By Stephen Brook and Kishor Napier-Raman
Two Qantas A380s at Sydney Airport about 3.30pm on Sunday. Both heading for London.
One was the regular Qantas QF1 service. But the other? That turned out to be a second Qantas A380 chartered by the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church.
Bruce Hales (front left), the global leader or the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, preaching in the US.Credit: Matthew Absalom-Wong
The church, once known as the Exclusive Brethren, is a secretive religious sect that has assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Enough, it appears, to book the occasional return-to-London A380, at a cost that an aviation type told us could be as high as $5 million.
Qantas does regular business with the Brethren, a costly undertaking given the airline has to take a massive A380 out of service. Oh, to be so religious and so wealthy.
CBD is not sure how the church’s strict traditional values – it denies being anti-gay – line up with Qantas’ flashy desire for equality, as evidenced by its sponsorship of a Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras float. Mardi Gras on the one hand; charter for extremely conservative religion on the other. Pride in diversity, indeed.
Sources tell us that the church was planning a universal occasion in Sydney but then its global leader, Sydney accountant Bruce D. Hales, apparently needs knee surgery.
The alternative plan is for 26 different fellowship meetings scheduled for next weekend, including in Paris, Edinburgh, Norwich, Indianapolis, Paparoa, Trinidad and (sound of a short straw being drawn) Warrnambool.
That is a lot of meetings and a lot of air travel. A Qantas spokeswoman said the airline did not discuss commercial charters.
“I’m surprised to hear our flight plans are of interest given the abundance of plane-related news in Australia at the moment,” a church spokesman said.
“Yes, I can confirm that many members of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church are travelling from around the world to attend a series of church conferences.
“As part of this, a company has been engaged to organise several trips to and from Sydney, as well as transfers, a bit of sightseeing and the like.
“For trips like this we generally use a combination of commercial and charter flights, determined by what is most cost-effective and convenient.”
CBD wonders if any of the congregation made it into the Chairman’s Lounge? That remains an unknown unknown.
Cat out of the bag
So prolific are the media interviews, speeches, public appearances and book signings of ABC chairman Kim Williams it’s as if the national broadcaster needs multiple universes to maintain his schedule. They’ve made a movie about him – we think it’s called Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Williams gave the Menzies Oration at the Federation University in Ballarat last week, and is lined up to speak at the National Press Club in Canberra on November 27. Don’t miss it. Well, you won’t be able to miss it. Not allowed.
Lisa Millar will become the main host of Back Roads next year.
But one fascinating detail from midway through his Menzies Oration caught CBD’s attention. Williams let the cat out of the bag regarding the new job for one of Aunty’s most popular presenters: Lisa Millar. The former ABC News Breakfast presenter would take over from retiring ABC stalwart Heather Ewart as the lead presenter of Back Roads next year, Williams said.
CBD hears that the ABC was holding off on formally announcing this until next year after Ewart’s run of programs (she has quite a few in the can) had been broadcast.
It is no secret that Millar is dividing her time between Muster Dogs and Back Roads, since jumping off the ABC News Breakfast couch a few months ago, but even she wasn’t ready for Williams’ announcement.
It could have been an amusing question to ask outgoing ABC managing director David Anderson at federal parliament’s Senate estimates on Tuesday. But the ABC boss is unwell and subbing in his place is acting managing director and chief financial officer Melanie Kleyn. Microwave the popcorn for 11.45am.
Cup runneth over
To Melbourne’s beautiful Royal Botanic Gardens and a stylish marquee on the shores of the Ornamental Lake for the grandness of the Australian Hotels Association National board luncheon. CBD would have settled for a surf’n’turf and a slab in the backyard, but readers now fully understand that is not how lobby groups and politicians interface in the Australian polity.
Stephen Ferguson, chief executive of the AHA, was vexed and gave Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and federal parliament grief for having the unmitigated temerity to have scheduled a parliamentary sitting on Melbourne Cup Day. It is the “most culturally important day outside Anzac Day”, he told guests. Truly.
Lunch made for strange seating combinations, such as Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan – who is tipping No.15, Bendigo Cup winner Sea King, in tomorrow’s main event – seated a stone’s throw from Sky News commentator Peta Credlin and her husband, former Liberal Party director Brian Loughnane. Endeavour group chairman Ari Mervis sat next to Tabcorp chief executive Gillon McLachlan.
Herald and Weekly Times chair and Tourism Australia board member Penny Fowler and former Albanese and Daniel Andrews staffer-turned TikTok lobbyist Sabina Husic were also there.
Guests enjoyed canapes of smoked duck tostada and coconut nigiri, before Rangers Valley beef sirloin and barbecued snapper courtesy of Curtis Stone, washed down with lashings of Coldstream Hills Reserve pinot noir and Penfolds Bin 389 cabernet shiraz. Afters consisted of a “roving dessert” of espresso martini Magnum with wattle seed crumb and lamb – not jam – doughnuts. Most of which were quickly abandoned on the lakeside tables after a single bite.
The AHA mailed out the guest list with dietary requirements to every attendee a few days before the event. Thus, we know that dietary requirement of Sam Groth, the Victorian opposition spokesman for sport and major events, are “no mushrooms”.
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