When outgoing Business Council of Australia chief Jennifer Westacott called time on her tenure in February, she must have sensed that the process towards finding her replacement might be lengthy and far from smooth.
Hence the lobbyist said she would be out within 12 to 18 months. Tech executive turned venture capitalist and now BCA president Tim Reed might need all that and more to secure 10-year veteran Westacott’s replacement in the high-profile position.
After Technology Council of Australia chief Kate Pounder earlier this year turned down Reed’s offer of the top BCA job, it has been back to the drawing board in the search for candidates who could fill Westacott’s shoes pounding the Parliament House corridors in Canberra on behalf of big business.
Clearly the recruitment team has been looking to politics for options, with the change of government in NSW from the Libs to Labor led by Chris Minns providing some fresh flesh.
Margin Call hears former NSW Liberal premier Dominic Perrottet’s old chief of staff, Bran Black, is in the frame, and his background as a lawyer with Corrs before he entered the world of politics is said to be appealing.
Black didn’t want to talk about any potential roles when we spoke to him this week. A successful stint as BCA chief executive certainly wouldn’t hurt any ambitions Black might harbour towards his own representative career in politics – perhaps even federal.
Talk that Perrottet himself, now a mere backbencher representing the people of Epping, was also a potential candidate has also been circulating. However, the 40-year-old is believed to see himself eventually entering the private sector rather than remaining in a political role.
Perrottet declined to comment when we called.
Both state and federal former pollies have been on the BCA’s short-list already.
Former West Australian Labor treasurer and now Rio Tinto non-executive director Ben Wyatt was a leading candidate, as was former Perrottet minister Stuart Ayres. News that Pounder had been the BCA board’s first choice is believed to have played a role in the pair no longer being in the process.
It all begs the question whether Black, who Reed is believed to be in favour of, could effectively work with the Albanese Labor government.
We shall see.
Water diviner
Malcolm Turnbull is still a believer.
In the power of water, that is, as Climate and Energy Minister Chris Bowen fumes over multibillion-dollar cost overruns and delays at former prime minister Turnbull’s passion project Snowy 2.0 in Mount Kosciuszko National Park in NSW.
In something of an underwhelming appointment for a former leader of this land, Turnbull is the new president of the International Hydropower Association, taking up the role at the end of October at the group’s congress in Bali.
Snowy 2.0 was hailed in 2017 by Turnbull as a $2bn project that would increase the capacity of the huge Snowy Hydro scheme by half. Fast forward to now and projections are for costs to have more than tripled and beyond.
In 2017, the project’s first energy generation was expected in 2024. That’s now pushed out to 2029-2030.
Bowen is “deeply concerned” about the whole thing, has appointed a new project boss in Dennis Barnes and is awaiting further updates on the mega project.
But Turnbull, undeterred, via his latest appointment is doubling down on the renewable energy source, which is, arguably, his political legacy.
“Malcolm Turnbull is one of only a few world leaders who can claim to have been there and done it when it comes to making brave decisions to build hydropower to ensure the long-term energy security of his country,” IHA boss Eddie Rich said on his new boss’s appointment.
Been there, done that. And we are still paying.
What’s in a name
The Matildas’ epic 4-0 victory over Olympic champion Canada to secure a place in the Women’s World Cup round of 16 knockout stage has ignited green and gold fever across the land.
Sports Minister Anika Wells is proudly wearing her Matildas scarf in the parliament this week, broadcaster Seven controlled by billionaire Kerry Stokes is drawing record eyeballs and we bet Commonwealth Bank boss Matt Comyn can’t wait for their next match against Denmark at Stadium Australia.
The loss by Westfield (then owned by Scentre) in 2021 to the naming rights to the Sam Kerr-led Matildas was Comyn’s gain. His bank signed a four-year deal for an undisclosed amount with Football Australia boss James Johnson, whereby the team would be hence known as the CommBank Matildas.
Comyn’s timing could not have been better as each game of the unfolding competition grips the nation.
Johnson is basking in the Matildas’ success so far as ticket sales surge beyond expectations and wall-to-wall press coverage of the code further develops recognition of their brand.
So Scentre couldn’t be blamed for thinking it was the sponsorship deal that got away. Except it hasn’t disappeared entirely.
There remain several references to the Westfield Matildas on the Football Australia website, which have been overlooked in the change of naming rights two years ago.
Current squad member Clare Polkinghorne is referred to, for example, as a current Westfield Matilda in discussion of her role on Football Australia’s football development committee advisory group Starting XI.
As part of the same group, former player Heather Garriock is referred to as the third-most capped Westfield Matilda of all time, along with other Westfield references.
In soccer parlance that’s what you might call Football Australia landing an own goal.
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