Corporate Australia may have breathed a sigh of relief when Bill Shorten lost in May - the member for Maribyrnong spent much of his campaign ineffectually complaining about the "top end of town" - but the job of lobbying Canberra remains a work in progress.
As this column has noted on more than one occasion, the Business Council of Australia has been trying to find someone to replace president Grant King without success.
Grant King and Jennifer Westacott have been searching for King's replacement for some time. Illustration: John ShakespeareCredit:
The council has been riven by internal disagreements on energy policy while key members such as the Big Four banks and Telstra aren't especially engaged, according to BCA sources.
And it failed to get tax cuts for big companies through Parliament. So it's not necessarily the most attractive of positions.
But we are told they may have finally found someone.
Which brings us to Tim Reed, BCA director and chief executive at accounting software company MYOB until Thursday.
Reed's decision to quit executive duties at MYOB frees him up to pursue other opportunities and BCA insiders say these are likely to include taking over from King.
Reed is a stronger communicator than King, whose professorial style didn't exactly connect with ... well ... anyone.
His time at MYOB also means he can truthfully say he understands small business.
Qantas boss Alan Joyce, former BCA president Tony Shepherd and Qantas chairman Richard Goyder have all been sounded out about the role, so it's great to think the BCA may have found a willing candidate (to be fair, we are told fellow director Danny Gilbert considered the gig some months ago).
If Reed is appointed, expect the focus to quickly turn to the tenure of BCA chief executive Jennifer Westacott, who sits on two external boards (Wesfarmers and Western Sydney Airport) which suggests she may not stick around forever.
DOCTOR WANTS A DONNA
Things must finally be looking up for self-styled business coach Marc Dussault.
Dr Dussault - for a doctor he is - is offering up to $250,000 for an "executive assistant extraordinaire". Or as he puts it, a "Donna".
Self-styled business coach Marc Dussault is looking for a "Donna" to sort out his fledgling comms shop. Illustration: Illustration: John ShakespeareCredit:
That would be a reference to the all-seeing, all-knowing Donna Paulsen, Harvey Specter's secretary in TV’s Suits, played by Sarah Rafferty.
Your man Dussault was once chairman of the now-collapsed motivational speaking outfit EmpowerNet. On his watch it reported about $27 million in losses and was described by this column in 2012 as "one of the dud listings of the last decade".
These days he markets himself as "the world’s #1 Exponential Growth Strategist". Go figure.
According to Dussault’s nightmarish 2637-word job ad, this is no ordinary gig. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join him as he enters "the next phase of my career".
And what is that? Well, he pledges to reveal his plans "privately, if we end up meeting".
As Dussault acknowledged over the phone from a "work-cation" in Bali, the job is actually based in the Sydney office of Ultimate Edge Communications, where he's engaged as a business strategist.
The "boutique" media/comms shop is run by a certain Aleisha McCall, a former junior figure skating champion and now wannabe Roxy Jacenko. UEC's clients include voucher outfit RedBalloon and lender Mortgage House.
As far as the new hire goes, it seems like a standard Girl Friday gig at a small agency. But Dussault assures us it's so much more.
For one, he demands the successful applicant give "24/7 commitment" for the next 5-10 years, and adopt "Exponential Mindset Thinking", whatever that is.
In return, Dussault promises "deployment on a global scale" and remuneration up to $250,000 on a "results-reward basis". But he tells CBD: "Most people aren’t worth that."
Dussault says men are welcome to apply to become his next "Donna", and that he’s already received some 32 responses - with 10 making the shortlist.
Good luck to them.
NATS' NUPTIALS
The Nationals do love to keep it in the family. So congratulations to Water Minister Mel Pavey's chief-of-staff Jeff McCormack, who recently got engaged to Deputy Premier John Barilaro's policy adviser Alysia Smith.
It's been a rollercoaster year for McCormack who had to endure a party investigation into whether he was one of the Young Nats fraternising with neo-Nazis. But he was cleared.
Barilaro, meanwhile, found the "reply all" button yesterday and asked the entire NSW Parliament where he could find the gym.
Labor's Hugh McDermott wryly suggested he should ask Planning Minister Rob Stokes, who famously doesn’t want to share the machines with lowly staffers.
Barilaro says he's seriously considering getting on the treadmill. "My wife would appreciate it," he tells CBD.