Off the Record: Adelaide Oval set to shift goalposts
TODAY, Off the Record looks at an Adelaide Oval revelation; the return of a man who was at the centre of one of Australia’s most notorious criminal cases and Port Adelaide’s Michael Voss settles in.
TODAY, Off the Record looks at the revelation that came at Adelaide Oval’s second Media Hall of Fame Night; the return to the national spotlight of a man who was at the centre of one of Australia’s most notorious criminal cases and Port Adelaide midfield manager Michael Voss looks to have settled in at Alberton.
IT’S not yet three years since an AFL Showdown opened the $535 million Adelaide Oval redevelopment, but another multimillion-dollar upgrade is about to be revealed.
Keen to retain its reputation as the nation’s finest sporting venue amid tight competition – Perth’s $1 billion stadium opens next year – the Oval’s management will invest to grow revenue.
Precisely how is not yet clear, but Adelaide Oval Stadium Management Authority chairman John Olsen has said an announcement would be made soon and the SMA would take on debt.
Another revelation came at the Oval’s second Media Hall of Fame Night, when former treasurer Kevin Foley and ex-AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou were acknowledged for their contribution to the upgrade.
Demetriou revealed details of the historic first meeting at the Hilton Adelaide between footy and cricket – bitterly divorced for almost 40 years after the SANFL left the Oval to build Football Park. He thought it would last half an hour. It lasted 90 minutes.
Demetriou proposed another meeting in a month. “(SANFL chairman) Rod Payze said that is too fast, can we make it in six months. And I though ‘geez, things move slowly in South Australia’.’’
His mate Foley was keen to spread the love – even as far as The Advertiser. He recalled a meeting involving former Premier Mike Rann, then Tiser managing director Michael Miller and editorial director Melvin Mansell, who outlined a vision for the Oval.
“I remember walking back. I remember saying (to Rann) how Mickey Mouse and how ‘Adelaide’ is it that rebuilding a footy stadium could somehow inject life into Adelaide,” Foley said. “They (The Tiser) were about six or seven years ahead of where Rann and I were.’’
In our latte land brew-ha-ha fails to create a stir
HE was at the centre of one of Australia’s most notorious criminal cases and this week returned to the national spotlight. But near his home in Adelaide’s leafy inner east, people are unaware he’s living in their midst. Gordon Wood, former personal assistant to flamboyant Sydney stockbroker Rene Rivkin, this week entered the witness box for the first time in his $21 million malicious prosecution case against the State of New South Wales.
Wood spent more than three years in jail after being convicted in 2008 of killing his girlfriend, model Caroline Byrne, by allegedly throwing her off a cliff at Sydney’s The Gap in 1995.
He was acquitted and released in 2012 and is now living with his mother, Brenda, in Adelaide. He relies on money transferred from a family trust fund by his sister, Jacqueline Schmidt, who lives in the inner east, not far from her mum’s house.
But in the nearby cafes like Dulwich Bakery, Wood is not known. Off the Record showed his picture to several inner-eastern baristas, all of whom did not recognise the lanky 55-year-old.
Perhaps it’s because, as he told the NSW Supreme Court this week, he’s spent time in the US and Britain.
In her statement to the court, Schmidt says her brother has, since his release from prison, “continued to struggle to integrate back into everyday life”.
Fashion’s final cut
IT looks like the final stitch in the fashion empire of Adelaide identity Liza Emanuele.
Off the Record can reveal the designer, who last month closed her King William Rd boutique after seven years in business, has put into liquidation her company Liza Emanuele Design Pty Ltd, which ASIC documents show was registered in 2001.
According to the minutes of a company meeting, obtained through ASIC, the company was wound up by unanimous consent because it could not “by reason of its liabilities continue its business or trade”. Emanuele told the meeting that there were concerns about the company’s solvency.
The decision to wind up her design arm – made this week at the Frome St offices of liquidators BCR Advisory – comes almost 18 months after the winding up of her retail business, Liza Emanuele Retail Pty Ltd. Emanuele is the sole director and shareholder of Liza Emanuele Design and Liza Emanuele Retail.
In July 2015 The Advertiser revealed the ATO was pursuing Emanuele for a $113,107 debt related to her retail business. Emanuele announced to her Facebook supporters last month that she was to close up her Hyde Park boutique but she would still be available for made-to-measure custom and bridal orders. In her Facebook statement, she said she had no immediate plans to open another “physical shop front”.
Change of berth ensures long stay in Port
HE’S the midfield manager some Port Adelaide fans love to sledge – but Michael Voss looks to have settled in at Alberton for the long haul. The former Brisbane Lions coach and Brownlow medallist is selling his sprawling Brisbane home, bought for $2.9 million in 2009. That’s enough for plenty of family houses at Alberton.
The five-bedroom house with three bathrooms, in Coorparoo, is pitched as luxury living in a premium location. “Flawlessly designed in a classic ‘U’ configuration around the pool, this spectacular home presents the ultimate in connection and privacy,” agent James Curtain gushes. The house, on 1303 sq m, goes to auction on March 23.
In other hot property news, former Liberal senator Sean Edwards has sold his majestic Clare Valley vineyard property, Ballingarry, after trying for three years. Edwards sold the 72ha estate, with two-storey homestead, for about $3.5 million.
He’s formed a connection with new owner Millon Wines, whose Chinese owners have a wide distribution network in China. He hopes to sell his Kirrihill wines through it.
Odd coalition
IT’S an unlikely friendship forged at opposite ends of the state political spectrum – Liberal leader Steven Marshall and Greens MP Tammy Franks. Setting aside philosophical differences, the pair catch up socially and were photographed at the Fringe this week with comedian Hans. But they’re not an odd couple – strictly friends according to Marshall’s office. As his operatives also pointed out, they have strong political differences – Marshall last month vowed to abolish the state’s renewable energy target if elected premier next March.
March on
UNREST is simmering at the ABC’s Collinswood bunker over the decision to bring talkfest program Q&A to Adelaide during Mad March, when accommodation is priciest. One ABC insider estimates Q&A travels with a staff of about 22, not including guests, led by $355,000-a-year host Tony Jones. A broadcast van will need to come from Melbourne for the March 13 show at Adelaide Festival Centre as local production was axed last year. An ABC spokesman didn’t discuss money or deny any of the above, saying the Adelaide Festival was perfect for arts policy discussion.
Beat goes on
OUR coppers are obviously a content lot. We can reveal police union president Mark Carroll and secretary Tom Scheffler have been elected unopposed by their 4600 members for another four-year term. The ballot result reflects industrial victories the pair engineered in the past 18 months, backed by the management committee and members. They campaigned to reinstate benefits for injured officers and, less publicly, held the government to account on its broken recruiting promise.