By Noel Towell and Kishor Napier-Raman
As MPs representing some of Australia’s most affluent postcodes, the teal independents are accustomed to the finer things in life.
Credit: John Shakespeare
In the case of Kooyong MP Monique Ryan, that includes an aversion to flying economy.
According to documents released under freedom of information, Ryan billed taxpayers for 27 business class flights during her first year in office – about $28,000 worth of air travel.
The bulk of those flights were hour-long trips between Melbourne and Canberra.
No other teal came close on that front. Zoe Daniel flew business four times, Sophie Scamps once, and the rest never.
Ryan told us she always followed the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority guidelines and, to be fair, we hear there are plenty of Labor and Coalition backbenchers flying business class between Melbourne and Canberra.
We would have a fuller picture, but the expenses reporting system is being upgraded, meaning we might have to wait until 2024 to know how pollies are spending our money.
Still, Ryan’s air travel had us wondering whether the Josh Frydenberg slayer is living for the job she wants, rather than the one she has.
In affidavits released during a now-settled court case brought against Ryan by former staffer Sally Rugg, the MP reportedly said she had ambitions of being prime minister one day. Ryan later said she was joking, but now we’re not so sure.
Kooyong forever.
MINING OFF
Larry Marshall’s tenure as CSIRO chief ends on Friday and insiders at the government science organisation, observing Marshall’s high-profile lap of honour these past few days, have remarked to CBD on how little his eight years inside the Commonwealth public sector have changed the former Silicon Valley entrepreneur.
Outgoing CSIRO CEO Larry Marshall.Credit: Rhett Wyman
Last week he was at the AFR’s Entrepreneur Summit to give a speech that leaned very heavily into the legacy of his leadership at CSIRO. He also took the opportunity to launch his book, Invention to Innovation: How Scientists Can Drive Our Economy – even offering a free copy to the first 100 attendees to show up at the CSIRO booth at the event.
“Ever the showman,” one of Marshall’s underlings muttered to CBD.
On Tuesday, the chutzpah was on display as Marshall delivered another speech, this time to the World Mining Congress (the very sector his critics accuse him of being a little too cosy with – a criticism he rejects) all about the role of mining in getting to net-zero carbon emissions.
History students might recall that Marshall attracted global headlines in 2016 by slashing the CSIRO’s climate change research effort before being ordered by then Liberal environment minister Greg Hunt to reinstate the capability.
So, you can take the man out of Silicon Valley, etc, but where is he bound next? Marshall has been coy on that question in a couple of media interviews that have formed part of the long goodbye.
We gave his people a call on Wednesday to see if there was any news on that front. They haven’t called us back.
COURTROOM DRAMA
Kerry Stokes’ Seven West Media continues to pick up the pieces after the loss of its employee former SAS war hero Ben Roberts-Smith’s epic defamation case against The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times – funded by Stokes’ private company – after a judge found Roberts-Smith murdered unarmed civilians while serving in the military in Afghanistan.
Seven has replaced Roberts-Smith – who resigned in the wake of the devastating Federal Court loss as managing director of its Queensland operation, a role the former soldier had held since 2016 – with Todd Dickinson, who will report directly to the entertainment company’s CEO, James Warburton.
Ben Roberts-Smith resigned as managing director of Seven’s Queensland operation.Credit: Getty
Of course, it’s likely that Dickinson – who has worked for Seven for 16 years, holding the group sales manager and Brisbane sales manager jobs – will have been doing much of Roberts-Smith’s work in recent years, after BRS took leave in 2021 to concentrate on the trial.
The end of the case also means that Bruce McWilliam, Seven’s famously feisty commercial director who spent much time attending court, supporting his colleague Roberts-Smith and giving evidence, will have more time to spend on his day job.
There wasn’t a word about Roberts-Smith in Wednesday’s official announcement of the changing of the guard, but did we detect an oblique reference to the bad publicity he had brought to the network as Dickinson waxed lyrical about Seven “as part of the fabric of our great state”?
“That legacy can never be eroded,” the incoming MD said.
GARDEN VARIETY
Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens might be 177 years old this year, but the institution’s board seems to be looking to the future with their choice of new chief executive.
OK, Englishman David Harland is no horticulturist, or even a scientist – he’s originally an accountant by trade
But it’s his 11 years at the Eden Project, a charity that converted a former Cornwall mine into a huge sci-fi-style biodome, that has CBD thinking we might see interesting things happen at the grand old Melbourne Gardens and their Cranbourne outpost.
The new Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria CEO, David Harland.Credit: Toby Weller
There’s no sign that Harland’s old accountancy skills will be desperately needed in his new gig – the gardens were back in the black in its last reporting period after a difficult COVID-19 period, thanks to a one-off $5 million philanthropic donation.
Harland replaces long-serving chief executive Tim Entwisle – you may have heard him on the ABC Radio National on a Saturday morning – who is calling it quits after more than 10 years among the plants.
The new boss is no stranger to these shores. He had a stint as head of Eden Project’s international offshoot, which is regenerating the site of Alcoa’s Anglesea coal mine.
Oh, and Harland’s wife, Esther Harland de Klerk, is a horticulture graduate and a plant scientist. Could come in handy.
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