Nevermind that it wasn’t even an election year and a pandemic was raging, Australia’s rich and powerful were still prepared to dip into their silk-lined pockets and toss a few pieces of silver the politicians’ way in the 2021 financial year.
Big names like one of Australia’s richest men, Anthony Pratt, and his family stole the headlines with their $1.3m total donations to Australian Labor Party and Liberal Party branches across the country, as revealed in the Australian Electoral Commission’s Annual Donor Returns for the past year to June 30.
But there were plenty more acts of financial generosity to Australia’s democratic process that Margin Call couldn’t let pass without note.
There were many who were happy to donate to politics in their own names, seemingly unafraid of the recognition that would come with their cash.
Melbourne-based education billionaire Shesh Ghale, who was born in Nepal, gave $20,000 to the Victorian Liberals, while businessman and NRL’s Sydney Roosters chair Nick Politis sprinkled almost $24,000 across the wider party.
Hedge fund management company Bronte Capital’s founder John Hempton paid $50,000 to assist the ALP in its pursuit of power, while Village Roadshow chair John Kirby gave a little bit more, $55,000, to the same side.
But one of the founders of Australian rapid antigen test success story Ellume, Paul Darrouzet, swung the other way, giving $62,003 to the Liberal National Party in Queensland, where Ellume is based.
Millionaire private equiteers were in on the act too, led by BGH Capital founding partners Robin Bishop and Ben Gray.
Bishop, a former Macquarie banker, handed over $22,000 to the Liberals in Victoria.
As for Gray, whose father Robin Gray was a Liberal premier of Tasmania, he was more generous, giving a total of $78,200. The lion’s share of that went to the Libs in the Apple Isle and Victoria, but with a substantial $33,000 to the ALP.
Gray, who is reported to have just set a Portsea clifftop property sale record with his $30m buy of historic mansion Westbank, is stepping out with Tram and Bus Union’s Victorian secretary Luba Grigorovitch.
Love can make one do such strange things.
But others preferred to hide their giving behind obscure corporate veils that make them harder (but not impossible) to identify.
Amsterdam Street Pty Ltd, for example, gave $100,000 to the Liberals in Victoria. The vehicle is half-owned by 68-year-old co-founder of fruit and vegetable empire Costa Group Robert Costa and wife Rita.
And then there were the corporate identities that are of course synonymous with their owners.
Trucking magnate Lindsay Fox and his family gave $20,000 to the Victorian Liberals via their Avalon Airport Australia Pty Ltd in a move that his mate and Victorian Labor Premier Dan Andrews might not be so happy with.
Sydney serviced office millionaire Alf Moufarrige handed over $28,000 to the Libs in NSW via his listed ServCorp Administration Pty Ltd, while Meriton Property owned by billionaire apartment developer Harry Triguboff gave a total of $285,000 to various arms of the Libs. Plenty of corflutes to be had there.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and ALP leader Anthony Albanese will be hoping the largesse continues – even to a larger extent – now that the nation is hurtling towards the likely May federal election.
The more in the party coffers, they’d say, the better.
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Fox’s rough landing
Having managed to dodge Covid-19 over the past two years, billionaire trucker Lindsay Fox has otherwise fallen, taking a serious spill on Sunday at his Essendon Airport that has landed the 84-year-old in hospital with a leg injury.
While many of Fox’s fellow billionaires were at Rod Laver Arena to watch Rafael Nadal win his 21st grand slam title, Fox had been taken to a Melbourne hospital for urgent care after slipping in a hangar at the airport he co-owns with millionaire property developer Max Beck.
Margin Call understands that the Linfox trucking magnate’s injury from the fall did not require surgery but, given his advancing years, it will take some time to completely heal.
Fox, according this newspaper’s The List, is said to be worth almost $4bn, placing him in the top 20 of this nation’s richest people.
Fox’s spill will allow the businessman to swap notes on stumbles with Victorian Premier Dan Andrews, who fell down a set of stairs in March last year while on a break from work at a rented holiday home on the Mornington Peninsula.
That incident was the subject of myriad conspiracy theories, including that Andrews had been at the trucking tycoon’s home or otherwise with Fox at the time of the stumble.
Andrews is a mate of Fox’s son Andrew Fox, who is responsible for Linfox’s airport and property arms.
Margin Call wishes the now laid-up octogenarian Fox the speediest of recoveries.
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McInnes back in play
Former Premier Investments chief Mark McInnes, who finished on a high with billionaire Solomon Lew’s retail group mid-last year, has completed his gardening leave.
Margin Call understands McInnes, who after a decade with one of Australia’s most successful rag traders has himself emerged with significant wealth, ended his non-compete with Lew’s group on January 15.
So the 56-year-old can officially be considered back on the market.
What a coincidence then to see his old boss Lew increasing his stake in the still John King-led Myer to just under 20 per cent in recent days.
The focus is now on Lew’s next move in his long-running association with the department store group, whether that be sweeping out the current board, which is chaired by JoAnne Stephenson, or launching a takeover for the $350m company.
At last count by this newspaper, Lew was worth $2.7bn and his Premier Investments on Wednesday capitalised at $4.7bn, making a tilt at Myer seem like chump change.
Recent months have seen McInnes, who before Premier had been chief executive at David Jones for seven years, and his family based for a time in London.
But the McInneses have now shifted their adventure to the southwest of Switzerland, where the retailer’s two children have just started at the international school in the alpine village of Verbier close to the French border for the winter term.
Skiing as a core subject. Sounds terrible.
Word is that the family does have a plan to return to Australia, having maintained their expansive home in Melbourne’s Toorak that they bought in 2017 for $12.3m and which just happens to be a short walk to Solly’s place.
It is just a question of when.
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