Munjed Al Muderis backs down, pays Florida speeding fine

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Since losing a lengthy defamation case in the Federal Court in August, disgraced surgeon Munjed al Muderis has become a Florida man.

The once-celebrated doctor has a new job in West Palm Beach (right near Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, naturally), a new house featuring an artificial grotto, and – surprise! – new legal troubles.

Munjed Al Muderis has been reinstated as a member of the Australian Orthopaedic Association after he sued it.

Legal troubles are peak Florida. As CBD reported last month, Al Muderis was issued with a ticket after allegedly driving his new grey Porsche at 69mph in a 40mph zone (about 110km/h in a 60km/h zone), and tried to present officers with an expired Australian licence.

According to court documents, Al Muderis also tried to show officers an Australian boating licence. Even in Florida, this did not fly, and he ultimately copped the $US233.25 ($350) licence infringement fine.

Anyway, this latest little bit of legal trouble seems to have been sewn up quickly. After promising to fight the speeding charge, Al Muderis last week pleaded no contest, accepting the $US278 fine. Al Muderis’ representatives were contacted for comment.

All up, it was a dramatically speedier resolution than the doctor’s legal troubles back home. In 2022, the surgeon responded to a series of stories published by this masthead and 60 Minutes revealing negligent operations by first launching legal action against Nine.

A protracted and expensive trial followed, which ended with a thudding loss for the surgeon. In dismissing Al Muderis’ claim, Justice Wendy Abraham found he was dishonest, callous and prioritised fame and money over patient care.

Both sides spent an estimated $19 million on the case, and Al Muderis is on the hook for Nine’s legal costs. He is seeking to appeal against the Federal Court’s decision. He is also battling several unrelated medical negligence lawsuits on the home front. Some guys just can’t get enough of lawyers and courtrooms.

Carswell coup

There has been a bit of a coup for CT Group, the research and intelligence firm founded by John Howard’s electoral necromancer Sir Lynton Crosby. On Monday, it announced the appointment of Andrew Carswell as senior director.

Carswell, a former News Corp scribe, is best known in political circles as former prime minister Scott Morrison’s press secretary.

“CT Group has a formidable track record of running winning campaigns globally,” Carswell said in a release. “I look forward to working with the team in Australia and an ever-growing book of top-quality clients to develop strategies, shape narratives and deliver outcomes.”

Well, if you can handle ScoMo’s press, you can handle anything.

CT Group has traditionally had a close relationship with the Liberal Party, thanks in no small part to the Crosby of it all, and did polling during Morrison’s 2019 miracle election win.

But that relationship has soured, with the firm’s broader shift away from politics also coinciding with it angering some conservatives after it helped the Yes team to failure during the 2023 Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum. Co-founder Mark Textor, also a former Liberal strategist, was a key supporter of the Yes campaign.

The Liberals parted ways with CT Group and hired Freshwater Strategy as its pollsters at the last election. It was an unmitigated disaster, with Freshwater’s internal polling convincing Coalition HQ that Peter Dutton was in with a shot of becoming prime minister as late as election day before everyone was brutally mugged by reality.

Washington influx

CBD brought word this week that Washington DC was playing host to a bit of a Liberal Party reunion, with semi-retired property investor Peter Dutton, former prime ministers Scott Morrison and Tony Abbott all hanging out in the town that ex-treasurer Joe Hockey calls home.

It isn’t just conservative types heading to the US capital. Foreign Minister Penny Wong and occasional acting prime minister Richard Marles are both headed there for high-level ministerial talks with American counterparts Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth.

Also in town is independent member for Sydney Alex Greenwich, who spoke at the LGBTQ+ Victory Conference in DC over the weekend. He was in somewhat illustrious company, with former president Joe Biden also addressing the conference.

Greenwich is suing his cretinuous upper house colleague Mark Latham in the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal over a homophobic tweet. Greenwich already succeeded in winning $140,000 in a defamation case over the tweet.

Greenwich has bounced back since the Latham attack and has been posing in a few risque shoots for LGBT magazine DNA. Nothing like getting super-jacked to take back control of the narrative.

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