Navigating Australia's two major political tribes has never been more fraught for corporate Australia. When we were kids, a bank or airline could hire a Hawke or Howard émigré and expect his or her political capital to be good for years. Not only were these more stable times, they were more civilised too, before blackballing edicts were issued (and thankfully often ignored) by vindictive winners. And that's just within the same party!

Kevin Rudd's top advisers fled to Wesfarmers, BHP hired its second national ALP Secretary in George Wright and Julia Gillard's chief of staff Amanda Lampe went to Cochlear via the ASX. As the Packer family seems to have figured out (from Peter Barron to Mark Arbib), 104 Exhibition is no Sussex Street.

Most recently, AGL was mercilessly gaslit – and gave as good as it got – by an internally hamstrung Malcolm Turnbull, having dared employ the partner of Labor frontbencher Tony Burke and close an ageing power plant (these sins listed in order of their severity).

Shadow energy minister Mark Butler has some close ties to energy giant Santos. Alex Ellinghausen

Nevertheless, fellow energy giant Santos knows on which side its bread is buttered. Its media manager is Daniela Ritorto, who in her spare time is the better half of Labor's energy spokesman Mark Butler. How's that for simpatico?

Better still, the upstream gas giant's head of sustainability is Alicia Genet, whose hubby Ryan Liddell is handily Bill Shorten's chief of staff – so will be familiarising himself with Lampe's old office before the summer solstice is upon us.

Rounding out the trifecta is Santos' head of government affairs Tracey Winters who, for her sins, keeps former Trade Minister (and Whyalla Wipeout lyricist) Craig Emerson on a short leash.

Dr Emerson – like Rudd's boy wonder and fellow economics PhD Andrew Charlton – toils for market darling Afterpay. Fitting really, given Treasurer Wayne Swan's fiscal strategy: buy now, pay later. Presumably someone in Kevin Rudd's "kitchen cabinet" was a fan of The Whitlams.