Labor's former ‘minister for good times' cashes in on election bet
During his stint in Bob Hawke's cabinet, John Brown became known as the 'minister for good times', a name that also formed the title of the 93-year-old's rollicking recent memoir.
Technically, it was sport, recreation and tourism, and Brown certainly wishes he was better known for his policy accomplishments than for having sex with then-wife Jan Murray on his ministerial desk. Murray revealed the smutty story on 60 Minutes, and while Brown doesn't dispute the whole incident, he says it's not true that she left her knickers in the ashtray. The '80s were a different time.
Anyway, the good times are still rolling for Brownie. CBD recently came into possession of a picture of the former minister at Royal Randwick receiving a bunch of $50 bills from Robbie Waterhouse, of the storied bookmaking family.
It turns out Brown had taken a punt on Labor increasing its parliamentary majority in this month's federal election at $5.80 and won big. A good call, seeing as most betting markets (not to mention many pundits) were still leaning toward a Labor minority government as the campaign reached its final stretch.
Waterhouse told us that Brown, who he described as 'a real man's man', had been betting with him for more than 40 years.
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Brown was in the mood for a yarn when CBD came calling on Wednesday but wanted to instead discuss the Australian Turf Club's decision to block the sale of Rosehill racecourse (unlike the Waterhouses, he supported the sell-off).
Turf war
On Tuesday, members of the Australian Turf Club became the latest unrepresentative swill to decide that young Sydneysiders can't have nice things like home ownership, voting down the state government's plans to buy Rosehill racecourse and build much-needed housing.
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