From the Crikey grapevine, the latest tips and rumours …

I say a little prayer for yooouuuu … Formerly of Family First and now independent Senator Lucy Gichuhi has never hidden her strong religious convictions, and they were in full evidence yesterday morning at the national prayer breakfast, where she spared a few thoughts for our Prime Minister:

“We pray for a special anointing over our Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull because all authority comes from you. Help us to recognise our role in supporting him in leading this nation to the glory of your kingdom. Father, we thank you for his wisdom, emotional and personal stability. We thank you for his physical health.”

Given his wretched run in the polls, persistent sniping from his backbench and a general sense that he has abandoned everything that made him seem like a good option for PM, we’re sure Turnbull greatly appreciated the implication that his time in the lodge is divinely ordained and protected. 

 

Shelton’s risky business. “We need a conversation about the enablers of predatory behaviour” tweeted ACL leader Lyle Shelton over the weekend. “We could start with …” and then he names a Victorian upper house minor party MLC. We’re not linking to the tweet; you can see it in his timeline. We suspect that it is possible that Lyle will soon be having a conversation with a defamation defence lawyer.

Paying to play. Yesterday we mentioned the unusual ways one can qualify to be a candidate for a minor party, and asked if our readers had any further examples:

“In the Animal Justice Party, typically the candidates are asked to pay a fee equal to the registration fee for the election (for example, $350 for the upcoming Victorian state election). They do not pay any additional fees for advertising materials, how to vote cards, etc, which are funded by the party,” Bruce Poon, president of the Animal Justice Party told Crikey. Another tipster got in touch to remind us that people were willing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to try to get nominated as deputy to Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle.

The Fin’s inappropriate, sexual piece on inappropriate sexual behaviour. The Harvey Weinstein scandal has, unsurprisingly, given us miles upon miles of column space. And finally, we get a take on what all this means for the Australian bloke in the workplace, from the The Australian Financial Review’s Aaron Patrick. And it’s quite the thing.

The piece is crammed full of qualifiers:

“If his accusers are telling the truth — and I assume they are — Harvey Weinstein practised extreme workplace harassment … 

A Sydney mother in her thirties I know was going to a social event after work and decided to wear a slightly low-cut top. Sure enough, a male colleague implied — without malice — she was showing off her breasts …

A single friend was once offered more than a dozen dates at a finance industry conference. The unwelcome propositions are awkward for both sides …

Monk-like restrictions are not the solution. There is no point pretending workplaces can ever be asexual. Who of us — male or female — hasn’t cast an eye at a colleague or work contact we find attractive?” 

Patrick lists a series of awful, awful things experienced by his female friends over many years, before concluding that older blokes should just “know better” than to behave in a way they demonstrably have for decades, and younger men — who’ve been poisoned by Tinder, you see — need to be trained “about appropriate workplace sexual behaviour”, before describing in weirdly specific detail some behaviour that would not qualify as appropriate: “They need to be taught not to check out the 21-year-old legal associate when she leans over the photocopier, avoid discussing their boob fascination between 8am and 6pm Monday to Friday …”

How (needlessly) vivid.

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