Julia Gillard still hasn’t seen her own play. What sort of ex-PM is she? (2024)

Is there any politician less self-obsessed than Julia Gillard? In sharp contrast to some of her predecessors (Paul Keating was an ardent fan of Keating! The Musical), not only has our first female prime minister not seen the new play Julia about her life and times, but the buzz is that PM27 hasn’t even rewatched her globally famous 2012 misogyny speech, which forms the core of the play.

Political, theatrical and power super-fans converged on the Melbourne Theatre Company’s post-premiere soiree to marvel at Justine Clarke’s astute mimicry of Gillard and her uncanny re-creation of Tony Abbott’s grin.

But CBD hears that Gillard, who spends a lot of time in London, is finally planning to attend a performance in August when it tours to Adelaide.

On Tuesday, the MTC’s Southbank Theatre swarmed with the great and the good. Former Essendon chairman Paul Little and his spouse, University of Melbourne chancellor Jane Hansen, were seen chowing down at adjacent restaurant Miss Pearl, although presumably Hansen, who stepped down as MTC chair in March, could no longer use her staff discount. Multitasker Janet Whiting (chair of both the National Gallery of Victoria and Visit Victoria) scooted to the downstairs bar for a pre-play fortifier.

Settling into their seats in the packed auditorium were thespian-artist power couple Asher Keddie and Vincent Fantauzzo, who posed for selfies with Triple J broadcaster Dee Salmin and her partner, University of Melbourne masters in international relations student Darcy Moore.

Former federal Liberal MP Katie Allen was at the bar not exactly crying into her cups that her old seat of Higgins, which she lost to Labor’s Dr Michelle Ananda-Rajah, would be axed under an electoral commission proposal.

CBD spotted Animal Justice MP Georgie Purcell, First Nations academic and writer Marcia Langton, ABC TV’s Lisa Millar, ABC Radio’s Alice Zaslavsky and actor Sharon Johal, while Natalie Hutchins and Katie Hall waved the red flag for Victorian Labor.

Gallerist Anna Schwartz held court while husband Morry Schwartz, owner of The Monthly and The Saturday Paper, made a beeline for esteemed publishing maven Anne O’Donovan.

Playwright Joanna Murray-Smith and director Sarah Goodes posed at the media wall, while attendee and Real Housewives of Melbourne star Kyla Kirkpatrick supplied Nicolas Feuillatte champagne via her Emperor champagne outfit to the thirsty masses, which might just force our arts institutions to upgrade their stocks of cheap opening night plonk at other events.

Royal seal of approval

We can’t think of too many local unions, or industry associations for that matter, that have managed to get a seal of approval from King Charles, no less.

But the Australian Medical Association, which suffers distress when referred to as the doctors’ union, is an exception.

Last month, the AMA, whose relevance plummeted after people stopped fearing COVID, was awarded royal patronage by the King, gaining a good old PR boost from Buckingham Palace.

But the AMA didn’t seem thrilled about it, dropping a few short paragraphs on the website, where president Steve Robson noted the proud achievement “regardless of where one stands on the republican issue in Australia”.

It carefully confirmed, via the trade press, that it had no say in gaining the royal seal of approval.

But the doctors’ union should be proud. The organisation first gained royal patronage from Queen Elizabeth in 1964. When Charles took the throne, more than 100 organisations were culled from the patronage list, but the AMA survived. Not bad for a body which now represents only about 30 per cent of doctors in a distant colony.

Safe space

These days, the mean streets of Marrickville in Sydney lack the grit of decades past. But, according to an article published in The Australian on Wednesday, the suburb is no longer a safe space for staff of its most famous resident, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

The ongoing presence of pro-Palestinian protesters camped outside the prime minister’s electorate office had, The Oz’s Dennis Shanahan wrote, forced staff to abandon the office in January. Safety concerns, you see.

But this wasn’t entirely true. One of our colleagues visited the office in April, and was let in by staff, who confirmed it was still operational.

Now, usually the Prime Minister’s Office is quick to hose down any media errors. Not so this time. But eventually, it confirmed that the electorate office had closed only two weeks ago. That’s around the time the government started escalating its attacks on the Greens over perceived support for demonstrators making a nuisance outside several Labor MPs’ offices.

We asked The Australian for a please explain, but didn’t hear back.

Perhaps we should have put the query to News Corp boss Michael Miller when he showed up at the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday to have a crack at social media giants. Miller copped some curly questions from journalists who queried the empire’s alleged bullying of women and perceptions that some of its coverage of migration might be a bit racist.

He got a friendlier reception from fellow media bosses, particularly from Seven West Media, who bought a table. The Kerry Stokes-controlled company’s new chief executive, Jeff Howard, and director of news and current affairs, Anthony De Ceglie, exchanged plenty of firm blokey handshakes after question time.

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