Accessing tax coverage a bit of a hack job; Gill building relationships and influencing people
The two-month extension this week to present the final report from Senator Richard Colbeck’s inquiry into the integrity of the use of consultants – now due at the end of May – has given those in the orbit of the PwC tax scandal the opportunity to exhale as they await what is likely to be the damning review.
The extension also affords more time to trawl over the treasure trove of documents released under freedom of information as a consequence of the PwC investigation by the previously obscure Tax Practitioners Board, led by Michael O’Neill and chaired by South Australian businessman Peter de Cure.
There are some hidden gems yet to enjoy the wider audience they deserve, revealing just how concerned the TPB was with its own publicity.
The TPB released the findings into its longstanding inquiry into PwC in January 2023. Up until that time, at least some members of the regulator’s staff – unbelievably – didn’t even have subscription access to Nine newspapers’ Australian Financial Review.
Internal documents reveal key TPB staffers had to “hack” the finance journal’s website to access coverage of the watchdog’s work.
An email on January 23, 2023, from the TPB’s director of corporate services Michael Mumford to those associated with the PwC investigation, including O’Neill, plus an attached copy of an AFR report on the case, reveals the TPB’s actual means of access.
“I hacked this via an exploit that shouldn’t allow me access, since this is behind the AFR paywall,” Mumford disclosed to recipients. “Please don’t copy further as I have no rights to access or pass on.”
Surely O’Neill has now ensured his staff have access to multiple subscriptions to all major media outlets.
On the same day, De Cure, we note, was enjoying the action “incognito”, as he put it (with accompanying crying laughing emoji), in Melbourne at the Australian Open.
Another email on the same day from the TPB’s senior director of law and compliance Tham Dao reveals that the regulator was running a “comms strategy” around the PwC and Collins case and looking for opportunities to “leverage” favourable press.
“If anyone receives any queries, grateful if they could please direct it to Jenette (Luu, TPB assistant commissioner) and I to ensure consistent messaging and see if there’s an opportunity to leverage, ” Dao wrote to colleagues, including the chairman and chief executive.
Everyone, it seems, was working an angle.
Cash converters
Neighbours of former AFL boss Gillon McLachlan and his wealthy wife Laura are getting their first glimpse at how the couple plan to spend a whopping $6m redeveloping and renovating their historic Prahran mansion.
Plans lodged with local council, which have been revealed this week, show a no-expense-spared revamp and expansion is on the cards for the imposing 1880s Victorian Italianate home on Grandview Grove, which is one of inner Melbourne’s most prestigious streets.
The planned works for what will become a $20m-plus investment come as McLachlan continues his now six-month sojourn away from Australian corporate life, having left the top office at the footy league last September.
McLachlan is hotly tipped to take over as chair of Racing Victoria. Acting chair Mike Hirst is off to chair AMP and has indicated his intention to step down by the end of May to Victorian Racing Minister Anthony Carbines, who will make the new appointment.
Billionaire racehorse owner Jonathan Munz, who has been a critic of how the peak racing board is being run, last month failed in his attempt to oust other independent directors.
But until an announcement on the chairmanship is made McLachlan is focused on shepherding his residential development plans through council.
Neighbours on the leafy street, who include UBS investment banking bigwig Kelvin Barry, can expect works that will extend for several years including the construction of an expansive basement level, a second level addition and extension of the property’s rear yard.
The home’s existing pool will be demolished to make way for the basement, which will have room for six cars, a family entertaining room featuring a bar, billiard table and lounge, all of which is adjacent to an existing cellar and tasting room.
A new pool and series of terraced outdoor spaces will be built elsewhere on the property, while inside the home, for which the McLachlans paid $13.5m in 2022, a complete overhaul will be undertaken.
A new master suite will be created on the second floor, all of which the application says will be “in keeping with contemporary lifestyle expectations”. Of course.
All that’s missing are stables for the horses.
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