Treasury cosying up to Chalmers’ successor?

Andrew Charlton, the Labor MP for Parramatta, with Treasurer Jim Chalmers.

More than a few people were left wondering why Labor backbencher Andrew Charlton was named as a stakeholder alongside some of the country’s most vaunted institutions inside Treasury’s dense and zestless intergenerational report, released in August.

Charlton is an economist, of course, but he’s the member for Parramatta, and it’s unusual that his opinion was sought alongside that of the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Future Fund, the Grattan Institute, and the New Zealand Treasury. He wasn’t the only individual consulted, but certainly he was the only politician.

It’s not the MPs credentials that are in question, more so the optics. Labor’s Andrew Leigh is a former economics professor at ANU, but he wasn’t consulted by Treasury. He even wrote a book pertinent to the IGR mission. Yes, we’ll plug the damn thing. It was called, “Imagining Australia: ideas for our future”.

And what about that other economist, Arthur Sinodinos. Was he consulted? Of course not, he’s a former Liberal Party senator. Wrong side of the political aisle.

Liberal Senator for NSW Andrew Bragg. Picture: Martin Ollman

Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg was equally confused by Treasury’s bizarre cosying up to Charlton. He lodged a Freedom of Information request that ended up revealing the curious lengths that agency officials embarked upon to secure the MP for an interview.

No less than deputy secretary Sam Reinhardt, a former adviser to Julia Gillard, emailed Charlton’s office on June 29 saying the MP’s opinion was being recommended by Treasury Secretary Steven Kennedy.

As Reinhardt wrote: “We are doing some work thinking about what future industry structure and transformation might look like and how we might approach thinking about this. Steven Kennedy suggested it would be good to talk to you if you have time.”

Why would Kennedy recommend Charlton over any other non-aligned economist in the land? The pair, keep in mind, are very well acquainted, having worked together as advisers for Kevin Rudd when he was prime minister. A friendly gesture, then?

Charlton’s response, weeks later, confirmed that he would be “delighted to speak” to Reinhardt. A meeting was scheduled for August 2, by which time, as Reinhardt said, the IGR report would almost be ready to hit the printers. “We are bedding this work down now, so it may be late for changes,” she said. But no matter! Reinhardt added: “It might still be good to touch base and hear his views for future reference.”

Sam Reinhardt. Picture: Stephen Lock

It’s unlikely that Charlton’s input bore any impact on whatever conclusions Treasury had drawn. Per Reinhardt’s remark, it was already getting too late in the day for that. So, was there any point to listing Charlton as a Treasury stakeholder and contributor?

Well, yes, perhaps if someone in Treasury, like Kennedy, believes Charlton is the heir apparent as Treasurer one day. Presumably none of this will complicate his relationship with the actual Treasurer, Jim Chalmers.

Charlton told Margin Call: “Jim and I work together on issues sometimes, as he does with other MPs where they have expertise. I’m grateful for the opportunity to feed in from time to time.”

All well and good, but it wasn’t Chalmers who directed that Charlton be interviewed.

Senate snafu

Lobby shop SEC Newgate has been up all night attending to a few housekeeping issues after an embarrassing snafu at those Qantas senate committee hearings last week. Vanessa Hudson was in the hot seat when she was asked whether the airline had engaged SEC Newgate, with Hudson assuring the committee she had no idea what they were talking about. “We are not working with any lobbyists at the moment.”

Qantas general counsel Andrew Finch – a viral sensation after pleading with Senator Bridget McKenzie to be allowed to go home – backed in Hudson’s answer, saying Newgate hadn’t been engaged for work with Qantas, and nor had any other lobbyists.

Apparently the confusion arose from the firm itself. In July, Newgate undertook mandatory reporting to confirm it was still working for Qantas, and that’s why the airline was listed as a Newgate client on the Register of Lobbyists.

But it seems that Newgate assurance was woefully inaccurate – not only for Qantas, but for businesses that haven’t worked with the firm for months, even years.

Qantas chief Vanessa Hudson. Picture: Britta Campion

One day after the senate committee hearing, Newgate hastily updated its disclosures to remove Qantas, Australia Post, Bunnings, the Australian Investment Council, Restaurant & Catering Industry Association and Spirits and Cocktails Australia.

Further discrepancies must have been uncovered because on Tuesday another bunch of companies were crossed out: Acciona, Brickworks, Dominos Pizza, Endeavour Energy, Surf Lifesaving Australia and Sarkis Nassif’s Holdmark Property.

Not that Margin Call would suggest that Newgate left these businesses on the register deliberately – that it was fluffing up its reputation by quietly declaring massive clients long after their contracts had finished. But when it quacks like a duck …

The firm said: “We have gone through the register and removed a number of former clients.”

Keeping house

The heady worlds of international private equity and gaming are agreeing with local Blackstone boss Michael Blickstead. The former Macquarie banker joined the US investment giant to run its Sydney office last year, just as Blackstone was negotiating with billionaire James Packer to buy listed casino operator Crown Resorts for $8.9bn.

Looks like this heightened status has allowed him to settle and relocate into the $15m home in Bellevue Hill that he and wife Amrita Singh bought in May. His old shop Macquarie helped out with a mortgage, around the same time that they sold their home in Double Bay.

It’s a decent upgrade for the couple, who met at Harvard. They sold their Ocean Ave home for $9.3m to logistics billionaire Terry Tzaneros, who already owns a $40m mansion in Point Piper.