Former Victorian Premier and chairman of Beyondblue Jeff Kennett continues to find his foot permanently residing in his mouth. In a speech at a Property Council lunch in Tasmania earlier this week where he continued his ongoing battle to get rid of one of the levels of government, Kennett quipped that he was surprised that Brighton mayor Barbara Curran — who had been a critic of Kennett’s amalgamation policies — wasn’t at the lunch and “must have something cooking on the stove”.

In response to the remarks, Brighton Council said that Curran was “attending a two-day Australia Post business conference in Melbourne” and was represented at the lunch by another councillor and management from the council.

“The council sees it as very poor form for Mr Kennett to speak of Cr Curran in such a condescending way.”

According to the local paper, The Mercury, when asked about his comments, Kennett said he was simply trying to figure out why Curran wasn’t there.

Somewhere, an exhausted worker is resetting the “days since Kennett said something stupid” counter back to zero.