Tony Abbott considers tilt at NSW Liberal Party president; Monique Ryan recruits for silent staffers

Former prime minister Tony Abbott is considering a tilt at the NSW Liberal Party presidency. Picture: NCA NewsWire/POOL/Bianca De Marchi

Former prime minister Tony Abbott is considering a tilt at the NSW Liberal Party presidency, setting him up for a showdown against Philip Ruddock, the current leader, who is said to be weighing his options.

Margin Call has confirmed with multiple well-placed sources that Abbott has “floated the idea” among his supporters, with nominations for the position currently open and scheduled to remain so until July 23.

Abbott declined to comment but provided a good spirited response to Margin Call when told that an item would be published.

“I’ll leave you to it,” he said.

It’s understood that Abbott hasn’t raised any intentions with Ruddock himself or submitted a formal nomination, making the exercise very much a thought bubble for the moment. Ruddock, similarly, declined to provide any remarks.

The pair are long standing colleagues, but ideologically they hail from opposing corners – Abbott being the unabashed right-faction warrior and Ruddock the classic liberal of the Menzies tradition who eschewed factional play altogether.

Recall, too, that one of Abbott’s first decisions after a 2015 spill against him as prime minister was to remove Ruddock as chief whip and replace him with a loyal backbench supporter.

At least one well-placed source said Ruddock was considering whether to remain in the role, which he’s held since 2017. Another contender is said to be former Waverley Council mayor Sally Betts.

The question of change is certainly one being considered by the greybeards of the Liberal state executive, all of whom are eager to snuff out the factional games that marred recent preselections for federal seats.

“There needs to be change. You saw Four Corners, didn’t you?” said the same source, referring to Monday night’s episode.

For anyone who didn’t, strap in for an hour-long tick-tock of factional blood-letting.

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Zipped lips

Like many of her rookie colleagues, Monique Ryan is preparing for the vital task of populating her electorate office with staffers.

But applicants take note: there’s a catch. Having campaigned on integrity and transparency, Ryan is making the unusual demand of the successful recruit that they keep their lips zipped.

“All employees are expected to sign a confidentiality agreement and code of conduct prior to the commencement of their employment,” Ryan’s job ad reads.

It’s certainly not a standard for Labor or coalition staffers, and one wonders what the new member for Kooyong might possibly want to hide?

Illustration: Rod Clement

The job itself is for a chief of staff to join her office on a salary of about $140,000, although the expectation is that they double and even triple as a press secretary, speech writer, digital guru and media strategist.

A wide brief indeed, and frankly the job sounds horrendously underpaid. But hey, that’s what happens when Anthony Albanese cuts staffing allocations, isn’t it?

“The Office of Monique Ryan MP embraces the values of respect, trust, courage, integrity, inclusiveness and optimism,” the job ad goes.

“Behaviours promoted in the office include engaging in positive action, acting in the best interests of Kooyong and its community, being welcoming and inclusive of all, and demonstrating honest and decent behaviour.”

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Farewell Hawthorne

Successive interest rate hikes be damned – there are still punters prepared to weigh into the market for prestige property.

Margin Call can reveal that Virgin boss Jayne Hrdlicka is in final negotiations to sell her $20m mansion in Hawthorn, located in Ryan’s seat of Kooyong.

Hrdlicka put her home up for sale in May having settled into life running the reincarnated challenger brand in Brisvegas,

She is known to have paid $13.3 million for the 2,000 sqm pile, known as Crossakiel and located on Kooyongkoot road.

Virgin Australia chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/The Australian

It was purchased from fellow board director Patricia Cross and boasts a tennis court where Hrdlicka was known to have enjoyed a volley with ousted Treasurer and former MP Josh Frydenberg.

The listing for the sale, which is being handled by Marshall White top end specialist Marcus Chiminello, has been removed from various real estate websites, with a deal in the final throes.

Guess that means Hrdlicka, chairperson of Tennis Australia, doesn’t plan on returning to Melbourne with her family any time soon.

Well, maybe just for a visit, come January.

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Fresh vacancy

The woman at the centre of a rumoured office-affair involving the Australian Agricultural Company’s recently-departed chief executive, Hugh Killen, has also exited the business, Margin Call has confirmed.

Her departure came within weeks of Killen announcing his own abrupt exit in late June which was sold to the market as a leadership transition and accompanied by a string of praise from AACo’s chairman Donald McGauchie.

Unsurprisingly, there has been no swift replacement of Killen. So much for orderly transition.

Killen had been CEO and managing director of AACo since 2018, with his resignation occurring just months after Margin Call reported that AACo’s board confronted him about persistent rumours of an office affair, which he strongly denied.

Australian Agricultural Company’s former chief executive Hugh Killen.

Margin Call is not naming the woman alleged to have been involved in the matter, however she is known to have worked closely with Killen and left in recent weeks. Both were based in Brisbane, and an AACo spokesman declined to comment.

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New blood

The profusion of job advertisements at Australia Post bears all the signs of a company battling dual-skirmishes against a skills shortage and a great resignation, if we can indulge in that expression.

The company has haemorrhaged staff in recent months, with the losses most keenly felt in its rather depleted corporate affairs division, which is expected to receive many rounds of fresh blood in the imminent future.

Might it have something to do with the fiasco involving former CEO Christine Holgate and her gift of four Cartier watches to staff in 2018?

It was the corporate affairs team that fumbled that saga and sullied the company’s relationship with the Morrison government, resulting in the former prime minister’s volcanic and unedifying explosion against Holgate in parliament.

There has been an exodus of Australia Post staff following the departure of CEO Christine Holgate. Picture NCA Newswire/ Gaye Gerard

Notable members of staff have since decamped from the office, including Elliott Giakalis, formerly a strategic communications manager, and Sarah Park, the company’s head of external communications.

The company also lost long-time spinner Michelle Skehan, formerly a general manager of corporate affairs, in January. Skehan has recently resurfaced at Wesfarmers OneDigital, working for Nicole Sheffield, a Holgate-era executive general manager who left Post late last year.

Recruiting continues for leadership positions across media relations, industry policy and other senior communications roles. There’s also a newly-created position of General Manager, Government Relations, which might have been helpful had it been available during the Morrison years.

Much of the change is said to trace its way back to the arrival of Tanny Mangos as executive general manager. She joined in December from Bank of Queensland, bringing with her another BOQ ally, Tracy Hicks, for the role of General Manager, Communications.

Mangos is known to have spent some time as a policy advisor to former NSW Liberal premier Mike Baird, and the company’s board is a veritable colony of Coalition supporters. But given Labor-aligned staff are apparently so hot right now, we’re curious to see how the company will lean in terms of recruitment.

A spokeswoman said transition was an ordinary aspect of any organisation and new hires would be announced imminently.