Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes keen on Theo Onisforou’s Kangaloon property

Mike Cannon-Brookes is eyeing his neighbour’s Southern Highlands property. Picture: Getty Images

What’s another cheeky thousand acres worth to a billionaire?

Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes hasn’t been spotted around Double Bay for a couple of months and apparently it’s because he’s been holed up in the NSW southern highlands, where he owns land next to property developer Theo ­Onisforou.

We speak of Kangaloon, a pristine pocket of the region that’s basically an inland Point Piper without the Turnbulls or a view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Former McGrath CEO Geoff Lucas moved out last year (selling for $9.75m) while fitness identity Michelle Bridges is still looking for a buyer to purchase her pad for $4m (down from an asking price of $7m).

MCB might outstrip Onisforou in the net wealth stakes – Cannon-Brookes ranks sixth on The Australian’s annual rich list; Onisforou is loaded but didn’t make the cut – but he’s evidently a wee bit cramped on Widgee Waa.

The SaaS geek purchased his 380-acre farm in 2019 from investment banker Mark Burrows for about $15m and is rumoured to have a watching brief on Onisforou’s enormous 1000-acre property next door.

Theo Onisforou.

Onisforou, however, isn’t selling. Ever since building another abode at Gundagai, in 2022, real estate agents have been lining up to take his temperature on parting ways with the Kangaloon property.

The prospective buyer has always been MCB, or so we hear. He might already be in possession of five addresses in the Southern Highlands, totalling $50m, but none of them come anywhere close in size, even cumulatively, to Onisforou’s contiguous beast.

Margin Call put this to Cannon-Brookes on Friday but he declined to comment, so make of that what you will.

Word around the burgh is that even with offers of $100m, Onisforou waved away the spruikers, and there’s a logic to that when you consider the maths: Gretel Ainsworth sold her 100-acre property just two years ago, at a tenth of the size, for $22.59m. We put this to Onisforou and, like MCB, he wouldn’t comment either.

Is it possible that Cannon-Brookes is also just a touch aggravated by the paved paradise that Onisforou is building? He’s already constructed a mini-suburb on his turf: 12 houses for staff with rentals for guests, all of them facing Cannon-Brookes’ property on Kia-Ora Lane. Another two construction sites are in the pipeline, bringing the total to 14 residences.

What next? A mini-mall and cinema? A parking lot?

No wonder MCB wants to buy him out.

Poor timing

More ugliness out of the NSW Liberal Party on Friday with one of its MPs – Rory Amon – charged by police with 10 counts of child sexual assault offences.

Amon was granted conditional bail at Manly Police Station around 6am, with word of his arrest formally announced around 12.31pm. He’s denying the charges.

We note the exact timing of the release because news of Amon’s arrest was apparently circulating among senior Liberals well before the announcement – like, many hours earlier.

On that basis, it’s difficult to understand why at 11.41am the office of Liberal opposition leader Mark Speakman – that is, Amon’s boss – emailed the entire parliamentary team to alert them to National Child Protection Week, which begins on Sunday.

This ill-thought email provided images and captions for MPs to post online. “Shadow Minister for Families and Communities Natasha Maclaren-Jones has provided the attached social tiles and below suggested caption to assist,” wrote Speakman’s office, in the email which we’ve obtained.

Someone obviously caught onto the distasteful timing of this initiative, given the very serious events of that morning.

Hence this follow up at 1.08pm, dispatched once again from Speakman’s office and urging everyone to abandon the plan.

“Dear colleagues,” it said, “Please do not action this FYI.”

Strange priorities

The Australian wine industry has been withering on the vine for a few years, crushed as it has been under the weight of overproduction, Chinese trade tariffs (lifted in March) and shrinking demand for cheaper reds.

All of which has resulted in some regional growers ripping up their vines and verging on going broke. Is any help on the way? Not exactly.

Wine Australia, the government body that regulates the sector, is currently on a side quest to fund a $50,000 piece of research into gender equality. Who’s paying for it? The growers, of course, completely screwed as they have been. Wine Australia is funded, in part, by mandatory levies on the grape and vino community.

“A current research study is aiming to understand the state of gender equality, and identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for progress in the grape and wine sector,” a briefing note obtained by Margin Call said.

We strongly doubt the growers are as enthusiastic about this ESG metric as they are about their own livelihoods, although Wine Australia seems to think it knows better.

“Gender equality has been raised consistently and widely in feedback from the industry over many years,” a spokesman said.

“The funding of $50,000 is viewed as a modest investment for a research project that has been identified as a significant driver for maintaining a competitive Australian wine sector.”

A Lessn in loyalty

And finally, from the annals of niche fintech start-ups is payments prospect Lessn, with a roster of deal-makers and founders on its share register, including oOh!media’s Brendan Cook and MoneyMe chairman Jamie McPhee.

Two weeks ago Lessn struck a partnership with payments firm April – acquired by ASX-listed Spenda – to expand into Singapore. Now we hear Colin Weir’s Moroku, with a roster of Afterpay, Cuscal and Volt Bank, has plunged a casual $1m into the business.

Founder David Grossman was said to have been shooting finger pistols at this coup, which he says valued the company at $30m, but which we – as with any valuation in the badlands of tech – are taking with a tonne of sodium.

In any case, pleasing news for the shareholders, among them former Fortescue executive Michael Masterman, who chucked in $250,000 a few years ago, hasn’t seen a cent, and who’s currently being sued by his former employer. Grossman again, with $1m in the bank: “It not only validates our approach but also provides us with the resources and expertise to scale our platform globally.”