Council on our case

Brace yourself readers, CBD is now the subject of an inquiry. The investigation is occurring at – where else? – Stonnington Council and is in reaction to our revelation that a flag-lowering initiative to honour the passing of local citizens had started disastrously when council mistakenly flew the flags at half-mast during the funeral of a convicted sex offender.

The flag-lowering initiative was dreamt up by first-term Liberal councillor Alexander Lew, who is a principal solicitor for the Office of Public Prosecutions and who rose to his feet last Monday night to ask council to investigate our report.

“Details of a highly confidential discussion from our previous council briefing were mentioned in a gossip column in The Age. And as a result of this, several vulnerable members of our community have suffered emotional distress. What steps can be put in place to ensure that items raised in confidential briefings do not appear in newspaper gossip columns?” Cr Lew asked council chief of governance David Taylor.

Oh, Alex, you are a naughty scamp. CBD is not a gossip column but written in the finest traditions of a traditional newspaper Diary. We are the Dr Johnson of Docklands, if you will.

Cr Lew finished his questions with a dramatic flourish. “Are you concerned that there has been a breach of the Local Government Act?”

Council chief executive Jacqui Weatherill, who arrived in the job nearly two years ago after running the Greater Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust, took the question on notice.

Everyone can relax. It was readers of The Age who tipped us off about the flag-lowering embarrassment and Cr Lew’s role in it.

Legal imbroglio

Annette Kimmitt Credit: John Shakespeare

MinterEllison chief executive Annette Kimmitt has gone to ground while her career is on life support. Last week she shared her thoughts on the fact that the firm had offered legal advice to Attorney-General Christian Porter after he named himself as at the centre of historical rape allegations. She told staff in an email her firm’s involvement had “certainly triggered hurt for me” and that she wanted to “apologise for the pain you may be experiencing”.

Media lawyers and sources inside the firm are already speculating on how long Kimmitt will last at the firm, saying her email last week was “beyond belief”.

“We all represent our clients to the best of our ability,” said one. “I just can’t imagine she will survive it.”

No surprise really the firm’s media team wasn’t responding to any questions regarding the comments on Sunday.

This has been a dreadful and distressing week for many women. And the focus is only likely to intensify as Monday marks International Women’s Day. But openly attacking the firm’s defamation partner Peter Bartlett – who also represents this publication – for providing advice to Mr Porter has caused enormous disquiet among lawyers. After all, recent Minters clients include Crown Resorts, which has endured a NSW government probe into instances of money laundering and alleged links with organised crime syndicates. But there were no such public qualms raised by Kimmitt during that assignment.

A career accountant rather than lawyer, Kimmitt set out her stall last year – and raised eyebrows – with a Google-style all-staff COVID presentation where she mused in a big-picture way on the law firm’s social licence. “Does our pathway to the ‘new normal’ offer business an opportunity to reshape the future through a purpose-led lens?” she asked in a follow-up podcast with ANZ’s chief executive Shayne Elliott.

At risk

So who is our blue-sky thinking chief executive? The improbably named Antoinette Annette Kimmitt sits on the board of the Terrence Campbell-led small-cap investment house Mirrabooka Investments and also holds a marquee appointment on the board of Melbourne Business School, where she chairs the finance, audit and risk committee. Judging by her latest effort, we’re questioning those risk credentials.

Another research round

Last week, Communications Minister Paul Fletcher emerged as Parliament’s most enthusiastic gatherer of information. A one-time management consultant, Fletcher shelled out more than $1 million commissioning another round of well-paid consultants – this time from the Boston Consulting Group – to embark on another round of research, this time into regional TV services. But he’s not the only one in Canberra going long on data this month.

The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet has shelled out almost $500,000 in the past two weeks on wonks providing “strategic advice”. The department headed by Phil Gaetjens has tapped KPMG for a “strategic advice and review services” – a piece of work worth more than $200,000. At the same time, it has contracted the self-professed smart guys at McKinsey for more “strategic advice and review services” also priced at just over $200,000.

KPMG is advising on the startup of a new National Relief, Recovery and Resilience Agency, as announced by the Prime Minister last year. The accounting firm will also run a “major” two-day stakeholder event to inform the proposed design, structure and functions of this new agency, a DPC spokesperson said. McKinsey’s bag is more mixed. The firm will deliver research and analysis, strategic policy advice and communications to help the government “maximis[e] economic and social opportunities as the COVID-19 vaccine progresses.”

In both cases, public servants are doing the bulk of the grunt work, but more hands are needed. “Given the complex and urgent nature of both projects, short-term, external expert advice was deemed necessary,” the spokesperson said.