Steve Bracks in box seat for MCG gig

Illustration: Rod Clement.

Three and a half years after Steve Bracks had his appointment as Australia’s New York consul-general revoked by the Abbott government, Daniel ­Andrews is expected to make the former Victorian Labor premier the chairman of the prestigious MCG Trust.

It may not quite be the New York Consul-General’s residence — currently occupied by one-time Abbott backer Nick Minchin — but there are certainly worse places to be than the plush seats at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on AFL grand final day or the first day of an Ashes Test match.

Bracks, a mad Geelong fan, appears to have headed off a push from former federal treasurer and current MCG Trust trustee Peter Costello, who ­apparently made a run for the gig. But the Liberal grandee’s politics clearly did him no favours with Andrews.

Steve Bracks.

As Julie Bishop explained to Bracks in 2013, sometimes political colours matter.

Bracks, who also chairs industry super fund Cbus, will replace former Australian Industry Group chief executive Bob Herbert, who has been chairing the trust that oversees the nation’s most famous sporting arena.

The new chairman has done his homework. In January 2015, Andrews appointed Bracks to head a new trust to oversee the development and management of Geelong’s home ground, ­Simonds Stadium, which is run in a similar way to the MCG Trust.

This has been a year of renewal at the MCG. In late March, the Melbourne Cricket Club appointed another former Victorian premier, Ted Baillieu, and Goldman Sachs local investment banking boss Christian Johnston to the MCC Committee to fill casual vacancies created by the retirements of vice-presidents David Crow and Stephen Spargo.

Mumsie’s the word

Putting the ongoing implosion of celebrity accountant Anthony Bell and celebrity Kelly Landry’s marriage to one side, there have been two
ding-dong public battles so far this year: Kerry Stokes’s Seven West empire’s stoush with CEO Tim Worner’s former mistress Amber Harrison, and indomitable sports administrator John Coates’s showdown withgold medal-winning broker Danni Roche for the presidency of the Australian Olympic Committee.

Straddling both is Justine Munsie, partner at top-tier law firm Addisons, whose inbox activity could only be rivalled by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s new education adviser David Gonski, chairman — or, to use the bank’s post-Amsterdam coffee shop lingo, “grand chieftain” — of the tribe of ANZ.

Bruce McWilliam, second left, at Malcolm Turnbull's Point Piper home.

Munsie is a long-term adviser to Stokes’s chief legal mind Bruce McWilliam (an almost neighbour of Gonski and the PM in Sydney’s Point Piper) and has been helping out on the media group’s voluminous legal battles triggered by whistleblower Harrison.

The billable hours don’t end there. Munsie has also been drawn into the bitter battle unfolding at the AOC, representing former committee chief executive Fiona de Jong in her claims of bullying at the organisation and specifically against the now stood down media manager Mike Tancred, a Coates loyalist.

Too close to call

Meantime, as the Australian Olympic Committee’s likely marathon annual meeting approaches, old guard John Coates and new broom Danni Roche continue to work the phones canvassing support for their election.

Three days out from the vote, support from Olympic sports was far from locked in behind either candidate.

The secret ballot means it’s hard for the likes of Athletics Australia chair and AOC committee member nominee Mark Arbib, who is running the numbers for president Coates, to get a read on support. It was almost easier to topple a sitting prime minister.

Danni Roche.

On Friday, the AOC executive will formally meet ahead of the Saturday showdown in Sydney over the future of the 27-year veteran president Coates.

Top of the agenda is the independent review into the AOC workplace that Coates committed to following the formal bullying complaint by former CEO Fiona de Jong.

As we understand it, the appointment of a consultant to undertake that review will be left to the newly constituted executive after Saturday’s AGM. Seems a sensible approach.

We also understand that Roche’s repeated requests to address the AOC annual meeting have been knocked back by Team Coates, who are sticking with tradition. Coates as president will give his own address to delegates on Saturday.

Leon’s the go-to man

He’s represented the likes of Andrew Grech’s beleaguered law firm Slater & Gordon, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, late cardboard billionaire Richard Pratt and talk-show host turned troubled businessman Steve Vizard.

And Arnold Block Leibler partner Leon “Mr Fixit” Zwier has lived up to his moniker yet again, playing a behind-the-scenes role in law firm Herbert Smith Freehills’ case against eight departing partners who quit last year to set up an Australian arm of Wall Street law firm White & Case.

Filings with the Supreme Court of NSW reveal Zwier was quietly appointed on April 18 to represent Andrew Clark and the other departing partners.

Mr Fixit replaced Seyfarth Shaw Australia’s employment law partner Chris Gardner in the mediating role.

Less than two weeks later, Zwier had brokered a settlement, which makes final an interim ruling that allows the partners to work subject to strict anti-poaching conditions that remain in place until September.

Maybe someone could pass Zwier’s phone number on to mogul Kerry Stokes, ahead of his media company’s third attempt at mediation with former Seven employee Amber Harrison on, or before, June 1.

Bok on the block

Turns out the Greenhill Australia gang didn’t have to wait long for their New York-based investment banking overlord Scott Bok to visit.

Greenhill’s international boss flew in to Melbourne days after the local arm reported its unhappy numbers for 2016.

We gather Bok will be in Sydney today. Sources close to the boutique suggest the trip will, surprisingly, not include a site visit to Peter Wilson’s $5 million Woolloomooloo renovation (which we hear may soon feature in Jacuzzi Monthly, a big deal for the hot tub set).

One person missing out on the Greenhill Melbourne gathering was former managing director Michelle Jablko, who was overseeing the release of the interim results at vegetarian chieftain Shayne Elliott’s ANZ.

Michelle Jablko.

Until yesterday, Jablko was the chief financial officer at Elliott’s bank/start-up, but following a late night in Amsterdam the chieftain has removed hierarchical titles.

We understand after Elliott’s Dutch bender, Jablko is now to be referred to either by her “tribal” name (Abacus) or “squad” name (The Green Machine). That all seems a bit weird to us, but then again we work at a media company not an “agile”, if highly regulated, $95 billion bank.

Just ask Marty

Chairman Marty Becker’s QBE holds its annual general meeting in Sydney this morning — just two days before Secretary’s Day, traditionally one of the most important dates in the frisky insurer’s corporate calendar.

It will be the first time QBE shareholders will be able to ask the visiting US-based chairman Becker about his board’s decision to dock chief executive John Neal’s pay by $550,000, following the CEO’s tardy disclosure of his relationship with his personal ­assistant. She’s since left QBE.

Unless Becker and Neal have had a change of mind overnight, we gather neither plan to bring up that Mills & Boon boardroom episode in their speeches today. If shareholders want to hear the ins and outs, they’ll have to ask.

Marty Becker and John Neal.

The same goes for the state of sacked executive Colin Fagen’s ongoing negotiations over his exit package. As we revealed in February, Fagen is rumoured to be in possession of a dossier of interesting information concerning QBE executives. Could be worth a question or two.

Another line of inquiry might concern silly season speculation about a $20bn takeover of QBE by German insurance giant Allianz. Is that all kaput?