Kevin Foley

One of the many life lessons we have been taught by former South Australian treasurer Kevin Foley is that it is best to wear a disguise when buying hotpants for your girlfriend.

Earlier this year it was reported that Foley had bought some raunchy undergarments for his sheila du jour from an Adelaide boutique on his return from an overseas trip. The story emerged from the store where he made the purchase, proving that the bums who were happy to take the bloke’s money were equally happy to get straight on the telephone to a gossip columnist to peddle their invasive little story.

Despite being a very good treasurer and a likeable if flawed human being, it appears to be Kevin Foley’s lot in life that no form of ridicule or no level of rumour-mongering is off limits. His treatment by the public, sections of the media and his political opponents following his assault outside an Adelaide bar, even at the noteworthy hour of 4am, is something which we should reflect on now that the truth has emerged following the guilty plea by his assailant in the Magistrates Court this week.

Continue reading "One politician we’re all happy to belt around" »

This was a different budget. The SA Budget papers were coated in soft blue hues and carried a picture of a nurse and a baby. Even before state Treasurer Jack Snelling opened his mouth yesterday to tell assembled reporters all about his first budget the message was clear. This is a different Treasurer and a new era.

The hard edges that so oftened characterised his predecessor Kevin Foley were to be buffed smooth by Snelling. Foley used to love Budget day. He would relish the battle with the media, jumping in boots and all, to defend, sell and promote his budget.

That was all very well in the days when the Rann Government was flying high. When elections were being won and the cash was rolling in from Canberra there was plenty to shout loud about.

Continue reading "Labor PR 101: It’s about families, stupid" »

For a blubbering, lonely, unlucky-in-love, toxic politician with a ‘hit-me’ sign on his back, SA Police Minister and former Treasurer Kevin Foley sure has risen in my estimations.

I can’t believe he’s still standing. I can’t believe he hasn’t packed his bags (no, not just for his latest overseas jaunt) and signed a lucrative deal for his own guts-spilling talkback radio show.

I can’t believe he only slightly teared up at his press conference last Monday. I’d have been pulling my hair out, frothing at the mouth and howling with sheer exasperation. Not least because of the double standards that have applied to him and Premier Mike Rann in the past 18 months.

Continue reading "Labor’s woes will not end with this man" »

Within weeks, South Australians will have a clear idea of who will replace Premier Mike Rann before the 2014 state election.

It’s a race between Employment Minister Jack Snelling and Attorney-General John Rau - both ministerial cleanskins with with less than a year’s experience in the ministry.

Both men are jostling to take over the role of Deputy Premier which the incumbent Kevin Foley is set to step down from when he returns in three weeks from a defence industry trip to the US.

Continue reading "Snelling odds-on to replace Premier Mike Rann" »

An Underbelly-style TV dramatisation of NSW politics would most certainly need to be broadcast after the watershed. (See various examples here and here.) It has been tried to an extent with Victoria in the show Tangle but given the general civility of that state’s politics in contrast to the rest of the country the outcome was predictably beige.

Enter South Australia, where the dalliances are G-rated and when a guy wants to mix it with the Premier he goes at him with a rolled-up wine magazine. This weekend they were at it again in an episode involving political intrigue, a date gone awry, glamorous blondes, and a magnificent expletive-laden spray by the state Treasurer who just months ago lamented: “I wish at times that I did not portray myself as an arrogant person.”

The Australian reports on it in detail today but the potted version is as follows: Opposition Leader Isobel Redmond had a date with the newly-single Attorney-General John Rau. She showed up, but he didn’t. She was escorted to a box where she found Rau enjoying the company of a blonde 20-something who it seems was set up for the AG by the Treasurer, Kevin Foley. Everyone was terribly embarrassed and later when Foley, who is Acting Premier, was snapped by photographers leaving a party he called their newspaper to tell the duty editor: “You are a c . . ., you’re all c . . . s, the paper is a f . . king c . . .”.

Continue reading "SA stakes its claim as the Melrose Place of politics" »

If you missed yesterday’s excellent interview with South Australian Treasurer Kevin Foley on Adelaidenow here’s the potted version – he doesn’t want the top job, he just wants a girl.

For the uninitiated, Foley is the man who last year went public about the collapse of his marriage, his subsequent failed relationships with a raft of women, his battle with depression, his late-night ruminations about whether his political career has been worth the sacrifice. Late last year to his eternal credit he was filmed at an Adelaide karaoke venue singing the above rendition of The Gambler.

The serious takeout from the Foley interview was that he appears to have put his leadership aspirations on hold and will serve as a loyal deputy until such time as Mike Rann goes of his own volition. Not that he was being that presumptuous – he admitted to being really worried about whether Labor would get home tomorrow at all.

Continue reading "Who wants a hot date with a State Treasurer?" »

We knew something was up when the party pies ran out. There was a whiff of the end of times that the cheap percolated coffee couldn’t quite hide.

And so it came to pass. The state Budget lock up was no more.

South Australia – first state to give women the vote, to ban plastic bags and forbid groups of people who ride motorcycles from hanging out together, has now become the first state to lose the lock up.

Continue reading "Fun it may be, but locking up journos is pointless" »