Cash call keeps the peace with local worker on Peter Dutton’s campaign trail

Opposition leader Peter Dutton on the campaign trail in Sydney on Friday. Picture: Thomas Lisson / NewsWire

The political heckler. The climate protester. The many strange and curious misfortunes that conspire to blunt the cut-through of Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton’s messaging along the campaign trail.

If only someone could just slip a cheeky $500, like a bit of baksheesh, to kill off the risk of falling from a stage, like Albo did this week, or to mitigate against some equally unpleasant spectacle that steals the headline.

Well, that’s exactly what happened on Friday at a press conference in the western Sydney seat of Parramatta, held by Labor’s Andrew Charlton, where someone lurking within the Liberal camp saw an impending threat and moved swiftly to maintain the peace.

The location was a Mobil petrol station, the parking lot having all been selfishly occupied by Dutton’s security and staffing retinue. That angered a local worker, Cameron Smith, who wanted to clock on at the nearby Swimart. He had nowhere to leave his ute.

Sarah Ison, our press gallery colleague, watched on as events unfolded. A fed-up Smith double-parked behind Dutton’s convoy of vehicles and made a racket on his way inside the Swimart store, declaring that neither major party had a plan to fix the country and that Dutton was “doing nothing” about soaring rental prices. Pauline Hanson, Smith insisted, was the nation’s only hope for redemption, although he didn’t elucidate his thinking before disappearing inside.

Much angst outside in the meantime as Australian Federal Police officers wondered what to do about this standoff with the parked utility. Frantic looks, confusion. And then, after a couple of minutes, a volte-face from Smith, the pool guy coolly emerging to hop back in his ute and drive it off without incident. The television cameras went live, Dutton got on with his schtick, and the press conference sailed through agreeably.

But what caused Smith to change his mind? A wad of cash, apparently.

Some shady individual affiliated with the Liberal Party had slunk inside the store at the height of the drama and was seen huddled with Smith and others in a serious manner over the front counter hammering out a negotiation.

Smith’s colleagues told Ison that he ended up being offered $500 to move his vehicle, which sounded completely bonkers to us, but only until Smith himself confirmed the details when Ison tracked him down.

“They just put the cash on the table,” Smith said. “They paid the toll. I was happy to go after that.”

Rent-seeking of the highest order, you might say, although now we know the lengths some will go to save political face.

As for the identity of this discreet and deep-pocketed fixer, Liberal HQ tells us that no one employed by the party, or the coalition’s campaign headquarters, or the leader’s office “took any such action”, and no one was ­directed to do so.

Ha! You can drive a truck through the gaps in that response. Perhaps it was a volunteer, then, rising to the call of duty?

Gallagher’s next move

It’s only nine months until Kevin Gallagher’s $6m golden handcuffs fall off at Santos, and it’s fair to say speculation about the company’s future leadership is in full swing.

The Santos board is said to be considering the credentials of three main alternatives – Beach Energy boss Brett Woods, former Senex Energy leader Ian Davies and Santos chief financial officer Sherry Duhe.

But what of the future of the pugnacious gas boss himself? Assuming that Gallagher is going anywhere, of course – by no means a certainty.

Outgoing Santos CEO Kevin Gallagher. Picture: Brenton Edwards

But the speculation has revived last year’s rumour that Gallagher might be considering a triumphant return to Perth, as a replacement for Chris Ellison at trouble-prone Mineral Resources. Or, in the alternative, as a replacement for MinRes chairman James McClements.

Readers might recall that McClements and Ellison promised leadership change at MinRes’s last annual shareholder meeting in November. McClements was due to anoint a successor within a year (subsequently updated to a decision by July), and Ellison would go by mid-2026.

The timing suggests the appointment of Gallagher as the MinRes chairman is unlikely. His brief flirtation with the MinRes board in 2022 was quickly reversed after a savage Santos shareholder backlash given the amount of work in front of Santos. Not much has changed since then – no great reflection of his leadership of the oil and gas major, some would argue.

But the timing as a replacement for Ellison would work far better. Take the payout from Santos and accept one final executive gig before retiring to non-executive roles elsewhere.

Certainly, that’s the rumour that is again sweeping through Perth’s St Georges Terrace. Secondary rumours include the suggestion that Santos will bid for Kerry Stokes’s Beach Energy, paying a premium for the assets to attract chief executive Brett Woods back into the fold, while spinning out its overseas assets to keep dissident shareholders happy.

Margin Call does not suggest the rumour is true, as they say, only that it is true that there are ­rumours. The last time the speculation was circulated, courtesy of a client note from MST Marquee analyst Saul Kavonic, the response from Santos was swift and savage. “Suggestions made today that Kevin Gallagher could join MinRes are completely fabricated, without foundation and false,” a spokeswoman said.

And, to be fair, you wouldn’t find a lot of people who believe ­Ellison will actually step down from his role running MinRes. Despite the storm surrounding MinRes’s disclosure and governance issues, there’s no real sense that shareholders are still demanding leadership changes. And if Richard White remains largely intact at WiseTech, why would any other company founder agree to fall to the sword of governance?

A spokesman for MinRes told Margin Call the company’s board was “focused on the appointment of the company’s new chairman in the June quarter”.

Still, within a week all should be clear. Santos will hold its annual shareholder meeting next Thursday in Adelaide, the perfect opportunity for Santos chairman Keith Spence to provide some clarity on the company’s future leadership.

Don’t bet on Gallagher leaving, is the tip.

McNab’s victory lap

Was that a victory lap we spotted at grand old Sydney dining establishment Rockpool on Thursday night?

Former PwC tax partner Paul McNab, centre, with Quinn Emmanuel lawyer Asia Lenard and the Civic Partnership's Mark Hawthorne at a dinner at Rockpool on Thursday night.

Sitting there amid the marble columns was former PwC tax partner Paul McNab with a table of a dozen or so mates, including Quinn Emmanuel lawyers Beau Deleuil, Asia Lenard, and The Civic Partnership’s managing partner Mark Hawthorne. McNab’s got about three million reasons to love them all.

A 20-year loyalist of PwC, McNab signed a settlement with his old firm a fortnight ago, ending their duelling legal claims against each other. PwC had accused him of involvement in the infamous tax leaks scandal, the disaster resulting in catastrophic losses for the firm; he sued them back, denying any wrongdoing and seeking restoration of his retirement payments.

Between all that mess he launched his own firm, McNab Tax Lawyers, which must be doing well because McNab picked up the bill for everyone at the end of the night, the table heavy with drained, red-tinted decanters.

All of it watched on by a table full of PwC tax partners just three tables away, out at the same restaurant, we’re told, to celebrate a birthday.