Flint eyes Liberal women’s top job as Pyne expands lobbying outfit
In this week’s Off the Record, Pyne expands the team, Flint eyes new role while the Law Society of SA wants to censor rude wills.
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This week, Liberals Pyne and Flint are keeping busy while the Law Society of SA wants to censor rude wills, Hills is being set free and the CBA is staying quiet about its big relocation plans.
FLINT ON THE MOVE
Outgoing Boothby MP Nicolle Flint is departing federal parliament but she is not leaving the political stage entirely. Off the Record understands Flint is putting her hand up to become president of the Liberal Party’s Women’s Council.
The Women’s Council position holds a bit of sway with the Libs, coming as it does with a seat on the state executive and delegates to state council.
Flint will be up against incumbent Sue Lawrie at the Women’s Council meeting which is expected to be held later this month. Lawrie has also confirmed she is a candidate for the Upper House seat to be vacated by David Ridgway, who will be soon jetting to London to take up the plum seat as SA’s Agent-General.
Flint’s candidacy will no doubt upset the party’s moderate faction, of which Lawrie is a member. The state executive may also be a little nervous after Flint blasted them on Twitter last month, as the party bickered about whether 500 evangelical Christians should be allowed to join up.
“The decision of the Liberal SA HQ state executive today to deny membership to new members is the most extraordinary and undemocratic act I’ve seen in my time in politics,” she tweeted.
Although, she is leaving parliamentary politics, Flint has become a vocal campaigner in encouraging women to become more involved in the Liberal Party, writing several papers on the subject. Flint has also become an outspoken critic of sexism within politics, after outlining her own experiences of being abused and stalked during her time as an MP.
PYNE AND PARTNERS, AND MORE PARTNERS
Christopher Pyne’s lobbying outfit Pyne and Partners continues to expand, with the former Defence Minister welcoming three new staff in recent months, while one has moved on.
Joining the firm as a Canberra-based partner is top tier former bureaucrat and government relations operative Andrew Joyce.
Mr Joyce was most recently a senior adviser to the Federal Government, but previous roles also include head of Government Affairs at Lockheed Martin Australia, assistant commissioner at the Australian Taxation Office and assistant secretary as the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Adelaide-based Alexandra Longinidis has also joined the firm as an associate. Ms Longinidis has a master’s in public policy from the University of Melbourne and also interned at the Hunt Laboratory for Intelligence Research.
Will Redmond joins the firm as a Canberra-based associate following roles as a policy and media adviser with the government.
Pyne and Partners’ client book has been pretty healthy, not surprisingly considering Mr Pyne and managing director and former staffer Adam Howard’s deep federal government connections.
Recent additions to the list at the federal level include the Business Council of Australia and earlier this year defence company Droneshield and Ross Pelligra’s Pelligra Pty Ltd.
Meanwhile Alisha Dhillon left the firm in June – but she didn’t go far, landing as a ministerial adviser in the office of state Attorney-General Vickie Chapman.
Elsewhere on the lobbying front Eloquium Group has joined the register in SA, with Australian Digital Inclusion Alliance as a client.
WILL IT HOLD UP IN COURT?
Got a gripe you really want to get off your chest but think it might be better coming from beyond the grave? You might need to think again. The Law Society of South Australia is in July holding a seminar on “offensive words in wills” and whether they’ll make it into the final copy of what is, after all, a public document.
“Is it wiser for a testator to hold their tongue? And when you act for a person who is the subject of such words, what hope do you have of preventing them being published in the public document that is the Grant of Probate?’’ the spiel for the professional development event says.
More than a decade ago former Adelaide mayoress Valmai Roche bequeathed her three daughters “thirty pieces of silver” – or $1.50 – each from her $3.5 million estate because she believed they conspired over the death of her mother, court documents revealed at the time.
Ms Roche clearly didn’t have an aversion to salty language in her will, claiming the payment was “blood money due to Judas”, along with other assertions we won’t repeat here.
The daughters Deborah Hamilton, Fiona Roche and Shauna Roche were also left equal shares in their mother’s jewellery, on condition they read and correctly answered questions relating to her personal diaries from January 1974 until the date of her will, which was signed in October 1981.
The daughters were eventually successful in contesting the will, but large portions of their mother’s salty language remained on the public record.
HILLS RIDE OVER FOR FAMILY
After a litany of changes that have corroded the once-revered manufacturing giant Hills, the founding family is letting go of control.
Chairman Jennifer Hill-Ling is ending her reign after 16 years in the top job and will also retire as director by the end of the year.
The family remains a major shareholder through related entities Hills Associates, Poplar and Ling Nominees.
One of Australia’s oldest listed businesses worth billions, Hills is today a $33m shadow of its former self, holding on to a memory of the former glory days and looking for inspirational leadership.
The answer may lie with the two Davids.
US healthcare IT giant Allscripts’ senior executive David Chambers is the new chair, joining incoming chief executive David Clarke, who also brings in healthcare expertise from his time at Medtronic and Fisher & Paykel.
Hills’ origins date back to 1945 when Lance Hill invented the iconic Hills hoist, subsequently starting a manufacturing business with his brother-in-law Harold Ling.
Hills hoists was formed in January 1948, with Hill as chairman and Ling as a director and by 1954, 600 hoists a week were making their way around Australia.
Ms Hill-Ling, the granddaughter of Harold and daughter of former CEO, Bob Hill-Ling, took on the chairmanship in 2006, overseeing a period of massive selldowns that started in the early 2000s.
“It has been a great privilege and honour to serve as a director of Hills and, for the past 16 years, as its chairman,” she said.
“In the past 12 months the board has been actively undertaking a process of renewal to reflect the company’s increasing focus on growing its health business as well as improving the results of its digital and security distribution business.”
“I am confident that Hills is well placed to continue to grow its businesses under the guidance of the board and newly appointed CEO, David Clarke.
“They have and will continue to have the support of the Hill-Ling family as they implement the company’s growth initiatives.”
CBA BRANCHING OUT
King William St has been the heart of Adelaide’s banking and finance sector for more than a century, but that could soon change with Commonwealth Bank weighing up a move away from the city’s main thoroughfare.
Off The Record understands the bank is in final negotiations to relocate its corporate and administration staff to the city’s newest office building opposite the fire station at 108 Wakefield St.
CBA has been in the market for around 2500sq m of office space, with the Wakefield St building one of the few modern options available for a space of that size.
The bank declined to comment on its plans, but it is understood it could retain a branch and customer service presence at its current King William St premises, which was built for the bank in 1983.
“We regularly review our extensive property portfolio across Australia but we’re not in a position to comment on specific plans or any changes,” a CBA spokeswoman said in a statement.
A deal with the bank would be a major coup for property developer Theo Samaras, who completed construction of the $70m Wakefield St office building towards the end of last year without a precommitment from tenants.
The timing was unfortunate given the impacts of Covid-19, and the 15,000sq m building has remained empty since.
With the CBD vacancy rate sitting at around 16 per cent, and landlords anxious about the work-from-home revolution, Samaras will be banking on a deal.
He declined to comment.
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