Deputy PM’s son lands election night knockout blow
Young Marles, whose mother is Richard Marles’ first wife, Lisa Neville, a former Victorian police minister, won against undefeated local Logan opponent Nate “the Law” Law.
When asked how he was feeling afterwards, he handled his post-bout interview with the ease of a National Press Club regular, saying: “I’m feeling pretty sore”.
Sunday scaries
After a brutal night for the Liberals, the party’s moderates gathered in Sydney on Sunday afternoon to sink beers, lick their wounds and search for any glimmer of hope amid the wreckage of an election disaster.
Hours before the mods’ planned post-election drinks were meant to kick off, the faction’s boss, lobbyist Michael Photios (who had the wisdom to hire a few more Labor types before the polls), emailed his comrades to insist that attendance was critical.
The mood in the room was one of anger – at Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s appalling campaign, at conservatives in the party who’d driven them into the wilderness, at zoomer Lib-fluencer Freya Leach for having the temerity to show up.
Photios delivered a scathing speech where he blamed solely Dutton for Saturday’s drubbing and lamented the party’s failure to win over women and younger voters.
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Senator Maria Kovacic told attendees that the moderates had time and time again paid the price for the right’s failures. This time, the price the moderates paid included the political futures of some of their comrades, including frontbencher David Coleman and first-term MP Jenny Ware, who both lost southern Sydney seats few thought were even in play. Both received tributes on Sunday, although only Ware was able to make it.
Gisele Kapterian, the party’s likely defeated candidate in the once-safe seat of Bradfield, lashed the campaign for its lack of flexibility. Former frontbencher Paul Fletcher, who retired after holding that seat since 2009, popped in later in the afternoon.
Other attendees included former minister Bruce Baird plus state MPs Felicity Wilson, Chris Rath, Jacqui Munro and Jordan Lane. And also Luke Nayna, the strategist responsible for the party’s final week meme game – if that’s what you can call social media posts featuring 2000s-era cartoon characters such as Shrek and Lightning McQueen, which were the subject of ridicule and frustration in Liberal group chats at the weekend.
We hear he’s got his eye on the state director’s job if Chris Stone ever moves on. At least someone is serious about winning back the youth vote.
Porter’s return
It’s a big CBD welcome back to former attorney general and one-time “future prime minister” Christian Porter, who was spotted at Peter Dutton’s election night wake in Brisbane on Saturday.
Porter arrived at Brisbane’s W hotel about 6.30pm with his wife, lawyer Karen Espiner, whom he married in the environs of Byron Bay in the summer of 2023.
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It was CBD that first brought readers news of their budding romance back in 2021, when the couple bonded over a shared love of the law and as we reported at the time, sour worm lollies. The Porters hung out in the VIP function adjacent to the main chamber and were spotted in the company of former ministers Steve Ciobo and Michael Keenan.
CBD wondered if this was Lazarus with a triple bypass, to use the John Howard phraseology for unlikely political comebacks.
It wasn’t that long ago during the Morrison government that the future of the Liberal Party was a toss up between Porter and Josh Frydenberg.
Porter, who resigned from politics in 2021 after a series of allegations he has always denied, slipped into the main room with his squad just before Dutton gave his gracious concession speech.
Relax, turns out Dutton is an old mate and Porter, who earns his coin as a barrister in Western Australia, was there to support him in what turned out to very much be his hour of need.
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