Nothing says “change of pace” like taking on a coaching role at the kids’ footy. Former AFL boss Gillon McLachlan is at it after stepping down from his high-pressure league job, and now former federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg has also donned the tracksuit and whistle as he lives his post-politics best life.
Frydenberg has taken charge of a team of juniors at Melbourne’s famous old Ajax footy club and CBD’s operatives in the area tell us that the former Liberal MP for Kooyong appears to be going all right.
Former federal treasurer and now junior footy coach Josh Frydenberg.Credit: Instagram @smjfl
But if Frydenberg thought he could leave his old life completely behind, then the sight of a former political opponent, Labor’s attorney-general, Mark Dreyfus, on the sidelines might have come as a shock.
Dreyfus is a regular sight at Ajax junior games as the frontbencher goes to cheer on his grandson.
There are other signs of lifestyle changes afoot for Frydenberg, as the family popped their Hawthorn house on the market last week with a price tag of $3.5 to $3.8 million.
Just when neighbours were starting to get used to the absences of the 24/7 AFP security officers who were on the street during the former treasurer’s time in office.
EMPTY LOBBY
Next week, every lobbyist worth their salt will be heading to Canberra for the annual budget week feeding frenzy.
And a good chunk of those holding court at Aussies cafe will be former Labor apparatchiks. With the ALP holding power federally and in every mainland state, it’s a particularly grim time for Liberal-aligned political lobbyists. Unless you’re Christopher Pyne, who’s managed to turn a successful trade working for the military industrial complex.
The current fortunes of Liberal lobbying firm Barton Deakin – forever associated with John Howard’s former chief of staff, Grahame Morris, until he soft-retired into an emeritus role last year – are a case in point.
Christopher Pyne is one former Liberal who’s become a successful lobbyist.Credit: Oscar Lewis
The firm currently does not have a single active client in NSW, according to the state’s lobbying register. Federally, Barton Deakin has registered just one client since December 2021. In the same period, it’s lost more than 70. Last year, Barton Deakin shut up shop in Canberra, while the Sydney office is more or less solely handled by managing director Anthony Benscher, another alum of Howard’s office, who, it’s reported, is also responsible for Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Queensland.
But Barton Deakin insiders told CBD the whole situation, sorry as it might look on paper, was simply a reflection of the current political cycle. While the firm works exclusively with the Coalition, its parent company, WPP, also owns Labor-aligned Hawker Britton, which also struggles when voters go the other way.
Despite the downturn, Barton Deakin has some reason for optimism. They also operate across the ditch, where Christopher Luxon just led the conservative National Party back from the New Zealand political wilderness. And in Queensland, the firm is hopeful October’s election could deliver a few nasties for Labor, and put Barton Deakin back in business in the sunshine state.
PACK IT IN
A decade ago, before he was Australia’s richest funemployed person, James Packer was hoping to expand his casino empire into Sri Lanka, and enlisted the services of Australia’s then-Test cricket captain, Michael Clarke, to act as an “education ambassador” for the project.
But relations between Packer and the island nation soured dramatically in 2015. When a new Sri Lankan government rescinded generous tax breaks, Packer pulled the $350 million project, and the country’s then-prime minister (now president), Ranil Wickremesinghe, declared the billionaire nepo baby persona non grata.
Now that Packer is out of both Sri Lanka and the casino game, some old friends have stepped up. Hong Kong-based Melco Resorts revealed plans for its US$1 billion Field of Dreams casino in Colombo last week.
James Packer once had high hopes for a casino in Sri Lanka.Credit: Dinuka Liyanawatte
That name is familiar to those who have kept an eye on Packer’s own tragicomic retreat from the world of casinos.
In 2019, Melco and its boss, Lawrence Ho, agreed to buy a 19.9 per cent stake in Crown, then owned by Packer, for $1.7 billion.
But after the first tranche of shares were sold, the deal was effectively scuppered when a NSW casino inquiry started probing whether the sale would jeopardise Crown’s Sydney casino licence because Ho’s father, Stanley Ho, had alleged links to organised crime.
Melco sold its tranche of shares to private equity giant Blackstone for a $330 million loss. Blackstone is the same company that came to take hold of Crown when Packer finally cracked his gambling habit.
TINK TEAM
In a matter of weeks, the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) will drop its draft boundary distribution, which could obliterate a teal seat ahead of next year’s election.
If the Liberals get their way, Warringah – held since 2019 by teal pioneer Zali Steggall – should be merged with neighbouring North Sydney, which was won by fellow independent Kylea Tink at the last election.
Zali Steggall (left) and Kylea Tink in parliament last year.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
That could make things a little awkward between the two crossbench comrades. But whatever the AEC decides, Tink’s intentions are pretty clear, as the MP – still best known for crusading on climate action while holding fossil fuel shares – has amassed quite the little army. She’s recently been accepting applications for a $115,000-a-year campaign manager job on her team with a view to the 2025 election where, if North Sydney even exists, she’ll be taking on the Liberals’ pick, Salesforce executive Gisele Kapterian.
The successful candidate will report to both the MP and Kylea Tink Independent Ltd, a corporate agent set up to support the independent. That company’s board of directors includes experienced company secretary Bridget O’Brien and Katrina Barter, whose husband, Chris Barter, is a former Goldman Sachs banker and a co-founder of technology venture capital group King River Capital.
That isn’t the end of team Tink. The MP currently has 15 staffers working for her in some capacity, while a total of 23 have come through her doors since the 2022 election, according to parliament house staffing lists and LinkedIn. That’s an army that could outnumber a few ministerial offices.
It’s not a bad haul for an MP who, after being elected, was on the front foot complaining about the Albanese government cutting staffing allocations for independents.
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