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It’s a humid autumn morning and I can’t take my eyes off the beads of sweat rolling down Michael Yabsley’s brow. Sitting in his eclectic apartment in Sydney’s Darlinghurst, the former Liberal firebrand and antiques collector pours me a steaming cup of English Breakfast. He offers a melting moment to go with the tea, which is served in an elegant white porcelain cup and saucer. “Store-bought,” he says sheepishly, referring to the biscuit. Not that I would expect the man once described as the NSW Liberals’ much-feared “pet assassin” to have whipped up a batch of bikkies. We share an awkward chuckle.