By Stephen Brook and Kishor Napier-Raman
Never mix business with pleasure, as the saying goes.
And it’s a saying that has particular relevance to Gillon McLachlan, the South Australian aristocrat and former AFL head boy who exited that role and became managing director and chief executive of Tabcorp, the largest provider of gaming services in Australia.
Former AFL boss Gillon McLachlan is now chief executive of Tabcorp.Credit: Getty Images
As anyone will tell you, horses and betting are two of McLachlan’s most favouritest things ever. And if those two things don’t align, as they didn’t during last year’s spring racing carnival, well, a bum run of racing tips leads to a glum Gill.
It’s not our style at CBD to be party poopers, but we were wondering if there were any corporate governance parameters for Lofty dabbling in racehorses (he part owns A Samurai Mind and Into The Light) and betting using the company services.
A Tabcorp insider told us all fine – except for one little detail. McLachlan is free to indulge his passion to own, breed and race horses with family and friends.
The Tabcorp boss on a cheeky break, as imagined by CBD.Credit: John Shakespeare
But during working hours, all bets are off. Yes, it is Tabcorp policy that staff can only bet outside working hours.
So the question would be: when McLachlan appears at the Tabcorp marquee during spring racing, is that work or pleasure?
Maybe if McLachlan is spotted exiting the Tabcorp marquee for a cheeky durry behind the dunnies on his lunch break that’s a window to whip out the Tab app, which is now nine seconds faster to place a win and place bet, a press release cheerily informs us.
Unless the board decides a chief executive is never off the clock, in which case Gill will just have to take one for the team.
UNCANCELLING
Actor Craig McLachlan, last in this column in April when he settled his legal bill with the publisher of this masthead with a paper cheque (how quaint!) for $1.2 million in costs, is in career recovery mode thanks to Swedish pop superstars ABBA and celebrity agent Max Markson.
Regular readers will recall the former Neighbours star was 10 days into a defamation trial when he dropped his defamation lawsuit against this masthead, the ABC and former co-star Christie Whelan Browne over allegations he sexually harassed performers during a production of The Rocky Horror Show. He was acquitted of criminal charges related to his conduct in 2020.
Actor Craig McLachlan.
Now patrons are invited to join McLachlan and “unleash their inner Dancing Queen” in a live interactive concert experience titled ABBACHOIR and dubbed the “ultimate celebration where you’re not just a spectator – YOU are part of the show!”
When Markson signed up McLachlan in April he stated: “You can’t quell talent of that magnitude; whether it be at London’s West End, or starring on stage or screen here in Australia, Craig will be back and sooner rather than later.”
Even though the gig at Fortitude Music Hall in Brisbane is a fair clip from London’s West End and not until October 27, almost 3000 tickets have sold, nearly a sell-out. Expect a tour.
FLINDERS FORCE
On Thursday we brought you news of teals ramping up their efforts ahead of the forthcoming federal election by drafting the treasurer-slaying Kooyong teal MP Monique Ryan to gee up the troops in outer suburban seat of Casey to find a candidate who will battle to unseat Liberal MP Aaron Violi. Violi holds the seat by 1.5 per cent.
We hear teal independent recruiting efforts are under way on the Mornington Peninsula, where community independents are sizing up for a tilt at Flinders, held by Liberal MP Zoe McKenzie on a margin of 6.5 per cent.
The Independents 4 Flinders group has recruited former Age and ABC royalty in the form of Ranald Macdonald, AO, to speak at its event at the Balnarring Bowls Club on August 11. He will talk about the value of independent candidates and the role of media in making it harder to debate issues.
But no one gets very far without cash as the big-spending teals showed in 2022 when Ryan and Wentworth MP Allegra Spender each spent $2.1 million while Goldstein MP Zoe Daniel spent a mere $1.6 million, thanks in part to the bank of Simon Holmes a Court, and his Climate 200 fund. It is helping to fund a search for a Voices for Casey candidate.
“I am not involved with C200 in any way,” said Independents 4 Flinders’ Sarah Russell.
“I filled in at the last minute to be the Voices endorsed candidate for Flinders in the 2022 federal election. I am currently working hard to find a much higher calibre candidate who has a genuine chance of flipping Flinders.”
THE SQUAD
Former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins is being sued for defamation in the Supreme Court of Western Australia by her old boss, Liberal senator Linda Reynolds, over a series of social media posts.
Certainly Higgins’ closest friends and supporters think she’s been through enough, and this week put together an online fundraiser to support her medical, counselling and legal costs, with survivors advocate Saxon Mullins making the page.
That fundraiser enraged Reynolds legal team, who successfully subpoenaed to give the court access to any communications between Higgins and Mullins, arguing that it could be used to mislead the public about the case.
Regardless of legal objections, the page had raised more than $42,000 by Thursday afternoon with donors including arts executive Jo Dyer, writer and Weekend Australian columnist Nikki Gemmell, and a token $1 from someone calling themselves “lying cow”. We’ll leave you to figure out that last one.
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