Ruffled feathers en route to Midwinter Ball
Which ABC star made a sartorial fuss on her flight to Canberra’s Midwinter Ball?
“This is a $5000 dress!” she was overheard saying on her Qantas flight on Wednesday afternoon. Witnesses told Margin Call the Aunty anchor was concerned about the Qantas crew’s treatment of her ball gown.
It was, we heard, about to be stuffed into the overhead hanger — a distressing sight with haute couture. ABC talent aren’t paid that much.
But, still, ABC talent are quite recognisable by the taxpaying public. It pays to be discreet on a plane stuffed full with media, politicians and lobbyists headed for the capital for the political class’s social night of the year.
Over on the Nine table chief executive Hugh Marks and his government relations exec Clare Gill had a special Liberal guest for the Ball.
Of course they did!
Weeks after the Nine duo hosted Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his cabinet for a Liberal Party fundraiser at the media company’s Willoughby studios, who should they have this time?
Marks went with his buddy from his junior lawyer days, Morrison’s Communications Minister Paul Fletcher.
After their recent media storm, Gill wisely balanced things with Labor’s new deputy Richard Marles.
And — bravely perhaps — Marks and Gill were joined by Nine’s forthright anchor Chris Uhlmann, one of the many journalists at the company who were not happy with management’s recent diversification into party fundraising.
At least the Nine duo turned up.
The executive team at their rival Seven West Media completely tapped out of the Pacific Island-themed 20th anniversary of the charity ball.
Paul Anderson’s Network Ten was also barely represented.
The public broadcasters did a better job.
ABC managing director David Anderson packed his table with staff. Joining Anderson were ABC stars Virginia Trioli, Laura Tingle and Fran Kelly, Aunty executives Gaven Morris, Judith Whelan and Mark Tapley, and ABC boardmate Joe Gersh.
Rival public broadcaster SBS went in the other direction, packing its table with Immigration Minister David Coleman, Liberal Trent Zimmerman, and The People’s Jacqui Lambie.
Some stuck to friendly pastures.
Tanya Plibersek was with the Guardianistas, and Peter Dutton was with Sky News.
Recent press champion Mark Dreyfus joined Campbell Reid on the News Corp table.
Table of the night went to Qantas boss Alan Joyce, who had an assortment worthy of his $24m remuneration.
BCA director Joyce hosted Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne, Trade Minister Simon Birmingham, his visiting UK trade counterpart Liz Truss — welcome! — and fellow visitor from Planet Boris, our man in London George Brandis.
And then there were the two key speakers — PM Morrison and his new opponent Anthony Albanese.
Their friendly pre-dinner conversation was proof that — while the nation’s flight attendees may be a bit rough with the luggage of our wealthier citizens — for many the mood in Canberra hasn’t been this cheery for years.
The Nine Network’s federal politics reporter Fiona Willan admitted to a self-inflicted wardrobe malfunction after she forgot to put an arm through the sleeve of her Toni Maticevski gown.
Thanks Melissa...um, this is the bit where I need to confess that I forgot to put my arm through my sleeve! 😂🤦â€â™€ï¸(With apologies to Toni Maticevski)
— Fiona Willan (@Fi_Willan) September 18, 2019
What really happened at Engadine McDonalds?
Scott Morrison gave the first on the record address in the event’s history. “Now you won’t get to hear my unadulterated views of the RBA monetary policy, the South China sea, John Hewson, what’s currently in the Coalition agreement, what I think about the contents of Niki Savva’s book… and most importantly what really happened at the Engadine McDonalds in 1997,” Mr Morrison said. “It will remain a mystery of the ages.’’
Morrison also made a reference to the controversial fundraiser dinner he had last month on the set of Nine’s Today Show. “It’s great to see Hugh Marks here this evening with Anthony and I at another fundraiser ... Never forget Hugh, we will always have the Today show set,” Morrison said.
Along with digs at journalists, Morrison made fun of himself, rattling off a list of things he had learnt while being PM — including not to take a bite of a pie in front of the cameras, not to call his chief of staff by his nickname which was also coincidentally a swear word, and referring to a photo of himself awkwardly looking at his phone at the G7 summit: not to text his wife while huddled among world leaders.
Albo opted to shred his “off the record’’ speech on stage before he began his address.
“Knock Knock,” Albanese started his speech. The crowd awkwardly responding “who’s there?”
“It’s too early for AFP jokes,” Albanese said, referring to the Australian Federal Police raids on the ABC. Mr Albanese ended his address with the mantra: “Dance like nobody’s watching, talk like the security agencies aren’t listening, and donate like Gladys Liu is organising,” he said.
The event raised $340,000 for charities including LifeCircle, CareFlight, St Vincent de Paul, Beard Season, Guide Dogs Australia, Bully Zero and Good360.
The most popular auction item was a beer with the PM, with a bidder paying $10,200 to visit either The Lodge in Canberra or Sydney’s Kirribilli House with three friends.
Other bidders paid $5000 to play tennis with Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, $5000 for a three-course meal Labor’s leadership duo of Albanese and Richard Marles and $3500 for a sunrise ride in a Royal Australian Air Force hot air balloon with Defence Minister Linda Reynolds.
Making an impression
Qantas boss Alan Joyce and his Virgin Australia offsider Paul Scurrah have got their heads around the government’s advice on how to best pitch in Canberra in the Morrison era.
At their historic “Good Wednesday” summit at the National Press Club, the aviation duo both quoted Josh Frydenberg’s wisdom on the importance of productivity reform and knitted the Treasurer’s words into their dual pitch for the government to take on monopolistic airports.
Clearly Frydenberg’s speech at the Business Council of Australia’s private dinner on Tuesday in Parliament House made an impression.
For all the tangle of headlines over the last week, many members of the BCA Margin Call has spoken to in Canberra this week indicated they were leaving in pretty good spirits.
A bit of perspective is useful here.
Remember at this BCA event a year ago, the big business lobby and its membership thought they were on the cusp of three years in what Bill Shorten dubbed the “naughty corner”.
That said, there’s no doubt the PM’s Assistant Minister Ben Morton confused many in corporate Australia with his speech last week.
But Morton’s healing efforts in his address to the BCA delegation at a private session on Wednesday morning — which included the remarkable detail that he was a fan of the big business lobby — helped smooth things over.
So did Morton’s appearance at the big business lobby’s Tuesday dinner and Wednesday sausage sizzle.
Even more reassuring for the visiting chief executives and chairs was the prodigious networking effort by Treasurer Frydenberg at the dinner.
Our spies in the room told us no attendee could escape the charm offensive.
And just to underline the point, Prime Minister Scott Morrison volunteered himself as a surprise dinner guest.
The PM even gave his delighted corporate hosts an unscheduled pep talk.
“It was a rally-the-troops thing,” one of the CEOs told us.
Seemed to hit the mark.
Big Ben
Good to see Michaelia Cash’s former chief of staff Ben Davies back in Canberra.
Margin Call spotted Davies ferrying the high-powered Business Council of Australia delegation — BHP boss Andrew Mackenzie, KPMG chair Alison Kitchen and the rest of president Grant King’s blue-chip gang — around Parliament House during their outreach festival in the capital.
It turns out we’ll be seeing him a lot more.
We can reveal Davies — who had a cameo role in Cash’s infamous encounter with the Australian Workers’ Union in 2017 — has in recent weeks joined the Canberra office of Jennifer Westacott’s big business lobby.
Befitting the government’s mantra, until right here, right now, his has been a quiet arrival.
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