NewsBite

Patrick Durkin

Yesterday

Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg says the corporate world has become “culturally neutered”.

What Facebook’s shift to ‘bro culture’ means for corporate Australia

Australian executives are openly discussing what they were once too scared to say out loud: has the corporate world’s push for greater diversity gone too far?

December 2024

Robbie Williams is played by actor Jonno Davies as a monkey in the biopic Better Man.

How the Queen’s death cost this Aussie filmmaker $1m

A Melbourne-based producer and director somehow raised $100 million to make a movie starring Robbie Williams as a CGI monkey. It didn’t all go smoothly.

Macquarie’s Shemara Wikramanayake has topped the AFR’s CEO pay ranks for the fourth year running.

Australia’s 50 highest-paid CEOs in 2024 revealed

Macquarie Group’s Shemara Wikramanayake is Australia’s best-paid CEO for the fourth year in a row.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan and Treasurer Tim Pallas whose department has engaged corporate advisers on raising revenue.

Victoria pays consultants $2m for possible asset sale list

The Allan government is paying speciality consultants Ad Astra more than $2 million, including for a scoping study to help turn the state’s dire finances around.

Rod Laver Arena is gearing up for big crowds again in January.

Why Emirates dropped F1, Melbourne Cup to go all in on tennis

Emirates will sponsor the Australian Open for another five years at least in a deal thought to be worth $35 million, as the airline’s head of marketing reveals the real reason it dropped other sporting fixtures.

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John Seeley of Seeley International , manufacturers of heaters and air conditioners, says its easier to do business in SA than it is in Victoria.

BCA scorecard ranks the best and worst states for business

The report names Victoria as the worst state or territory to run a business, with its onerous regulations acting against growth and investment on many measures

Sally Capp AO, has been appointed the CEO of Create Advisory 
Nicole Scurrah, founder of Create Advisory.

Former Melbourne mayor appointed CEO of fast-growing Create Advisory

Sally Capp will head the consulting firm set up by the former Sayers Group partner and Labor staffer Nicole Scurrah.

November 2024

Victoria budget winners and losers.

Vic, NSW splurge putting Australia’s credit rating at risk: Fitch

Fitch Ratings has warned that state level deficits have risen sharply and were becoming increasingly important in its assessment of Australia’s fiscal position.

Victoria.

Victoria’s four biggest Big Build blowouts

The state’s finances have come under scrutiny this week, and a major chunk of its ballooning debt comes from the government’s expansive infrastructure program.

Daniel Andrews, Jacinta Allan and Tim Pallas.

How Daniel Andrews’ playbook turned sour for Jacinta Allan

The former premier’s strategy was based on massive public spending. But times have changed, Victoria’s finances are a basket case, and voters have noticed.

Chris Lucas at Grill Americano at 112 Flinders Lane. He says he only drinks two coffees a day.

How Chris Lucas came to know the secrets of the rich and powerful

One of Melbourne’s top restaurateurs, Chris Lucas, is expanding across the country, but he is keeping old-fashioned values at the heart of his operations.

Victoria now has the highest rate of home-loan arrears across all Australian states, taking over from Western Australia.

Victorian mortgage arrears top other states

Fresh data from ratings agency S&P shows Victoria has the highest rate of home-loan arrears of any Australian states, overtaking Western Australia.

Daniel Andrews, Jacinta Allan and Tim Pallas.

Stockdale calls for Victorian asset sell off to repay debt

Former Liberal state treasurer in the Kennett government calls on Labor to sell its remaining assets, slash regulation and reduce taxes.

Premier Jacinta Allan has announced the final tunnelling contract for the first stage of the SRL project has been awarded to a global construction consortium at a cost of $1.7 billion.

Labor MPs express disquiet over Melbourne rail loop

Victorian Labor MPs have privately expressed frustration and concern over Premier Jacinta Allan’s vow to “double down” on the $125 billion Suburban Rail Loop.

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Victorians are paying $2.8m a week for a road yet to be finished

Documents obtained under freedom of information show Treasurer Tim Pallas approved raising North East Link State Tolling Corporation’s borrowing limit from $644.3 million to $2.35 billion.

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Dan Andrews, Jacinta Allan and Tim Pallas.

‘Uninvestable’: Business blasts Victoria’s ‘reckless’ financial state

Chair of biotech giant CSL Brian McNamee says leading fund managers have told him that Victoria is “uninvestable” and the Labor government is “reckless” for putting the state’s finances at risk.

Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece at Heytea in Melbourne CBD. It’s a story about how Chinese visitors to melbourne have dropped by 50% and he is trying to change that
Picture by Wayne Taylor 22nd November 2024

New mayor plans to revive Melbourne with help of China, India

Newly elected Nick Reece says he will aggressively pursue foreign companies to set up their headquarters in the city.

‘Embarrassing’: Victorian households fall behind Tasmania

An extensive audit of Victoria’s dire finances shows declining household income and per capita economic activity and rising debt and interest payments.

Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas, with Premier Jacinta Allan, says that the state economy is still strong.

Business warns ‘sick’ Victorian economy may need federal bailout

The state’s auditor-general has warned that government debt is now expected to hit $228 billion by 2028.

VFMC CEO Kate Galvin.

How a jibe from this CEO’s teenage daughter triggered a career rethink

Kate Galvin, the chief executive of the $92 billion Victorian Funds Management Corporation, hadn’t applied for a new job in 23 years and, without realising it, needed a push.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/by/patrick-durkin-j7gb7