By Samantha Hutchinson and Stephen Brook
So, the former vice-chancellor of the University of Melbourne Glyn Davis, 62, is joining the board of Opera Australia and will take over as chairman. Smiles all round.
Davis, who left MU three years ago and is chief executive of the billion-dollar Paul Ramsay Foundation, joins OA next month and takes over from chairman David Mortimer early next year. Just don’t expect any Ramsay Foundation cash to flow to the COVID-hit arts organisation, which slumped to a deficit of $2.9 million in 2020-21.
Davis will be wielding the baton as the organisation attempts a Phantom of the Opera-led recovery next year during a time of flux.
Chief executive Rory Jeffes is off next month, replaced by Fiona Allan, the Aussie-born chief executive of Britain’s Birmingham Hippodrome.
They will have to work out what to do with totemic artistic director Lyndon Terracini, whose contract is up in 2023.
Virginia Judge and Glyn Davis.Credit: Shakespeare
Board search consultant Darren Challis jumped onto LinkedIn to drum up some credit for Challis & Company, telling everyone how much his firm, which acted pro bono, “enjoyed working with OA’s Board on his appointment”.
Then came a LinkedIn love-in as the congratulations rolled in. “Congratulations Glyn. Challenging right now, but massive fun too!” posted his successor as MU V-C, Duncan Maskell.
“Fantastic appointment,” opined arts moneybag Simon Mordant, while the ABC’s Saturday morning Radio National queen Geraldine Doogue declared “Congratulations Glyn, they’re lucky.”
But the most enthusiastic post was from Virginia Judge, former NSW Labor Arts Minister and frustrated coloratura soprano (her career was cut short by vocal polyps).
“Hi Darren, I’m a vanguard member of the SSO, Sydney Dance Company, and an atelier member of the NSW Art Gallery. I would love to support Professor Glyn Davis, AC, and perhaps join the board. Could you kindly put me in touch??”
As Christine sings so plaintively during Phantom, “Think of Me”.
FIRST DIBS
Followers of the US Democratic Party and former First Lady Michelle Obama will know the adage to go high when everyone else goes low. But the Liberal Party appears to have adopted an altogether different strategy. Go early and go negative. Very negative. In the past week, the Liberals have unveiled a website as part of their assault on the Sydney heartland seat of Warringah which an indignant Tony Abbott lost to independent Zali Steggall in 2019. It’s no secret the Libs want the northern beaches seat back, even if two former premiers – Mike Baird and more recently Gladys Berejiklian – have turned down approaches to be the candidate.
But that hasn’t stopped the launch of the subtlety-free zone that is the website Zalihasfailed.com. Authorised by ambitious Senator Andrew Bragg who is responsible as “duty senator” for the northern beaches seat, the site is formatted in the distinctive red and black ALP-style branding while pointing out Steggall’s cosy pro-Labor voting track record.
A glaring “Did you know Steggall voted with Labor 64 per cent of the time?” leads the site, which hammers the independent’s perceived ineffectiveness with lines including “Zali hasn’t delivered a single bill” and “Zali hasn’t stood up for small business”.
That’s the northern beaches for you: the land that nuance forgot.
CHANGING FOCUS
Big developments in the rather extensive investment portfolio of the freshly promoted federal Liberal MP Tim Wilson. The newly minted assistant minister for industry, energy and emissions reduction minister – who is evidently a diversified portfolio enthusiast from way back – has made some changes to his own investment strategy to account for his new, sprawling gig and the potential for conflicts of interest.
Last week, he offloaded shares in mineral earths miner Lynas Corporation, Canadian Copper Mountain Mining and nickel miner Auroch Minerals. He’s also sizing up the rest of his portfolio and is waiting for advice from Parliament on what fits with the new portfolio. But the member for Goldstein is not pulling out of equities.
Rather, he’s focusing purely on exchange traded funds (ETFs) and listed investment companies (LICs) which are aggregate or “basket” style investments that cover multiple companies determined by an investment manager.
As his new ministerial gig covers a “massively broad portfolio” he says, and he needs to be hyper-alert to potential or perceived conflicts of interest. “While I don’t have responsibility for one particular resource, there’s a chance that something might end up as part of a critical minerals strategy or something like that,” he said. Investing in batched products means he has “no control over the allocation and I don’t have any problems that might crop up from investing in an individual company … it’s just easier.”
If it sounds like overkill, others will attest there’s no such thing when it comes to probity. After all, Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas faced calls to resign following revelations he had been a passive investor through an ASX20 ETF in toll road operator Transurban. At the time, the company stood to make $37.3 billion in extra tolls from motorists as a result of a deal inked by his government. Pallas offloaded the ETF stake in the week after the revelations.
Tough break.
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.