Medibank dialling in to show its respect

Outgoing Medibank CEO Craig Drummond. Picture: John Feder/The Australian.

Events of recent weeks in Canberra around the treatment of women highlights some important loose ends for Medibank boss Craig Drummond to hopefully tie off before he exits at the end of June.

And a way for Scott Morrison to look like he cares.

The multi-million-dollar tender to run the federal government’s national sexual assault and domestic family violence counselling service — 1800 ­RESPECT — closes next Wednesday.

Drummond’s Medibank Health Solutions Telehealth Pty Ltd has been operating the crucial service since 2010, with its contract expiring in September last year.

The same group has most recently established a similar confidential service for current and former government staff members called the parliamentary support line in the wake of recent allegations.

COVID-19 delayed the new 1800 RESPECT tender process, with the Mike Wilkins-chaired Medibank continuing to run the service until a new contract is ­decided. But now a short-list of candidates has been selected to pitch to run the service for the next five years, with an option for a further five years beyond that.

The contract sits within the purview of Anne Ruston’sDepartment of Social Services and the minister can expect the incumbent Medibank to put its hat in the ring to run the 24-7 service for the next decade.

In its annual report, Medibank said the unfolding COVID-19 had accelerated demand for telehealth services that the group provides, a part of the listed group that is under the ­direct management of Medibank’s head of healthcare and strategy, Andrew Wilson.

With rape allegations relating to Scott Morrison’s government reverberating around the world (the unfolding story around Canberra’s sex scandals is featuring in news reports from the BBC to the New York Times), the 1800 RESPECT deal might be one that Ruston wraps up sooner rather than later.

Any delay here would be a bad look.

A timely address

And just while we’re here — activist and advocate for survivors of sexual assault and Australian of the Year Grace Tame will today take to the podium that Defence Minister Linda Reynolds left empty at the National Press Club last week.

The timing couldn’t be better.

It’ll be interesting to see which senior, male members of Scott Morrison’s cabinet remain in the nation’s capital despite the fact that parliament is not back until March 15, and which of those choose to turn up to listen to Tame’s address.

ScoMo could do worse than to be there in person to hear what 26-year-old Tame has to say.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison with Australian of the Year Award winner Grace Tame. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman.

CSL’s booster

CSL was quick to rattle off numbers as it appeared before the Senate’s Select Committee on COVID-19 on Tuesday.

Representatives Beverley Menner and Christopher Larkins proudly boasted that the company was the third-largest biotech in the world; the second-largest flu vaccine business; was busy making 51 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine; and had more than 100 years of experience in the pharmaceutical game.

But for all its big figures, there was one noticeable omission. Just how much was the $122bn company receiving from the federal government?

Of course, there are several contracts in play — one with the Cambridge-headquartered AstraZeneca for the manufacture of its vaccine in Australia, but also a second agreed with the federal health department for reconfiguring its Broadmeadows facilities and meeting technical requirements.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison visits the CSL vaccine manufacturing facility in February. Picture: David Caird/Getty Images

“This is not a commercial activity for CSL, we’re doing this because there is a public crisis and because the government has asked us to support this,” Larkins answered when probed by committee chair Katy Gallagher. “We are looking in our contracts to ensure that we cover the costs of all of our facility modifications, cover the costs of having to hire over 100 new personnel to make these vaccines and to cover the costs of shifting our products around the world to squeeze in the AstraZeneca vaccine.”

All of the above was complicated by a third contract entered into for the development of a $1.8bn facility in Melbourne’s Tullamarine to respond to any future pandemics, set to break ground in the next few weeks.

But unwillingness to offer a straight answer prompted independent senator Rex Patrick to offer a curt reminder on parliamentary privilege:

“Please understand that any contract you sign in relation to confidentiality between two parties, even if it is with the government, does not oust the jurisdiction of the Senate, just like it does not oust the jurisdiction of the court.”

Co-operation with the senators has not been the biotech’s strong suit, as you may recall, Gallagher adding that “the more helpful you are, the easier it will be”.

Questions of contracts were not the only ones to be put on notice during the one-hour grilling — the biotech will also have to answer whether it was AstraZeneca chief Pascal Soriot who approached CSL about manufacturing the drug in the first instance. Recall it was Soriot who joined the Brian McNamee-led board of CSL last July, only to step away from the directorship on February 1 citing any “potential future conflict of strategic interest” related to AstraZeneca’s $US40bn purchase of immunology outfit Alexion.

Questions on notice are due in two weeks, just as CSL prepares to reach its one million doses a week milestone.

Crown thinned out

The rapidly diminishing ranks of Helen Coonan’sCrown Resorts board means the James Packer-controlled casino group is flying close to the wind when it comes to the ASX guidelines on corporate governance.

The unsurprising exit of Packer-appointed John Poynton on Monday means there are now just four Crown directors, with Coonan also acting in an executive capacity having stepped in to run the troubled group.

As Margin Call revealed on Monday, the departures — along with Poynton, Mike Johnston, Guy Jalland, Harold Mitchell and Andrew Demetriou are out — have drastically thinned Coonan’s board subcommittees, several of which no longer comply with ASX governance recommendations.

Helen Coonan. Photographer: Adam Yip.

Non-executive director Antonia Korsanos in 2019. Picture: AAP Image/David Crosling.

Crown’s audit and corporate governance committee, which comprises committee chair John Horvath, Jane Halton and Antonia Korsanos, only just meets ASX guidelines — and only for as long as Horvath sticks around.

Recall that Horvath, 76, who was the late Kerry Packer’s former personal physician, in October last year announced he was retiring from the Crown board once “alternative arrangements” for his replacement could be put in place.

The former chief medical officer also comprises the Crown broad’s entire safety and sustainability subcommittee, where we are sure debate remains robust.

At least Horvath has someone to talk to at meetings of Crown’s responsible gaming committee, where he has fellow independent director Korsanos to shoot the breeze with.

Korsanos also chairs Crown’s all-important audit and corporate governance committee, alongside Horvath and former top bureaucrat Halton. Here the ASX declares that three independent directors are the bare minimum, with Horvath’s enduring status critical to Crown meeting standard.

Talent is thinner on Crown’s risk management committee and people, remuneration and nomination committee, where there are each just two directors despite guidelines suggesting at least three.

“Given the recent changes to the Crown board, the committee composition is currently under consideration by the board,” a company spokesman said on Tuesday.

The probity tick for former SkyCity boss Nigel Morrison, who’s worked at Crown before and is now proposed to join the board, can’t come quick enough.

For Horvath at least.

Mike Wilkins

Grace Tame

Beverley Menner and Christopher Larkins

Helen Coonan