James and Gretel Packer winding down their jointly administered charity foundation

James and Gretel Packer live on opposite sides of the world these days.

The Packer Family Foundation marked its 10-year anniversary in February with a celebration at the Museum of Contemporary Art, an occasion that drew Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (who was seated with Gretel Packer) and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton (who looked comfortable alongside matriarch Ros Packer).

Fortified with $200m, the foundation has spent a decade sprinkling fairy dust over a slew of organisations, from Lifeline and the Victor Chang Cardiac Institute to Red Cross Australia and the University of NSW, whose chancellor, David Gonski (still waiting to hear if his contract is being renewed), appeared in a video played for the ­audience.

Plaudits flowed for the foundation’s extraordinary achievements, but many were curious to find out if its financial armaments would be replenished for another decade of philanthropic service.

They waited for the announcement … and it never came. We have it on very good authority that it’s because the foundation’s work is finally wrapping up.

While it’s uncertain whether the entity itself will be wound down or not, what’s clear is that Gretel and her brother James Packer are unlikely to continue using it as a vehicle for the pursuit of their charitable work. From here, they will fund causes independent of each other. Not because of any beef; their interests are just diverging.

Gretel’s most recent (and known) financial gesture was to purchase the dilapidated Metro-Minerva Theatre in Sydney’s Potts Point, which she has committed to restoring to its former glory. She basically saved this enormous ­societal artefact from being transformed into a ghastly hotel.

It’s the tyranny of distance underpinning much of this decision. James lives abroad, and the money left over in the foundation’s accounts has nearly depleted.

At the end of FY24 it reported roughly $11.9m in cash left on its books, its funding overseen by directors that include former Crown board member Rowena Danzinger, Kerrie Anne Corne, Catherine Davies, Point King Capital founder Sam McKay and incoming Australian Olympic Committee CEO Mark Arbib, who’s slated to begin his new job on Monday.

Much as it was always James’s idea to establish the foundation (he described it as his gift to Sydney when it was founded in 2015), he made certain to pay tribute to his sister at the commemoration event. After all, it was his request that Gretel chair the board.

“It’s something that we both contributed to together but you know I think she deserves in a lot of ways more credit than I do, because she had her boots on the ground,” James said in the video message.