Peter Horton’s daughters at UBS and Jarden Australia hit hard by IAG’s decision to axe him
So rare is the shock departure of a respected listed corporate’s head lawyer and member of its most senior executive committee that talk of the exit last week of Peter Horton last week from $15bn Aussie insurer IAG will not rest.
Horton, 64, was shown the door as IAG’s general counsel and company secretary last week, with the insurer only referring to its lawyer’s “behaviour” as having fallen “short of expectations”. These include “being inclusive and respectful” as outlined in its employee code of ethics and conduct.
It was a bold move from IAG chair and former Woolies finance director Tom Pockett and his CEO Nick Hawkins, who eschewed the normal “leaving to spend more time with his family”-type approach to such uncomfortable corporate affairs.
Meantime, reverberations from the whole unfortunate turn of events continue to ring out across the Sydney business district and have found their way into the towers occupied by investment banking giants UBS and Jarden Australia.
Sadly, women remain under-represented in the population of investment bankers in Australia and so tend to stand out among their peers. Throw in the dynamic of being identical twins who have chosen the same careers but at rival banks and folks will know who you are.
Such is the case with Horton, whose 33-year-old daughters Millie and Sarah are carving out their own very successful careers in corporate Australia – the former at Jarden and the latter at UBS – and are now having to deal with the gossip surrounding the public exit of their dad from his workplace.
Neither bank wanted to discuss the situation of their senior bankers, who are both said to be taking news of their dad’s demise hard.
Price is right to stay
It’s been a decade since Melissa Price entered the federal parliament representing the good people of Durack in Western Australia.
The seat was created in 2010 as comfortably Liberal, but last time around when one-time corporate lawyer Price contested it, the vibe had changed considerably.
Price suffered a swing of just under 10 per cent against her, making the seat marginal.
So what are constituents of the former environment, defence industries and science minister to make of recent moves by the now opposition Whip when it comes to her personal portfolio of property?
Price, 60, has just sold an apartment that she owned in the Canberra suburb of Kingston. This follows the sale at the end of last year of her home in Geraldton, WA, where her main electorate office is located.
According to her register of members’ interests, that’s left Price with an investment property in Geraldton, as well as a home in Marmion, also on the coast but in the electorate of Moore, which is held by Ian Goodenough and is a more-than-four-hour drive from her electorate office.
So we checked in with Price to see what her future in politics looked like. Was she up for the contest next time around, now that she holds Durack on a margin of just 4.3 per cent, compared with 13.5 per cent previously?
Turns out Price has actually bought a new home to live in Mount Tarcoola, a suburb of Geraldton, but is yet to update the parliament to that fact.
“I am 100 per cent committed to running as federal Member for Durack once again at the next federal election,” she told Margin Call on Tuesday, with applications to the party’s local branch to be preselected in the seat opening last Saturday.
So it’s all up to Price’s fellow party members now.
Missing in action
Opposition leader Peter Dutton has spent a good chunk of his time this month thrashing Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, his Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil and Immigration Minister Andrew Giles over their handling of the High Court’s decision to release criminals from indefinite immigration detention.
Dutton’s been in his element and had the government on the ropes and spitting blood over the whole affair.
But what of his spokesman for home affairs and cyber security, James Paterson, as the 36-year-old’s boss did all the heavy lifting across Paterson’s high-profile portfolio, prosecuting the argument that Albo and Co had disastrously failed to anticipate the court’s decision?
Paterson, who entered the Senate for Victoria in 2016, has been busy tooling up for his further fast-track climb up the party’s greasy pole, spending last week at no less than the Harvard Kennedy School, which is the prestigious university’s graduate school of public policy and government.
Courtesy of the McKinnon Institute for Political Leadership, Paterson was on a five-day, all expenses paid, intensive course for “Senior Executives in National and International Security” to provide him with the global perspective and deeper understanding of the world’s most pressing security matters.
Such cerebral pursuits don’t come cheap. Already Harvard is drumming up interest in the course for next year, which will set participants back $US10,900 ($16,540).
Paterson also had his airfares paid for, taking the McKinnon Institute’s financial commitment way over $20,000 for the whole sitting week affair.
Materials associated with the course suggest it is targeted towards participants with 20 years-plus experience, with Paterson now into his eighth year as an elected official.
At least he has Dutton to fall back on and fill the breach.
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