{"id":810008,"date":"2026-07-19T10:45:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T10:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/810008\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T10:45:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T10:45:16","slug":"amazon-founder-jeff-bezos-and-wife-lauren-sanchez-bezos-spotted-in-sydney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/810008\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and wife Lauren S\u00e1nchez Bezos spotted in Sydney"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated July 19, 2026 \u2014 7:58pm,first published 5:59pm<\/p>\n

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Double, double toil and trouble \u2026 the notorious troll truck featuring divisive billboard advertisements<\/a> that target Premier Jacinta Allan has returned to Melbourne streets.<\/p>\n

The truck, which as first reported by The Age was ordered off the road<\/a> earlier this month after being issued with a defect notice by police, was spotted by CBD late on Friday turning from Exhibition Street into Bourke Street and trundling towards Parliament House with the slogan<\/a> \u201cIt\u2019s time to get rid of this witch\u201d and its doctored image of Allan in full view.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe notorious billboard truck with an ad that depicts Jacinta Allan as a witch is back on the streets of the CBD, as seen on Friday evening.Fiona Byrne <\/p>\n

The billboard truck, best known for advertising the Gotham City brothel on its screens, was issued with a defect notice related to the advertising screens and ordered off the road for inspection on July 8. The notice followed a complaint to police by a member of the public in April.<\/p>\n

The compliance issue was dropped and the vehicle deemed fully roadworthy by VicRoads last week.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Allan<\/a><\/p>\n

It seems no time was wasted returning it to the road along with an additional slogan: \u201cTruck stays! Witch needs to go.\u201d We get the drift.<\/p>\n

Franco Puleo, the owner of the Gotham City adult establishment in South Melbourne, has previously taken credit<\/a> for organising the \u201cDitch the Witch\u201d campaign which has been widely criticised<\/a> by commentators and all sides of the political divide including PM Anthony Albanese and former PM Julia Gillard as being misogynistic, sexist and offensive.<\/p>\n

Police confirmed to CBD no further action would be taken on the defect issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe defect notice follows an investigation into the addition of billboards to the vehicle that falls outside the standards of regulation.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolice have been advised the truck was presented to VicRoads for inspection and the vehicle was deemed roadworthy. As such, police will not be taking any further action in respect to the vehicle.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AnAn additional slogan has appeared on the controversial billboard truck reading, \u201cTruck stays! Witch needs to go!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The defect notice had demanded the three large LED display screens on the vehicle be removed, and an accompanying email from police explained the complaint from the community member occurred before the anti-Labor ads started appearing on the screens.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of worrying about fixing up this state, they\u2019re busy picking on little businesses like me and everybody else who wants to speak out about this government by advertising on the truck,\u201d Puleo fumed to CBD on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was never anything wrong with the truck. We\u2019ve been told by a police officer that issued the notice that Vic Pol won\u2019t hassle us again and won\u2019t take instructions from other authorities. Jacinta should spend her energy on finding $15 billion and helping businesses and family people rather than giving herself a pay rise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bezos slips in and orders a negroni
Jeff Bezos and his wife, Lauren S\u00e1nchez, are in Australia \u2013 Sydney to be exact.<\/p>\n

For what purpose, we don\u2019t know. But if nothing else, how the world\u2019s fourth-richest<\/a> person chooses to spend his time in the Emerald City has made for some good gawking<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After being seen on Friday out for lunch at upmarket restaurant Mimi\u2019s, in Coogee, Bezos was spotted that evening slipping into the Park Hyatt bar, where he was photographed by a CBD spy with what appeared to be a negroni. The billionaire Amazon founder<\/a>, clad in black and sporting Cuban-heeled boots, was in the company of an unshaven, yet-to-be-identified man.<\/p>\n

\"JeffJeff Bezos spotted at the Park Hyatt bar in Sydney.<\/p>\n

Which is to say, setting aside transport and accommodation, Bezos has been living much like the rest of us.<\/p>\n

If S\u00e1nchez\u2019s Instagram is anything to go by, the pair may well be staying at the Park Hyatt, whose 350-square-metre Sydney Suite bears a striking resemblance to the balcony S\u00e1nchez shared a photo of to her 1.1 million followers on Sunday morning. The suite\u2019s nightly rate isn\u2019t listed by the Hyatt, but reportedly starts at about $21,000.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the transport. Flight-tracking data shows that one plane widely reported as belonging to Bezos, an ultra-luxury Gulfstream G700 private jet, landed in Sydney at 1.15pm on Friday after flying from the Pacific. Bezos, whose net worth is<\/a> valued by Forbes at roughly $US260 billion ($372 billion), reportedly owns four private jets.<\/p>\n

\"PatronsPatrons at Mimi\u2019s in Coogee were surprised to see Jeff Bezos and his wife, Lauren S\u00e1chez Bezos, on Friday.<\/p>\n

Just what the pair are doing in Australia, though \u2013 and whether they will visit Melbourne \u2013 remains a mystery. Amazon does decent business in this market, and is among the tech giants jockeying to build data centres in Australia. The company already operates more than a dozen on Australian shores, and last year beat Elon Musk\u2019s Starlink to secure a multimillion-dollar contract with the National Broadband Network to offer satellite internet to rural and regional Australians. Amazon Australia didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment by deadline.<\/p>\n

So our guess is Bezos, who no longer leads the company as chief executive but remains its executive chairman, would surely have a few meetings in the diary, holiday or not.<\/p>\n

Where\u2019s Barnaby?<\/p>\n

Last week was a big one for One Nation.<\/a> It was revealed the Senate\u2019s perennial cooker<\/a> Malcolm Roberts had described Alex Jones, a fountain of conspiracy theories including that the Sandy Hook school shooting was a false flag, as \u201ca beacon of hope around the world\u201d.<\/p>\n

Then came leader Pauline Hanson\u2019s Mediterranean sojourn with billionaire Gina Rinehart. Which was topped off with a Hanson podcast appearance alongside the controversial far-right freak show Tommy Robinson, who\u2019s proved too freaky even for UK Reform leader Nigel Farage, and has been dubbed a \u201cthug\u201d by Andrew Bolt.<\/p>\n

\"OneOne Nation MP Barnaby Joyce with party leader Pauline Hanson in May.Alex Ellinghausen<\/p>\n

So when our colleagues revealed late last week that Hanson and Barnaby Joyce were in \u201cconstant disagreement\u201d<\/a>, there was always going to be some forensic tea leaves analysis. Joyce and One Nation, of course, insisted the former Nationals leader and his new boss have a trusting relationship.<\/a><\/p>\n

Such was the case over the weekend when attention turned to the absence of Joyce\u2019s name from the \u201cteam\u201d page on the One Nation website, and the absence of the party name on Joyce\u2019s own website. It\u2019s unclear if Joyce ever made it onto the One Nation website or it\u2019s been changed. Of course, as with anything One Nation, our guess was the omission would probably have more to do with a lack of professionalism and short staff numbers than, say, a looming split. But then again, who knows.<\/p>\n

When reached on Sunday, Joyce was \u201ctrying to get a pump on\u201d, which we took to mean exercising, maybe lifting weights. He was exasperated by this masthead\u2019s reporting last week, which revealed disagreements between him and Hanson. \u201cPremised on what?\u201d he asked. When asked about the absence of his name from the One Nation website, he said there was nothing to it. Pleasure to be of service clearing that one up.<\/p>\n

Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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\"FionaFiona Byrne<\/a> is the CBD columnist for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email<\/a>.\"JohnJohn Buckley<\/a> is a CBD columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated July 19, 2026 \u2014 7:58pm,first published 5:59pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":810009,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":["post-810008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=810008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/810009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=810008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=810008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=810008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}