Intriguingly, Somyurek himself was not doing the legal ringaround. It was none other than Labor operative Andrew Landeryou, husband of Labor senator Kimberley Kitching, neither of whom had been the subject of any allegations in the Somyurek investigation.

Landeryou and Somyurek go way back.

It was in 2017 when former Labor leader and Right faction heavyweight Bill Shorten memorably left the Bennelong byelection campaign trail in NSW to fly south to meet with Somyurek, Plumbers’ Union secretary Earl Setches and Landeryou. It was that meeting which reset Victorian Labor politics, shoring up the alliance deal that joined factions and unions of the party’s Right, including Shorten’s Australian Workers Union, with the industrial unions of the Left, including the CFMMEU and the Rail, Tram and Bus Union.

Nice to see old pals keeping in contact.

Hancock's hotspot

Gina Rinehart’s woes in Ecuador just won’t subside.

This column revealed two weeks ago how Carlos de Miguel, the most senior executive in Rinehart’s Hanrine Ecuadorian mining operation, had been arrested and detained by police over allegations he was in possession of an arsenal of illegally held weapons.

Rinehart’s team responded that the executive had the requisite papers for the weapons, they had been stored appropriately, and that a judge had released Miguel soon after he was detained. Miguel himself spoke out after the arrest, threatening to sue Ecuador’s Interior Minister, Maria Paula Romo, and the national police for “procedural fraud” over the raids, which he called a “premeditated attack to block his activities at Hanrine”.

Now, he’s upping his attack, hiring investigations firm Kroll to probe two government ministers including Romo, a Quito law firm, a media outlet, and any connections to a Chilean mining giant.

It’s worth noting Hanrine, which owns a copper concession at Imbabura in the north of Ecuador, has a lot on the line. The mining giant has also submitted an expression of interest in an undeveloped mining concession known as Llurimagua, with the potential for a billion-dollar payday.

But they haven’t had their way yet.

Or as Miguel’s defence lawyer Emiliano Donoso told Ecuador’s Plan V newspaper: “The Hanrine company has sent several letters to the president, the comptroller, and the attorney, offering USD 420 million for the project. They have not accepted.”

Hancock Prospecting declined to comment.

Smith doubles down

Tim Smith appears to be readying himself … well, it could be for anything.

The Liberal MP for Kew has been busily denying his intense criticism of Daniel Andrews’ COVID-19 strategy is readying him for a tilt at the parliamentary leadership, replacing Liberal leader Michael O’Brien.

Smith has more recently been in the headlines for a libertarian attitude to mask wearing and a bromance with Ben Fordham, the breakfast presenter on 2GB, the influential radio station unfortunately 870 kilometres away from any of the people Smith needs to impress – his own electors and Victorian Liberal Party members.

It says something about the jittery state of Victorian politics that even something as mundane as a new website puts some people on a code red.

Back in May, Smith registered his new website, timsmithliberal.com.au, which sits alongside his regular, publicly funded site, timsmithmp.com, in his communication arsenal.

Emblazoned on the new site is the word “Liberal” rather than the mundanity of "Liberal MP for Kew". Just the thing to broaden your appeal. Politics these days is all about spreading the footprint.

Nothing to see here, Smith told CBD. He just wanted to “zhuzh” up his website and replace his old pics. Presumably he was also keen to showcase his new slimline figure earned on a New Zealand health retreat earlier in the year.

Smith is hardly the only MP to set up his own website.

It’s worth pointing out that under law changes MPs are heavily restricted from putting political comment on their taxpayer-funded sites.

So if Smith wants to sound off about the Andrews government, he can do so with impunity on his new site.