Murdoch’s men take stock of online deal

For a cool $270 a head, attendees will be able to drown their post-election sorrows in mediocre sparkling wine while being regaled with tunes performed by a ’60s cover band – how’s that for Menzies-era nostalgia?

Intellectual stimulation will come in the form of former British Supreme Court judge turned anti-lockdown activist Lord Jonathan Sumption, who was last seen chinwagging on YouTube with former Nationals leader John Anderson.

The institute, which was set up at the University of Melbourne last year thanks to a generous $7 million from Scott Morrison’s government, is a joint venture between the uni and the Menzies Research Centre, a Liberal-aligned think tank.

We have no doubt company will be exhilarating at its first big outing. Twice-failed Liberal candidate Georgina Downer (daughter of Howard-era foreign minister Alexander Downer), is the institute’s chief executive. Tony Abbott’s former chief of staff and Sky News talking head Peta Credlin sits on the board, alongside Downer snr’s old ministerial colleague David Kemp and former Qantas chair Leigh Clifford. Sounds like a hell of a party.

DON’S DREAMING

Trade Minister Don Farrell made his name in politics, such as it is, as a backroom factional bruiser using the institutional clout of the shop workers’ union to push a socially conservative agenda within Labor.

So it is surprising that the arch-shoppie revealed himself in The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald on Tuesday as a bit of a dreamer with a claim that a free trade agreement between Australia and the European Union can be completed within 12 months.

FTAs can be a graveyard for a politician’s credibility. Just ask Don’s Liberal predecessor Simon Birmingham about the kite he flew in mid-2019 – when Boris Johnson’s Britain looked like heading towards a no-deal exit from the EU – that Australia and the UK could complete a deal within “weeks if not months” of Brexit.

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A deal – “gold standard”, no less – between the two nations was eventually signed in December 2021, about 28 months after Simon’s fever dream. But still not a single bottle of Jacob’s Creek has changed hands under the agreement, with the ratification process snarled in both the Australian and British parliaments.

In fairness to Don, New Zealand, which kicked off negotiations with the EU at the same time as Australia in 2018, signed a deal with the bloc last month, but goods and services won’t begin to flow for at least 18 months – and that’s optimistic – as the European Parliament and the union’s 27 member states go about the tortuous ratification process.

Australia, on the other hand, still has another round of talks – the 12th – to complete with the Europeans in November, with no guarantee that sticking points can be hammered out, and then there’s the question of ratifying the thing.

We wish Don the very best of luck.

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