Tony Nutt steering the Scott Morrison transition

PM Scott Morrison in the Prime Ministers office at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: Kym Smith

A staffing army in the hundreds is clamouring to join Scott Morrison’s government. How the world has changed since last August.

Margin Call hears a pile of 500 CVs is tottering on the desk of Tony Nutt, the rose-loving political headkicker, who is once again reprising his role as the “Transition Director” for an elected Liberal prime minister.

Nutt, best known for his long stint as PM John Howard’s principal adviser, performed the same pro-bono task at the beginning of the Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison governments.

It’s a role that involves balancing the political and policy talents of each pocket of the government, not to mention the unearthing and forecasting of scandals past, present and potential.

The veteran political staffer is co-ordinating his work with the government staffing committee, which is chaired by Trade Minister Simon Birmingham (who has replaced Christopher Pyne as the parliamentary leader of the Liberals’ moderate faction) and includes the PM’s principal private secretary Yaron Finkelstein (an alumnus at research firm CT) and a representative from the office of Nationals leader Michael McCormack.

Illustration: Rod Clement

We’re told the vetting operation is progressing smoothly. Most positions should be filled within a fortnight, comfortably before the 46th parliament gathers in Canberra in the first week of July.

For the most part, the offices of Morrison, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and those ministers who have kept their portfolios are staying the same — or almost the same.

But there’s still a bit of flux.

One interesting redeployment is that of John Deller, once a journalist but for much of the last two decades a Victorian state and federal Liberal staffer, most recently as the chief of staff of Karen Andrews.

Readers will well understand the logic of the experienced operator’s new gig, which was approved in recent days by Nutt, Birmingham and the gang.

Deller is the new chief of staff of Melissa Price, who herself has been redeployed as the new Minister for Defence Industry after a cringeworthy nine months as environment minister.

Team ScoMo’s plan is that, with a bit of help from Deller, Price’s second stint as a Morrison minister will be more successful than her first.

Seems an achievable goal.

Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove swears in Minister for Defence Industry Melissa Price last month. Picture: AAP

Above board

Margin Call should note that Tony Nutt’s latest pro-bono political assignment has the full blessing of Australian Post chairman John Stanhope.

Nutt — who is also a member of the council of the National Museum of Australia — has been a member of Stanhope’s board since March last year.

While he’s overseeing the vetting of every corner of the Morrison government, Nutt is on leave from his personal business, Tony Nutt Advisory.

We’d expect nothing less of a man who has made a career out of managing political risk.

Change of tune

Now to one of Nutt’s fellow Liberal staffing enigmas: Tony Barry.

It was back in February when Margin Call revealed Barry — a Liberal foot soldier who has worked for Christopher Pyne, Malcolm Turnbull, Matthew Guy and most recently for Guy’s replacement as Victorian opposition leader, Michael O’Brien — had created staffing history.

In what was believed to be a world first, Barry declined one of the most sought-after plum gigs for former staffers: a handsomely remunerated, albeit part-time gig on the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

Even more remarkably, Barry’s decision to decline the gig came after Governor-General Peter Cosgrove signed off on the gig after Barry’s name was put before Scott Morrison’s cabinet, which was after Barry had handed his CV to Attorney-General Christian Porter’s department.

Now Margin Call can reveal another twist.

Barry has changed his mind again.

He will soon depart O’Brien’s office. After a holiday in Italy, he will take up the AAT gig.

Order has been restored to the universe.

We also hear Barry has plans to write a book, loosely framed as an Australian version of Chris Matthews’ insider classic Hardball.

Clearly he’s not short of material.

Home ground

What’s in a name?

Little of value, hopes UBS investment banker-turned property developer David Di Pilla, who has enlisted his lawyers at Baker McKenzie ahead of a circa $1 billion float of his Home Consortium big box shopping centre empire.

HomeCo chief Di Pilla, who is married to a scion of the wealthy Salteri family that founded Transfield, is planning to list his retail outfit in the second half of this year.

It’s not quite three years since he picked up the portfolio — whose tenants include Bunnings, Chemist Warehouse and Dan Murphy’s — for $725 million as part of Woolworth’s Masters property firesale.

Di Pilla’s fellow investors in HomeCo include Chemist Warehouse owners Mario Verrocchi and Jack Gance, Spotlight retail group’s Zac Fried and his uncle Morry Fraid and Western Australian property giant Primewest, which is led by David Schwartz and the late Alan Bond’s son John Bond.

Also involved are Di Pilla’s Aurrum aged-care business partners Mary Shaw, Alex Shaw, UBS boss Matthew Grounds and the Swiss bank’s global capital markets head Robbie Vanderzeil.

If it is listed before the end of the year, it will be impressively quick bit of financial engineering.

However, it has not been without modest complications.

While shoppers know Di Pilla and his high-profile investors’ retail chain as HomeCo, that company name is already taken, as is HomeCo Pty Ltd (the latter only registered in April), as well as HomeCo Company (which was registered last September).

When it comes to regulators, Di Pilla and his wealthy clutch officially operate as Home Investment Consortium Company Pty Ltd, which might end up being the name of the vehicle they take to market.

But as The Bard said, “An IPO by any other name would smell as sweet” — or something like that.