Victorian Governor Linda Dessau has police escort at Melbourne’s Australian Grand Prix
Linda Dessau is likely to conclude her tenure as Victorian Governor in June, or sometime thereafter, having spent eight years as the state’s vice-regal representative.
Assuming this happens, Dessau’s stint will have outlasted a great number of her predecessors – indeed, she has held the position for so long that it would appear obvious she’s grown accustomed to the trappings of high office. These benefits have not always been managed with utmost discretion.
It was in September that Dessau received a personalised escort and preferential boarding for a Qantas flight at Melbourne Airport, where she somehow got lost between the Chairman’s Lounge and the boarding gate.
Qantas staff insisted that Dessau be first to walk onto the flight and fellow passengers were forced to endure a 20-minute delay in the terminal waiting for her arrival (Dessau denied requesting it).
When she finally turned up to board no one had the faintest idea who she was, and this only aggravated matters further; the people had been expecting a rolled-gold celebrity sighting for their wasted time.
Dessau and her husband, Anthony Howard, certainly don’t mind attending Victoria’s social and sporting fixtures, and this has long been an irritant to event organisers across Melbourne. It’s they who have to endure the demands of Dessau’s office and the persistent requests for spare tickets, the recent Grand Prix being but example.
As noted on the governor’s website, Dessau and Howard hosted the Formula 1 Grand Prix reception on March 30 followed by an official dinner that evening. They also attended the Grand Prix at Albert Park on April 2, all of which is to be expected for a state governor, of course. What’s perplexing, however, is why Dessau required the extravagance and expense of a police escort from the Grand Prix to Government House once the event had wrapped up. Presumably she received the same escort for her arrival as well, although Margin Call was unable to confirm it.
The pomp and nonsense involved in this decision saw streets blocked off and ordinary people once again inconvenienced as Dessau’s sedan, fitted with its distinctive yellow flag, travelled down St Kilda road trailed by half a dozen police motorcyclists and a separate vehicle with officers inside. This all for a three kilometre journey totalling a couple of minutes.
Had the need for heightened security been truly necessary then the Governor would have been better served with an unmarked car and some tinted windows — but we already know that’s unnecessary when an airport terminal full of Victorians were hopeless dumbfounded in trying to identify her. What hope would a terrorist have?
Needless to say this amounted to a remarkable diversion of police resources at a time of apparent need in Victoria, where the police hierarchy have scrambled to form yet-another gangland task force to sink a boot into the latest generation of thugs and hoodlums carrying on in the suburbs.
Margin Call put questions to Dessau about the necessity of the escort. These were palmed off to VicPol officials who answered in diplomatic fashion.
“Victoria Police provide a level of security to Government House, the Governor and other dignitaries while they carry out their official duties and obligations in Victoria,” a spokeswoman said. “At times, this may involve providing support and security at high profile public and sporting events.”
We also asked Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews what he thought of the extravagance, and this was similarly dodged. An official said: “The Governor’s security arrangements are a matter for Her Excellency and Victoria Police.”
Crowe’s Rabbitohs double profit
Prime ministerial support, billionaire backing and the Hollywood touch have combined to drive South Sydney to a place of financial stability, with the Rabbitohs well in the financial black and with substantial cash at its disposal.
Margin Call can reveal that the South Sydney District Rugby League Football, which is one quarter owned by members and the rest by a consortium of celebrity shareholders James Packer, Russell Crowe and Mike Cannon-Brookes, almost doubled its profit in 2022 and now has more than $10m in the bank to play with.
The iconic NRL club has come a long way since its key shareholders Packer and Crowe several years ago waived a $7m investor loan they had made to the club, whose stated key objective is now “ensuring financial viability independent of the company’s investors”.
Tech billionaire Cannon-Brookes joined the share register in November 2021, taking a one third stake in Packer and Crowe’s ownership vehicle Blackcourt League Investments.
The club made a net profit of $1.8m last year to the end of October, from less than $1m the year before.
The club’s accounts reveal the Bunnies now have more than $10m in the bank and are predicting that “the trading performance of the company in future years is expected to continue to improve”.
The Rabbitohs still now have virtually no bank or private debt on the balance sheet.
The club is now a $38m-a-year operation, including monies it receives as grants from the league, but the group is keeping its powder dry, declaring no dividend to its shareholders in the year – a move with which the billionaires seem just fine.
Stokes braces for demolition works
Dad might be a billionaire and you might be boss of one of the nation’s most powerful industrial companies, but when the neighbours decide to knock down and rebuild it’s still going to be a noisy, dirty couple of years.
Seven Group chief executive Ryan Stokes and his wife Claire Stokes live harbourside in Darling Point, overlooking Yarranabbe Park in a stunning historic mansion, Rilworth, which they bought for $16m in 2017.
Not long ago they completed a $2m Luigi Roselli renovation to the home, but now their idyllic eastern suburbs bubble has been burst by news that the Stokes’ new next door neighbour, BlackRock Asia Pacific boss Charlie Reid and his wife Molly Reid, plan to completely demolish the duplex they bought for $15m last year.
Reid was shipped into Sydney from London a few years ago to run the region for what is the biggest fund manager in the world.
The pair settled on their slice of the Harbour in August last year and have just lodged plans with Woollahra Municipal Council to rebuild the two homes on New Beach Road at an estimated cost of more than $8m.
The plans have been knocked up by eastern suburbs luxury architectural firm Tobias Partners led by founding partner Nick Tobias, with the blueprints and supporting material awaiting feedback from locals and then authorities.
But the impending demo and epic build won’t be the only pressing matter on Stokes’ mind.
He is also chair of the National Gallery of Australia Council, whose directors also include Ilana Atlas and former pollie Richard Alston.
The NGA is set to hold a major exhibition from June titled Ugura Pulka – Epic Country, which is now enmeshed in the unfolding controversy surrounding allegations about practises in the APY collective.
The gallery’s winter exhibition is set to feature artists whose work has been called into question by a major investigation by this newspaper.
Stokes’ NGA has said it will hold an inquiry into the authenticity of works set to be part of the exhibition.
Stokes’ billionaire father Kerry Stokes is a major collector of Australian art.
Cup-winning trainers, an accountant and the missing $460k
What’s happened to hundreds of thousands of dollars in Melbourne Cup prize money? It’s a story of debt, bankruptcies, court battles, and disputes between friends and business partners.
Nomad owners in sudden sale of $11m tumbledown mansion
Less than a year ago, Alan and Rebecca Yazbek forked out $11m for a tumbledown mansion. So, is it a cashflow problem or something else behind it being put up for sale again so soon?