Former NSW premier Dominic Perrottet has seven children. Of course, it’s a fact that became so well known during the 2023 NSW election campaign that Perrottet was challenged during a debate to name all seven of them in order of age, alongside his opponent, now NSW Premier Chris Minns, who has three.
Such was the sorry state of the political contest between the pair. (Perrottet successfully rattled them off, before losing the premiership.)
Fast forward a couple of years, and it looks like there will soon be a new Perrottet name to recall. Dominic and his wife Helen Perrottet are expecting their eighth child, CBD hears, which the couple are expecting to be born in May. We hear the baby will be a boy. But no word on whether the pair will have him in the United States, where the couple has been based since 2024, or in Australia. A big CBD congratulations to the Perrottets!
Speaking to this masthead in late 2022, Helen Perrottet kept her cards close to her chest on the prospect of having another baby, after reflecting on how parenting can become easier with each child. From a large family of practising Catholics, she is the sixth of eight children.
“I’m 42, so I think the chances of that are pretty low,” Perrottet said at the time. “We’re pretty lucky already.”
From afar, it looks like life after politics is treating the Perrottets well. Late last year, the former premier scored a promotion at BHP, where he landed in August 2024 to run US corporate affairs at the world’s largest miner from Washington DC. In December, he secured “vice president” status.
We can only hope the $268 billion company is looking after him. After all, he has plenty of mouths to feed!
Kyle Sandilands races to renew his rego
Kyle Sandilands has been busy. The co-host of the Kyle and Jackie O show has spent the past week or so at the centre of a media frenzy after his employer, ARN Media, announced that his co-host Jackie “O” Henderson said she could no longer work with him after he berated her on air.
So it’s no surprise the most abhorred man on Australian radio left renewing the rego on his 2022 Maybach until the last minute. A quick check on the registration status of the Mercedes-Benz that Sandilands was seen driving on Thursday showed it was set to expire that evening. Well, it looks like he got to it just in time.
The vehicle’s most recent Service NSW rego status shows Sandilands has since extended his rego for another six months. Is Sandilands considering selling his Benz? No, we’re told, just a funny quirk of Service NSW, which has only ever allowed him to register the car for six months at a time. Happy to be of service clearing that one up.
We would guess that Kyle has more pressing matters on his mind, such as locking up the remaining millions on his 10-year, $100 million contract with ARN, which could well evaporate.
On Tuesday, ARN accused Sandilands of breaching his contract for his behaviour in a segment on February 20, and told the market it’d given him 14 days to remedy the breach, which this masthead has previously reported would mean convincing Henderson to return to air. The company told investors that Henderson had given notice that she “cannot continue to work” with Sandilands.
Sandilands and Henderson are each now reportedly seeking advice from lawyers. On Friday, Henderson released a statement saying that she “did not quit or resign” from the show, and is “addressing this through the appropriate legal channels”.
WhatsApp goes dark on laptops in Parliament
WhatsApp and Signal are among the most-used apps by MPs and staff, including within the upper ranks of government, thanks to the ability for users to send disappearing encrypted messages.
So we were naturally intrigued to hear that federal parliamentary staff would be stopped from using WhatsApp, which is owned by Instagram and Facebook parent company Meta, on their laptops over phishing concerns.
In an email to staff on Friday, the Department of Parliamentary Services said it was taking the temporary measure while it assesses targeted phishing activity.
“As a precautionary measure, WhatsApp access is being temporarily blocked on laptops on the Parliamentary Computing Network while we assess the impact of a targeted phishing activity. It remains accessible from iOS devices,” reads the email, seen by CBD.
“This is a temporary preventative measure to reduce risk. Further updates will be provided once the assessment is complete.”
On Sunday, the DPS would not be drawn on the nature of this phishing activity or whether it targeted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese or other cabinet ministers.
“The Department of Parliamentary Services has taken this step to protect the security of the information and communication technologies we manage and those utilised by Parliamentarian offices,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
“Following advice from our cybersecurity experts, we have temporarily blocked access to the application from the Parliamentary Communication Network. This decision is based solely on cybersecurity risk considerations and aligns with our obligation to maintain a safe and secure operating environment.”
John Buckley is a CBD columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via email.
Fiona Byrne is the CBD columnist for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.