Off the Record: Former Labor deputy premier Kevin Foley is mates with Baywatch and Knight Rider star David Hasselhoff
WHAT do actor David Hasselhoff, former deputy premier Kevin Foley and the chairman of ASC have in common? Find out in Off the Record, as we also reveal an English cricket legend’s business links to Adelaide and a local entrepreneur’s royal audience.
WHAT do megastar David Hasselhoff, former deputy premier Kevin Foley, an Adelaide businessman/jazz singer and the chairman of naval shipbuilding firm ASC have in common? Find out in Off the Record, along with legendary English batsman David Gower’s business links to Adelaide and The Queen’s meeting with one of the state’s top entrepreneurs.
Foley and the Knight Rider
MEGASTAR David Hasselhoff has struck up an unlikely friendship with former Labor treasurer and deputy premier Kevin Foley, forged through their joint interest in a luxury Indonesian resort.
The Baywatch and Knight Rider star has bought a $1.3 million beachfront villa at the BASK Gili Meno development, in which Foley is involved with leading Adelaide businessmen Bruce Carter and Greg Meyer.
Off the Record learned of the friendship during inquiries about Sunday’s earthquake which struck Lombok and the Gili islands. The quake killed more than 250 people but did not affect the resort, although its opening scheduled for next year has been delayed.
It is understood Hasselhoff, 66, has stayed at least three times with Foley at the Bali home of Meyer, who has been mates with The Hoff since an unknown mutual friend introduced them some years ago. A keen scuba diver, Hasselhoff and wife Hayley Roberts have been joined on diving and snorkelling expeditions by Foley and Meyer — whose Meyer Group property development interests span Australia and Indonesia.
Like The Hoff, Meyer is an accomplished singer and in 2006 released a self-titled album, featuring jazz classics including Blue Moon.
Hasselhoff last year signed a contract for an off-the-plan three-bedroom villa, one of 87 to be built at the resort. They range in price from about $335,000 to $1.3 million on the beachfront.
Carter, who is chairman of BASK and Osborne-based naval shipbuilder ASC, said 30 per cent of the villas had been sold, mostly on the beachfront, but work would be delayed by workers being forced to evacuate the island after the earthquake.
About 80 local people were working on foundations for buildings including the villas, a restaurant, cocktail lounge and beach bar.
Carter, also SkyCity Entertainment Group deputy chairman, and Meyer are BASK board members but Foley stepped down last year, although there is talk of him returning.
The Lord’s prayer
The New Commonwealth consortium, the outfit trying to sell off a piece of the famous Lord’s cricket ground in London, has been bowled over by interest in the innovative investment scheme but admits it can’t take people’s money just yet.
New Commonwealth boasts some big cricket names, including SACA chief executive Keith Bradshaw and legendary English batsman David Gower. Gower told Off the Record there had been “tens and hundreds of thousands’’ of inquiries from as many as 90 nations.
It’s an intriguing concept. In 1999, property developer Charles Rifkind bought some railway tunnels that run underneath the Nursery End of Lord’s. The 46cm of soil above the tunnels came with it. New Commonwealth is buying the property from Rifkind. The consortium is using blockchain technology, which is used to trade cryptocurrencies. but Gower said it may take a year for regulatory authorities to catch up.
“We have to be careful we don’t fall foul of the lack of regulation,’’ he said. But he said he was confident all would work out. “It’s not an investment that will bring huge dividends tomorrow, but over the long-term it will be productive.’’
Off to London to meet The Queen …
IT’s been a year of despair and elation for Thomas Foods International chief Darren Thomas.
In January, his firm’s Murray Bridge abattoir was gutted in one of the biggest structural fires in the state’s history.
But, as he told the powerbrokers assembled for the Showdown at last weekend’s Adelaide Football Club chairman’s function, he’s also been chuffed by a considerable degree of success.
As Thomas revealed, this even propelled him to a personal audience with The Queen.
The meeting happened after a horse that Thomas part-owns, Merchant Navy, won the coveted Diamond Jubilee Stakes at the Royal Ascot meet, at the United Kingdom’s Ascot Racecourse on June 22.
Merchant Navy’s other owners include former Footscray player Mark Hunter and his son Lachie Hunter, a midfielder who played in the Western Bulldogs 2016 premiership team. They are joined by another premiership Bulldog, Tory Dickson, and Brisbane Lions chief executive officer Greg Swann, formerly the Carlton boss.
Thomas told the chairman’s lunch that he managed to chat to the Queen for about five minutes — presumably about a shared passion for racing.
The entrepreneur’s sporting background gives some hint to Merchant Navy’s AFL connections. Thomas is a Sturt Football Club ambassador, sponsor and player number 1003, having debuted in 1995. He transferred there after starting at South Adelaide as a junior.
Spearhead of sport in politics
SPORT and politics are closely entwined — despite the adage — and former Adelaide Football Club media co-ordinator Ryan Smith is the latest to bridge the small gap.
Smith, a former regional journalist, finished at the Crows on a high, after last Saturday’s Showdown victory over Port Adelaide. He then started on Monday as a media adviser for Environment and Water Minister David Speirs.
An active surf lifesaver at the Brighton club, Speirs is expressing his strong interest in health, fitness and outdoor activities through his staff appointments.
His chief of staff Cullen Bailey is accustomed to the art of spin, having been an SA state cricketer and potential successor to Shane Warne.
Bailey played 31 first-class matches, scoring 812 runs at an average of 21.36, including three 50s, and took 78 wickets at 49.46, with best bowling of 5/90. Appropriately, he was previously a spin doctor for SA Health.
Ballers dig deep
THIS year’s Mid Winter Ball has raised a record amount, with a bumper price paid at auction for an exclusive BBQ with Premier Steven Marshall helping push the total to be donated to charity to around the $60,000 mark.
Auctioneer Bronte Manuel from Toop & Toop put the heat on the crowd, squeezing almost $15,000 out of them for auction items alone. The money will be donated to the Carly Ryan Foundation and The Road Home.
Bell tolls for Joe Emanuele
CONTROVERSIAL property developer Giuseppe “Joe” Emanuele passed away last Saturday.
Emanuele, father of dress designer Liza Emanuele, achieved a level of notoriety in the 1990s after his property empire collapsed owing more than $260 million.
Emanuele was also convicted of bribing a government official in Canberra in 1985, but it was eventually set aside as it was ruled “entrapment.’’
Lord Mayor Martin Haese paid tribute to Emanuele, particularly for funding the bell tower on St Francis Xavier Cathedral.
Alexander arrives back in the UK
AFTER a blitzkrieg to support daughter Georgina Downer in the Mayo by-election, Alexander Downer has returned to London.
The former foreign minister has, since June 11, worked four days a week as the executive chair of King’s College London International School for Government.
Downer, also a former High Commissioner to the UK, will return to Adelaide next month for a lecture at the University of South Australia, where he will share his views on “Australia and the Geopolitical Earthquakes of the Era”.
