Who missed Canberra’s Midwinter Ball?
Would Barnaby Joyce descend the stairs of Parliament House’s Marble Foyer with a whip in one hand and his partner Vikki Campion in the other, their newborn strapped, defiantly, to his chest in one of those ergo-baby carrier things?
Er, no.
Canberra’s most-discussed couple kept well away from last night’s spring time Midwinter Ball, the political class’s social night of the year
The night was all about Scott Morrison. Who would pay the most to eat the new PM’s curry at Kirribilli House, the culinary opportunity a late addition to the night’s auction?
And could this possibly be anything but his last Midwinter Ball as PM, as well as his first?
In an indication of the business community’s judgment, there were few corporate bigwigs along — outside, that is, of media executive land.
Bravely, Westpac boss Brian Hartzer — the only big four boss in the country to be unapologetic about his job running a bank — turned up for the black tie event in a cherry blossom-decorated Great Hall. Telstra boss Andy Penn — like Hartzer a sponsor — was also along and caught up for a pre-dinner drink with his new hire Michael Ebeid, the departing boss of SBS.
The ABC was shrewd in its table guest selection. Joining Aunty’s chairman Justin Milne and managing director Michelle Guthrie was Michelle Rowland, the would-be communications minister in a Shorten government and, consequently, the hope of Ultimo. Rowland’s husband Michael was along.
“It’s our 20th wedding anniversary,” she told Margin Call.
What better way to celebrate it than surrounded by journalists in Canberra on a table with movie star Sam Neill, the guest of Aunty’s Laura Tingle?
Fairfax’s endangered executive class made the most of the opportunity to schmooze with their impending corporate overlord Hugh Marks, while the departing Greg Hywood looked as relaxed as we’ve even seen him. A golden handshake will do that to you.
Pointedly, Kerry Stokes’s Seven West Media kept well away.
The Seven billionaire is close to Julie Bishop, who in recent weeks became the former foreign minister while Seven’s commercial director Bruce McWilliam is famously close to Malcolm Turnbull, who, you might remember, in recent weeks became the former prime minister.
The federal Liberals best not budget on any donations from that pocket of corporate Australia ahead of their impending date with Australia’s voters.
Greens Senator heckles PM
Another Midwinter Ball, another scandal, this year starring Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison was near the end of his speech last night, which because of the black-tie event’s rules, we are not allowed to report.
Those conventions, however, do not cover heckling.
“Bring back Malcolm!” shouted a woman from the middle right-hand-side of Canberra’s Great Hall.
There was shocked silence. Then much groaning. Then a smattering of awkward laughter.
Who could be so rude as to heckle a prime minister?
And a prime minister of less than three weeks, struggling through one of the job’s trickier speeches?
“Bring back Malcolm!” shouted the woman again.
Suspicions turned to a bruised Liberal staffer, who had drunk too much. Likely still dealing with the trauma of recent weeks.
Those suspicions were completely wrong. The heckler was a member of the federal upper house, Hanson-Young, a guest of departing SBS boss Michael Ebeid, who was said to be mortified by the incident.
The Greens senator didn’t hang around long after her inglorious contribution to Canberra’s big social night.
Meanwhile, as her colleagues were at the Ball, departing Liberal MP Julia Banks gave a speech in the House of Representatives on the “culture of appalling behaviour” she had encountered in her brief political life.
She is not making it up.
Mr Costa goes to Canberra
Margin Call spotted Kerry Stokes’ new nemesis Robert Costa in Canberra. The Honey Wars are not done yet.
Accompanying the agricultural rich-lister Costa yesterday around the corridors of Parliament House was his partner in the honey purity crusade, Jodie Goldsworthy, managing director of the privately owned honey outfit Beechworth, and their Canberra chaperone Gabriel McDowell, of Res Publica.
The ensemble were attempting to keep a low profile.
We gather they were seeing MPs to further their campaign to improve the testing of honey in Australia — a subject that has enraged the largest honey maker in the land, Capilano, which is backed by the billionaire Stokes family and the subject of a takeover. The plot thickens as Stokes’ private vehicle has been quietly buying more shares in Capilano in recent weeks, taking its stake from 20.58 to 21.67 per cent.
Costa, a member of the Costa fruit and vegetable clan (who were last valued at $655m), has stumped up hundreds of thousands of dollars for the cause.
Law firm King & Wood Mallesons were set on the Costa-funded investigation about five months ago.
From what we could overhear in the coffee crowd at Parliament House cafe Aussies, their destinations included Agriculture Minister David Littleproud and Labor’s Madeleine King, who is herself a honey enthusiast.
King — a MP in Perth, where the Stokes family has considerable clout — even gave Costa a sample of her own honey. We doubt there’s any of Capilano’s allegedly adulterated Allowrie label at her place.
Myer morass
New Myer boss John King was busy right to the wire on Tuesday ahead of yesterday’s release of the department store operator’s $486m full-year loss.
King, who was brought in by chair Garry “Old Fashioned” Hounsell to turn things around from June 4, only signed the group’s new $400m lending deal with Myer’s bankers the day before the river of red ink was revealed to investors.
That meant the restruck, less onerous debt covenants and new $100m loan (which reduces by $10m every six months) and $300m working capital facility (which drops to $260m in 18 months) could be hailed as good news to the market yesterday.
But investors didn’t buy the decoy, with shares in Myer tanking 4.6 per cent on the results to end at 42c.
The market realises Hounsell and ex-House of Fraser boss King aren’t out of the woods yet, as the retailer’s auditor PwC, under partner Jason Perry, spelled out in his independent report (also signed on Tuesday) at the tail end of Myer’s full-year numbers.
PwC’s seven-page audit report throws the spotlight on four key “audit matters” that received heavy focus from Perry’s band of financial fact checkers in the weeks following Myer’s July 28 year-end.
Following on from Myer’s $513m writedown in the value of intangibles at the half (goodwill went to zero from $465m and brands were axed $50m to $372m), PwC honed in on King’s “judgment” that no further writedown of the Myer, Sass & Bide, David Lawrence and Marcs brands were required at year-end.
“We considered this a key audit matter due to the … external evidence that indicated material impairment could exist,” Perry’s report says.
PwC says it even considered an “impairment charge to Myer assets”. This would have further eroded shareholder equity and threatened one of the group’s key lending rules.
Perry also focused on how Myer accounted for restructuring costs, how it valued inventory, and the accounting for supplier rebates, which were a key factor in the collapse of Dick Smith (an outfit that, like Myer, was flipped on the ASX by private equity).
Perry acknowledged there was “judgment” applied by management when “complex” and “highly variable” rebates were included in Myer’s revenue line to enhance results.
And there was one more key issue: Myer’s accounting of its borrowings, with King’s refinancing and recasting of debt covenants key to Perry’s assessment of Myer’s accounts.
The market appears to have heeded the auditor’s concerns. Myer is now worth $340m.
Hounsell may have his new boss, but the job is far from done.
Which bank?
Is Tim Wilson, the ambitious new chair of the House of Representatives standing committee on economics, the most overbanked member in Canberra?
The 38-year-old member for Goldstein has taken over from Sarah Henderson and before her David Coleman in the high-profile job, which is a launch pad into the ministry.
Come next month, Wilson will lead the grilling of the Four Pillar bank bosses. It will be their first dressing down by the committee since their pummelling by Kenneth Hayne’s royal commission.
While a newbie on the committee, Wilson brings significant exposure to the sector. He and his husband Ryan Bolger’s investment portfolio includes shares in Brian Hartzer’s Westpac, Matt Comyn’s CBA and Andrew Thorburn’s NAB. Politics of recent years hasn’t been kind to that investment portfolio.
The former Human Rights Commissioner also has two mortgages with CBA: one on a property in inner Melbourne and another on the newlyweds’ unit in Goldstein’s Sandringham. Adelaide Bank holds another mortgage over Wilson’s pad at Cape Schanck on the Mornington Peninsula.
There are also four savings accounts with Westpac’s Bank of Melbourne, one with CBA, plus a credit card with Bank of Queensland and another with Bank of Melbourne.
We won’t be surprised if the new committee chair takes a keen interest in account fees.
South32’s succession confusion continues
A year ago South32 was interviewing candidates to take on the chief executive’s role, but there’s still no sign of Graham Kerr leaving the miner’s C-Suite.
Court sends Clive back to his swamp
Clive Palmer’s interminable efforts to get clear of prosecution over alleged breaches of the takeovers code were unceremoniously swatted aside by the Federal Court.