To schmooze or not to schmooze at the Business Council of Australia’s annual dinner?
To schmooze or not to schmooze?
That was the question for Australian bankers as they looked, once again, at their gilded envelopes from president Grant King inviting them to the Business Council of Australia’s annual dinner at Sydney’s Sofitel Wentworth last night.
With Kenneth Hayne’s royal commission continuing its one- week run in Sydney on the other side of Hyde Park, the dinner was awkwardly timed for the BCA’s pinstriped members.
In a first for the big business lobby’s gala night — which as always had a keynote address from the Prime Minister, this time by a campaigning Scott Morrison — not a single big four bank CEO was along.
And only one big four banking chair — Westpac’s Lindsay Maxsted, whose CEO Brian Hartzer will resume in the hot seat at the Hayne Show this morning — turned up.
Amazingly, even ANZ’s supreme networker David Gonski kept away (although we gather family reasons — rather than the royal commission — were the cause).
In from Melbourne, Maxsted was a late arrival, landing just after NSW-premier-turned-NAB-executive Mike Baird, whose pinstriped boss Andrew Thorburn will star in the commission next week.
Not that all the stars of the Hayne Show kept away.
Former AMP chair Catherine Brenner was along, seated a polite distance from her successor at the financial services shop David Murray, who didn’t miss the chance to offer his political insights to Finance Minister Mathias Cormann.
While the royal commission kept Suncorp CEO Michael Cameron away from Flemington for this month’s spring racing carnival, he made it to the dinner, as did his new boardmate at the insurer, Lindsay Tanner. Tanner will probably have a few more Labor colleagues along at next year’s dinner (despite the efforts of ABC chair-turned-political strategist Maurice Newman).
Also along, Macquarie chairman Peter Warne, although no sign of his departing CEO Nicholas Moore. Moore will take the stand to be grilled by Hayne’s crew as early as today, in one of the Macquarie CEO’s final acts at the Millionaires’ Factory.
If the Macquarie boss hadn’t made more than $200 million on the production line, you’d almost feel sorry for him.
Your shout or mine?
Spotted in the Sofitel bar last night — UBS boss Matthew Grounds getting a drink with BHP chair Ken MacKenzie.
Only last week the pair caught up at the Sohn investment conference in Melbourne.
Grounds’ investment bank did a lot of work for MacKenzie back in his days running Amcor.
Looks like the UBS banker might have some ideas for MacKenzie’s current gig at the big Australian.
High and dry
It was supposed to be a day to come together and celebrate Australia’s farmers, but instead National Agriculture Day has become an annual reminder of a stoush between billionaire Gina Rinehart and the National Farmers’ Federation.
The proof was on the good Starship Sydney last night.
There were, we understand, no representatives from president Fiona Simson’s peak agriculture lobby on the Rinehart-commandeered party boat Starship as it sailed around Sydney Harbour last night for the second ever gala event to mark Agriculture Day.
The relationship has broken down so badly that the two sides can’t even agree on the name for November 21.
Simson’s NFF calls it National Agriculture Day. Rinehart prefers the clunky National Agriculture and Related Industries Day.
While Rinehart threw her black-tie function, the NFF took a humbler approach, holding small events around the country yesterday to show off its members’ produce.
The source of the rift was the $40,000 novelty-sized cheque Rinehart gave ex-ag minister Barnaby Joyce at last year’s event at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra for services rendered to agriculture.
Simson had no idea about the gift to Joyce, as we gather she explained to Rinehart in a forthright letter after the event, which received appalling press.
Margin Call understands one year on the NFF president is still waiting for a reply from the billionaire.
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