Flea in the ointment as Qantas passenger alleges flight bites, airline offers points
The PM was accompanied by a smattering of Australian corporate titans during the Shanghai leg of the trip, including billionaire mining magnate turned clean energy evangelist Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest, Rio Tinto's Kellie Parker, Macquarie Bank's Shemara Wikramanayake and BHP's Geraldine Slattery.
Before the meetings, Chinese state media praised Albo for taking a more co-operative approach to Sino-Australian relations than the Morrison government, which presided over a diplomatic deep freeze with Beijing.
The biggest sign of the thaw was on the lunch table. Last year, China removed a series of tariffs it placed on Australian produce in 2020 in retaliation toward then prime minister Scott Morrison's calls for an inquiry into the origins of COVID-19. China's wine tariffs (Penfolds was hit with a 175 per cent tariff) crippled the $1.2 billion export industry for Aussie wineries.
On Monday, it was Australian beef and seafood for lunch in Shanghai. There was also wine by Penfolds (a brand with an oversized footprint in the Australian political landscape), including a $150 cabernet sauvignon from grapes grown in the Shangri-La region of China's Yunnan province. Talk about team with the theme.
It was a situation unthinkable five years ago, when Canberra's National Press Club served up Australian beef and barley to a top Chinese diplomat in an act of culinary trolling.
Departure lounge
CBD brought word on Tuesday about Anthony Albanese's chief of staff Tim Gartrell taking a somewhat dim view of political staffers posting about their jobs on social media.
Gartrell's friendly reminder in an all-hands meeting last week came after a flurry of posts from departing PMO staffers toasting their heroic work in the Labor government, which he clearly must not have enjoyed.
But those leaving Albanese's employ aren't guided by any directive from above. Coincidentally, hours after our item ran, former strategic communications director Katie Connolly produced her own LinkedIn farewell dump, including a picture hugging the PM.
'I dreamed of working for a Labor prime minister. And I'll be forever grateful that dream came true,' was the glowing caption.
As for just how many staff have departed the prime minister's office right after securing a landslide victory and immense second-term mandate, CBD hears the number is close to 20, out of a 60-ish person team, although the exact figure is in dispute.
While most of those leaving are women, a PMO source reminded us Albanese's staff are majority female, so it tracks. The same probably can't be said about the other side of politics, who tend to do everything in their power to discourage women from getting involved.
Best of frenemies
Where there is sport, politicians and business leaders can't help but stick their noses in.
A few months after his infamous sofa-sitting appearance in the Oval Office, billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch joined US president Donald Trump in his box at MetLife stadium in New Jersey to continue what we term their 'frenemy bromance' and watch Chelsea FC stun Paris Saint-Germain in the final of FIFA's inaugural Club World Cup, the latest fake tournament to further bloat the international football calendar.
For Trump, it marked one year since an assassin's bullet grazed his ear and changed the course of American politics. He spent the occasion hanging out with Murdoch, former NFL star Tom Brady and FIFA's ghoulish president-cum-Dr Evil lookalike Gianni Infantino.
Expect a repeat experience next year when the United States co-hosts the FIFA World Cup with trade war enemies Canada and Mexico.
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