Kristina Keneally banks on big talent

Labor Senator Kristina Keneally. Picture: AAP

Ascendant Labor senator Kris­tina Keneally hasn’t been shy about taking it to big business since she headed to Canberra, so it’s interesting to discover she has turned to the big four banks for a new chief of staff.

Margin Call can reveal former NAB operative Chris “Born to Run” Owens has just taken over as the chief of staff to ­Keneally, Labor’s new deputy leader in the Senate and shadow to Home Affairs minister Peter Dutton.

As we revealed in May, Owens called time on his five-year stint at the bank before the election so he could volunteer at Labor campaign HQ in Parramatta.

Owens — who is technically still acting in the role as he awaits an official tick from Anthony Albanese’s staffing committee (aka “The Red Star Chamber”) — was one of those rare members of national secretary Noah Carroll’s Parramatta team not to feature in the AFR’s inside account of the faltering Labor machine.

Escaping a mess with his dignity intact has become a signature move for the Bruce Springsteen fan, who worked for Nicola Roxon back in the Rudd-Gillard government.

Owens was one of a handful of bankers who came out of the royal commission with an improved reputation.

That was after it was revealed Owens suggested that his employer NAB could try being honest with its regulator ASIC — apparently an unorthodox approach at the bank during Andrew Thorburn’s reign.

It remains unclear what will become of Keneally’s former chief of staff Genevieve Slattery, who previously worked for Keneally’s husband Ben Keneally — one of Boston Consulting Group’s new local partners — back when he was the mayor of Botany Bay Council.

Illustration: Rod Clement

Dry argument

The millions keep adding up as James Packer’s more than four year wait continues on his not-quite-finished circa-$200 million gigayacht.

As Margin Call revealed yesterday, the Crown billionaire’s boat IJE (named after his children Indigo, Jackson and Emmanuelle) was returned to the shipbuilder Benetti’s facility in Italy a fortnight ago.

Work continues on James packer's new super yacht under construction at the Benetti's Livorno facility. Picture: Giuliano Sargentini/Benetti

That was after several weeks of sea trials, which began in April.

While there’s been no word on how the whopping 108m ship performed, it’s since emerged that Packer — who has just pocketed $880 million from his Hong Kong gaming giant “brother” Lawrence Ho for an almost 10 per cent stake in Crown — has rented Sydney rubbish king Ian Malouf’s 54m luxury vessel Mischief.

Ian Malouf. Picture: Nic Walker

It’s a necessary tide-over for the Mediterranean-vacationing Packer, who at the end of last year sold his relatively modest 55m boat EJI to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.

That was after he sold his late father Kerry Packer’s icebreaker Arctic P to his billionaire sister Gretel.

Margin Call spies tell us that, over the past week, Mischief
has been cruising the French Riviera between St Tropez and Monaco.

Malouf — worth $550m on The Stensholt Index — rents out his $60m yacht on his luxury yacht charter business Ahoy Club for €254,000 a week to members (and €295,000-a-week to non-members).

So if Packer’s IJE isn’t delivered to the now 26 per cent Crown shareholder until the end of next month, a Mediterranean vacay on Mischief could cost close to $3m.

Of course, if the gigayacht was late due to construction problems, perhaps the bill would be picked up by Benetti.

Otherwise it looks like the 51-year-old will spend another few million of his $4.23 billion fortune on boats.

A yacht with the lot

Like Ian Malouf, mini media mogul Antony “The Cat” Catalano is running a side project in the luxury yacht business.

Busy getting on with his and mate Alex Waizlitz’s $115m buy of Nine Entertainment’s regional newspaper assets from Hugh Marks, The Cat has his 30m Viking Legacy working hard for the money through his Rae’s Yacht Charters corporate vehicle.

Margin Call is told the going rate for the yacht is €55,000 a week (or about $90,000).

The craft — which comes with its own crew and was last spotted at the Spanish party island of Mallorca — can sleep up to 10 guests.

So it might be time for The Cat to upgrade.

His wife Stefanie is pregnant with what will be Catalano’s ninth child.

And that’s not the end of the brood’s expansion. The former Domain boss’s eldest son Jordan Catalano (who runs his Dad’s luxury boutique hotel Rae’s on Wategos at Byron Bay) and his wife Jess have just had their second child, a daughter Allegra.

There must be something in the water up there.

Safety first

The folk of the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority are responsible for keeping a close eye on safety at the oil and gas platforms and offshore drilling rigs of Woodside, Chevron Australia, Santos and the rest.

But this week CEO Stuart Smith and the risk-averse gang are dealing with a safety issue much closer to home.

NOPSEMA’s Perth head office has been closed after a walkway to the building collapsed.

The pedestrian bridge was shut down on Monday after a large crack was noticed in the structure. It then spectacularly gave way hours later.

Fortunately, no one was injured.

Proof, if it was needed, that offshore petroleum exploration and production are inherently high-risk activities — even when you’re keeping an eye on them onshore, in an otherwise sleepy office in Perth.