Excruciating moment Labor and Liberal candidates fail to answer BASIC questions about the community they are seeking to represent – so would YOU pay them $211,250 for a cruisy gig in Canberra?
- Liberal candidate Maria Kovacic is bidding to win Parramatta from Labor
- She slipped up by saying her favourite dessert bar was in Bayview, 50km away
- Wealthy Labor candidate Andrew Charlton was also caught out by similar grilling
- He lives in a mansion in Sydney’s east and struggled to name three local diners
- The video revealed he was standing in street full of Indian restaurants at the time
A deceptively gentle grilling by a local newspaper has embarrassingly tripped up both Liberal and Labour candidates fighting for a crucial seat in Sydney’s west.
Businesswoman Liberal Maria Kovacic is a captain’s pick by PM Scott Morrison to snatch Parramatta in Sydney’s west after the retirement of Labor MP, Julie Owens.
But when Ms Kovacic was asked to name three favourite local restaurants, she blundered by naming a northern beaches suburb.
Maria Kovacic was asked to name three favourite local restaurants by Pawan Luthra for Indian Link Media but blundered by naming a Northern Beaches suburb
She’d earlier named local Thai Holy Basil as her first choice and upmarket Ruse Brasserie, where steaks start at $47, but slipped up with her third choice.
She said she loved a dessert bar in ‘Church Street, Bayview’, a wealthy suburb 50km away, close to Church Point and Newport, which overlooks Pittwater.
It’s believed she actually meant the Bay Vista Dessert Bar in Parramatta’s Church Street.
Bayview is 50km from Parramatta (above)
Maria Kovacic said she loved a dessert bar in Bayview, a picturesque wealthy suburb in Sydney’s Northern Beaches
It’s believed Maria Kovacic actually meant to say Bay Vista dessert bar in Parramatta
The slip up follows wealthy Labor candidate Andrew Charlton also being caught out in the deceptively simple test of local knowledge by Pawan Luthra for Indian Link Media.
He was interviewed on camera in Harris Park – famous for its Indian restaurants – but couldn’t name three favourite eateries despite standing in a street full of them.
The video even swings round to show Mr Charlton, 43, standing in front of popular Indian restaurant Billus as the Labor hopeful struggled to come up with a local diner.
Wealthy Labor candidate Andrew Charlton has been parachuted in to stand for election in Sydney’s west couldn’t name three local restaurants while standing in a street full of them
The candidate managed to muster two names, including Indian street eatery Chatkazz, but when prompted, couldn’t come up with a third.
‘Whoa,’ he said when pushed. ‘There are a lot, jeez, there are a lot of good ones…umm…I would…I would have to say…ummm…’
He finally says he said he had a ‘fantastic’ Ramadan-breaking feast at Parramatta mosque but eventually admits: ‘I’ll have to get back to you on the name…’
The economist and entrepreneur lives in the $16million ‘Fintry’ mansion in Bellevue Hill in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs with his barrister wife Phoebe Arcus.
He was hand-picked by Labor leader Anthony Albanese to fight for the marginal seat of Parramatta and recently bought a $1.95million home in the constituency.
Mr Charlton was a highly regarded economic advisor to then-PM Kevin Rudd and helped steer policies that guided Australia through the 2008 global financial crisis.
Mr Rudd told the ABC: ‘He is a highly talented individual, brilliant economist…and he helped me get Australia a permanent seat on the G20.’
The Sydney university graduate was a Rhodes Scholar who got his PhD in economics from Oxford University in the UK.
He’s written books on economics, including Oznomics, which argued for workers’ rights and government investment in technology and education.
Economist and entrepreneur Andrew Charlton lives in the $16million ‘Fintry’ mansion in Bellevue Hill in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs with his barrister wife Phoebe Arcus
The father of three founded an economics consultancy AlphaBeta which he later sold to global consultants Accenture, prompting the purchase of his $16million mansion with spectacular views across the eastern suburbs and Bondi coastline.
The classic six-bedroom property was previously home to MamaMia! founder Mia Freedman and her husband Jason Lavigne, and is just down the road from media magnate Lachlan Murdoch and his wife Sarah.
Mr Charlton is fighting to keep Parramatta for Labor after the retiring current MP won the seat in 2019 with a slim 3.5 per cent margin.