Really quite dodgy-looking merch, CPAC’s secret line-up, and Kate Chaney splits the G

Merch-ing on together: We have to say, the Liberal Party’s merch looks pretty good. Then again, perhaps we’re just swayed by the reassuring faces of the suspiciously young, alarmingly happy and suitably diverse group of people rocking these threads on the Liberal Party’s online store. Say what you want about the party, this is the authentic face of modern Australia:

It sure got young people talking on the party’s Instagram — saying things like “INSTANT COP”*, “how do I get these?” and “it’s giving Ai boomer trap alert”. And it’s true, the images have an… unplaceable, eerie softness, which raised a few questions.

We asked Liberal Party HQ whether suspicions regarding the, uh, reality of its models were well-founded. It didn’t respond.

*youthful slang meaning they will instantly buy this product, not that wearing it makes you a cop. We think.

Got a tip to share? Anonymously contact Charlie Lewis at [email protected]

It grew Kohler, and that’s where it ends: Australia mentioned! Alan Kohler, the veteran finance journalist who we believe is required by Australia’s constitution to write for and/or edit every Australian publication for at least a short stint, has been an obvious authority in the febrile aftermath of US President Donald Trump’s imposition of tariffs on everyone from China to the penguins who inhabit the Heard and MacDonald Islands. But apparently it’s not just us who benefit from his clarity. Judd Apatow, one of the most influential comedy directors currently working, also likes to keep up with his coverage:

Presumably Apatow’s only feedback on the segment was that it should be maybe 40 minutes longer and sort of drift away from its original point.

SPOTTED: A tipster parked next to Zoe Daniel (or a big fan) at Half Moon Bay in Melbourne’s south east:

CPACing them in: We hear that joining the bill at this year’s CPAC Australia rightwing carnival are campaigner for (often quite a specific kind of) free speech Dave Rubin and Kimberly Fletcher the founder of Moms for America whose fondness for Christ and US constitution — and somehow ongoing support for Donald Trump — is sure to be highly relevant to Australian audiences.

We hear that a couple of notables are joining the bill at this year’s CPAC Australia right-wing carnival. Kimberly Fletcher, the founder of Moms for America, an organisation whose fondness for Christ and the US constitution — and somehow ongoing support for Donald Trump — is sure to be highly relevant to the average Australian. Also apparently gracing the stage will be campaigner for (often quite a specific kind of) free speech Dave Rubin.

Social media post of the week: An election campaign pub visit can be fraught. The ends of the spectrum are possibly best exemplified at the one end by Malcolm Turnbull, sweating as he tries to prevent his little finger from jutting out and saying things like “oh, that’s a good drop”, and at the other by Barnaby Joyce, so very comfortable in these surrounds that sometimes he has a little lie down.

Most politicians aim for somewhere in the middle, pulling pints for others while drinking notably teensy beers themselves. We’d say Curtin independent Kate Chaney has got it about right, taking part in the “split the G” challenge at the University of Western Australia, which requires that someone take a gulp that leaves the black stuff bobbing at the exact half way point of the G on the Guinness logo.

It helps that she’s shockingly good at it, and the kids seem genuinely pretty impressed.

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