When City of Yarra mayor Stephen Jolly announced on Tuesday his plan to run for Lord Mayor of Melbourne in 2028, few would have predicted one of the first to publicly endorse him would be his old foe Jeff Kennett.
To be blunt, Kennett and Jolly didn’t see eye to eye during Kennett’s years as premier in the ’90s.
A unionist and a former socialist, Jolly was an organiser of the heated 360-day occupation of Richmond Secondary College in 1992/1993 in an unsuccessful attempt to stop it being shut as part of a wave of school closures during the Kennett government’s reign.
While coming from different sides of politics, the pair seems to have found some common ground on local government issues in recent years, with Kennett taking to X to pump up Jolly’s tyres.
“I would happily endorse Stephen Jolly as the next Lord Mayor of Melbourne,” Kennett posted.
“Regardless of his politics or employment, he has shown to me on several occasions to be an excellent and attentive Cr and Mayor of Yarra. He genuinely cares for his community and (is) supportive of business.”
Jolly, who told CBD his son thought the post must have been AI-generated when it popped up, said he was surprised, but thankful, for the unexpected support.
“Obviously, we differ on his reign as premier, and probably on a lot of other issues, but on the bread and butter issues of a local council, he clearly acknowledges the fact that what I’ve tried to do at Yarra is supported by the vast majority of locals here, and I thank him for his comments,” Jolly told CBD, adding he would not run in the Yarra mayoral election in November but would stay on as the ward councillor for Fitzroy.
“I’m sure he has a lot of Liberals saying to him, ‘Have you gone soft in the head? Have you started reading Capital or something? What’s going wrong with Jeff Kennett?’, but I’m very humbly going to accept it [the post] as a compliment.”
Mind you, Jolly, who earlier this month was found not guilty by the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court of an assault charge stemming from a 2024 local government election after-party, also spotted a ballot-box opportunity in Kennett’s comments.
“If every person in the Liberal Party votes for me in two years’ time in the City of Melbourne, there’s quite a lot of them,” he quipped.
F-word flies in Fox’s real estate rant
In a move that is either brave, brilliant or baffling – or perhaps a combination of all three – smooth real estate operator Marty Fox has lifted the lid on a recent meeting with his team. And it is worth a look.
With expletives littered through the pump-up pep talk which Nova radio host Kate Ritchie suggested would not have looked out of place in a Chris Lilley dra-medy, Fox is seen telling his team to invest in personal content teams to capture their every thought and build their profiles and, by extension, their wealth.
With a call to “f--- the caviar, pick up the camera”, his unsubtle message, which was posted online this week, includes “maybe don’t buy the next f---ing coat and buy someone to follow you with the camera”.
“Even if it’s you driving in a car, get some f---er to sit next to you one day a week and just talk to it (a camera). Talk to it.”
Further pearls, that had a vague echo of the “Show me the money” line from Jerry Maguire starring Tom Cruise, included: “Do you want your kids to go to the best school? Because guess what, those f---ers are 50 grand a year.
“Do you want them to be in a f---ing car that makes them feel like if they work hard, they’ll have nice shit? … Do you want them to have their own bedrooms? Because if you f---ing do, guess what? You’ve got to have people that know who you are. And if no one knows who the f--- you are, how do you make money?”
With the video a fast-growing topic of conversation, CBD tracked down Fox in Dubai on Wednesday to ask if it was motivation or a mockumentary on show.
”Yes, it’s completely real footage from one of our internal WHITEFOX sales meetings. No script, no rehearsal, just me speaking passionately about something I believe our industry needs to hear, The message is pretty simple. F--- the caviar. Pick up the camera,” he told us.
“Real estate has become obsessed with projecting success. The expensive lunches, the designer suits, the champagne, the luxury cars. But none of that matters if nobody knows who you are, what you stand for or why they should trust you with their biggest asset”.
Fox, who is the boss of WHITEFOX and is a judge on Nine’s* The Block, said the feedback on his missive had been “incredible”.
Here at CBD, we’re bracing ourselves for the TED Talk or the motivational speaking tour because we suspect it won’t be the last pep talk we hear from Fox.
Bertrand sets sail after 21 years
With the annual Sport Australia Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Gala fast approaching, it’s worth noting the recent departure of John Bertrand as chair of the organisation.
Bertrand skippered SAHOF for 21 years, taking on the role in 2005, and signalled last November that he would step down at the end of September this year.
“I leave incredibly proud, deeply grateful and excited for the Sport Australia Hall of Fame’s next chapter. Go Australia!” Bertrand said. Bertrand, of course, skippered Australia II to victory in the 1983 America’s Cup.
Olympic gold medal-winning pole vaulter Steve Hooker has taken the reins from Bertrand in a seamless baton change, with his first major event being the Hall of Fame at Centrepiece at Melbourne Park on November 24. Game on!
