The Big Melburnian, BHP, a no-show at the city’s biggest event

Illustration: Rod Clement

It’s been a tough year at Melbourne-headquartered global miner BHP Billiton.

The shrinking Big Australian lost 15,000 jobs — almost one-fifth of its workforce — in the past financial year.

BHP Billiton boss Andrew Mackenzie. Picture: Aaron Francis/The Australian.

So it was politic — if still a shame for Gill McLachlan’s code — that BHP’s boss Andrew ­Mackenzie chose not to go on parade in the corporate boxes at the MCG for the AFL grand final on Saturday.

The Scottish Mackenzie, a St Kilda fan turned Bulldog for the day, watched the game offsite.

It was a season not entirely without success for Mackenzie.

“I am pleased to say that I took second place at the end of the home and away season in the BHP Billiton footy tipping competition,” he told us.

The boss was beaten by Paul Marotta, an upstart in the ­finance department who went on to win the whole competition.

Even worse than the tipping defeat was the corporate box situation. As BHP’s staff do not need reminding, with Calvinist frugality, the miner relinquished its corporate box at the MCG before the AFL’s 2016 season. The box had been renewed throughout the Marius Kloppers-era, all the way back to Year Zero (aka 2007).

Despite its reduced stature, BHP is still by some measures the most valuable company based in Melbourne. Its ASX market cap is a bit over $116 billion — more than $35bn bigger than Shayne Elliott’s ANZ, its nearest rival in Melbourne.

Some staff are hopeful that the box will be renewed for 2017, as a gesture to show the miner’s worst of days are in the past. For their sake, fingers crossed.

Stamp of approval

Australia Post chief executive Ahmed Fahour — and former Carlton Football Club director — brazenly plonked himself in the front row of the Western Bulldogs bandwagon.

 

But in Fahour’s defence, his enthusiasm went a bit deeper than just wanting to be assoc­iated with a winner.

Fahour, a former NAB executive, is close family friends with Bulldogs player Jack Macrae. The 22-year-old midfielder Macrae is best friends with Fahour’s son. And the links don’t end there. The chief postie is neighbour to Bulldogs president Peter Gordon, once a partner at industrial relations legal shop Slater & Gordon, where Gordon (no relation to the law firm’s name) was once Julia Gillard’s boss.

First of the majors

Today’s the day. At 2pm, Commonwealth Bank boss Ian Narev will front up in Canberra to answer the David Coleman-chaired “Review of Four Major Banks”.

The member for Banks, David Coleman.

The inquiry, which will take place annually and in its first iteration will run until Thursday, was set up by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in response to Bill Shorten’s continuing quest for a royal commission into the banks.

There’s been a bit written — including some in this column — about who the bank chief executives have enlisted to help before their appearances. Former Liberal Party federal director, now consultant, Brian Loughnane, for example, has been engaged as a fresh pair of eyes — or “brain in a jar” — by Narev.

So who is helping the four non-government members of the 10-person committee?

The Labor trio Matt Thistlethwaite (the committee’s deputy chairman), Pat Conroy and Matt Keogh have attempted to co-ordinate their line of attack.

Shorten’s office (particularly adviser Jennifer Rayner) has helped with the trio’s preparation, as have the offices of Labor’s Treasury spokesmen Chris Bowen and financial services spokeswoman Katy Gallagher.

Not that the committee members are feeling too confident.

“I think it will be a fizzer,” Conroy told us, predicting chairman Coleman (the member for Banks) will undermine sustained hostile questioning. “Three hours (with each CEO) will not be anywhere near enough,” says Keogh, pointing out that that will translate to about 15 minutes at most for each of the non-government MPs.

And what role has the former terror of the banks Sam Dastyari played? Nothing direct, we’ve been told, though the reports produced by the Senate economics committee that Dasher chaired have been essential reading.

Attack defanged

One person who won’t be helping the Labor effort to embarrass the Big Four CEOs this week is Cameron Sinclair, who was Dastyari’s chief adviser before he moved over to Chris Bowen’s office in March.

Senator Sam Dastyari. Picture: Toby Zerna.

Behind the scenes, Sinclair was a key player in helping Dastyari co-ordinate the scuttling of the then Abbott government’s changes to financial advice regulation.

Meaty encounter

Nine years ago, a young Indian couple with big dreams of building a $70 million “Taj on Swan” bought a block of land from businessman Warren Anderson. Yesterday, the demolition equipment rolled in and began to destroy the concrete shell, which high profile business couple Pankaj and Radhika Oswal abandoned in Perth’s exclusive Peppermint Grove suburb when they relocated to Dubai years ago.

The demolition equipment rolled in and began to destroy the shell of Pankaj and Radhika Oswal’s Taj on Swan yesterday. Picture: Colin Murty/The Australian.

The destruction job — scheduled to take three weeks, including the clean-up job — is terrible news for the Perth rave community, who have made good use of the shell.

But it has caused great excitement in the city’s archaeological circles.

Legend has it that in the building’s subterranean concrete structure are hundreds of meat pies and sausage rolls — a politically incorrect response by its builders to orders from the Oswals that the site be vegetarian.

There were no signs on day one’s demolition of FOUR’N TWENTY wrappers. But we have been assured by people who should know that they are under there, somewhere. The search continues.

Taking a steak

Speaking of meat, there’s been a fair serve of speculation about the future of the various parts of the failed Keystone Group restaurant empire, which includes the steakhouse Kingsleys on Sydney’s Woolloomooloo wharf.

John Singleton out to lunch with friend Jack Cowin at Kingsleys.

For many, Kingsleys is best known as the site at which businessman John Singleton (worth $416 million) lunged with a busted wine glass at fast food billionaire Jack Cowin(worth $1.81bn).

So it was interesting to learn that Singleton, along with the restaurant’s estranged founder, Kingsley Smith,and Singo’s friend and business partner, Gerry Harvey (worth $1.99bn), have inspected the site for a possible purchase.

“We’ve looked at it,” Harvey told us, before adding the parking — or lack of it — made it an imperfect site.

But the trio are interested on getting into the steakhouse business together. An opening at either Barangaroo or the Entertainment Quarter — a plot of Sydney’s eastern suburbs Harvey and Singo own together — sounds more likely than at Woolloomooloo.

For Harvey, who is best known for his Harvey Norman retail empire, there’s a farm-to-plate appeal to the venture. The billionaire has considerable Wagyu beef interests.

Harvey, 77, also thinks there’s an opportunity to improve the local steak offering. He was particularly taken with a spread of three different cuts of steak on a recent trip to the US.

“A medley of steaks,” he said, recalling the meal. “That’s a good idea.”