When news broke last month that former New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, had touched down in Australia following a stint living in the United States, our attention immediately turned to where the hugely popular former leader was looking to call home.
Would she choose Melbourne, the spiritual home of progressive politics in Australia, or Sydney, the natural habitat of the nation’s wealth and influence? There was some chatter that Ardern and her husband, the TV presenter Clarke Gayford, were house-hunting on Sydney’s northern beaches, after the pair were spotted in Curl Curl and Freshwater.
Well, it turns out that might not be far off.
One of the local real estate agents to open their doors to Ardern has been Michelle Galletti, of Cunninghams on the northern beaches. We hear Galletti has been showing the former New Zealand prime minister real estate for months. But as things stand, CBD hears Ardern has no interest in Freshwater, and is instead warming to North Curl Curl.
After all, it has a great beach and dog beach, and a good school. We expect she’ll pass on anything flashy and instead opt for something more humble, given the state of Sydney real estate and the strength of the NZ dollar.
When we reached Ardern’s office, a spokesman confirmed that she and Gayford are, “for the moment”, basing themselves in Australia.
“The family has been travelling for a few years now. For the moment they’re basing themselves out of Australia – they have work there, and it brings the added bonus of more time back home in New Zealand,” the spokesman told CBD.
Ardern’s arrival in Australia has ignited a wave of fanfare. While we don’t know where exactly the family is staying, Ardern has been spotted out and about in Sydney’s north multiple times in recent weeks.
Among the most recent was a trip to the Apple store at Chatswood Chase on Sydney’s lower north shore, where Ardern was spotted on Monday last week, according to one CBD spy. As it happens, we hear the former leader was in store for a “genius bar” appointment. No word, however, on which device was to blame or what the issue was.
Here’s to hoping she got what she needed. A warm CBD welcome to Dame Ardern!
Don Farrell giddy to meet his ‘hero’ Rupert Murdoch
Trade Minister Don Farrell may have set out on his mission to the United States last week with a view to striking a deal with US officials that would secure Australia an exemption from a temporary increase to the tariff rate.
But that hasn’t stopped the Labor veteran from confabbing with other powerbrokers along the way. After all, if you can’t get an audience with US President Donald Trump, surely a quick grip-n-grin with the billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch makes for a decent consolation prize.
At least that’s what Farrell would’ve had guests of the G’Day LA arts gala in Los Angeles believe on Friday, where he gushed over the prospect of meeting with the elder Murdoch, who Farrell described as his “hero”.
“I love successful South Australians, and there has been no more successful South Australian than Rupert Murdoch,” Farrell said, in an address that appeared to stray from prepared remarks. “I used to sell his newspaper in the streets of Adelaide in the 1960s, and I look forward to meeting him for the very first time.”
Here we should note that Murdoch actually grew up in Melbourne, according to Paddy Manning, Australia’s most prominent Murdochologist and author of the unauthorised biography of Lachlan Murdoch, The Successor. But it was in Adelaide where the elder Murdoch started building his empire. (We’ll allow it.)
With Australia’s outgoing ambassador to the United States Kevin Rudd busy elsewhere, it was left to Farrell to dazzle the audience at the annual get-together. And we hear the room was lapping it up.
“Kevin Rudd used to be the smartest man in the room, I tend to be the shortest,” Farrell quipped, as he adjusted the microphone to suit. To be fair, he was in a room with Olympic swimmers Ian Thorpe and Gary Hall Jnr who clock in at 6′5″ and 6′6″ respectively.
“My job is to be the minister for trade and tourism. What a time to be the minister for trade. Could you believe it?” he quipped. Farrell confirmed he was meeting the US Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer over the weekend.
The room was dotted with all manner of Los Angeles-based Australian luminaries, suited American Australian Association heavyweights and fly-through junketeers on their way to the NRL engagement in Las Vegas.
Among them were American actor Vince Vaughn, Oscar-winning Australian cinematographer Dion Beebe and his wife, producer and director Unjoo Moon, Lachlan and Sarah Murdoch, iconic Australian actress Jacki Weaver, Daily Telegraph editor Ben English, and Los Angeles-based Australian philanthropist Lady Julie Hardinge.
Also present were Peter Tonagh, chairman of Nine Entertainment – publisher of this masthead – and the company’s broadcast boss, Amanda Laing.
John Buckley is a CBD columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via email.
Michael Idato is the culture editor-at-large of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X or email.
