Crown Resorts is on the verge of launching a much-ballyhooed brand campaign next week, so expect to see a great pivoting of its narrative on television and online – something along the lines of, hey, these aren’t just casinos, they’re entertainment precincts; or maybe, hey, you didn’t come here just to lose your money, you came here to buy a Swiss watch and throw down some tuna tataki!
Apparently it’s all about rehabilitating Crown’s battered image after years of exposure to a royal commission, independent state-based inquiries and, most recently, the settlement of beef with Austrac in July for fines totalling nearly half a billion dollars.
One person who shepherded the company through this maelstrom has been chief brand and corporate affairs officer Danielle Keighery, whose resignation was announced in a company-wide memo written by Crown CEO Ciaran Carruthers last week.
Keighery, erstwhile of Virgin and Bank of Queensland, was recruited under former chief executive Steve McCann before the Blackstone acquisition in 2022. Margin Call hears they’re clinging to Keighery for the brand relaunch and will potentially keep holding her right up until the end of her six-month notice period.
Word about town is that she’s about to sign onto something else, although Margin Call wasn’t much good at getting that bit of information out of the company. One can be assured there’ll be no sign of her turning up at The Star, or any other gaming enterprise.
Looks like there’ll also be a paring back of Keighery’s roles once she’s gone, with the customer experience bit to be given to chief strategy officer David Willis, the ESG and partnership stuff to go to industry affairs officer Sarah Adams, and media and corporate affairs to fall under the remit of CFO Alan McGregor.
As Crown said: “Danielle joined prior to Blackstone’s acquisition and has led the company’s reputational rebuild during a period of significant change, including supporting the transition of our new boards and leadership, as well as the fundamental resetting of our relationships with governments, regulators, and industry stakeholders. We wish Danielle well in her future endeavours.”
French connection
Just a touch more on that Senate inquiry which is mulling over the government’s mainlining of consulting services. So far, the committee’s heard from officials attached to KPMG, EY, Accenture and Deloitte, with PwC Australia, the culprits responsible for this mess, supposed to have been on the hook to appear next week.
Not so, as Margin Call noted on Tuesday, with the firm more likely to appear at a set of hastily called hearings next month. That’s a shame because it’s meant the committee’s still stuck with filling the two days available for examinations, with much running around taking place in the interim to find poor souls to summon.
The Tax Practitioners Board and Australian Taxation Office have made themselves available, as have Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey Australia, despite their reluctance to appear in previous months. Amazing, isn’t it, what a casual threat from a couple of senators can achieve? It was Deborah O’Neill and Barbara Pocock who suggested the “significant and extensive powers” of the Senate might need to be deployed to haul in BCG and McKinsey.
No suggestion that such measures are necessary for Adam Powick, however. The Deloitte chief executive was asked to return for another
light exchange next week but appears to be indisposed and can’t make it.
And who could blame him? The guy fronted up before the committee in July only to be monstered by O’Neill when she asked of his $3.5m pay packet and, for the win, whether he was “really worth seven times the salary of the prime minister”. To which Powick eventually conceded, after much stumbling, “I’m incredibly privileged and fortunate to earn what I do”. Hard to watch, truly.
And what’s his excuse for the unavailability? It seems he’s stuck overseas, in France of all places. No proof that he’s over there watching the Rugby World Cup, of course, but it’s the question everyone’s asking. The other is whether someone clever at Deloitte told Powick to get out of the country ahead of the hearings, giving him a semblance of plausible deniability, as such.
Who knew the firm ran its own witness protection program? Margin Call put it to Deloitte but their people did not respond to a request for comment.
Gaslighting
Has there been a slight change of heart over at the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association? Well, yes, as already reported, they’ve changed their name to Australian Energy Producers, but Margin Call refers instead to the panic that was being merchandised in its press statements just last month.
Three weeks ago the APPEA, as it was then known, claimed an “urgent need” for new gas supplies, warning of “rolling blackouts” resulting from “future gas shortfalls and a lack of investment in gas generation”. The release was grimly titled, “Gas investment critical as AEMO warns blackouts looming”, referring to a report released by the Australian Energy Market Operator. The sky, most certainly, was falling in at the time.
Fast forward to Wednesday, however, and the peak body’s Samantha McCulloch provided a far more rosy picture of the supply landscape, noting “a surplus forecast in the east coast market through to 2024”, as confirmed by an ACCC report on the subject. What a difference three weeks can make!
“ACCC report confirms gas industry fulfilling domestic supply commitment,” went the title of that release. So is it rolling blackouts or not?
Perhaps hedging, McCulloch noted the sector was indeed delivering for households and businesses, but still there was a “continuing need for governments to enable new gas supply”.
Cranbrook old boys clash over Luxe Listings deal
A court stoush featuring two private school boys, a hit TV show and an old gangster? Throw in some fast cars and rhyming slang and you’ve surely got the makings of a major movie.
Wesfarmers’ Catch killed off as boss swans in Switzerland
Rob Scott was conspicuous by his absence as yet another of Wesfarmers’ dud investments was put to the sword but why he was schmoozing at the Davos world forum is a head scratcher.