Once a Nat, always a Nat. That was one of the explanations offered up to us when we asked people close to the Nationals’ leadership why billionaire Clive Palmer made a cameo at the party’s federal conference festivities in Canberra at the weekend.
Heading into Saturday, all eyes were on whom the party would appoint as its next national director. That job ended up going to Tim Dixon, a lawyer and former trade adviser who has been working as the deputy director of the NSW Nationals since January.
But it was Palmer’s appearance at the party’s Saturday evening dinner, relayed to CBD by two sources briefed on the event, that caught our attention.
The mining magnate is worth about $19.55 billion, according to The Australian Financial Review’s Rich List, and has made no secret of his intentions to run for office in the Queensland electorate of Fadden at the 2028 federal election.
After the unmitigated disaster of his Trump-inspired “Trumpet of Patriots” rebrand, which Palmer abandoned for a return to his “United Australia Party” political party earlier this year, we couldn’t help wondering whether the serial litigant is trying to strengthen ties to his former party.
He was seen rubbing shoulders with Nationals leader Matt Canavan and Opposition Leader Angus Taylor at Saturday night’s gala dinner, where guests were treated to a performance from country musician Lee Kernaghan. But Palmer’s visit was nothing more than a friendly show of support, according to a source close to the billionaire.
Others at the dinner included former prime minister John Howard, along with former defence minister and opposition leader Brendan Nelson, and Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro, who sat beside Taylor.
Pay lift for Drummond
AFL chairman Craig Drummond has had a shocker week or two as he and the club he is former president of, Geelong, sought to manage the Jake Kolodjashnij concussion waiver crisis.
However, some consolation for Drummond, a former Goldman Sachs investment banker, would be the $705,000 annual pay packet he receives via one of his lucrative side hustles as chairman of the $45 billion toll-road operator Transurban.
Drummond’s payday was revealed on Thursday as the company, which runs CityLink and the new West Gate Tunnel in Melbourne, unveiled its 2026 financial results, headlined by a $432 million profit – more than double what it made the year before.
Drummond has enjoyed a sweet pay rise from the $688,000 he received in 2025, despite traffic numbers for the $10.2 billion West Gate Tunnel being underwhelming.
The tunnel, a signature project of the state Labor government, opened to traffic in mid-December. Alas, since then, Melburnians haven’t exactly embraced their shiny new road.
On average, only about 36,000 daily trips are being made on the WGT, which takes in the tunnel itself as well as heavy vehicles that cross the West Gate Bridge and now pay a toll.
That number has been flat since the opening and compares with 837,000 daily trips on CityLink.
“West Gate Tunnel traffic has remained flat since February 2026,” Transurban chief executive Michelle Jablko, who looks to have mastered the art of the understatement, said of the numbers.
Like Drummond, Jablko received a pay rise in the year too, up from $5.1 million in 2025 to $5.83 million this year.
Waislitz on court (not in court) this time
Melbourne rich lister Alex Waislitz and his aspiring pop singer fiancee, Rebekah Behbahani, have had a go at celebrity padel ball, ending up on court with, of all people, tennis greats Pat Rafter and Ash Barty.
Waislitz, the business partner of accused domestic violence perpetrator Antony Catalano, clearly knew he was out of his depth, telling the on-court interviewer before the start of the hit and giggle game: “It is easier running a hedge fund than, I think, playing these guys. We’ll see how we go.”
The short answer is he and Behbahani did not go well in the Celebrity 1 Point Padel competition held on the apron of the Sydney Opera House on Saturday.
Behbahani said in a post-match clip that she “failed miserably”.
“I did not hit the ball, in fact, I ran away from the ball.”
It was a bit of a surprise seeing Waislitz and his plus one among the mixed assortment of celebrities taking part in the promotional stunt. The list also included actor Josh Heuston, Gold Logie nominee Todd Woodbridge, model Bambi Northwood-Blyth, former Bachelor star Felix Von Hofe, singer Ruel and Olympian Cooper Woods. Waislitz, who we are told is quite the padel enthusiast, was a guest of UBS, the event’s presenting partner.
In recent times, Waislitz and Behbahani have been better known for dealing with courts of a legal, not sporting, kind.
Waislitz was involved in a headline-making dispute with ex-wife Heloise Pratt over control of the Thorney investment portfolio. That complicated high-stakes tussle was settled at the eleventh hour last September, avoiding a Supreme Court showdown.
Separately, Waislitz and Behbahani have been locked in a messy, long-running legal barney with Behbahani’s sister, Venus Behbahani-Clark, a former star of The Real Housewives of Melbourne, over the ownership of a Toorak townhouse. That stand-off ended up in the Supreme Court in February and is still to be resolved.
Meanwhile, Waislitz’s partner in the Australian Community Media publishing business, Catalano, is having court issues of his own, facing eight criminal charges in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court over an alleged domestic violence incident in March involving his wife, Stefanie.
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