PM Scott Morrison reprises praise for Visy’s Anthony Pratt

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Visy executive chairman Anthony Pratt elbow bump during a visit to Visy Manufacturing in Penrith. Picture: Flavio Brancaleone

What a duo Anthony Pratt and Scott Morrison make.

The two were smitten for the cameras on Friday morning, at Pratt’s Visy production plant in western Sydney, fawning over each other as they spoke of a ­“renaissance” in Australian manufacturing.

How’s this for a line from ScoMo: “On Sunday I joined Jane Malysiak, one of Australia’s many migrants, to get a shot in the arm … now I’m joined by Anthony Pratt, one of Australia’s great migrant families and he’s given us a shot in the arm when it comes to Australia’s economic comeback …”

Someone give his speech writer a raise.

The PM went on to marvel at Pratt’s factory, his department’s cash splashing for machinery as well as all the new buttons and lasers being installed at various operations across the country.

Of course it is not the first time Morrison has sung Pratt’s praises.

The event was reminiscent of another similar visit to Visy’s Ohio paper plant for its opening in September 2019 — with one rather gaping absence of course, former US president Donald Trump.

While the bronzed former leader of the free world may have been oceans away, the cringe photo ops were aplenty — the duo opting for a token COVID-19 elbow bump this time around as opposed to the thumbs-up that were all pervading at their last meeting.

But of course, there was ­plenty for the PM to be happy about. It was Pratt who paid $1.5m in donations to the ­coalition last ­financial year to ­become one of its biggest single donors — at the expense of the party of his long-time friend and former Labour leader Bill ­Shorten, mind you.

Illustration: Rod Clement

No word yet on whether Pratt’s been cosying up to new US President Joe Biden, but with Jeffrey Bleichon his advisory board, a former key staff member to Barack Obama during Obama’s administration (and a director of recent ASX entrant Nuix), we’d hazard a guess he’ll be off to a good start.

Recall that, in 2016, Pratt extended an invitation for the then vice-president Biden to dine with him, culminating in a Manhattan breakfast meeting later that year, pictures of which this column has been told he’s happy to share now that Biden’s in the top job.

Perhaps he’ll get a call-up for lunch or dinner this time around.

CSL finds time

For all the vaccines it is making, not even biotech giant CSL is immune from the pull of the Senate.

Recall just a month ago, when the Paul Perreault-led group repeatedly knocked back requests to appear at a public hearing from senator Katy Gallagher and her Select Committee on COVID-19.

In a series of emails, each with escalating passive aggressive phrases such as “as per my last email”, CSL made clear it was far too busy making the vaccine to participate in their questioning, despite being on the receiving end of $1.7bn of government grants for their part.

Well, now it seems the group has found some time in its diary.

Being called out as “disrespectful” by the likes of Gallagher and her committee colleague independent senator Rex Patrick can have that effect.

Two representatives from the $123bn company — executive director and COVID-19 vaccine projects lead Beverley Menner and senior vice-president of Sequirus Christopher Larkins — are scheduled to appear on Tuesday next week, via videoconference.

Easy as that.

It is totally disrespectful for CSL, the recipient of $1.7 billion in taxpayer funded vaccine related contracts, to refuse to appear before today’s Senate COVID Committee. If they won’t respect the Senate’s request, they should expect a ‘subpoena’. #auspolhttps://t.co/ZS3gMO8VoE

— Rex Patrick (@Senator_Patrick) January 28, 2021

The extra Miles

There’s always one group member who refuses to split the bill.

In this case, it’s Queensland and its deputy premier Steven Miles, and at $30m for the state’s share of hotel quarantine expenses it is not a small sum.

Not content with tearing up, shredding or balling up the invoice issued from Gladys Berejiklian’s state government, nor holding the invoice as ransom for commonwealth approval for the Wagners’ quarantine camp proposal in Toowoomba, Miles took things a step further on Friday, suggesting to his Facebook followers that they instead stump up the cash.

On his sums, it would take each Queenslander just $5.84 to fulfil the total, and to make it easy he sent them details to the Treasury’s own ANZ account, too.

While Dominic Perrottet’s department was tight-lipped on whether any well-meaning Queenslanders north of the border had pitched in, they were quick to point out that Dan Andrews’ government were so far keeping up their side of the bargain when it came to their respective quarantine bill, even as Lindsay Fox also pushes his proposal for a similar quarantine camp at Avalon Airport.

Truly a case of good cop, bad cop and we’ll just have to wait and see which tactic is more effective when it comes to the PM.

Digital push

The digital banking push is alive and well at Westpac, with consumer chief executive Chris de Bruin announcing a new head of digital just days after the group signed a “digital banking-as-a-service” deal with SocietyOne.

All the while smaller rival Bank of Queensland and its chief George Frazis this week unveiled for its $1.325bn acquisition of ME Bank, its biggest throwdown yet to the big four, which seems to be working.

In a memo to staff just days later, de Bruin detailed “a series of exciting changes as part of our journey to become a world class digital bank”, including a newly created head of digital role taken up by former e-commerce boss at Woolworths’ upstart venture arm WooliesX, Joshua Hair, touted for his digital transformation expertise.

Of course, it was Martine Jager that vacated the joint digital and marketing role just last month, as she defected to BoQ to effectively take on de Bruin head to head as the head of retail banking.

With her role now split in two, the bank continues to search for a replacement for the marketing function.