By Kishor Napier-Raman and Stephen Brook
Two years ago, still wearing a honeymoon glow, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese followed his address to the Business Council of Australia’s annual dinner by offering a few lucky CEOs a ride on his private plane Toto One to Canberra for the government’s jobs and skills summit.
Times have changed now – a politically battered Albo is stumbling toward an election, big business is a lot crankier with federal Labor, and the BCA is facing questions about whether its influence has become too anaemic.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese arrives at the Business Council of Australia Annual Dinner at the Hyatt Regency with BCA president Geoff Culbert (centre) and chief executive Bran Black.Credit: Wolter Peeters
Fresh from getting roasted by the Minerals Council last week, the PM copped it again from BCA chief Bran Black, whose speech about Australia “losing its way” because of workplace relations laws was dropped to the media ahead of time. A fairly lukewarm address, truth be told, but somehow hot enough to trigger the fire alarm, which went off as Black wound up.
The two smiled and made nice for the cameras once the PM made his red carpet arrival. But Albanese had little time for small talk on arrival, hurriedly whisked through the throng of well-wishers into the Hyatt Regency’s Maritime Ballroom.
Getting a golden ticket to the prime minister’s table were billionaire Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes, Wesfarmers chief executive Rob Scott, Commonwealth Bank’s Matt Comyn and Coles boss Leah Weckert. Telstra chief executive Vicki Brady, Rio Tinto’s Kellie Parker and BCA president Geoff Culbert rounded off the top table. Cannon-Brookes’ Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar took a techy approach to the business-casual approach, rocking jeans and dress sneakers.
The PM was ably supported by a few key lieutenants, including Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Housing Minister Clare O’Neil (doubtless relieved to have a nice, chill portfolio after her torrid time in home affairs), Climate and Energy Minister Chris Bowen, Communications Minister Michelle Rowland, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek, Albo’s chief of staff Tim Gartrell and blow-in Parramatta MP-turned-overnight India expert Andrew Charlton.
From the other side, CBD spotted the ever-chipper former Liberal defence minister turned lobbyist Christopher Pyne, federal Liberal MP Paul Fletcher and former Liberal federal director Brian Loughnane (aka Mr Peta Credlin), currently conducting a review into the party’s embattled NSW division.
With a guest list like that, it’s almost more intriguing taking stock of who wasn’t in the room. A large absence was that of Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, whose Hancock Prospecting is among the BCA’s newest members. Perhaps she found the crowd a little too woke.
ROYAL ROUND TABLE
Queen Camilla plans to join a round table on family violence at Government House in Canberra on October 21 when she visits with King Charles as part of the royal couple’s truncated royal tour.
While the round table hasn’t been formally announced, experts sounded out about the event are thought to include former Australian of the Year Rosie Batty. This could make things a bit tricky for organisers.
While the program for Charles suggests the tour will encompass his interests in sustainability, cancer and “paying respects to the fallen”, Camilla’s itinerary mentions her “passion for encouraging reading” and her “desire to raise awareness of domestic and family violence”.
The round table will examine family violence and technology-facilitated abuse and include First Nations women. One issue the organisers will have to navigate is a spectacular rift among women’s right’s campaigners.
This masthead reported a rift this month after Batty accused campaigner Jess Hill and feminist Anne Summers of attempting to undermine the strategy to end violence against women.
Summers and Hill were part of the Albanese government’s six-member rapid review panel into prevention of violence against women.
Batty told the pair she thought their criticisms of the national prevention agency Our Watch were damaging efforts to protect women.
We asked the office of Prime Minister and Cabinet for more about the round table and were told further details about the tour would be provided in due course.
The round table will be a reunion of sorts for Camilla and Batty, who met in Adelaide in November 2015 during a six-day visit, when Camilla told Batty during a similar forum that she was “incredibly brave” for publicly recalling how her son, Luke, was killed by his father in 2014.
“It is a difficult thing to report,” she said. “People sometimes think they’re not going to be believed. A lot of people feel shame, so they sit on it for years.”
FISHY BUSINESS
The construction of a flashy new fish market in Pyrmont – touted as the most significant harbourside building since the Opera House – should be a feel-good story for Sydney.
But this is Sydney, where no big project can be delivered without a tangled web of cost blowouts, grumpy stakeholders and constant threats of legal action.
With the new $836 million site set to open next year (costing more than three times what was initially proposed), subtenants at the existing location reckon the new digs aren’t fit for purpose, creating the prospect of millions in taxpayer-funded compensation and the absurd possibility of two separate fish markets operating side by side. If anything, just imagine the stink.
Amid all that, Sydney Fish Market chief executive Greg Dyer has decided to hang up his rod, with a resignation announcement dropping suddenly on Tuesday.
Dyer, a former Australian wicketkeeper who played six Tests, took the top job at the fish market in 2019. Details about his departure remain scant, with talk of a broad non-disclosure agreement, meaning CBD’s fishing expedition yielded little.
In response to questions about the circumstances of Dyer’s departure and the succession plan, the Fish Market told us that Craig Davison remains chair, and that the organisation “is seeking to recruit the best candidate” for the CEO job.
We’ll let you know once someone takes our bait.
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