Carla Zampatti’s daughter Allegra Spender eyes run against Dave Sharma in Wentworth

Wentworth MP Dave Sharma may face a challenge for his federal seat from independent Allegra Spender.

The daughter of late fashion icon and businesswoman Carla Zampatti appears set to make her political debut, with organisers of an independent campaign against Liberal MP Dave Sharma in the deep blue Sydney seat of Wentworth registering a ­domain under the name of Allegra Spender.

Spender, the elder sister of fashion royalty Bianca Spender, had for several years been the managing director of her mother’s business and remains a director on the company’s board.

She was more recently the chairwoman of the Sydney Renewable Power Company, a role she only stepped back from in September, and now runs the Australian Business and Community Network charity.

The domain name for allegraspender.com.au was registered by Wentworth Independ­ents organiser Lyndell Droga earlier this week.

Fashion designer Carla Zampatti at Coalition election night at the Wentworth Sofitel in 2019. Picture: Hollie Adams/The Australian.

Carla Zampatti’s children, Allegra Spender, Alexander Schuman, and Bianca Spender. Picture: Justin Lloyd

Droga, from a wealthy family of private equity investors including husband Daniel of BlueLake Partners, and the Wentworth Independents are said to be building their campaign against Sharma, who only narrowly won the electorate from Kerryn Phelps in 2019.

The campaign, said to be inspired by independent MP for Warringah Zali Steggall, appears to have found a high-profile candidate for the job, after purportedly sifting through up to 30 candidates for the job.

Wentworth, of course, was once held by former PM Malcolm Turnbull, for whom Zampatti was a key supporter.

“Our current representative ‘talks the talk’ on climate action. But he votes with Scott Morrison, Peter Dutton and Barnaby Joyce to support drilling for oil and gas off our coastline,” the Wentworth Independents say.

Cartoon by Rod Clement.

The Financial Review recently reported the group had already raised $300,000, helped by the group’s key backers including Woollahra lawyer Michael Joseph, named as the authoriser of the group’s ads, his business consultant wife Maria Atkinson, as well as renewable energy advocate Blair Palese.

A Spender run against the Liberal Party will certainly raise some eyebrows. Aside from her support of Turnbull, Zampatti also was among the Liberal supporters at the 2019 election, and was often seen with Gladys Berejiklian at Sydney social events. Her son Alex Schuman worked directly for the former NSW premier as head of economic policy, too.

Spender’s father, meanwhile, was former Liberal MP John Spender QC – a federal frontbencher and later ambassador to France.

Even the family brand itself, for which all three children continue on the board, was a regular donor to the Libs up to 2005.

Despite Margin Call’s best efforts to contact the potential candidate or campaigner Droga, our calls remained unanswered, at best reaching an assistant who noted Droga had stepped out of the office.

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Patrick execs load up

As industrial action at the nation’s ports threatens to ruin Christmas, just-lodged accounts for stevedore Patrick Terminals show the group’s top execs are sitting pretty ahead of the festive season, raking in a pay increase of $3m across the group for the past financial year.

Accounts for PTH No 1, trading as Patrick Terminals and as signed off by chairman Maurice James, show the group had a bumper past year, recording a profit after tax of $25.6m, versus a loss of $15.7m the previous year.

Patrick Stevedores container site at Port Botany. Pictures: Julian Andrews.

Maybe lockdowns and border closures aren’t too bad after all.

As such, the group paid out dividends of $68.5m to its joint venture owners, the ASX-listed Qube and Canadian giant Brookfield Infrastructure Partners.

Only last week Qube chairman Allan Davies told his AGM of the good fortunes of Patrick for the past year, noting the subsidiary had “benefited from high market volumes and increased landside and ancillary charges, although was adversely impacted by industrial action in the period”.

Such industrial action, largely led by the Maritime Union of Australia, has been ongoing well into the current financial year, with regular strike action linked to pay disputes with the group’s wharfies, among other things.

However, those in the group’s top ranks seemingly have less to complain about.

Key management personnel, including the group’s chief Michael Jovicic, received a combined $3m pay rise last year, taking total payments for the top ranks out to $8m, from $5.05m the prior year.

A spokesman for the company told Margin Call the increase was due a change in the top-level cohort, saying, “the figure for FY21 reflects a combination of actual remuneration payments and future contingent incentive payments to an expanded cohort which are subject to future financial performance of the business”.

Regardless, the expenditure sure makes the wharfies pay deal look rather slim.

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Having a ball

As protests continued outside Victoria’s state parliament on Thursday night, there were other matters for the state’s federal representatives to turn their attention to, namely the opening gala for the Robert Menzies Institute with a black-tie dress code to boot.

University of Melbourne vice-chancellor Duncan Maskell, Robert Menzies Institute director Georgina Downer and federal Education Minister Alan Tudge at the Institute's first annual conference.

Just hours ahead of the official freedom day, plenty were still standing to watch the clock strike 12, Liberal heavy hitters the likes of former treasurer Peter Costello and his contemporary Josh Frydenberg took to the Savoy Ballroom to mark the formal opening of the new library and museum in Menzies’ honour.

While federal Education Minister Alan Tudge presided over the midmorning formalities, Frydenberg got the call-up for the black-tie affair, speaking to an audience dotted with plenty of political and business types keen to get back to socialising including the family’s representative in Menzies’ granddaughter Diana.

Among the crowd Margin Call spies noted the likes of the new institute’s chair Leigh Clifford, chairman of Crestone and formerly of Qantas, along with his board mates Su Baker, Sky News anchor Peta Credlin, Melbourne Business School dean Ian Harper and former Liberal member David Kemp.

Of the current political cohort, Tudge again was front and centre, as was senator Jane Hume, new Assistant Minister for Industry and Emissions Tim Wilson, member for Higgins Katie Allen and incoming Menzies candidate commando Keith Wolahan.

Former Victorian premier Ted Bailleau made an appearance, as did Brendan Nelson, Cormack Foundation chair Charles Goode, and recently departed Institute of Public Affairs boss John Roskam.

Only this week Roskam spoke out against a lack of free speech and growing influence of cancel culture – not far off Tudge’s own speech earlier in the day. Plenty of the room sure to be sympathetic to the cause.