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As our old crewmates at the Mornington Yacht Club prepare to mark the official launch of the boating season this weekend, the storm over lewd and potentially offensive boat names down there will just not blow over.
Readers will recall the mutiny at the picturesque Schnapper Point Marina earlier this year over what were perceived by some members to be lewd misogynistic or offensive boat names.
Paul Dynes (inset) and the yacht Himalayan Women.
The club hoped to put things back on an even keel — we can do this all day — after some vessels were renamed and a new code of conduct and club constitution with specific reference to such matters, were put in place.
But. The yacht at the eye of the storm, Himalayan Women — geddit? — belonging to local builder Paul Dynes is back in troubled waters even after being given a pass by a club committee back in July.
Not everyone is happy with that decision and the pro-reform camp has forced a new vote on whether Himalayan Women should continue to find a berth at Mornington, arguing — a bit of a technicality, in fairness — that the name hadn’t been scrutinised under the auspices of the new code-of-conduct, which came into force in August.
Those rules require boat names not to denigrate any group or individual and be in line with community standards and the club board of seven men and two women will pass their judgment early next month.
Dynes, who has previously dismissed the furore as “absurd” and “a nonsense” told us on Thursday that he had not been aware that the name of his 25 footer was up for a vote again and that he was a little busy that day to pursue the matter with the club.
Club Commodore Andrew Young did not respond to an invitation to comment.
MYC member Kitty O’Sullivan, who has led the internal push against offensive boat names, told us that she and her supporters were frustrated that the matter had still not been settled.
“If this was a racist or homophobic reference, it would be dealt with in a heartbeat but because it’s about women, we’re supposed to just accept it,” she said.
DIGGING DEEP
The closure of a large business never fails to evoke a round of — mostly meaningless — hand-wringing from politicians.
Bob Katter is getting into the mining game.Credit: John Shakespeare
But far north Queensland maverick independent Bob Katter’s reaction to the end, announced this week, of Swiss multinational Glencore’s large-scale copper operation in Mount Isa, is typically outside the box. Bob’s going to go into the mining business himself.
Hot on the heels of Glencore’s announcement, the Member for Kennedy updated his official register of interests — in which he consistently states his wife’s share holdings and real estate dealings are none of his business — with a rallying cry for the region.
“I intend to take up old mining tenements discovered by myself prior to going into parliament and involve myself in other mining activities, but there are no specifics at this stage,” Katter wrote.
“It is essential for myself and everyone else to put their shoulder to the wheel. My very extensive knowledge from when I was mining copper myself, such knowledge I still have, and I must disclose that there would be a benefit for myself.”
And who’d begrudge the man a little benefit for getting down and dirty — potentially — in a one-man industry rescue mission?
LUCKY VIEW
CBD tries to avoid drooling over real estate listings, but the former gold mining executive Michael Folie — a bit of a fixture in the business pages back in the ’90s — is putting something special on the Brighton market.
OK, it’s huge, gorgeous and designed by noted Victorian — the era, not the state — architect John Russell Brown, in the late 1800s and was home for a while to one of the children of Sir Thoms Bent, the famously, well, bent, 22nd premier of Victoria. Oh, and you won’t get change out of $10 million.
But none of that is what we like about “Kiora”. It’s got a tower up top, where you can soar above all the surrounding properties, looking right out over the bay. Folie, who’s still on the board of the Institute of Public Affairs, tells us it’s pretty special.
Now, we can see why a Brighton real estate agent wouldn’t emphasise this as a unique selling point, but that means that the lucky purchaser shouldn’t be tempted – as some locals of the exclusive suburb have before – to risk fines of more than $130,000 by going down to Beach Road and destroy trees in order to enhance their property’s views.
You know who you are…
TICKETS PLEASE
The ratbag conservative activists at Turning Point Australia thought they’d pulled off a major coup when they announced that, Donald Trump Jr, would be touring. It’s all been a bit of a debacle since then.
Don Jr was meant to initially come in July, but pulled out at the last minute over what organisers said was a late visa issuing. That prompted Immigration Minister Clare O’Neil to hit back at Trump, calling him a “giant baby” and rejecting claims he hadn’t gotten a visa.
The big event was rescheduled for September, only for the organisers to postpone again to December, citing a conflict. Currently, Turning Point’s website for the Trump tour is still being updated.
Donald Trump JrCredit: Bloomberg
All that changing around has been tough for local Trumpheads. One punter who shelled out nearly $700 for two VIP meet and greet tickets to Don Jr’s initial Brisbane show told CBD he was yet to receive a refund, despite Turning Point promising to give back the cash, in emails seen by this column.
In an email, Turning Point’s man Joel Jammal said the hold-up was caused by external ticket agencies.
“We have had several complaints from ticketholders that ticketing agencies are being slow in refunding tickets, and we are doing our best to investigate each case,” he said.
“We have given each request an undertaking that their case will be dealt with and are holding the ticketing agencies to account on each case.”
Our disgruntled Trumper remains unsatisfied about it all.
“It’s disgusting you cannot ring companies these days; they are so WOKE (go woke, go broke),” he said.
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