Butt of many jokes, but Karen Chester is a ‘good egg’, according to Scout Boxall show
The ins and outs of economic policy and securities regulation hardly sound like the makings of a hit stand-up show.
Such was the surprise then when Margin Call found out this week that none other than ASIC deputy Karen Chester had been the subject of a 50-minute show doing the rounds at Melbourne International Comedy Festival this month.
Of course, her contributions to the corporate watchdog are no joke, nor her previous posting as head of the Productivity Commission, but rather further back in her history as mother to her two children, one of which Scout Boxall is now a stand up comic.
Boxall, the offspring of Chester with husband and fellow top public servant Peter Boxall, riffs on their upbringing in their latest show “Good Egg”, giving us a rare insight into the private life of the woman that could very well be the next chair of the regulator, as replacement for James Shipton.
“In 2001, Scout’s mum got on the rose, watched Amélie and decided to give Scout and their sister El a quirky blunt fringe and bob haircut, condemning her kids to three formative years of living down the nickname ‘egg head’.”
Lots to unpack there.
Regardless of any jokes at her expense, it seems Chester is quite the fan, attending one of the last shows in Melbourne last week and, we hear the honorary doctor of economics has also joined Twitter in order to support her child and follow a few other comedian types.
No likes that we can see from her on Scout’s top tweet: “explained being non-binary and bisexual to my economist parents as (1) “diversifying my gender portfolio” and (2) “preserving dating optionality in a volatile market”.
explained being nonbinary and bisexual to my economist parents as
— scoot (@scoutboxall) January 11, 2021
(1)“diversifying my gender portfolio†and
(2) “preserving dating optionality in a volatile marketâ€
The intersection of comedy and economics – if only ASIC presentations could have a little of the same.
Bankers branch out on night of nights
Local banking circles have always been tight, evidenced no more so than on corporate Australia’s night of nights on Monday.
The first major event for the Business Council of Australia since the pandemic struck was momentous not just for all the ways described by chief Tim Reed or PM Scott Morrison, but it was a night for the banking top brass to let their (at times somewhat lacking) hair down too.
ANZ’s Shayne Elliott was spied sharing a laugh with NAB chairman Phil Chronican and Westpac chief Peter King — all of whom have at one time worked under their fourth guest, none other than Macquarie director Phillip Coffey.
“Just catching on old times,” Coffey, now also a director at Lendlease, told Margin Call, adding that both Elliot and King had done time with him at the NZ arm of Westpac.
Oh how times have changed.
To another bank and former NAB chairman Ken Henry was seen swapping stories with APRA boss Wayne Byres — no love lost there despite the regulator’s part in highlighting his board’s shocking handling of events brought to light at Ken Hayne’s banking royal commission.
Reserve Bank governor Phil Lowe was on brand when asked what he was looking forward to for the night — ScoMo’s speech on the recovery of the jobs market of course. “It really is fantastic,” he said.
Rounding out the big four, Commonwealth Bank’s Matt Comyn was amid the bustling crowd as was NAB chief Ross McEwan.
Elsewhere at the Fullerton’s grand ballroom, Margin Call spied ACCC tsar Rod Sims holding court with Qantas boss Alan Joyce and Ampol’s Barbara Ward — both execs no doubt grinning a little wider given the successful start of the trans-Tasman bubble.
Best entry for the night went to none other than ACTU secretary Sally McManus and executive director Michael Flinn — whose entrance down the venue’s lengthy elevators was coincidental as the cameras were primed on the space for none other than the PM.
A little let down there.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg though was also in the mix, one of several Melburnian refugees for the night, seen chatting with Melbourne Business School dean Ian Harper — those from the southern state do seem to stick together.
On the subject of out-of-towners, Adelaide’s own Chris Pyne was spruiking his Pyne and Partners, sussing the field of Australia’s best for his own corporate ventures.
His outfit is going great guns, he says, “someone has to buy us out”.
“There’s interest,” he added with a wink.
Of course.
Life after Woodside
If all that wasn’t enough for Woodside’s Peter Coleman to kick his heels up, the CEO was also celebrating his last day as operator of the business, handing the reins to VP Meg O’Neill ahead of his official exit on June 1.
Not a bad way to ride out final hours, especially considering on Perth time his appearance and first red were quite the early mark.
Quizzed on his plans for retirement after exiting the role under chairman Richard Goyder, Coleman didn’t have any grand midlife crisis-type plans to hit the road on a Harley (he’s done that already), rather just a little down time though he did hint that moving out of the oil and gas space was likely.
He’ll have plenty of time to mull his next steps at his recently purchased beach house in Dunsborough, just two and a half hours out of Perth.
Far from a Harley he has bought an electric motor scooter though — with just enough horsepower to get him down to the local shops.
Quite the seachange indeed.
The hair apparent
Ahmed Fahour has to face one last hurdle before the $2.6bn Latitude Financial hits the ASX boards on Tuesday at midday: have a shave.
Fahour is now back to his vintage George Clooney, a la Ocean’s Eleven, look, rather than channelling the Hollywood star in his latest performance, Netflix’s The Midnight Sky.
Like Clooney in his Netflix outing — which is about a lone scientist dealing with the aftermath of a global catastrophe — Fahour has been sporting a bristly beard for the past few months.
But he had to return to his clean-cut looks pre-listing to avoid any potential confusion about the older photos of him in Latitude’s prospectus.
“You can’t have misleading pictures out there. The prospectus had me no beard,” Fahour quipped.
“I thought I better get rid of the beard for the IPO. But who knows? It might make a comeback in the near future.”
Guess that all depends on how well he pulls off the float.
More Coverage
ERA mining PM’s speeches for Jabiluka trouble
Cancelling the mining licence for ERA’s Jabiluka uranium mine should have been an easy win for Anthony Albanese’s government. But it might be shaping up as an own goal.
Lobbyist firm’s client juggling act of opposing interests
Labor-aligned lobbyist Anacta Strategies represents both a British class-action firm and one of the world’s biggest coal producers so get out the popcorn if those two clients butt heads.