Christine Holgate’s lobbyist in mystery delivery; Philip Lowe’s relatability issue
Christine Holgate was absent from Canberra this week, but Margin Call happened to spy her retained lobbyist, Ben Taylor, in discussion with Australia Post franchisee and unionist Angela Cramp at the Queen’s Terrace cafe in Parliament House.
This is certainly no ordinary sighting. Cramp leads the franchisee collective known as the Licensed Post Office Group. On Wednesday, one day prior to her meeting with Taylor, she held a public forum to spruik post office banks, a concept that has worked with some success in New Zealand.
But the idea is being championed as something of a desperate lifeline to save locally run post offices on the verge of financial ruin. Whether it can work is another matter, but we wonder if Holgate, the chief executive of Post’s competitor, Toll Global Express, is not circling shark-like in this space.
The sight of her consigliore meeting with Cramp suggests a genuine possibility of some manoeuvring. Alternatively, Taylor might have just swanned into Canberra to provide a debrief to Cramp about the Albanese government’s recent job summit.
After all, it was Holgate who attended the invite-only chatfest while Post CEO Paul Graham was not invited at all. Ouch.
We think the more plausible explanation is that Holgate possesses a solution to Cramp’s serious financial concerns. It’s not like the former Australia Post CEO has any competing business interests with the agency’s parcel delivery services, right?
On the contrary, competition between the two organisations has become rather fierce and bitter at Post, where executives have engaged King & Wood Mallesons to pen cease and desist letters over Holgate’s alleged poaching of staff and perceived access to confidential customer information.
Plus, we already know that Cramp is a massive fan-girl of Holgate and would do almost anything to help her; it is certainly no stretch to claim that she is to Holgate what the Swifties are to a certain US pop idol.
We gather something mutually beneficial could be in the offing between the pair. A case for Australia Post, perhaps, of look what you made me do.
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New Forum judge
The chaotic legal proceedings between Westpac and accused scoundrels Bill Papas and Vincenzo Tesoriero, both directors of Forum Finance, might finally be settling into a semblance of order – or so we hope.
A fortnight ago we revealed that Federal Court Justice Michael Lee, who presided over the case for 15 months, had recused himself over a clash of legal technicalities.
Margin Call has now learned that Justice Tom Thawley has been called off the bench to replace him, giving Thawley about four weeks to wrap his head around the snarling mess of this matter leading up to its October trial date.
In a case where nothing has been simple or straightforward, the defendants each appear to be taking turns sacking their legal representatives. It almost looks like they’re doing it for sport at this point.
Papas has discarded his legal team and is on track to make his own arguments. His girlfriend, Louise Agostino, has done the same, as has Tesoriero, who is on his third set of lawyers. Meanwhile, Tony Bouchahine, a former CFO at Forum, has announced plans to ditch his legal team as well.
Leave it up to Thawley to manage this fiasco.
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Lowe and high
It would be remiss of us not to provide a cursory examination of the mortgage discomfort afflicting our Reserve Bank governor, Philip Lowe, given he’s the one wielding the levers in the nation’s skirmish against inflation.
But we doubt that he can honestly relate to the hardships being faced outside of Sydney’s eastern suburbs, where Lowe resides in a historic home.
He’s also one of the most well-remunerated public servants in the country on an annual salary of $1.07m, an order of magnitude higher than the $64,000 paid to the average plodder.
However, Margin Call’s analysis suggests Lowe and wife Jocelyn Parker remain tethered to two mortgages listed against their Randwick home.
Purchased in 1997 for about the sum of Lowe’s current salary, they borrowed $241,000 at the time of purchase, then another $151,000 later that year; the latter amount was negotiated as the official cash rate was trending down towards 5 per cent.
Twenty-five years later, the house is now worth in the neighbourhood of $4m. We also expect those mortgages have probably been almost paid off, surely. We seriously doubt, therefore, that rising rates are having much of an effect on his monthly spending habits.
However, they do seem to be increasing Lowe’s levels of fan mail.
“It might surprise you that some people write to me and say thank you for higher interest rates,” he told the annual Anika Foundation address in Sydney on Thursday.
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McKay’s India gig
Former NSW Labor opposition leader Jodi McKay – renowned for owning a wardrobe full of saris – has been elected national chair of the Australia India Business Council.
The appointment should come as no surprise given McKay has always been beloved by the Indian community, namely during her time in politics, which ended almost one year ago.
McKay had earlier been approached about taking up a trade commissioner role to India on behalf of the NSW government, although the position was ultimately awarded to someone else.
Cup-winning trainers, an accountant and the missing $460k
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Nomad owners in sudden sale of $11m tumbledown mansion
Less than a year ago, Alan and Rebecca Yazbek forked out $11m for a tumbledown mansion. So, is it a cashflow problem or something else behind it being put up for sale again so soon?