Grant O’Brien poised for Woolworths windfall

Illustration: Rod Clement.

Amid the terror that has gripped our world and the fear consuming our television hosts, we bring good news.

After more than a year of ­patient waiting since announcing his retirement from the top office at Woolworths, Grant O’Brien has finally hit paydirt.

Woolworths chairman Gordon Cairns. Picture: Brett Costello.

Tomorrow, on Saturday, July 23, the Woolies veteran turns 55 and cracks the group’s closed-off defined benefits scheme, from which he will enjoy a windfall multi-million-dollar payout.

Happy Birthday, Grant!

To qualify for the Woolies pension, O’Brien agreed with Scottish chair Gordon Cairns to hang around the top office until a CEO replacement was found and then fill the gap with leave to tide him through to his lucrative 55th birthday.

After a long search, and despite initial reports that he was leaving the supermarket giant, internal candidate Brad Banducci was appointed at the end of February.

As of Monday that means O’Brien, who was on a base of $2.3 million a year, can officially leave 1 Woolworths Way, Bella Vista.

And with a bag full of cash.

It is unclear whether O’Brien has opted to take his money as an upfront lump sum (speculated at about $10m) or as an annuity.

Whatever he decides, this week O’Brien got his packaged duck breasts in a row. On Tuesday he established his own super fund, OBW Superannuation Pty Ltd, of which he is a director and secretary, along with his wife Mary Washington, a former lawyer with the retail giant.

Penn friends

Telstra boss Andy Penn, 53, is back in his big chair at the telco following his wedding earlier this month in Italy’s Tuscany to his Nebraska-born second wife Kallie Blauhorn.

Jessica Mauboy belted out some tunes at Andy Penn’s wedding.

Ballroom dancer Blauhorn went back to her gig running the Monash Gallery of Art on ­Monday.

Meanwhile, wedding attendees have been sworn to secrecy over the private ceremony, ­including a ban on postings to social media.

Just as well they didn’t invite terror of animals great and small, Greg Norman.

By all accounts it was a magnificent and intimate affair, if not quite on Lindsay Fox proportions. Aussie pop star Jessica Mauboy jetted in for the reception to belt out some tunes to entertain the happy couple and their guests.

The striking Mauboy wore Sass & Bide, now fully owned by the Richard Umbers-run department store Myer.

Meet and beat

Save-the-dates have been sent out for the first gathering of president Richard Alston’s Liberal federal executive. Well, sort of.

Anthony Pratt and Richard Alston on election night. Picture: Hollie Adams/The Australian.

In a twist worthy of Robert Menzies’ increasingly eccentric party, the original invite did not include the actual date — only that it will be some time before the 45th parliament first sits on August 30. It seems early August is likely.

The lack of clarity might have something to do with the awkwardness of the gathering, and the uncertainty about the futures of some of its members.

Federal director Tony Nutt has certainly come out bruised in the first drafts of the history of the eight-week campaign.

It will be the second time the Liberal Party’s various presidents — Victoria’s high-profile Michael Kroger, Queensland’s Gary Spence, and NSW’s Trent Zimmerman, who is likely to step down to focus on his duties as North Sydney’s MP, and the others — and their respective state directors gather in person for a debrief.

The first time will be the night before at dinner, something of an executive tradition.

Nutt cracker

Ultimately, Nutt’s future will depend on the grace of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Tony Nutt and John Howard in happier times. Picture: John Feder.

Remember, Nutt’s former boss John Howard — not without sway with the current PM — called Nutt “the most gifted professional employee of the Liberal Party anywhere in Australia” in his 2010 autobiography Lazarus Rising.

Howard added that Nutt knew “where all the Liberal bodies are buried”.

To which we could now add that he knows where the money is buried, too.

Indeed, as people gossip over Nutt’s future, it’s perhaps worth noting that he knows exactly how much money Turnbull donated to the campaign (at last count, towards $2.5m) and through which vehicle.

And that’s not to mention various other captain’s calls.

Alibaba bash

The Alibaba caravan rolled into Melbourne on Wednesday, as the global boss of the Chinese internet platform, Michael Evans, scouted for a location for an Aussie HQ.

Jessica Rudd with her husband Albert Tse and daughter Josephine.

Evans enjoyed an audience with Premier Daniel Andrews before being wheeled into the Park Hyatt as guest of honour at an Asialink dinner, supported by the Australia China Business Council. Evans charmed the crowd with his Canadian tones.

Guests included former trade minister Andrew Robb and Asialink director Peter Yates, both fresh off the plane from Washington after attending last week’s Australian American Leadership Dialogue.

Also there was Asialink board member and third-generation Myer Carrillo Gantner, Australian Industry Group boss Innes Willox, former competition tsar Allan Fels and daughter of former PM-turned-author-turned-retail-entrepreneur Jessica Rudd.

At the end of the night Evans was left in no doubt where to set up his new Australian head office.

He was told to forget the Harbour Bridge and Opera House and instead focus on Melbourne’s curfew-free Tullamarine Airport as part of a strident sales pitch by ACBC Victorian president Ken Smith in his closing address.

A new chapter

Tony Abbott’s former speech writer Paul Ritchie’s “conservative case for same-sex marriage” was launched last night in NSW upper house president Don Harwin’s refurbished library at state parliament.

Tony Abbott signs former speech writer Paul Ritchie’s book on same-sex marriage.

Expect to hear a lot of quotation from Ritchie’s book — Faith, Love and Australia: The Conservative Case for Same-Sex Marriage — when Malcolm Turnbull sets a date for the promised same-sex plebiscite.

Speaking of which, the man who promised the plebiscite — former PM Abbott — was along.

“He’s someone I’m hoping it might persuade!” said the Liberal member for North Sydney, Trent Zimmerman.

Environment and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg revealed that that conversion was still to come.

Frydenberg told the gathered that on arrival Abbott told him: “I’m not here to support the book. I’m here to support the author.”

Classy of him to attend his former staffer’s big night.

As Ritchie rightfully pointed out, it’s OK to disagree on things — but do it civilly.

The former PM’s sister Christine Forster — the Libs candidate for the Sydney mayoralty — was also along, as was WA Liberal Dean Smith (who wrote the book’s forward), and the new member for Goldstein Tim Wilson.