It’s curtains for a $20.4 million insurance bid launched by father-son theatre leads David and Jason Marriner after pandemic restrictions savaged the bottom line of their various theatre interests.
The Supreme Court found this week that Marriner Group would be entitled to just $2,816,005, almost $18 million less than they had sought, after their iconic venues, the Princess, Comedy, Forum and Regent theatres and the Plaza Ballroom, posted losses in the millions of dollars when closed at various times during the dark days of COVID-19.
Jason Marriner at the Regent Theatre during a 2020 COVID-19 lockdown.Credit: Supplied
The closure of the Princess Theatre during the pandemic left hit shows Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and Moulin Rouge! on hold, and documents lodged with the court said the price tag for those two shows was as much as $35 million.
The Marriners told Ansvar Insurance their losses amounted to more than $20.4 million, but they only had a policy which covered them up to a maximum $500,000 per venue. The court ruled the Marriners could only claim a maximum $500,000 per venue per closure.
The ruling is a blow to the group, which was also recently stung by regulator Heritage Victoria.
Heritage Victoria told the Marriners to urgently repair the ornate facade at the Forum after a report found there was a high risk that parts of the building could fall off or collapse.
However, CBD thought that blow may be somewhat softened given David Marriner secured a blockbuster retail property deal in April, when he sold the building at 42 Russell Street (next door to the Grand Hyatt) for $75 million to Chanel’s ultra-wealthy owners.
Marriner Group’s lawyers were spruiking the insurance decision as a win when we called, given the insurer had not wanted to pay out a single cent for the COVID lockdowns.
“Given the insurer sought to exclude cover entirely under the policy and argued that at best a cap of $500,000 applied for each of the two periods of insurance, the Marriner Group is very pleased with the recent decision of his honour Justice [Michael] Osborne of the Supreme Court of Victoria,” Danielle Snell from Elit Lawyers told us.
The lawyers didn’t, however, go into the future of the increasingly fragile Forum. Ansvar declined to comment.
Secretary Steve
New Labor state secretary Steve Staikos at the party’s state conference in May.Credit: Wayne Taylor
Steve Staikos, the recently anointed Victorian Labor state secretary, told Kingston Council colleagues on Wednesday that he’ll be hanging up his robes to go full-time party apparatchik.
The cousin of Labor MP Nick Staikos, Steve’s appointment to the powerful role entrenches the family’s standing in state Labor politics.
Steve told CBD that the state secretary job required his “more than” full-time attention, and since there’s a council election not far off, he would step aside before Kingston enters caretaker period in September.
Does the council need him until then? He seemed like the other councillors had a handle on things.
“There’s 10 other councillors at City of Kingston, and they’re doing a great job,” he said.
Mayor Jenna Davey-Burns gave Staikos a nice send-off and thanked him for his “massive contribution to Kingston and our local community”.
“For 16 years Steve has been a constant on this council and a terrific leader during his periods as mayor. He is someone who has always had kindness, fairness and justice at the forefront of his decision-making and at all times tried to get the very best for our city,” Davey-Burns said.
Origin visitors
Perhaps reflective of Victoria’s collective interest in what others north might consider the country’s most important sporting rivalry, rugby league’s State of Origin came to the MCG on Wednesday night, but failed to pull names of the same calibre who showed up in Sydney for game one.
Westpac boss Peter King brought the greatest business heft, while Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy was the most senior political figure to jet away from Canberra in a parliamentary sitting week.
Victorian Tourism Minister Steve Dimopoulos made an appearance, while Solomon Islands PM Jeremiah Manele got to see Australia at its most Australian, alongside basketball players and staff from the Opals and the Boomers, including former NBA champions Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavedova.
Crowding into the Keith Miller Room at the MCG were former NSW (that’s cockroach in Origin-speak) premier Barry O’Farrell and former cane toad (Queensland) premier Peter Beattie. They were deep in conversation, while former Victorian minister for fun Martin Pakula stayed neutral.
Showing his social versatility was Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas, fresh from a function with the French ambassador on Monday. Where does the man get time to read his ministerial briefs? And deep in hostile southern territory, NRL supreme being Peter V’landys displayed his customary self-confidence while brandishing his tourist visa.
A familiar path
CBD has long kept a close watch on our media colleagues crossing to the dark side and going to work in politics.
The latest defector from our very much thriving industry is The Guardian’s off-platform and newsletters editor Antoun Issa, who’s landed a job as chief of staff to Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi, the party’s deputy leader.
Issa’s departure means the path from Guardianista to foot soldier for the progressive side of politics looks increasingly well-trodden.
Last year, the outlet’s political editor, Katharine Murphy, left the press gallery behind to take up a gig spinning for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, a move which confused some readers, who thought she’d been doing that job the whole time.
And Brigid Delaney, The Guardian’s beloved “hot mess” columnist, is now well-entrenched within the Labor-verse, having joined Katy Gallagher’s office as a speechwriter before jumping ship to the perennially sidelined Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek.
Christopher Pyne’s firm will open a London branch.Credit: John Shakespeare
Frankly, given the cost-of-living crisis and the outlet’s infamously stingy approach to staff remuneration, we don’t blame them for moving on.
Pyne’s progress
As CBD has opined in columns past, the existence of Labor governments in Canberra and across the mainland hasn’t stopped former Liberal defence minister Christopher Pyne making money in his new life as a defence industry lobbyist.
The South Australian’s firm, Pyne & Partners, is now the largest Australian-owned government relations operation in the country, thanks partly to the AUKUS pact. It might be decades before we get those nuclear submarines in the water, but in the meantime, it’s good to know someone’s winning.
Anyway, now the company is in its young adult phase, Pyne is ready to do the “London thing” and is opening an office in the British capital this week.
Jack de Hennin, who’s recently been working in Paris with the firm’s French clients, is set to run the show, while former Labor staffer-turned P&P partner Tony Hodges will head over next month to help get the show running.
Christopher Pyne has become a successful lobbyist post politics.Credit: Oscar Lewis
But it’s the timing of the move that caught CBD’s eye. Barring a miracle that would make Scott Morrison blush, Rishi Sunak’s Tories are set to be swept out of office by Labour under Sir Keir Starmer next week. And for lobby shops, particularly foreign upstarts hoping to make a splash, there is no time more fertile than a change in government. Pyne himself said as much.
“We’ve led the charge in Washington DC and Canberra. Now it’s time to do the same in London, so we’re putting one of our best people on the ground in Albion,” Pyne told CBD. “The almost certain new Labour government means change and opportunity for business here as well as there.”
Daddy Dore
Turning to another prominent Christopher.
CBD brought word recently that Christopher Dore, a former editor of The Australian and who shrugged off the unsavoury circumstances of his departure from that newspaper to land a hot new gig running Seven West Media’s papers, was expecting a baby with partner (and former colleague) Jenna Clarke.
Chris Dore, former editor of The Australian, in 2018.Credit: Jesse Marlow
We’re now pleased to report that the happy couple welcomed baby Louis Christopher into the world last week in Perth, where the pair have moved. The news was documented in the classifieds section of a regional paper in the west.
Readers might recall that Dore and Clarke’s recent baby shower, hosted by top defamation lawyer Rebekah Giles brought together a motley crew of media personalities and faded Liberal Party identities.
And even the birth brought a political bit-player into the mix, as former Australian Medical Association president Michael Gannon delivered the baby.
Our Breaking News Alert will notify you of significant breaking news when it happens. Get it here.