‘Arm-twisting’ rumour about Brittany Higgins’ husband David Sharaz rocks the campaign. Plus, Young Liberal caught in D.C. sting and Greens’ rave fail: ELECTION INSIDER

Sharaz a thorn in the government’s side… again

Brittany Higgins‘ husband David Sharaz might have copped criticism he was doing Labor’s bidding in the countdown to the 2022 election.

But nobody could accuse him of doing the same this time around.

Back in Australia after a sojourn in France, the new father is now working for Third Hemisphere, a PR company with a bit of a social conscience.

But the former Sky News and SBS journo isn’t just firing press releases into the void – he’s actually managed to pull off quite the coup in the midst of an election campaign.

Sharaz and his team recently helped draw attention to the lack of federal funding and support for people with stomas: a surgically created opening in the abdomen that allows bodily waste to be removed into a small bag.

More than 1,000 sufferers wrote to health minister Mark Butler asking for help last November and they didn’t even get a reply. Nothing, nada, zero.

We can reveal that once reporters started making enquires in response to agitating by Sharaz and Co., Butler’s office was suddenly interested in the issue (surprise, surprise) and all but begging those prepared to give critical quotes not to do so. 

We assume the health minister’s staff agreed it wasn’t a great look having a story hit the headlines about their boss (and close Albo confidant) failing to respond to calls for help while the PM is busy on the campaign trail flashing his Medicare card around at anyone with a camera as if he’s some sort of saviour of the health system.

The Greens go raving mad

Reports the WA Greens were planning a late-night rave on Anzac Day drew swift criticism, for obvious reasons.

The backlash was so fierce that within hours the Greens had backflipped and cancelled the event.

You don’t often see the hard-left minor party give in to ‘mainstream’ outrage. Perhaps offending veterans was a bridge too far, even for them.

However, when it comes to Christians, not so much.

Their leader, Adam Bandt, is slated to headline a midnight rave in Melbourne later this week – on Good Friday, to be exact.

The invitation confirms they plan to keep it hush-hush, and Bandt’s headline act also doesn’t appear on the website for the Chapel St nightclub either from what we could see. 

For the uninitiated, Good Friday is a solemn Christian holy day commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death (thanks, Wikipedia).

Evidently, the Greens are more concerned about backlash from Anzac Day worshippers than Christians – who make up almost 44 per cent of our population, per the 2021 census.

At any rate, Bandt’s DJ skills at least give him something in common with our DJing PM Anthony Albanese.

It might even be a way for them to bond as they discuss Bandt’s wishlist of policies in the event the Greens support a Labor minority government after the election.

Young Liberal’s candid camera moment

A few weeks ago, we brought news to you of the eyebrow-raising antics of Young Liberals rising star Georgia Lowden.

The media adviser to Senator Dave Sharma was game enough to give us a fulsome response when we asked about the wisdom of posing in a Labor T-shirt at a party.

And it seems we are not the only ones to be on the receiving end of her openness.

On a stateside trip ahead of Donald Trump‘s landslide election last year, she was buttonholed by American satirist Lionel McGloin, whose schtick is to pose as a news reporter while tricking his gullible interviewees into guileless answers.

Wearing a ‘Harris 2024 Save Democracy’ tee – an odd choice for the head of Young Liberals NSW, but then she’s got form in that regard – Ms Lowden gave as good as she got when asked: ‘Who’s more attractive: working-class guys or upper-class guys?’

‘Both,’ she responded after a brief pause. ‘You can’t make me choose!’

Asked whom she would prefer to marry, Ms Lowden gave an answer that would make most Aussies proud.

‘Tradies get the ladies, so working class!’ she quipped.

Who said Liberals are snobs?

Albo spreads it on thick 

In one of the few genuinely funny moments on the campaign trail this week, Albo weighed in on a Vegemite scandal (!?) from Canada (!?)

You probably could’ve got pretty long odds on those two playing a role in the election.

It came about because Canadian authorities tried to ban and seize a large stockpile of imported Vegemite set to be used by expat restaurant owner Leighton Walters whose Toronto café serves the iconic Aussie spread.

The details of the ban aren’t interesting. Nor was Albo’s glib defence of the food staple staying on the menu when he said: ‘I stand with the Aussie café owner.’

I mean, who the hell cares? 

The real story came when Albo tried to add flavour to his remarks by telling reporters: ‘I actually put a lot of Vegemite on my toast.’

How interesting. But, of course, any self-respecting Vegemite eater will tell you there is a right and a wrong way to serve the yeasty spread on toast.

And putting ‘a lot’ on is widely regarded as wrong. Both the everyman and the true gourmand agree less is more when it comes to Vegemite.

Voters are swayed by the most minor of transgressions. Will Albo admitting he’s one of those crazy people who spread Vegemite a centimetre thick on his toast each morning put people off?

Stranger things have happened.