Inside the rival war rooms plotting Victoria’s election showdown

A resurgent One Nation and a likely change of government means Australians will be paying unusually close attention to this month’s Victorian election.

Because of this, it’s no surprise that helpers are being recruited from far and wide to help in the campaign, which will set the tone for next year’s NSW state election and the 2028 federal poll.

In the Labor campaign, the key movers and shakers, outside of Premier Ben Carroll himself, include party mechanics: secretary Steve Staikos, senior assistant secretary Jett Fogarty and junior assistant secretary Mikaela Sadkiewicz.

Louise Magee serves as campaign chief of staff, while the premier’s former deputy chief of staff, Bassel Tallal, is the director of the travelling party and has final say on all music choices.

Carroll’s wife, Fiona Rothville, also features heavily in the campaign while Rebecca Harrison and Harry Adam oversee the media operation.

There is also an inner circle of ministers who advise the premier on key decisions, including Deputy Premier Gabrielle Williams, Treasurer Colin Brooks and Major Events Minister Anthony Carbines.

Labor staffers from across the country are among the names lending a hand. Most Victorian federal ministers, such as Richard Marles and Catherine King, have staff assisting the state campaign alongside party figures and staffers from most other states.

It’s no surprise that both Labor and Liberal apparatchiks are using this election as an important opportunity to learn what works and what doesn’t in this new political climate.

On the Coalition side, Opposition Leader Jess Wilson has a close-knit leadership team with chief of staff Byron Hodkinson and deputy chief of staff Lydia Paterson.

Alyson Hannam is campaign director with deputy Paul Denham. Former state director Simon Frost has been spotted at cafes near party headquarters, perhaps unsurprising given his former role as a key adviser to former federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg, whom Wilson once worked for.

Paterson’s husband, Liberal senator James Paterson, is a regular feature at every Liberal press conference. He made a name for himself as federal campaign spokesman in 2025 and regularly shares his wisdom with the Wilson team.

For the Liberals, Kane Silom is on loan from federal Opposition Leader Angus Taylor’s office as director of communications, and is assisted by Alex Woff and Georgie Simmonds, who both spent years toiling for the opposition’s media unit, which has fewer resources than the government of the day.

Wilson’s political brains trust includes Nationals leader Danny O’Brien and shadow ministers Evan Mulholland, David Southwick, James Newbury and Brad Rowswell.

One Nation leader Warren Pickering has the assistance of Mark Jones, who was once a rising star for the Liberals, on campaign operations, along with state secretary Bianca Collechia.

Pauline Hanson has been in Victoria recently to boost the party’s media coverage and where Hanson goes, chief strategist James Ashby is rarely far behind.

Richard Henderson, who was handling media inquiries for Hanson’s office, is managing campaign media while staffer Harry Mulry plays a key role for the campaign based out of Pakenham, where Pickering is hoping to win a lower house seat, and surrounding areas.

The Victorian Greens will be utilising their team of regular staff, and have no campaign chief of staff, according to a party spokeswoman.

Top brass bows out

There’s bound to be a dramatic shake-up of the Victorian public service if there is a change in government.

Some senior public servants have decided to part ways before the November 28 poll, among them Department of Health secretary Jenny Atta, who quietly announced last Thursday that she would step down from the top job.

Atta, who has served as department secretary since March 2025, revealed the news in a letter sent to the board chairs and chief executives of the state’s public hospitals.

“While I will very much miss the work, this is the right time for me to step away and start my next chapter,” she wrote.

Atta, a public servant for more than 30 years, previously served as secretary of the Victorian Department of Education.

Katherine Whetton will step into the role in an acting capacity until further notice following the election.

You give cruise a bad name

It was sold as an “unforgettable” opportunity to cruise the open seas with local and international rock stars including Billy F Gibbons from ZZ Top, Glenn Hughes from Deep Purple, Australian Crawl frontman James Reyne and pop darling Kate Ceberano.

But many of the guests aboard the Rock the Boat cruise, which completed a seven-day round trip from Sydney to the New Caledonian capital of Nouméa, found the experience unforgettable for other reasons.

Social media is ablaze with more than 110 accounts of passengers falling ill while on board the luxurious Carnival Splendour, which returned to Circular Quay in Sydney on November 1.

“Double whammy of COVID and Influenza A,” one passenger wrote on an unofficial Facebook group for the cruise.

One of the headline acts, Bon Jovi’s lead guitarist, Richie Sambora, was also struck down by a bad bout of COVID.

The virus reared its ugly head just as he took to the stage, which strained his soulful vocals.

“He could feel something coming on as he was going live,” long-time publicist Terry Ahern said. “He thinks he got it on the cruise.”

Sambora is now undertaking 10 days of isolation in California, and drained from the virus and jet lag.

A spokeswoman for Carnival Cruise Line, which owns and operates the Carnival Splendour, quashed talk of a suspected super-spreader event, and said just 0.13 per cent of the approximately 3000 guests aboard the ship tested positive to a respiratory illness during the voyage.

“Two had flu, one had COVD-19 and one had another acute respiratory illness,” the spokeswoman said, adding that three guests were taken from the ship by ambulance in Sydney.

She said only one of these patients had a communicable disease.

“Carnival Cruise Line takes the health of our guests and crew extremely seriously,” the spokeswoman said. “Our medical and onboard teams followed established health and hygiene protocols throughout the voyage, and we are confident in the care provided to guests.”

Let’s hope all the passengers, including Sambora, make a speedy recovery.

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