A little 'pastoral encouragement' lands on PM's gift register

Fewer than 2000 copies of the book, Plans For Your Good: A Prime Minister's Testimony of God's Faithfulness, had sold locally in its first month of publishing, according to Crikey.

Even the Parliamentary Library does not have a printed copy available to borrow. (We checked, and despite having a copy on display in the Parliamentary authors' section, the library only offers the eBook or audio version to Parliament House staffers.)

But we know of one Aussie who has their very own copy: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Mr Albanese updated his register of members' interests in May to include the gracious gift, sent by Mr Morrison personally.

Plans For Your Good was billed as "less political memoir and more pastoral encouragement" when it was published in May.

The Prime Minister was too busy this week to respond to our inquiry, so we're unsure if he's had a chance to read the book and whether or not he was a fan of the literature.

We were also hoping to find out if the book had been signed by the author. Alas, the former PM left Public Eye on read.

Mr Albanese certainly appeared busy last week, jet-setting around Queensland with a jam-packed itinerary that included a trip to Winton's Australian Age of Dinosaurs museum one day and an appearance at the Cairns Show the next.

Whether the memoir is packed in Mr Albanese's suitcase, gathering dust on a bookshelf or being used to prop up a computer monitor, we may never know.

If he hasn't yet had a chance to read it, perhaps he'll have time to smash out a few pages while he's on planned leave until Thursday.

Public Eye was rejoiced to hear House Speaker Milton Dick would be headlining a $250-per-ticket Christian leaders' summit featuring some quite conservative church figures.

The Queensland MP has been seen splashed across promotional material for the ROAR24 Leaders Summit in Brisbane, which will be held across multiple days in early September.

It's understood the Queensland MP will no longer be appearing at the event due to conflicts in his schedule.

This is disappointing for many reasons. Namely, topics up for discussion at the event include: what God is doing in various spheres of influence, the importance of kingdom leadership, and how to identify your kingdom assignment and impact your spheres of operation significantly.

Public Eye was intrigued to know how Mr Dick could benefit from knowing how to use this so-called "kingdom leadership" to boot loud-mouthed MPs out of the chamber for speaking out of turn.

Mr Dick, who is believed to be of Anglican faith, is a known supporter of religious communities in his Brisbane electorate of Oxley.

However, he has fallen under some criticisms for agreeing to speak at ROAR24 - mostly because its organisers are aligned to a controversial Christian ideology that seeks the establishment of a religious state.

This column is not implying Mr Dick believes in or promotes this belief system.

But, no fear, event organisers have informed Public Eye Liberal senator Paul Scarr will be replacing his speaking slot at the event.

Now that the frocks have been hung up and the headaches have eased, the Midwinter Ball is all but a distant memory. Except for these columnists who've been stalking the register of members' interests.

The politicians who attended Canberra's night of nights have begun updating the public record to disclose their tickets and who they were gifted by.

Assistant Public Service Minister Patrick Gorman and his wife attended the ball courtesy of global alcohol group Lion Corporate. We wonder what the table thought of the wine selection on offer?

With corporate tables priced at $22,500, we hope the selection of local drops from Canberra region winery Eden Road suited their tastes.

Labor MP Jerome Laxale updated his register with two sets of tickets, one from Foxtel and another from the Australian Investment Council. While we assumed this was a sign of the MP's popularity, it turned out not to be so.

The tickets from Foxtel - a large employer in his electorate of Bennelong, NSW - were for this year's ball, but the AIC tickets were from the 2023 ball.

Foxtel also gifted Liberal MP Paul Fletcher a ticket on its table, while Labor MP Madeleine King nabbed two seats on Westpac's table.

Airservices Australia is searching the globe for a new chief executive to replace Jason Harfield who finished up in the role in June after eight years.

Rob Sharp will step in as interim chief executive for up to 12 months while the job search continues.

Mr Sharp boasts an impressive CV, including stints as chief executive of Virgin Australia Airlines and Tigerair.

But what we really would like to know about the new interim boss is which Canberra restaurants he likes to dine at.

Mr Harfield took a liking to long-standing Italian restaurant Mezzalira on London Circuit. Indeed, the former chief executive - rather, the taxpayer - spent $1889 at the restaurant for a dinner with 10 of his staff in early 2023, it was revealed at Senate estimates recently.

We look forward to finding out which of Canberra's plethora of restaurants Mr Sharp will venture to when he visits the nation's capital.

Perhaps a steak at Matt Moran's restaurant Compa or the new 18-course meal at Koto?