Life’s a beach for richies in lockdown
The annual migration to Sydney’s northern beaches for the summer holidays has hit a hiccup, with the latest coronavirus outbreak centred in the rich-lister haven.
At last count 17 cases had emerged on the insular peninsula, prompting NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard to urge local residents to stay at home and get tested, not just for the community’s sake but also his own, with the latest cases in his very patch.
Hazzard, the member for Wakehurst, lives in Allambie Heights, and he’s not the only pollie taking in the view, with former PM Tony Abbott further inland at Forestville.
While it remains to be seen whether either frequented the Avalon Bowlo, thought to be the venue of at least two of the transmissions, the news has undoubtedly sent a shockwave all the way down Barrenjoey Rd and will be a cause for consideration for many of the high-profile locals as plans for the festive season are thrown into disarray.
VGI chair Rob Luciano’s $19m pad overlooking Palmy wouldn’t be a bad spot to quarantine, however, with north-facing views up the beach and all the way to Barrenjoey Lighthouse.
Other notable neighbours include Gretel Packer, who got her place in the settlement of late father Kerry Packer’s will, and an associate of the family, Rob Rankin, though his no-show before the Crown suitability inquiry means he’ll probably remain under a much harsher quarantine arrangements in Britain.
Former ABC boss Michelle Guthrie is also in the area, along with Quadrant’s Chris Hadley and Moelis and Swans chair Andrew Pridham.
Senator Kristina Keneally has the right idea, keeping a wide moat around her pad on Scotland Island, where a lack of restaurants or shops should go some way to keep the virus at bay.
Veteran investor Charles Curran and his wife Eva Curran are also close by, along with Caledonia’s Mike Messara who bought the late Sam Chisholm’s daughter Caroline Jumpertz’s beachfront house earlier this year.
Then there’s retired car dealer Laurie Sutton, Derwent Search founder Ben Derwent and lawyer Tony Bancroft.
By all accounts bookings at the exclusive Jonah’s or Justin Hemmes’ Bert’s Bar and Brasserie are still running hot, with the phones of holiday house brokers also ringing off the hook.
What virus?
Ahmed Fahour’s reno
Never one to let the grass grow under his feet when it comes to an impressive portfolio of residential real estate, Latitude Financial chief Ahmed Fahour has a new project on the boil.
The financial services exec and former boss of Aussie Post is poised to embark on an almost $1m renovation of his historic home on Hawthorn’s prestigious Kinkora Road.
Fahour and his former wife Dionne paid $16.2m for the 1877 Victorian pile, which features a tennis court, pool and separate self-contained converted stables, in March 2018.
But following their separation Fahour now holds the expansive property in his own right, albeit with some assistance via a mortgage over the property from his old employer NAB.
The businessman, who late last year tried to get a sharemarket float of Latitude off the ground but to no avail, also owns several other properties in the Hawthorn area. One, a $5m penthouse on Glenferrie Road, was withdrawn from sale and instead put up for rent at $3500 a week.
Now Fahour has asked his local council to approve $900,000 worth of alterations and additions to his Kinkora Road home, but Boroondara authorities are yet to flash the green light for the work.
It’s been a busy year on the property front for the businessman and his fiance Hannah Holmes, despite the constraints on movements in Melbourne thanks to the coronavirus.
In the first half brand consultant Holmes sold her small two-bedroom apartment in Melbourne’s Carnegie for $620,000.
Changing channels at Ten
There are more changes in the top ranks of No 3 free-to-air television network Ten under the ownership of American media giant Viacom CBS.
Out the door at the end of the month is chief financial officer Carla Webb-Sear, who joined Ten in mid-2018 not long after the broadcaster was pulled out of liquidation by the now Robert Bakish-led merged global media empire.
Webb-Sear was previously head bean counter at Fairfax before its merger with Nine to form what is now Australia’s largest media company, Nine Entertainment Group, which is now looking for a new CEO.
The hole left by Webb-Sear’s exit is to be filled by Natasha Coxhead, who’s joined 10 ViacomCBS as vice president finance after 14 years of climbing the ranks of the accounting department at ITV.
Shortly in the door will also be new co-head of the Viacom CBS business in Australia and New Zealand Jarrod Villani, who arrives at Ten as chief operating and commercial officer early in the new year.
Villani as a corporate undertaker at KordaMentha oversaw the administration of Ten in 2017 and was part of the team that negotiated the rescue deal with its new American owner, so already understands the media operation from the inside out.
Villani will co-run Ten with its chief content officer and executive vice president Beverley McGarvey, with the management duo now reporting into London-based CBS executive Maria Kyriacou, who’s just joined the board of the Ten’s operations.
Law and disorder
Criminal lawyers are well known to be spirited in their defence, but one high-profile Sydney solicitor took things to the next level last week, ending up in the hands of the police herself.
The 66-year-old, whose identity must be kept under wraps due to a suppression order, was escorted from the district court site at John Maddison Tower by police last Thursday after an argument broke out between the two lawyers on opposing sides of the civil case.
Those in court at the time report raised voices and abusive words thrown around by the lawyer in question, who spruiks having 30 years of experience, before whipping out her phone to take video and voice recordings of the goings-on.
It is alleged the woman recorded a total of 22 minutes of court proceedings on her phone, an offence in any courtroom across the country, before the court sheriff called in reinforcements.
“There was no argument coming from me. The incident happened while I was speaking to another solicitor who was representing some of the defendants at the bar table. The subject solicitor shouted at me abusive words for no reason at all,” a source inside the room told Margin Call.
A statement from the Sydney City police said a woman had been charged for allegedly recording proceedings and issued with a court attendance notice to appear before Downing Centre Local Court in late Jan.
It is not the first time she’s made headlines for her in-and-out-of-court conduct, but here’s hoping she finds herself a good lawyer.
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