PM Scott Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg rally the business troops in Canberra
Qantas boss Alan Joyce and his Virgin Australia counterpart Paul Scurrah have got their heads around the federal government’s advice on how to best pitch in Canberra in the Morrison era.
At their historic “Good Wednesday” summit at the National Press Club, the aviation duo both quoted Josh Frydenberg’s wisdom on the importance of productivity reform and knitted the Treasurer’s words into their dual pitch for the government to take on monopolistic airports.
Clearly Frydenberg’s speech at the Business Council of Australia’s private dinner on Tuesday in Parliament House made an impression.
For all the tangle of headlines over the last week, many members of the BCA who Margin Call has spoken to in Canberra this week indicated they were leaving in pretty good spirits.
A bit of perspective is useful here.
Remember at this BCA event a year ago, the big business lobby and its membership thought they were on the cusp of three years in what Bill Shorten dubbed the “naughty corner”.
That said, there’s no doubt the PM’s assistant minister Ben Morton confused many in corporate Australia with his speech last week.
But Morton’s healing efforts in his address to the BCA delegation at a private session on Wednesday morning — which included the thumping detail that he was a fan of big business lobby — helped smooth things.
So did Morton’s appearance at the big business lobby’s Tuesday dinner and Wednesday sausage sizzle.
Even more reassuring for the visiting CEOs and chairs was the prodigious networking effort by Treasurer Frydenberg at the dinner.
Our spies in the room told us no attendee could escape the charm offensive.
And just to underline the point, Prime Minister Scott Morrison volunteered himself as a surprise dinner guest.
The PM even gave his delighted corporate hosts an unscheduled pep talk.
“It was a rally-the-troops thing,” one of the visiting CEOs told us.
Seemed to hit the mark.
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