But Rinehart’s people told us she had nothing to do with the Pell hall, and the college didn’t enlighten us further. A divine mystery.
Long lost and found
Here at CBD, we are regularly accused of having hearts of concrete. But as if we pay attention to our parents!
So regular readers may be surprised that even we cracked a little when we heard this tale of a long-lost childhood momento resurfacing decades later – and from across the political divide.
Who hasn’t reached their middle years without losing something of great emotional value along the shifting pathways of our lives? Jason Wood certainly has.
The federal Liberal MP for the outer Melbourne seat of La Trobe retained his seat with 52 per cent of the two-party preferred vote despite a swing of more than 6 per cent to his Labor opponent Jeff Springfield.
In 2010, Wood inadvertently lost a wooden case made when he was a high school student at Ferntree Gully Technical School.
La Trobe MP Jason Wood, left, receives his old case from Labor rival Jeff Springfield.
It contained much he held dear: primary school medals, scouting photos, police memorabilia, newspaper clippings from the Ash Wednesday bushfires when he was a teenager, a photo of Junior, his 85 kilogram great dane, his gold Duke of Edinburgh award, a Christmas card from John Howard and, most importantly, a treasured photo of his Nana.
Fast-forward 15 years and Wood was reunited with the chest days ago. And who returned it? None other than his Labor opponent Springfield, who rang to concede and told him the box had been handed to him by a Labor supporter.
“We caught up for a brunch. I couldn’t stop thanking him. I even gave him a hug. I am not a hugging guy but I wanted to let him know how appreciative I was,” Wood told CBD, describing the box as having “all my highlights” that he could now share with his daughter, Jasmine.
Loading
Plans derailed
As the state’s minister for arts, tourism and the night-time economy, John Graham gets to go to all the fun stuff – show openings, gigs, festivals, you name it.
But on Tuesday, the minister’s planned appearance at the opening night of the Sydney Writers’ Festival was derailed, so to speak, by the power issue at Strathfield which brought the city’s train network grinding to a halt.
As transport minister, in a portfolio he inherited after Jo Haylen was dumped following the whole chauffeur scandal, Graham was forced to race back from community cabinet in Ulladulla and ditch Carriageworks to get a special briefing from bureaucrats at the Rail Operations Centre down the road in Alexandria.
No doubt he’d have rather been swanning about with the literati. SWF chief executive Brooke Webb apologised to guests for the minister’s absence, noting the snafu which had probably stopped a few ticket holders making it to the event too. City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore also delivered remarks on the night.
It meant guests were also robbed of a few trademark zingers from the minister, who we hear was also set to deliver an impassioned address on the importance of literature in bringing deeper thinking to public debate in an era of irritating algorithmically slopified public discourse, or something like that.
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.
Read the full article here
