An odd development out of the Australian Airports Association, which announced rather abruptly on Wednesday that it had parted ways with its long-time CEO James Goodwin.
A statement making this known pointed repeatedly to the poor timing of this development, which the AAA brought on, and kept noting that the industry was in a torrid state of flux.
Not only has Goodwin’s exit taken place with immediate effect – he formally ended in the role on Monday – but the AAA said it was happening “at a pivotal time for the airport sector”, a wink and a nod at the regulatory tightening that everyone’s expecting to come very shortly.
That seems likely given the recent appointment of Dr Alison Roberts, a former airline lobbyist, to the Productivity Commission, which conducts a review into monopoly airports every five years. There’s a fresh one due imminently; and this is kind of wild when you think about it, because Roberts has basically spent half a decade in her previous role arguing for more airport regulation.
Could that give rise to a conflict? Who are we to say.
Anyway, the AAA has appointed interim CEO Greg Fordham in Goodwin’s place, a stand-in character with a corporate-heavy pedigree and no background in media or politics – unlike Goodwin, a former journalist and adviser with 20 years wading through the muck of those realms.
But that’s not to suggest Fordham doesn’t rate himself. Words like “visionary”, “global evangelist” and “thought leader” are peppered through his old personal bio that’s floating about on the internet.
All descriptors which, surely, put him in fine stead to fend off a raft of regulatory pain to come.
Sneesby signs off
Employees at Nine Entertainment Group seemed to express a dim view of the news that CEO Mike Sneesby flew out to Greece on Friday night for a family holiday, hours after a company-wide email had been dispatched flagging cuts to 200 jobs. Plenty of “white-hot anger” at the news, as our colleagues reported earlier this week, although not everyone responded with unadulterated rage.
A reference document outlining the cuts was published on Nine’s internal slack channel, along with a message flagging further information on voluntary redundancies and “next steps” with managers over the coming fortnight.
Those familiar with slack messaging will know that it’s possible to reply with an emoji. There were a smattering of high-fives, a thumbs up, and even a very loaded side-eye. But those with a bit of wit responded with Greek and Fiji flag emojis; the Greek flag to thumb their nose at Sneesby, of course, and the Fijian flag for managing director Tory Maguire, who told staff she was off to the south pacific on a holiday – but not before stopping by the Midwinter Ball on Wednesday night.
Happy snapper
Some earnest insights from Stephen Halmarick, CBA’s quirky chief economist, who put out a note on Monday from his recent trip to the United States. It’s filled with the usual takes on outlook and forecasts, on China, the Fed’s policy, the elections. But these are not what caught our attention. Instead it was the series of very ordinary photographs that Halmarick took himself and used as accompaniments to the piece.
These were shot at harsh angles, at a distance, in poor light, and clearly on Halmarick’s iPhone. Pictures of the White House, “Capital Hill” (sic), the Lincoln Memorial, Trump Tower, the New York skyline from Central Park. Happy snaps from the trip, of course. He even included an image of himself with a replica of the Liberty Bell.
We imagine these photos were designed to help the reader rest their eyes on literally anything after crunching through all the dry paragraphs on trade policy and American bureaucracy. Or maybe it was just Halmarick preparing to write off some expenses?
Hard to imagine Bill Evans or Luci Ellis trying this on. But, hey, not everything in the note is pure economic gruel. The insights on DC are short, but sweet. “I always enjoy visiting WDC. The city is very well laid-out and easy to get around. And even with the heightened security of recent years, all the key political and historic landmarks are easy to visit and explore.”
Duly noted, Stephen. Time for a travel blog, perhaps?
Runners and riders
Jockeying has obviously started for the soon-to-be vacated seat of Hornsby, in NSW, and still occupied for the moment by Matt Kean. He’ll have to retire from parliament shortly to take up a part-time role as chair of Labor’s Climate Change Authority.
We’re hearing efforts are under way to replace Kean with his protege, James Wallace, an interesting choice given he doesn’t live in the electorate and, like Kean and many others, a guy who seems to love pushing for gender quotas in the party – except when something he actually wants is at stake.
Contenders include barrister Ishita Sethi and former Hornsby councillor Michael Hutchence, but it’s all a bit early anyway, given Kean has delivered his valedictory but still hasn’t formally retired yet, which is needed to trigger the by-election contest.
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