Former health minister Michael Wooldridge avoids bankruptcy

Get off the beers

Michelle Ainsworth, the former ABC Canberra bureau chief and editor of politics responsible for two of the most unpopular decisions among the inmates of Parliament House in recent memory, quietly departed the public broadcaster this week.

Ainsworth was heavily involved in the 2023 sacking of the ABC’s former political editor Andrew Probyn and his producer Brihony Speed, a move that left Probyn blindsided and sent shockwaves through the corridors of power.

Both Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and then-opposition leader Peter Dutton lashed the ABC’s move during their Midwinter Ball speeches that year, as the public broadcaster’s top brass awkwardly nodded along.

But Probyn, who’s found a new home at Nine, owner of this masthead, was one of the loudest critics of another controversial Ainsworth call – her decision to remove the office beer fridge in the press gallery bureau, which she described as out of step with attempts to bring a more dry culture to the Canberra bubble.

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It seems the beer fridge has had the last laugh. Ainsworth quietly moved on from the press gallery shortly after the dust settled on the Probyn affair, and had, until recently, been managing Aunty’s news cadet program. ABC news boss Justin Stevens announced her departure to staff on Monday.

Ainsworth also received a Churchill Fellowship, and has since been busy travelling the world “to investigate declining trust in democracy and how the news media can slow this trend”. We’re desperately hoping she can come up with an answer, and we hear Ainsworth is keen to explore further options in this area.

We also hear there won’t be any staff drinks to toast Ainsworth’s departure. In this case, cracking a beer would probably be rather inappropriate.

Comeback trail

Former transport minister Jo Haylen quit cabinet this year after she was revealed to have used a taxpayer-funded chauffeur to take her to a boozy girls’ lunch at a Hunter Valley winery over the Australia Day long weekend.

But Haylen still has some clout with Premier Chris Minns. The big dog is set to be guest of honour at the Summer Hill MP’s upcoming annual fundraising dinner, to be held in the salubrious surrounds of the Wests Ashfield Leagues Club in August.

Could this be the beginning of a slow redemption arc?

Chauffeurgate wasn’t Haylen’s first strike as a minister. But these days, entitlements scandals can be shaken off. Just ask Sussan Ley, who once quit cabinet after using a taxpayer-funded trip to the Gold Coast to buy an apartment. Now she’s leader of the party. Never say never.

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