Lobbyist firm’s client juggling act of opposing interests; The 49-day PM a headline act down under

Former Queensland Labor politician and now lobbyist Evan Moorhead. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

Who cares about a little competition between clients in a lobbyist’s portfolio?

In August, Margin Call revealed that Labor-aligned lobbying firm Anacta Strategies – run by Queensland party stalwart Evan Moorhead – was representing both British class action firm Pogust Goodhead and Glencore Australia – the owner of the Cerrejon coal mine in Colombia, which may also join BHP and Vale as a target of Pogust legal action.

Pogust opened an Australian office this year, and chief executive Thomas Goodhead has made no secret of the firm’s ambition to muscle in on the local lawyering scene, touting plans to launch multiple class action lawsuits in Australia this year, and reach double figures by the end of 2025.

That would make Pogust one of the biggest purveyors of class action lawsuits in the country.

And who currently holds that crown?

Maurice Blackburn, as it happens.

That firm also happens to be one of Anacta’s founding clients in Queensland, signing up shortly after Moorhead left the office of Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and founded the company.

That’s not to say there’s any conflict of interest.

Lobbying tends to focus on specific issues rather than client brand loyalty.

And Pogust is on Anacta’s books in Canberra and Victoria, but not Queensland.

Maurice Blackburn doesn’t appear to have hired anyone to lobby in the nation’s capital, according to the federal lobbyist register.

But still, it must make for some interesting dilemmas when one client turns up with the specific intention of cutting the lunch of another.

Truss-t me

Fresh from telling the British public that she’d have done a better job at taking on Keir Starmer than her replacement, former 49-day British prime minister Liz Truss will be the headline act at CPAC Australia on the weekend.

The CPAC crowd is unlikely to repeat the rudeness that saw Truss leave the stage in Britain in August, at a promotional event for her book, after anti-Brexit group Led by Donley’s unveiled a large banner featuring a lettuce and the phrase “I crashed the economy”.

Truss’s CPAC appearance was initially touted as the former PM’s Australian speaking event, but it’s never hard to sneak in an extra gig when you’ve got a book to flog.

Truss will also appear at Menzies Research Centre lunch on October 10, at a venue “to be confirmed” for a discussion on global affairs and trade – not, presumably, including matters agricultural.

Britain’s former prime minister for 49 days, Liz Truss. Picture: Getty Images

As one invitee noted, the Truss appearance might struggle for interest, given her CPAC appearance only a few days before. And it’s unlikely to be compared favourably to Boris Johnson’s barnstorming delivery of the MRC’s annual John Howard lecture in December last year.

But election losers seem to be a bit of a theme for the MRC as the next federal poll nears. The Truss lunch will be followed up in November by a boardroom lunch with Scott Morrison, who will hold a “private discussion on the greatest challenges and opportunities facing Australia in 2024”.

This is not Truss’s first trip to Australia, of course. Her first, as British foreign minister in 2022, grabbed headlines again earlier this year when freedom of information requests revealed she had spent more than £15,000 ($28,800) on in-flight catering on the private plane chartered for the visit.

Somehow we doubt the current travel budget extends that far.

Governance concerns?

The sudden resignation of Santos director Guy Cowan, head of the company’s audit and risk committee, had industry tongues wagging last week – not least for the brevity of Santos’s farewell.

Cowan has served on the Santos board for more than eight years, and quit only 18 months into a three-year term after being re-elected in 2023.

Yet he was given only a single line send-off from the company on Tuesday, with a terse note from Santos announcing his retirement was effective immediately. So rushed was the notice that the company used an old template listing a media contact that had departed the company some time before.

That was enough to spark the attention of MST Marquee analyst Saul Kavonic, no shrinking violet, who added it to his list of concerns about the company.

Santos director and head of its audit and risk committee Guy Cowan has quit. Picture: Britta Campion

“At the least it appears a rushed (and even disrespectful?) announcement. These kind of things can also be red flags for governance issues, which we can add to our collection of red flags at Santos,” he said.

Santos was keen to hose down the suggestion on Friday, pointing to the recruitment of Vickki McFadden to its board in April as Cowan’s logical successor as chair of the audit committee.

Margin Call understands that Santos also held a function to farewell Cowan after its August board meeting, also attended by his wife.

Cowan was one of the directors who approved the company’s $6m golden handcuff package to managing director Kevin Gallagher and, after Woodside walked away from a possible merger earlier this year the market is still learning who is chained to who in the arrangement.

The deal locks Gallagher in at the company until 2026, but Cowan’s departure coincides with another round of speculation that an alternative is being lined up. This time the name floated is Shell’s Zoe Yujnovich, formerly boss of the oil giant’s Australian division but now director of integrated gas and upstream operations.

That might be more wishful thinking than reality, but Santos’s share price remains a frustration for major holders, and stranger things have happened.