James O'Brien

She wasn’t as “candid” as I’d hoped she would be, given the machinations in the Liberal Party over the last few weeks, but she was still interesting. Amanda Vanstone was the latest “political guest” at Giant Dwarf, having followed in the footsteps of Tony Windsor and Julia Gillard.

I missed Gillard, due to my overseas holiday, but had previously enjoyed Windsor, so when a friend asked me if I wanted to attend I signed up straight away. The premise is simple: Julian Morrow and Kristina Keneally chat to a former politician, and ask them to select some photographs from their “public life”.

Interestingly, Amanda Vanstone chose a lot of photographs of her dogs. Clearly there were some photographs chosen by Julian/Kristina, as there was one photograph which the former Senator had absolutely no recollection of, and one which she thought was a “montage”.

Although I was hoping she would reveal more about the recent machinations in the Liberal Party, she noted it was seven or eight years since she was a member of Parliament. That said, she revealed a few things. For example, she said she thought Peter Reith could have been a great Prime Minister. Sadly, Julian and Kristina didn’t press her on this, so we never learned about why. She also revealed the close friendship she had with Christopher Pyne and his family. I knew he had been her Press Secretary, but I never knew it had extended to a family friendship, and that she and Mr Pyne remained close friends.

That said, there were no further “reveals” and that disappointed me slightly. Also, the conversation at close to 100 minutes probably went on a little too long. Maybe an extra glass of wine might have helped all of us? :)