Tony Abbott’s budgie smugglers sell for $700 at Young Libs gala

Ain’t no party like a Liberal Party party, we have observed before. And there certainly ain’t no party like The Young Liberal Annual Ball held at the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria the other weekend.

The gala event was all part of FedCon Melbourne 2026, which is not, as we first thought, a federal confidence trick, but rather the Young Liberal Movement of Australia’s annual convention, which brings together Young Liberals “for an opportunity to both engage with a wide range of thought-provoking speakers, Parliamentarians, and policy-makers, while re-energising themselves with standout social events”.

Is that re-energising or re-animating? Time will tell. The chinwag conference was attended by Senator Sarah Henderson and also local bright young thing MPs Rachel Westaway and Brad Rowswell.

But our interest was turned up to 11 when we learned that the ball staged an auction that included some standout items of party memorabilia – former prime minister Tony Abbott’s budgie smugglers and former PM Scott Morrison’s 2024 memoir Plans for Your Good: A Prime Minister’s Testimony of God’s Faithfulness.

Liberal sources told us that the swimwear in question raised an incredible $700 and the winning bidder came from South Australia.

We contacted the young fogey organisers, who were sadly reluctant to engage.

Abbott himself has no such qualms, texting CBD with a singular “Wow!”. Says it all really.

PwC chairman John Green upstaged by Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi

PwC’s independent chairman John Green has a busy day job, but also a riveting side hustle: he writes thrillers – and has just published his seventh.

Late last week, a gaggle of persons within Green’s orbit descended on the QT Hotel’s Gilt Lounge in Sydney for the launch of Staged, a crime thriller set in the Emerald City.

Publisher Hardie Grant, which in 2024 scooped up Green’s family publishing business Pantera Press, bills it thus: “When a Hollywood star is killed live on stage, the entire cast falls under suspicion … Can a disgraced journalist and a rule-bending detective with a PhD in AI crack the case?”.

The room, we hear, was dotted with some of corporate Australia’s biggest names. The PwC chairman played host to NAB chairman Philip Chronican and former Origin executive Karen Moses.

Worley chairman John Grill was also there, according to CBD spies in the room, as was PwC chief executive Kevin Burrowes. How many copies of the boss’s book do we reckon Burrowes purchased? Also there was Nicholas Gray, publisher of The Australian newspaper and managing director of tech partnerships at News Corp Australia, which not long ago tapped Burrowes and Co for help with a major restructure.

Others said to have gone along, but who our spies didn’t get eyes on, were two leathery survivors of corporate Australia – activist investor Gary Weiss and former UNSW chancellor David Gonski.

Downstairs there was a massive commotion when real Hollywood stars Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi and pop spouse turned beauty entrepreneur Hailey Bieber turned up.

We knew Green was connected, but this connected? Turns out the trio were there for the Australian premiere of Wuthering Heights. But we wouldn’t put it past Green to have sidled up to the celebs to pitch them his latest tome.

Siobhan McKenna closes the book on News Corp with Sky News exit

It was back in October that news broke about the separation of Lachlan Murdoch’s longtime lieutenant Siobhan McKenna from the News Corp mothership. Who knows, it bore all the hallmarks of an agreed departure. Murdoch agreed and McKenna departed.

As we reported from the footpath outside Lachlan and Sarah Murdoch’s summer party: “But that (departure) didn’t stop McKenna from being the first arrival at the summer soiree at 4.58pm on the dot!”

Now, McKenna has formally cut all ties with her employer and his various media businesses, bringing to an end a decades-long corporate alliance with one of the most influential figures in global media and politics.

The final tie McKenna had to the billionaire media scion, at least on paper, was to News Corp Australia’s Australian News Channel, the holding company that controls Sky News Australia.

But earlier this year, the company filed documents with the corporate regulator revealing she had stepped down as a director of the broadcaster, adding to her exits from News Corp and Lachlan Murdoch’s investment vehicle, Illyria, which controls his radio interests in Nova Entertainment. Sky News Australia didn’t respond to a request for comment.

News Corp CEO Robert Thomson’s email to staff announcing McKenna’s departure quickly set off a wave of chatter about what led to the split. Now, we’re also interested in what the former Foxtel chairman will do with all of her newfound leisure time. Perhaps another book is in the offing.