By Kishor Napier-Raman and Noel Towell
Former prime minister Scott Morrison’s farewell dinner in the Sutherland Shire, featuring Sky News sycophant Paul Murray on MC duties, was meant to go down next week.
CBD wondered how many Liberals would actually show up; it looks like we’ve gotten our answer – the event has been postponed, with no rescheduled date in sight.
Sky News presenter Paul Murray was supposed to be MC at Scott Morrison’s farewell dinner.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
In an email seen by this column, Cook federal electorate conference president Scott Briggs (of sacked Mike Pezzullo fame) told guests the event was being pushed back because the party had decided to focus its efforts “winning big” in the electorate. This was a little hard to swallow in a seat so safe Labor isn’t even in the contest.
“You will also be pleased to know that Scott welcomes the opportunity to postpone, given the requirements of his new private sector roles, forthcoming travel commitments, and launching his new book in May,” Briggs wrote.
That said, we hear organisers had far fewer RSVPs than they had hoped for. Even in the Shire, dinner with Morrison seems like a tough sell.
Watch out for the watchdog.Credit: John Shakespeare
ASIC fails to take down King of the ‘Crypto Castle’
Tech entrepreneur Fred Schebesta has a history of getting out of tight scrapes, like the time his nascent comparisons site Finder was put in the deep freeze by Google and only just managed to survive – before growing into a $650 million new economy success story.
And things were looking tricky again in late 2022 when the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) hauled Finder subsidiary Finder Wallet into court alleging its crypto investment product Earn was a financial service operating without a licence.
But things have come up rosy again for Schebesta, who lives in a garish clifftop mansion known as “crypto castle” overlooking Coogee beach.
Things are looking rosy for Fred Schebesta.Credit: James Brickwood
Federal Court judge Brigitte Markovic dismissed ASIC’s argument that Earn was in fact a debenture – a kind of bond – requiring a financial services licence for its provision.
Sadly, Earn didn’t live to see its business model vindicated; Schebesta and his colleague, Finder CEO Frank Restuccia, shut the thing down soon after ASIC began sniffing around, with the two old Sydney Grammar schoolmates insisting the closure was a “strategic business decision”.
But you never know, maybe they’ll have another crack. Schebesta certainly sounded upbeat in a statement Finder put out in response to Markovic’s judgment on Thursday.
“Innovation always moves faster than regulation and this is a great example,” Schebesta said.
Photo stop
Back to the Shire briefly, and the seat of Cook. CBD brought word on Thursday that Peter Dutton had been spotted having coffee with colourful Liberal-aligned property developer Matt Daniel while in the electorate.
Dutton’s office didn’t respond to this column’s inquiries about the meeting, but within hours of publication the opposition leader deleted the photo of him and Daniel from Instagram.
We kept a copy in case Peter wants one for his mantelpiece.
No Gary no
It seems like the Canterbury Bulldogs’ 2002 salary cap scandal is all but forgotten among the club faithful. After all, it was more than two decades ago, and the underperforming outfit has a few more pressing on-field problems of late.
But the ghosts of that scandal still haunt the backrooms of Belmore. Two years ago Gary McIntyre, the architect of the scandal, made a triumphant return to the board of Canterbury League Club, the suburban pokie den that effectively bankrolls the footy team.
McIntyre, who CBD last spotted at a memorial for disgraced former detective and murderer Roger Rogerson, was hoping to run again at board elections this weekend. But he was quietly removed from the ballot, we hear, because he’d been ruled ineligible.
That was because McIntyre had forgotten to disclose that he’d previously been found ineligible to hold office at a registered club, owing to his role in the aforementioned scandal. He’d disclosed it when running in 2022, just not this time. Oops.
Fair to say he wasn’t thrilled with the decision. “I believe the decision was unreasonable, but I understand his [the returning officer’s] ruling in view of the Registered Clubs Regulations,” McIntyre said.
Meanwhile, all nine candidates running for the board are men. So are all six current directors. Time for some new blood, fellas.
In the spirits
It’s fair to say that former Liberal senator David Van has had his ups and downs since being punted from the party last year amid allegations of sexual harassment, which he denies.
But to give him his due, Van is a stickler for transparency when it comes to the parliamentary register of gifts and interests, giving us a rare insight into how freely the free booze can flow in the corridors of power.
So … since 2019, Van has declared receiving the following from the various international diplomatic outposts in Canberra: a bottle of claret from the Americans, sake from the Japanese, chilli vodka from the Ukrainians, tequila from the Mexicans, shiraz from the United Arab Emirates, “beverages” from the Czech Republic and some more wine, this time from the Embassy of Uruguay.
Closer to home, Van received two dozen reds from Trifon Estate in November 2021, eight cartons of beer from the Australian Hotels Association – who are never far from Parliament House – in April 2022 and a six-pack from Brick Lane Brewery. This last item reminded us of the time Van was busted trying to get a photo of himself in his swimmer trending on the socials.
Hashtag? #Senatorsixpack, of course.