The pop superstar the candidates for top cop are terrified to mention

CBD has a word of advice for whoever succeeds Karen Webb as NSW Police Commissioner: do not, under any circumstances, quote Taylor Swift lyrics when discussing a horrific alleged double murder.

During a Sunrise interview last year, Webb suggested “haters gonna hate” when asked about concerns over her response to the killings of Jessie Baird and Luke Davies, a moment that surely spelt the beginning of the end.

Tensions have been running high at Police HQ this week as the search for a new commissioner reaches the pointy end, with interviews under way.

The front runner is still deputy commissioner Mal Lanyon, who missed out on the top job in 2021 thanks to an incident where he was found passed out under Goulburn’s Big Merino after a few too many limoncellos during a boozy summer sesh. Whether those revelations, which stopped him getting the top job that year, still matter remains to be seen.

CBD hears there are six people interviewing for the all-powerful job. Among them is the other man who missed out in 2021, Mick Willing, who was dumped from the force by Webb soon after. Willing was close with former premier Gladys Berejiklian, and would’ve been a shoo-in for the top job until the Independent Commission Against Corruption ended Berejiklian’s political career.

Willing’s aggressive attempts to lobby her successor Dominic Perrottet, including getting the likes of Alan Jones to phone in a reference, gave the premier the ick.

This time, Willing has another ace up his sleeve, with media professional David Faktor, a former long-term public affairs and communications boss for St Vincent’s Health Australia, jumping on board to assist his push, citing concerns about culture in the force.

“Mick is the culture candidate, and I want the best culture candidate to get up,” Faktor told CBD.

Also in the mix is Webb loyalist and Deputy Commissioner Paul Pisanos, whose work on youth crime has earned him a good relationship with Police Minister Yasmin Catley.

But Catley, unlike her predecessor David Elliott, won’t be sitting on the interview panel. Neither will anyone with actual policing experience, something which has rankled a few in the force.

Instead, the panel is made up of Premier’s Department secretary Simon Draper, the secretary of the cabinet office Kate Boyd, and the secretary of the Department of Communities and Justice Michael Tidball.

Draper used to run the NSW Reconstruction Authority, where he worked closely with Limoncello Lanyon, who was exiled there at Webb’s request. That job has enabled him to deepen his ties with the state government and Premier Chris Minns, firming up Lanyon’s frontrunner credentials.

Despite Webb’s thudding media performances, she had a reputation as a straight-shooting, honest copper. The biggest challenge for Webb’s successor will be living up to that.

Wheeled out

Despite leading a miniscule opposition, federal Liberal leader Sussan Ley has made a solid start on the media front, defining herself with big appearances in Women’s Weekly and on 60 Minutes, a contrast with Peter Dutton’s habit of cloistering himself on Sky News after dark.

Now, Ley has to figure out what a divided and diminished opposition actually stands for. To help on that front, she’s drafted in Liberal federal executive member Gerry Wheeler as new director of policy.

Many lifetimes ago, Wheeler was a well-known staffer in the Howard government. He wanted to become a Liberal senator for the ACT in 2002, even producing a glossy brochure and video production for preselectors, who were unmoved.

According to a contemporaneous article in this masthead, Wheeler had a few interesting policy ideas of his own during his stint in the Young Liberals, including the right for all adults to bear arms (including automatic weapons), privatising the ABC, opposing sanctions against Apartheid South Africa, and condemning the AIDS Council for not blaming gay people for the spread of the disease.

According to the leader of the opposition, he’s mellowed with age and CBD hears in recent times he’s been a moderating force against the hard right in ACT liberal circles

“The article references policies drawn from student politics from over 30 years ago and does not reflect views held by Mr Wheeler in any way since that time,” a spokesman told us.

Social media beef

RecipeTin Eats founder Nagi Maehashi was adamant.

“I have nothing to say and I won’t be talking to anyone,” the popular cook told her 2.5 million Instagram followers after the guilty verdicts for Erin Patterson, who cooked her four lunch guests a deadly beef Wellington at home in Leongatha, killing three of them.

Beef Wellington, as it happens, that she sourced from Maehashi’s cookbook Dinner.

The celebrity chef pleaded for privacy after copping a media deluge asking how she felt about being the source of Patterson’s murderous meal.

“It is of course upsetting to learn that one of my recipes – possibly the one I’ve spent more hours perfecting than any other – [and] something I created to bring joy and happiness, is entangled in a tragic situation,” Maehashi posted.

And that, we thought, was that.

So imagine our surprise to see Maehashi posting on the topic.

Both Dinner and its successor Tonight are publishing phenomena: in 2024 alone Tonight sold 299,000 copies, while Dinner, published in 2022, sold 176,000.

The cook suddenly posted overnight noting the impact of the trial publicity on Amazon sales: “When the first one overtakes the 2nd one because of [a series of mushroom emoijis] and you don’t know how to react”.

Fascinated, we contacted her to learn more, but normal service had resumed and we didn’t hear back.

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.