By Stephen Brook and Samantha Hutchinson
Could Melbourne be any more back, this column asked after a bumper first weekend in February crammed with a Pride march, a soccer final, polo and the opening of a big musical.
Coming soon: April’s Melbourne grand prix. It’s only been three years between drinks.
Crowds at the grand prix in 2019, the last time the Melbourne race was held.Credit: Joe Armao
Andrew Westacott, chief executive of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, is forecasting bumper ticket sales and absolutely no vaccination scandals.
“We are building grandstands in places we haven’t built since the 1990s,” Westacott told CBD during Saturday’s Twilight Polo at West St Kilda beach.
“Across the board we are up about 25 per cent in sales compared to 2019, our last full event.”
Westacott promised there would be no repeat of the Novak Djokovic exemption scandal that bedevilled the Australian Open in January.
“We are in lockstep with the government and there won’t be exemptions sought by anyone, for anyone.”
The Federation Internationale de l’Automobile is the governing body of Formula One and has laid down the rules.
“They put a policy in place where you have to be 100 per cent vaccinated to travel to flyaway events,” Westacott said. So that’s that.
PROPERTY RENAISSANCE
The summer holidays can be a dead zone for property sales, but that was not the case for The Terricks, the circa-1882 mansion in Paterson Street, Hawthorn, that went for about $20 million.
The seven-bedroom, five-bathroom and four-car majestic Italianate renaissance property was described as a “Melbourne estate of significant presence and spectacular proportions” that “could be a fantastic embassy”.
It attracted international interest when it was marketed in December for $21 million to $23.1 million. The renovated, heritage-listed mansion on 3503 square metres includes a reception room, study, theatre and billiards room, plus a terrace, swimming pool, floodlit tennis court, workshop and second frontage to Oxley Road.
So who bought it? Secrecy abounds. Normally loquacious real estate agents ran for the hills when we inquired, but informed sources tell CBD that Philip Watt sold the property to Helen Mantzis and Kon Mantzis of the family that founded the Sleepeezee Bedding business in 1956. Clearly, a lot of money in mattresses.
BACK TO BLIGHTY
Under-siege British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been getting advice from Sir Lynton Crosby.Credit: Illustration: John Shakespeare
These have not been salad days for the federal government. So perhaps some Liberals can take heart that one of the party’s most trusted vote whisperers is in town. But for how long?
There’s lots of excitement in Britain about the fate of the so-called Wizard of Oz, Sir Lynton Crosby. Dubbed “a silver-haired Australian elections guru”, Crosby masterminded some of John Howard’s federal election victories before pitching up in Britain and helping Boris Johnson become mayor of London in 2008.
The pair have had their ups and downs, but Crosby has been speaking to the under-siege Conservative Prime Minister as much as “three times a day”, according to The Sunday Times.
Quite the turnaround from the pair’s “explosive row” in July last year when Crosby denied he was leaking against the PM’s partner, Carrie Symonds, who is regularly portrayed in Britain as a Lady Macbeth figure and “Princess Nut Nuts”. Johnson hit the roof after newspaper claims that Symonds had quit her job at Conservative Party headquarters when she was accused of abusing expenses.
The latest report has Crosby living in Australia with his wife and family. Not quite right.
While he is in Australia and is regularly popping into the Sydney office of CT Group, the pollsters and advisory practice he founded with Mark Textor, he’s not here permanently.
“Lynton is returning home to the UK in a couple of weeks. He has had conversations with Boris in recent weeks and those conversations are ongoing,” a source close to the company told CBD.
ADVERTISING AUNTY
It’s been almost two months since Gaven Morris skipped out of the ABC’s top news job for a career pivot heading digital transformation and strategy inside the Bastion comms empire.
As this column revealed, the broadcaster’s head of network and news-gathering Gavin Fang – dubbed G2 to Morris’ G1 in Ultimo and Southbank circles – has been elevated to acting news director and now the job hunt is picking up speed. The ABC last month appointed international headhunters Egon Zehnder to assist in its search for the head of news.
Fang is well and truly in the mix to take the permanent position, which Morris occupied for six years and also includes a spot on the broadcaster’s executive leadership team. But other contenders include 7.30 executive producer and inveterate tweeter Justin Stevens – a popular pick among some staff – as well as news veteran John Lyons.
There’s a federal election on the horizon and polls in Victoria and NSW. Then there’s the party planning to factor in. Meanwhile, ABC managing director David Anderson is musing over preparations for the ABC’s 90th anniversary on July 1. But if the ABC throws a party, will anyone from the federal government come?
LEAKY ISSUES
How’s this for a relatable homeowner issue? Fund manager Michael Triguboff has a waterfront home in Sydney’s Vaucluse but has spent recent years struggling with the ultimate in residential headaches: a leaky roof.
Michael Triguboff.Credit: Jim Rice
The businessman – nephew of billionaire Meriton developer Harry Triguboff – is now seeking council approval to junk a leaking terrace roof in favour of a new glass roof that will convert a harbour-facing terrace into a sun room.
Unimproved land value data now prices the plot – without the five-bedroom home, pool and landscaped garden – at more than $20 million. But architects’ plans lodged with Woollahra Council in December note the new terrace roof will “further resolve an endemic water leak which has caused damage to the property including the collapse of gyprock in the underlying room on the lower ground floor. The water leak has been subject of multiple insurance and water damage claims and come at significant cost to the applicant.”
Enough to make the new structure – priced at $44,000 – seem like a bargain.
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