Outgoing Medibank chief Craig Drummond’s healthy haul
He may be a few years shy of the legal retirement age, but with a hefty parting payment there will be no need for Medibank’s Craig Drummond to be relying on any pension.
Just days after his 60th birthday, the medical insurer’s chief on Wednesday announced his intention to retire to cap out five years in the top job for the Melbourne-based exec.
The former banking analyst built a name for himself at Goldmans and Merrill Lynch before moving into the top ranks at NAB, losing out to Andrew Thorburn for the top job at the bank in 2014 (though we know how that turned out).
Drummond, who in December added the title of grandfather to his resume, will stick around until the end of June, helping chair Mike Wilkins’ search for his successor, and doing the group’s auditors a favour by sticking around to the financial year’s end.
By the end of FY21, Drummond will have accumulated more than $15m in salary, bonuses and benefits, as well as more than $3.8m in shares and 2.2 million performance rights in his time at the group.
After a solid half-year result, he’ll net a handy $79,000 dividend payment in March, too, taking his total benefits to $25m for five years — not a bad slog.
The extra time out should give him room to focus more on his beloved Geelong Cats, after being promoted to be the AFL club’s president earlier this year, though Margin Call hears he’ll be on the lookout for other board roles to fill out his schedule.
As for Drummond’s replacement, recall it was then chief operating officer David Koczkar who stepped in as acting CEO before Drummond started in 2016.
Koczkar has since moved to be chief customer officer, and whether he’ll get a second tilt at the top job is a question for people committee chair Linda Bardo Nicholls.
Bad early dose
Week one of Health Minister Greg Hunt’s rollout of the mammoth coronavirus vaccine project went awry on Wednesday when it emerged two elderly aged-care residents in Queensland had each been given too much of the COVID-19 jab.
Early in the day, chief medical officer Paul Kelly described the error as a “maladministration” of the drug and Hunt said the doctor who gave the shots had done the requisite training.
But then later in the day the minister was forced to correct his statements, telling the parliament he’d just been told the medico had not done the required training.
Hunt apologised for the embarrassing error, which he said had been based on written advice from Healthcare Australia — the company contracted to deliver the COVID-19 vaccinations.
“I have asked the department to take action against the company and the doctor for what is a clear breach on both fronts,” Hunt said.
That’s not such a great day then for Australia’s so-called masters of the universe, with Healthcare Australia owned by Governor Philip Tower-based private equity outfit Crescent Capital Partners, led by managing partner Michael Alscher.
“HCA is perfectly positioned to deliver the COVID-19 vaccine project,” the company declares on its website.
“HCA’s recent experience … has set us apart from our competitors and leaves HCA in an envious position assisting the commonwealth.”
Oh dear.
Crescent partner Daren McKennay chairs HCA, with the company, which has been heavily involved in COVID-19 hotels and the commonwealth COVID-19 aged-care response, led by CEO Jason Cartright.
This week’s mishap and government backlash won’t be the sort of pre-marketing envisaged by the bankers preparing Crescent’s potential $600m float of its pathology group Australian Clinical Labs business.
What a terrible look.
Andrews’ new model
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews might have an immediate problem with hotel quarantine on his hands, but the all-pervading leader of the southern state is thinking beyond the time when our nation achieves herd immunity from COVID-19.
Following a bumpy ride at city hotels, last week Andrews revealed he was considering alternative models for quarantining overseas and returning travellers at facilities potentially located at Melbourne Airport and billionaire Lindsay Fox’s Avalon Airport.
Now Margin Call can reveal that Andrews has officially put the callout to market for “new quarantine models for the long term” in Victoria towards awarding a lucrative contract to the private sector.
But Andrews recognises the pandemic isn’t going to last forever and has outlined in his “market soundings” document, replies to which close on March 1, what he might do with facilities once the pandemic has passed.
“In addition to the immediate public health requirements, consideration is to be given to the long-term purposes and benefits of the proposed facilities — for example, opportunities for future uses such as … emergency bushfire accommodation,” Andrews is telling potential tenderers.
Andrews is asking for; single-storey structures that are adequately spaced; designs that facilitate strict infection protection and control protocols; individual units that cater to a variety of family sizes; and units with self-contained bathroom facilities.
He also wants high-quality, separate ventilation systems for each room and natural ventilation where possible.
Sounds like all the things that his government’s hotel and airport hotel quarantine program hasn’t had.
Looks like it’s all going to take a while though, with Andrews’ document indicating this is just an “information-gathering exercise” and not
a formal “expressions of interest”.
And already there is a “probity adviser” to the whole process, just to make sure no issues around conflicts of interest, ethics or corruption arise. Yikes.
Lobsters snapped up
It seems Defence Minister Linda Reynolds has missed out on quite the spread at the National Press Club, after her admission to a Canberra hospital on Wednesday.
Reynolds, who has been front and centre in the unfolding sexual assault scandal sparked by former staffer Brittany Higgins, had been scheduled to deliver a speech to the press club at lunch, but was taken to hospital with respiratory concerns only hours before.
With no keynote, that left organisers of the event in quite the bind — what to do with 220 champagne-cured lobsters?
It's Lobster Day at the #NPC! Don't miss out on Champagne poached Western Australian lobster for just $10! Today only. pic.twitter.com/mbwQUGrvGf
— National Press Club (@PressClubAust) February 23, 2021
Flog them off for $10 a pop to the media and support staff in the Canberra bubble of course!
Though it seems whoever’s been running the press club’s social media accounts hasn’t been paying enough attention to the ongoing debate over wage or welfare increases, with Twitter users quick to point out those gourmet meals could be better served feeding the homeless or those in aged care.
For the record, those 220 lobsters were snapped up in 72 minutes, with the account noting “that’s got to be some kind of record!”
Lobsters, of course, are a regular on the menu at the press club as the kitchen takes advantage of the crustacean’s current market surplus, though not even PM Scott Morrison got the champagne-cured treatment when he appeared for the opening address on February 1.
Next up on the press club calendar? None other than Australian of the Year Grace Tame, an outspoken advocate for survivors of sexual assault.
Indeed, the press club’s timing seems to be spot-on even if its tweets miss the mark.
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