Bon voyage for Joe Hockey’s pet projects

Joe Hockey and wife Melissa Babbage. Picture: Nick Klein

So much change for former Australian ambassador Joe Hockey, who signed off as our man in the US at the end of January.

With his investment banker wife Melissa Babbage, the former treasurer moved his family out of Australia’s stately ambassadorial residence White Oaks in Washington and into a nearby 1920s abode.

He’s also launched a new consultancy — Bondi Partners — from an office with glimpses of the White House through the tear gas.

Hockey, 54, who’s been replaced by former NSW senator Arthur Sinodinos, has joined forces with his former adviser at the embassy, Alex Tureman, who we note was once an adviser to a Democratic senator from Florida, Bill Nelson.

Together they seem to have both sides covered.

But now Hockey is losing three of his nearest and dearest to his old stomping ground in Sydney, this week shipping off the Hockey family’s four-legged friends back to Oz.

The long journey home for cat Bluey and Cavapoos Prince and Tieki began on Tuesday, by truck from Washington to New York, where the Hockey pets are then set to board a plane taking them to Los Angeles, Auckland, Melbourne and finally Sydney.

Fifteen-year-old Bluey has become somewhat infamous during his time in the US capital.

Hockey likes to tell the story of how Bluey was rescued as a kitten from a cattle property in far north Queensland after his siblings were taken by a 12ft giant python.

The cat was known to join now businessman Hockey for a 6am coffee and a chat in his master’s home office and was even the subject of a Freedom of Information request by Margin Call’s columnist colleague Alice Workman last year, concerning expenses paid by taxpayers for Bluey’s care.

Any wonder that Bluey is no fan of the media.

During Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s US tour last September, Hockey threw a barbecue attended by members of the Aussie media.

The West Australian’s Lanai Scarr tweeted a photo of a hostile Bluey on a sofa between the ABC’s Andrew Probyn and The Australian Financial Review’s Phillip Coorey.

Media pack assembled for a press conference with the PM at the Ambassador’s residence. The cat is joining us but he’s not happy @JoeHockey @ScottMorrisonMP @andrewprobyn @PhillipCoorey #auspol pic.twitter.com/JMC40CRY3r

— Lanai Scarr (@lanai_scarr) September 21, 2019

“The cat doesn’t like journalists because he was the subject of an FOI,” Hockey tweeted. “After third party consultation he found out about it and was unimpressed. Of course there was nothing to the FOI but he felt it was a massive waste of his time. Maybe time will heal.’’

The cat doesn’t like journalists because he was the subject of an FOI. After third party consultation he found out about it and was unimpressed. Of course there was nothing to the FOI but he felt it was a massive waste of his time. Maybe time will heal. https://t.co/UxNOWpH0p8

— Joe Hockey (@JoeHockey) September 22, 2019

We wish the Hockey pets bon voyage.

Cheap wagyu, no bull

Gerry Harvey’s wagyu beef export enterprise into China has temporarily been halted, so he was on Ray Hadley’s 2GB morning show yesterday spruiking his Sydney solution.

He’s selling the prime beef through a Cherrybrook butcher, George’s Fine Meats, at a discount price.

“Hadley, I want some help with my wagyu beef,” the billionaire pleaded.

“Yeah, I can eat as much as you can get me,” Hadley retorted.

The octogenarian entrepreneur advised that the stock in his private farming venture couldn’t be exported after the Chinese had closed down the abattoir.

“The meat is — my God! — like $150 retail price a kilo and Australians don’t buy it.”

So Harvey has asked the Hills district butcher Wayne Shipley to sell it at a discounted $50/kg, promising buyers “a taste sensation”.

“It’s an opportunity for people who have never tasted this quality to be able to go in and say … ‘I want the best you can get’.

“The problem is blokes like you (Hadley) will put it on the BBQ and eat it like a normal steak.

“You don’t get the real sensation because you didn’t cook it properly. Look up on Google and they’ll tell you how to cook wagyu marble score 9.”

On Hadley’s query it was revealed Shipley will be giving Harvey $50/kg from every sale.

“Wayne will sell some of this beef and people who like his shop will go back because he’s a very good butcher,” Harvey explained the perceived mutual benefit of the arrangement.

Hadley, concerned that some fancy restaurateur would buy 200kg of meat that then wouldn’t help the butcher, suggested a 1.5kg per purchase limit.

Hadley also wondered why Harvey didn’t give away a kilo of beef to any customers at the publicly listed Harvey Norman stores when they buy a fridge or freezer.

“You bloody genius!” Harvey said.

“But I really want to sell it to China because that’s where I get all the money,” the kid from Koorawatha said.

Illustration: Rod Clement

ACM impairment

Alex Waislitz’s listed Thorney Opportunities Group is believed to be booking a $1m impairment provision against his investment in Australian Community Media.

The billionaire and his good mate and racing pal Antony Catalano bought ACM from Nine Entertainment for $125m last June. Waislitz split his investment between his private Thorney Group and the Opportunities fund, better known as TOP.

Antony Catalano, Alex Waislitz and Jon Adgemis on Derby Day at Flemington in 2017.

TOP told the ASX on Thursday its NTA has risen from 60c to 62.6c during May, helped along by the sharemarket’s surprise rally, but said nothing about the ACM writedown.

TOP’s share price still trades at a discount to the NTA, closing at 53.5c.

In April, ACM, which has more than 170 rural and regional newspapers, suspended the publication of many non-core, non-daily titles and stood down staff until the end of June.

Last month, News Corp, publisher of The Australian, pulled out of a deal with ACM seeking to buy its regional and community portfolio of more than 100 newspapers.

Packer’s jaunt

It didn’t take James Packer long to get down to Cabo, on the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula, from his Los Angeles home base.

James Packer’s yacht IJE. Picture: Ella Pellegrini

His IJE yacht has been in and out of the harbour following his arrival earlier this week.

The 108m-long yacht got there from Tahiti only last Sunday.

The $170m IJE is by far the biggest currently at Cabo, with the next biggest Odyssea, the 46m-long vessel built in 2012 by Heesen Yachts for their founder, Franz Heesen, who originally named it Lady Petra, after his wife.

Cabo is a regular destination for the world’s biggest yachts, with Italian billionaire Augusto Perferri’s luxury 81m yacht Air having cruised into the sunset.

Packer is also building a villa at Cabo San Lucas.

The yacht owned by James Packer. Picture: Ella Pellegrini

Cook’s tour

The online annual general meeting of oOh!media yesterday was likely the last of the company founder and longtime chief executive Brendon Cook. While he extended his three-decade stewardship of the outdoor advertising firm through the difficult COVID-19, Cook advised he’d continue in a non-executive consulting role once his replacement was found by year’s end.

OOh!media took the opportunity to expand their board numbers as its constitution only allows seven board members.

When Mick Hellman, a founder of oOh!media’s largest shareholder HMI, joined the board in April, Darren Smorgon temporarily resigned and became a “board observer”. But shareholders have now voted to permit nine.

The US-based Hellman hasn’t been able to get to Sydney.

“I’m looking forward to meeting you when flight restrictions are lifted,” Hellman advised.

The AGM, chaired by Tony Faure, saw Gary Barton from the Australian Shareholders Association express concern over the NZ-based Tim Miles’ workload, given he’s also on the board at the Gut Cancer Foundation, UDC Finance, Nyriad and Genesis Energy.

Barton posed the same query on the workload of David Wiadrowski, who’s on the board of Life360, Carsales.com.au, Vocus and Cambodian Children’s fund.

Faure assured shareholders that both were doing “more than necessary, not less”.