Annette Sharp: James Packer MIA at gossip writer’s eastern suburbs nuptials
He was rumoured to be party pal Joe Aston’s best man but James Packer was notably absent at the gossip scribe’s Eastern Suburbs watering hole nuptials.
Entertainment
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AFR hit man Joe Aston found time in his not so busy international schedule last week to marry his partner of recent years, corporate comms operative Annabelle Cottee.
The couple tied the knot on Sunday at The Centennial pub, owned by Aston’s longtime pal and sometime sponsor, hotelier Justin Hemmes.
Hemmes helped foot the bill at the groom’s 30th birthday party and gave the reporter sanctuary at his Vaucluse pile during the gossip writer’s failed defamation suit with venture capitalist Dr Elaine Stead last year.
Also on hand to bear witness as Aston, in blue suit and trainers, married Cottee, in a loose-fitting white dress that prompted speculation, was Nine Media executive James Chessell, other media types and Aston’s enduring party pals, former AWU national secretary Paul Howes and Qantas exec Olivia Wirth, who may or may not double as Aston’s travel broker.
Sadly absent was the man rumoured to be Aston’s number one secret source James Packer with whom Aston has partied over the years in Aspen and on Packer’s lavish yachts.
Yet despite the lost weekends spent together, Packer never seems to turn up in Aston’s copy.
How interesting.
DURIE’S LAST RESORT
Garden designer and media personality Jamie Durie is set to become a property developer after becoming an equal partner in a consortium that plans to build a $70 million luxury sustainable resort on the fringe of a tulip-growing region in Tasmania.
Durie has partnered with financier/hotelier Dominic Lambrinos and investment banker Kim Jacobs, who last month purchased a 110 acre site for an undisclosed price on the stunning northwest coast of Tasmania at Table Cape.
The land, which was formerly a tulip farm and lies within a tulip farming district, is located on a cliff overlooking Bass Strait.
“It’s not the first time my firm has been involved in designing a luxury resort but it is my first entry into property development,” Durie told this column yesterday, listing off the international resort sites with which he’s been affiliated, from Thailand to the US and, more recently, at Port Douglas.
“I’ve always wanted to develop things with integrity in my own country and, post-Covid, with Australians wanting the stay home, it seems it’s the right time to do it.”
The keen gardener, whose obsession with the concept of an “outdoor room” — or garden — has spawned an industry, said he fell in love with the region — one of Tasmania’s best-kept secrets, he believes — 15 years ago while flying over it in a helicopter.
By coincidence, six months ago his new partners began the process of developing the site.
The consortium has employed architect Silvester Fuller to bring the modern minimalist design to life.
Fuller’s hotel design features a series of Tasmanian oak-lined concrete cantilevered boxes jutting out over a remote windswept volcanic cliff.
The developers anticipate the low-profile hotel will feature 30 private ocean-facing suites — each with its own “outdoor room” or garden and plunge pool — two restaurants, conference and spa facilities, as well as an outdoor common garden area and plenty of open space around.
“It’s been a dream of mine for a long time to get into sustainable resorts and this one pays homage to the site as well as to Tasmania,” Durie said.
Durie is expecting a new baby, a son, with partner Ameka Jane, in February, and hopes to spend much of next year living at Table Cape and working on the project.
Durie and his partners fly to North Western Tasmania this week to meet with local and state government officials to discuss the proposal which already has been the greenlight for development.
HAZZARD WOWS THE CROWD
Judging from the reception he received on Thursday night, NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard can look forward to a bright future as a red carpet cause célèbre like Julie Bishop following his retirement from politics.
The man who presided over the state’s pandemic response and spent almost as many hours in the media spotlight in 2020 and 2021 as breakfast TV host David Koch, created some substantial buzz at the Lyric Theatre on Thursday night when the 71-year-old and his attractive younger second wife Nicole arrived for the Sydney premiere of Cinderella.
Though Koch, fresh from announcing his two-year contract extension with Seven, was seated nearby with wife Lib, it was “Brad” who had theatre patrons straining for a glimpse.
The veteran pollie even managed to upstage red carpet regulars such as Nikki Webster, ex-cricket WAG Kyly Clarke, and another former politician Bronwyn Bishop.
The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, which reunites Aladdin stars Shubshri Kandiah and Ainsley Melham with Doctor Doctor’s Tina Bursill as stepmother Madame, Nicholas Hammond as devious Lord Chancellor Sebastian, and Silvie Paladino as the fairy godmother (bringing the audience to their feet with her incredible vocals), is a hugely entertaining spectacle that will delight all ages.
A KELLER OF A DEAL
Radioland negotiations are winding up for the year and yesterday WSFM confirmed its breakfast stars Amanda Keller and Brendan Jones have re-signed for two more years.
The announcement was made on the eve of this year’s ACRA awards, which are being held at the ICC in Darling Harbour on Saturday night and will be hosted by the popular duo.
Keller and Jones are once again nominated for Best On-Air Team (Metro FM) alongside KIIS FM’s seven-time winners Kyle and Jackie O.
Said Keller of the new deal, which insiders put at around $3.5 million for the longtime partners: “It’s a great thing to love coming to work”.
In other radio news, Nova also yesterday announced former Triple J duo Ben Harvey and Liam Stapleton are headed from Adelaide to Melbourne to host Nova’s new breakfast show, replacing Chrissie Swan, Sam Pang and Jonathan Brown.
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HEALTHY FUNDRAISER
While other Sydney hospitals have struggled with negative fallout in recent years following the appointment of glamorous socialites and personalities with questionable motives to their high-profile fundraising committees, St Vincent’s Hospital has been quietly raising the bar — and the tally — within its own tireless philanthropic arm.
St Vincent’s Curran Foundation, the hospital’s main fundraising instrument, yesterday confirmed it has this year raised a staggering $37.8 million. This will go towards a wide variety of essential hospital services.
The result leaves some other hospital fundraising efforts in the shade.
“The Foundation is the great enabler for our frontliners,” said St Vincent’s media boss David Faktor.
“From robots in surgery to mobile clinics for our homeless.”
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