Fancy a game of tennis with Anthony Albanese? Dinner with Penny Wong and Tanya Plibersek? Both experiences will be up for auction at the federal parliamentary press gallery's Midwinter Ball this year.
The ball is Capital Hill's equivalent of the Oscars - or at least the Logies - when the pollies and journos get frocked up while also raising a lot of money for charity.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek happily announced on Wednesday that the Midwinter Ball would be back - after a three-year, COVID-enforced hiatus - albeit in spring.
This year's ball will be on September 7, although is traditionally held at the end of June. The last time the ball was held was in 2019, also in spring.
The federal election in May meant the Midwinter Ball was put on ice until everyone was settled into the new parliament.
Since the first ball was held in 2001, more than $4.5 million has been raised for charity, including through some once-in-a-lifetime experiences being auctioned.
This year, people can bid for a dinner with Foreign Affairs Minister Wong and Environment Minister Plibersek.
Also on the auction item list is a tennis match with Albanese (we hear the PM is a "seriously good tennis player") and this may even be at the tennis court at The Lodge. The full list of auction items is expected to be released soon.
The charities to benefit this year from the black-tie ball are Roundabout Canberra (which rehomes pre-loved baby and children's items to local families experiencing hardship), food rescue charity OzHarvest Australia, Fearless Women (which supports girls and young women in the ACT with mentoring, counselling and in-schools programs), Rural Aid Australia (which works with primary producers and rural communities to assist them through natural disasters) and the Ukraine Crisis Appeal run by the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations.
