Grattan CEO Danielle Wood in frame for Productivity Commission; Richo gets his day in court

Grattan Institute CEO Danielle Wood is being touted as a possible Productivity Commission chair.

Michael Brennan, chair of the Productivity Commission, will reach the end of his five-year term in September and, naturally, there’s much talk of succession planning.

Margin Call understands Grattan Institute CEO Danielle Wood is one candidate being touted as his replacement by those at the commission, which, if correct, would make her the first female chair in the organisation’s history – there having been only three chairs since 1998.

Wood’s been with the tax-and-spend institute since 2014 and led it as chief executive since July 2020. Her priors include a stint as a principal economist at the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission.

No word of reply when we asked if she wanted to provide any remarks; make of that what you will.

Perhaps this is the kind of shake-up Treasurer Jim Chalmers was angling towards when he mentioned forthcoming chan­ges to “renew and revitalise” the Productivity Commission in his recent essay for The Monthly.

It’s interesting to think what may come if Wood is appointed, especially given recent comments from her colleague Brendan Coates, who on Monday appeared to liken buying and holding an asset in a self-managed superannuation fund to “an interest-free loan from the government”.

Truly? Even if that asset is purchased with one’s own capital? Worth noting that Coates used the 2009 Henry Tax Review as the basis for his argument. But here’s the review itself noting the practical difficulties and complexity.

“A taxpayer may not have the cash at hand to pay the tax liability, and borrowing against or selling down assets to meet the tax liability would not be costless. Volatility in asset prices combined with lags in tax liabilities falling due may exacerbate these concerns,” it said.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement.

Equitable treatment

Fresh from a bruising weekend of news coverage over her unedifying workplace dispute with a staffer, teal independent Monique Ryan remains booked in to headline a dinner in Melbourne next week honouring the achievements of women in medicine.

It’s being hosted by the Australian Medical Association’s Victorian division, with tickets selling at $150 for non-members.

None of this would be remarkable if it weren’t for the topic of conversation slated for the evening: a discussion about embracing equity for the “betterment of our professional and personal lives and medicine as a whole”. Presumably they are talking about fairness in treatment, pay and opportunities.

Monique Ryan. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Of course, who better than Ryan to talk about embracing equity in the workplace? The Kooyong MP currently stands accused of ruthlessly seeking to end the employment of her chief of staff Sally Rugg, over her refusal to work what’s alleged to be an unreasonably high number of hours each week.

In the litany of complaints filed by Rugg, very much the injured party in this dispute, the MP is alleged to have demanded she devote more time to her work, requested Rugg’s presence at banal weekend political activities – resulting in even more time away from her family – and is accused of losing confidence in Rugg’s abilities because she was unwilling to toil her way into an early grave. In one particularly graphic instance, Rugg’s affidavit accuses Ryan of freezing her out after she went missing for 10 minutes due to period pain.

“You are not working hard enough and I need someone who works harder than you,” Ryan allegedly said during a November 15 meeting.

And it was during this infamous meeting when Ryan allegedly declared her ambition to become prime minister one day, a vision so wildly unlikely and eloquent of such political naivety that by even suggesting those words were uttered, Rugg is almost denigrating her own credibility. Because what kind of megalomaniac would even say that?

Thankfully, Ryan all but confirmed those words were actually spoken, albeit as a joke – if that can be believed.

Was Ryan also joking in parliament on Monday when Peter Dutton interjected and asked whether her impending question was being prepared “as the prime minister”. Cue a great guffawing on the opposition benches, of course.

Ryan, to her credit, was quick to shoot back. “I’ll be there before you are,” she said.

Symond’s blowout

Former Aussie Home Loans chief James Symond has been grubbing away on the rebuild of his Bellevue Hill mansion for almost three years now, and we’re hearing the costs have blown out considerably.

What started as a DA with Woollahra Council for a humble $9.5m construction is said to have ballooned well north of $20m over the past two years. No surprise given those early projections given to councils are typically bullshit. Plus we hear Symond is a perfectionist and prone to inordinate amounts of tinkering.

James Symond. Picture: Jane Dempster

No sign yet that the build will be over any time soon, given what seems to be the permanent and unsightly fixture of an enormous crane on the double block. More heavy lifting to be completed, clearly.

The site was purchased for $13m by Symond in 2020 from liquor purveyor Gabe Kemeny, who bought it from Kerry Packer in 2001 for $2.66m.

Meanwhile, Symond’s chum Ryan Stokes is still at work gutting his Darling Point mansion, Rilworth, more than two years after his DA for a facelift was given council approval. A Margin Call operative chanced to pass by the Federation-era block in its half-naked state, sending in a photo of an excavator out front and scaffolding across the driveway.

A modesty curtain seemed to shield the state of the pile within but it would appear there’s still quite a way to go until the house-warming is thrown. Perhaps time to start calling bets as to who gets there first?

Restaurant row

Graham Richardson’s legal action targeting his old business partner Danny Meares – formerly the owner of the Danny’s Seafood chain of restaurants – will head to trial later this year after several attempts at mediation failed.

Graham Richardson. Picture: John Feder

During a mention of the matter on Friday, Justice John Halley of the Federal Court ordered the dispute be listed for hearing for an estimated seven days in December. That’s plenty of time to unpack a series of allegations levelled at Meares over his handling of their jointly owned restaurant.

Richardson and Meares went into business around 2014 by opening the Watermark Bar and Grill in Townsville, which sold in 2021 for $2.5m to Melbourne-based Kickon Group. That sale is a pivotal factor in the suit.

The Labor lobbyist and commentator sued Meares, claiming that the business was offloaded without his knowledge and that he never received his 10 per cent of the annual profits, per an agreement they allegedly struck upon the restaurant’s inception.

Richardson’s case further accuses Meares of siphoning money from the business and using it to pay for an NBN account, a Netflix membership, medical services and gambling. Instructions from here are that both sides file their evidence and attend further case hearings.

Meare’s lawyer, Ben Cohen, declined to comment.