Where in the world is Trump’s one-time Aussie ‘advancer’ and what’s the deal, Gillon?

Young Aussie Phillip Hancock is in Washington, but not with Donald Trump. Picture: Facebook

He is the 29-year-old blue eyed boy from Perth who quietly emerged (OK, we exposed) as part of US President Donald Trump’s political machine.

We speak of Phillip Hancock, who graced the pages of The Australian last December when he turned up at a party at President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago in Florida in what was a memorable evening featuring Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt, Tesla head honcho Elon Musk and Apple boss Tim Cook.

The revelation was so well read that we hear the likes of Australia’s ambassador in Washington, Kevin Rudd, quickly scrambled to make themselves acquainted with Hancock in the hope that he, and the nation presumably, might have some sort of an inside line to the President.

Given some of the tariffs imposed since, that may not have worked. But we digress.

There’s been some water run under the bridge in the seven or so months since then. Musk, for example, seems to have fallen in and out of favour with Trump several times; but we have been wondering whatever happened to Hancock.

After all, Hancock was one of a handful of so-called “advancers” for the President helping his public appearances run as smoothly as possible.

So close was Hancock that during last year’s presidential election campaign he was on stage picking up one of now President Trump’s shoes after he was shot at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania in July.

So did the keen Make America Great Again and Trump fan, and now US citizen thanks apparently to winning the green card lottery in recent years, make it all the way to the White House too?

Close, but not quite, is the word we’ve got back from American sources.

It turns out Hancock is now working at the US Department of Treasury for Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the one-time hedge fund manager-turned-Trump fundraiser and now key government official.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett and Kevin Rudd in Washington in February.

Given it is likely Hancock is in a similar “advancer” role for Bessent, he could well have crossed paths with our Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, and Ambassador Rudd when they met Bessent and National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett in Washington in February.

And maybe he could have even played a part in Bessent’s apparent backdown and scrapping a retaliatory tax proposal that had threatened Australian investors in America – much to the relief of our big super funds.

At the very least, we hope he has been able to travel with Bessent on his trips to exotic locales such as Argentina and Switzerland in recent months.

Tabcorp boss’s entertaining global jaunt

Could one of our favourite chief executives, top hat-wearing Gillon McLachlan of Tabcorp, be finally on the verge of making a deal?

Gill, after all, has built a reputation of being a deal-maker thanks to his days at the AFL where he cut contracts and sorted agreements for broadcast rights, stadium deals, the memorable AFLX competition and probably even the office horse racing syndicate.

McLachlan has been at Tabcorp for almost a year now and has mostly kept a low profile, save for turning up to just about every local function and sporting event known to man.

No big corporate deals yet though.

Which is why we were interested to learn that while he was on a recent two week jaunt around the world that McLachlan just happened to drop into the London offices of Entain Group.

The timing is interesting.

Gillon McLachlan in top hat at Royal Ascot. Picture: Sky Racing

Entain’s Australasian business – it owns the Neds and Ladbrokes brands in Australia and runs the New Zealand TAB – is going through some challenges. That includes the prospect of a rather large fine later this year due to action by Austrac over alleged breaches of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws.

Entain’s local boss, the entrepreneurial Dean Shannon, recently stepped down as well. He’s been replaced by interim CEO Andrew Vouris and there’s some conjecture as to whether a process is running to find a replacement or that it has been kicked down the road.

It is probable Entain’s global bosses would sell the Australasian business if there was a buyer at a price tag of something north of at least $600m.

So is that what McLachlan was discussing in Entain’s offices recently, on a break from his otherwise onerous duties in top hat and suit at the prestigious Royal Ascot races?

Tabcorp sources were keen to play down the prospect of some sort of big merger talk when we checked in, and did point out McLachlan also made time to catch up with Flutter Entertainment global head Peter Jackson as well.

(And no, sadly there’s no way Gill could afford Flutter’s local arm Sportsbet either – it’s way bigger than Tabcorp.)

Gill McLachlan used to cut big deals at the AFL. Picture: Getty Images

In what was a whirlwind trip for McLachlan, we’re reliably informed he also got to visit the Isle of Man, one of gambling’s favourite light-touch jurisdictions, and also Las Vegas.

That came after McLachlan stopped off in New York to catch up with executives at the National Basketball Association (NBA), which counts Tabcorp as an Australian sponsor.

All of which goes to show that at least gambling takes you to cooler places than the AFL.

Deals or no deals.