for a rematch next week.
ARABIAN HEIGHTS
Saudi Arabian leaderMohammed bin Salman’s multitrillion-dollar attempts to launder his country’s reputation for bonesawing journalists and associated medieval barbarism has brought a few Australians over to the kingdom.
Australia’s youngest-ever parliamentarian and former assistant minister for innovationWyatt Roy was recently signed as head of innovation at NEOM,Saudi Arabia’s futuristic desert dystopia. And if social media is anything to believe,Roy is having a grand old time in the kingdom,hanging out at the Formula 1 and using his Instagram feed as a de facto PR feed for Saudi tourism.
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Perhaps that makes Wyatt a bit of an influencer because there’s another innovative and agile Aussie following him to the Middle East.Alex McAuley,a former diplomat turned founder of start-up lobby group the Tech Council of Australia,is off to become NEOM’s director of technology and investment,joining Roy’s team.
The Tech Council is now chaired byElon Musk’sdoormat Tesla chairRobyn Denholm,and counts Atlassian co-founderMike Cannon-Brookesand Canva’sCliff Obrechtamong its board members.
McAuley,who left the council last year,took to LinkedIn to describe his latest career move as an “epic new adventure”. He’s particularly keen on the scuba diving.
To be fair,NEOM,a linear green city running through swaths of uninhabitable desert,is just the kind of weird endeavour that would excite a certain kind of bloodless tech bro. But we reckon there are a few ways to get your adventure fix without working for someone as cartoonishly evil as MBS.
COPYCAT
After three unsuccessful cracks at federal parliament,former NSW transport ministerAndrew Constancefaces his last chance saloon when he goes up for Liberal Party preselection in the hyper-marginal South Coast seat of Gilmore on Saturday.
Constance,and his rivalPaul Ell,are running neck and neck,although the former Bega MP did manage to land an endorsement from federal leaderPeter Dutton.
But CBD questions whether Dutton’s heart is really in it. We’ve seen his reference for Constance,and it’s basically identical to the one he wrote for Constance before last year’s Senate preselection. He did manage to swap the words “Senate” for “Gilmore”. Talk about copying your old homework!
In that race,Constance entered as the front-runner and lost. So did Dutton’s other pick,Zed Seselja. On Saturday,we’ll discover whether the leader’s blessing will once again be a kiss of death.
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