Former premier John Olsen the hot tip for next Crows chairman
He’s already led the state but now Adelaide’s establishment is abuzz with rumours a former premier is about to score a new gig replacing Rob Chapman at the Crows. Off the Record is back.
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Off the Record is back with a surprise hot tip to replace Rob Chapman as Adelaide Football Club chairman, plus Christopher Pyne becomes a governor and one of Premier Steven Marshall’s spin doctors moonlights for a rival.
Smart money on former premier for Crows chairman
Adelaide’s upper echelons are abuzz with speculation about the impending succession for one of the city’s most prized jobs, the Adelaide Football Club chairman.
Business, political and legal types (apart from Port Adelaide supporters focused on finals) are swiftly forgetting the club’s first wooden spoon to either position for the job as Rob Chapman’s replacement – or guess his or her name.
Chapman this week declared he would step aside as chairman “in coming weeks”, ending an 11-year reign – he was appointed in 2009.
Joint number one ticket holder and esteemed corporate director Carolyn Hewson is among those mentioned in dispatches to rule themselves out as contenders.
But the smart money is on a late bolter, who was 100/1 in Off the Record’s unofficial market in August last year – former premier John Olsen.
Chairman of the SANFL and SA Football Commission from 2010 until January, Olsen is an SANFL and West Adelaide life member and was that club’s number one ticket holder for 17 years. He also is a former consul-general to Los Angeles and New York.
Olsen, 75, last month became the federal Liberal president and might be too focused on Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s re-election to take on the time-consuming Crows role.
But our late, great colleague Greg Kelton – The Advertiser’s former esteemed state political editor – used to marvel at Olsen’s tireless work ethic as premier, from 1996-2001.
Olsen will be replaced as Liberal state president on Saturday at the party’s AGM, which is expected to be attended by Morrison – who hand-picked him for the federal job.
Numerous others have been mentioned as potential candidates for the Crows chairman role. They include former defence minister Christopher Pyne; banker and former state cricketer and Sturt player Jamie McPhee; Seppeltsfield Wines proprietor Warren Randall, hotel tycoon and former Crows board member Peter Hurley and former player, stockbroker David Pittman.
The well-credentialed Adelaide 36ers owner Grant Kelley has openly campaigned for the job, which has ruffled feathers among the Adelaide establishment – it’s not seen as polite to put your hand up.
Current board members, including Kate Ellis, Linda Fellows and Mark Ricciuto, are not considered likely successors, but cannot be ruled out because Chapman repeatedly has praised their credentials.
According to the club constitution, the unpaid chairman role is appointed by the board. In practice, Chapman and his deputy Jim Hazel will be instrumental in deciding who takes over. In August, the Crows said they were “reaching out to those who have expressed interest in the role, as well as those who we feel have the necessary skills, qualities and experience”.
For his part, Chapman, who will play a key role in determining his successor, has played his cards close to his chest.
The unofficial market
3/1 John Olsen
5/1 Linda Fellows, Kate Ellis
7/1 Christopher Pyne, Warren Randall, Peter Hurley, Jamie McPhee
10/1 Mark Ricciuto
17/1 Darren Thomas, Wayne Jackson, Nick Chigwidden
20/1 David Pittman, Grant Kelley, Peter Carey
50/1 Nick Minchin, Graham Cornes
100/1 Steven Trigg, Alexander Downer, Gail Kelly, Jacqui McGill.
1000/1 Tony Modra, Chris McDermott, Andrew Jarman, Stephen Rowe, Jim McDowell
Write your own odds: Amanda Vanstone, Peter Malinauskas, Steven Marshall, David Koch
Border skirmishes
A few eyebrows were raised when Premier Steven Marshall namechecked his Labor predecessor Jay Weatherill and referred to several groups when apologising for family members of Port Adelaide AFL players being incorrectly allowed into the state.
The reference to Weatherill, premier from 2011 to 2018, was surprising, given it was an apparent breach of the code of honour between former state and national leaders that usually means interactions are cloaked in silence.
At a Thursday press conference, Marshall said an “error of judgment” by an SA Health exemption committee member had resulted in 11 relatives of Port Adelaide players mistakenly being given permission to travel here from Victoria and enter quarantine.
Marshall said his own office was asked to advocate for people on an “hourly basis” but he was not involved in the independent process.
“I have had requests from members of parliament, Labor, Liberal, former premiers of South Australia saying can you process it … but it is completely and utterly independent and so it should be,” he said.
“Jay Weatherill contacted me asking if I can process something, but I don’t put it in, Channel 7 asked me, the reality is we process them through an independent process … but there is no suggestion of political interference from a government department.”
It is understood Weatherill was making representation on behalf of someone whose father was gravely ill and, in an email to Marshall, stressed the person did not seek special treatment, just to be referred to the correct authorities.
It is understood the Seven request related to AFL commentators seeking to travel from Victoria ahead of Port Adelaide finals matches at Adelaide Oval.
Their request is understood to have been successful and they are in quarantine.
Arise, Governors Pyne and Rinehart
What do Liberal powerbroker turned lobbyist/author Christopher Pyne and the richest Australian, mining and pastoral tycoon Gina Rinehart, have in common?
In addition to a preference for the conservative side of politics, both were this week appointed to three-year terms as state governors – of the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia.
AmCham has almost 100 governors across Australia, who are senior executives from member companies selected for their “considerable experience and expertise”.
Pyne, who last year ended a 26-year career as Sturt MP, is a former federal defence and education minister, who is credited for his substantial role in $90 billion worth of frigate and submarine projects being located in Adelaide.
He is now the SA AmCham governor, while Rinehart is his Western Australian equivalent.
In late 2016, Rinehart became the principal owner and chairman of iconic Adelaide-based pastoral company S. Kidman & Co.
Both have strong US interests, personally and professionally. Pyne, an Advertiser columnist who has a fascination with President John F. Kennedy’s regime, in June wrote Donald Trump “does not have the emotional equipment to be President of the United States of America”.
But Rinehart in August told Sky News Trump “shows the world what needs to be done to create a thriving economy” and was “an exceptionally strong leader”.
Playing both sides
The Liberal Party always likes to claim it’s a broad church, but even so, Off the Record doffs its hat that it also allows its employees to go and work for an opposition party during an election campaign.
Greg Charter’s day job is as media spinner for Energy Minister Dan van Holst Pellekaan. But Charter was given time off during the recent Northern Territory election campaign to work for Territory Alliance leader Terry Mills. Charter had previously worked for Mills, who has had stints as Country Liberal Party opposition leader and even Chief Minister, before forming his own splinter party.
Charter confirmed to Off the Record he had worked for Mills during the campaign but was at pains to point out the CLP in the NT wasn’t affiliated with the broader Liberal Party.
“Territory Alliance are a conservative party,’’ he also noted.
CLP leader Lia Finocchario blamed the TA for the Liberals losing the election, calling it a “wrecking ball”. And despite Charter’s best efforts, Mills also lost his seat in parliament.
A spokesperson for Premier Steven Marshall said: “Mr Charter is an employee of the South Australian Government and received permission to take formal leave.’’
Road warrior
The RAA has found its new general manager of government and public policy. The highly experienced communications operative Emily Perry will join the motoring organisation in November.
Perry was previously BHP’s head of corporate affairs for South Australia. Before that she was with General Motors Holden for nine years.
Perry told Off the Record the new role would give her the “opportunity to be more creative and strategic’’.
Perry takes the position vacated by Tourism SA board member Jayne Flaherty who left the RAA in March and is now working as director of communications and engagement for Department of Human Services.
Fighting Words
Former Defence SA boss Andrew Fletcher has never been shy about having his say, and took the opportunity to air his view this week that the “rules of engagement” for the SA Venture Capital fund were “wrong” and its efforts so far “ridiculous”.
Asking a question of SA Venture Capital Fund manager David Rohrsheim at an Australia Israel Chamber of Commerce lunch, Mr Fletcher argued that SA was a state dominated by small to medium-sized businesses, and the SAVCF should be able to invest at an earlier stage.
“If you’re only investing in companies that have started to be successful, then I can understand why your track record of three or four successes in three years, which I find as a taxpayer, given you’ve got $50 million of my money, is ridiculous,’’ he said.
“The money needs to go in early, seed money.”
Mr Rohrsheim pointed out that the fund only gets money as it invests in companies so it wasn’t sitting in a bank account, and deftly laid out the government’s broader strategy, which has numerous programs for early stage companies.
Off The Record is happy to point out also, that Mr Rohrsheim not only doesn’t set the investment mandate for the fund – that was set by the former Labor Government, but has also only been in the job since about April this year.
The fund was previously managed by former listed company Blue Sky, and its local director Elaine Stead, and that company’s epic failure and the need to find a new manager would naturally have impacted on the SAVCF investment schedule.
Fletcher, as we have said, is not shy about making his voice heard – which is a good thing in a robust democracy. When he left Defence SA he chucked a few hand grenades, excuse the pun, telling The Advertiser he was frustrated at dealing with federal and state ministers surrounded by minders “who have no industry experience and very little knowledge in the area in which they are giving advice”.
Mr Fletcher is currently a director of technology company Cryoclock, along with experienced director Ted Byrt.
Originally published as Former premier John Olsen the hot tip for next Crows chairman