Murphy family’s Nauru detention centre millions all locked in

Illustration: Rod Clement.

Their name is the Murphy family. They are from Queensland. And — thanks to an offshore immigration detention deal signed off by fellow Queenslander Peter Dutton — they are poised to join the rich list.

Margin Call can reveal the Murphys’ obscure Brisbane-based family business, Canstruct International, has just made a $43 million profit running the Nauru camp.

Canstruct — owned by the Murphy family and operated from the Brisbane suburb of Yeerongpilly — is a construction and services company that delivers projects in difficult and remote locations.

The company was founded by patriarch Robin Murphy, and is now run by his son Rory ­Murphy. The group is chaired by Brisbane accountant Tim ­Klaebe.

Audited accounts just lodged with the corporate regulator show Canstruct’s bottom-line profit was made during the first seven months of their controversial contract with the Morrison government.

The family’s original 13-month, $377m contract to run Australia’s camp on Nauru was recently extended for a further six months to the end of next April, as revealed by Margin Call earlier this month.

Based on the company’s current run rate, the Murphy family is set to make in the order of $150m in bottom-line earnings from its Nauru contract, which expires on April 30.

There’s serious money to be made locking people up — if, like the Murphy clan, you can stomach the opprobrium.

Price is right

And thanks to a new government contract, the Murphy family’s Nauru business looks set to become even more profitable.

Not only has the Morrison government extended Canstruct International’s Nauru refugee centre contract, the government has increased the amount that the Yeerongpilly-based operation is being paid.

As Prime Minister Scott Morrison is always saying, this is a government that backs small and medium-sized businesses.

For the 13 months to the end of October, Peter Dutton was paying the Queensland small business $29m a month to run the facility.

That has been increased to almost $35m a month to run the refugee processing centre, an increase of almost 20 per cent.

The numbers shows the ­Murphys’ Canstruct operation is thriving in the Morrison era.

However, with the government facing increasing pressure to remove children and their families from the facility (not to mention the fact that Canstruct’s profits come out of your taxes), this is a business story you’re probably not going to hear a lot about ahead of the next election.

Stoked with cricket

Kerry Stokes was in fine form chairing Seven West Media’s annual general meeting.

After the previous year’s Amber Harrison difficulties — which Stephen Mayne, bless him, mentioned one or two or 17 times at yesterday’s AGM — things are tracking better at Stokes’s media empire.

Debt is coming down. Its ratings share is up. And next month Seven will broadcast its first cricket Test as Tim Paine’s Australia team take on Virat Kohli’s India squad at the Adelaide Oval.

Stokes and his CEO Tim Worner are clearly thrilled with their new sporting acquisition.

Despite Cricket Australia’s shocking year, we hear Seven has sold all its cricket sponsor slots, including one to KFC.

And, on a more personal note, we hear Stokes can’t wait to be in the stands at the Adelaide Oval in three weeks time. No regrets about the tennis for this billionaire.

Plenty on plate

Only two weeks until shareholders decide Myer chair Garry Hounsell and his board’s fate at the retailer’s annual general meeting.

Myer chairman Garry Hounsell. Picture: Stuart McEvoy.

Myer’s billionaire shareholder Solomon Lew has written to shareholders urging them to spill Hounsell’s board — a real possibility following a first strike against the retailer’s directors at last year’s AGM.

That gives an urgency to Hounsell’s meetings with investors ahead of the November 30 meeting.

To that end, Hounsell was in Sydney yesterday.

Margin Call spotted him (a few tables over from the PM’s principal private secretary Yaron Finkelstein) in the lunch crowd at Janus, the tuckshop under the federal government’s offices at 1 Bligh Street.

The cafe neighbours the offices of Anton Tagliaferro’s Investors Mutual (which owns almost 10 per cent of Myer) and just over the road from Governor Phillip Tower, home of Geoff Wilson’s Wilson Asset Management (which owns just over 5 per cent) and in whose direction the industrious Hounsell was heading after a quick lunch.

Fine detail

The Ben Bell-led would-be cobalt developer Australian Mines is no stranger to scrutiny from the ASX.

For the seventh time since October last year it has been the subject of interest by Dominic Stevens’s ASX compliance team.

The latest follows a tweet it sent last month that read: “Eye spy, with my little eye, I wonder where Ben is off to today… #AllGoodThingsComeTo­Those­WhoWait”, and was accompanied by a photo of the headquarters of Australian Mines’ big Korean offtake partner, SK innovation.

The exchange wasn’t impressed and fired off 24 questions to Australian Mines, including a demand for details about what was discussed at the meeting.

The main business of the meeting, Bell explained in his extremely thorough response, was to discuss the logistics of an upcoming dinner between the Australian ambassador to Korea James Choi, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, Bell and a representative of SK innovation.

“There was also some minor discussion regarding the enormous number of Starbuck coffee houses in Korea compared to Australia, and the difference between Japanese and Korean architecture across Seoul,” the company continued.

“The topic of weather was also raised as Mr Bell arrived at the meeting without an umbrella and it was expected to rain in Seoul that afternoon.”

Any more questions?