By Noel Towell and Kishor Napier-Raman
It’s not every day we can bring you a tale of state bureaucrats spending thousands of dollars of taxpayers’ money to literally go on a wild goose chase, but here we go.
Anti-duck-hunting activists have extracted, through a prolonged freedom-of-information struggle, the story of how Game Management Authority boss Graeme Ford and his director of strategy, Simon Toop, went on a jaunt to Denmark four years ago, to check out some geese, who clearly hadn’t read the script.
A pink-footed goose Victoria’s travelling bureaucrats didn’t get to see.Credit: iStock
The documents put the estimated cost of the trip at $31,000, but the authority tells CBD that the final bill was nearer $16,000.
As the centrepiece of the 10-day trip, Ford and Toop went out into the field with Danish counterparts for what must have been a chilly and wet two days and nights in the country’s north, hoping to catch some pink-footed geese to examine them for signs of wounding by hunters.
But it turns out they’re capricious creatures, those pink-footed geese – or PFGs, as they’re known in the trade – who don’t like to fly in bad weather, so the two-person team from Australia went away disappointed.
However, the field trip wasn’t a total loss, as Ford wrote in his travel report.
“We observed the logistics and challenges of working with wildlife in unpredictable weather conditions.”
We bet they did. Still, Ford and Toop did manage to put the PFG disappointment behind them and glean sufficient “key learnings and proposed actions” to fill an 18-page report on their return home.
But campaigners from the anti-duck-hunting movement, who are disdainful of the Game Management Authority’s efforts on humane standards, reckon there’s nothing in the report that could not have been “easily gathered via email or Zoom”.
We put that one on Monday to Toop, who happens to be acting for Ford right now, and he was having none of it.
“The practical, hands-on nature of the travel to Denmark has been instrumental in informing Victoria’s approach to reducing waterfowl wounding in game hunting,” he told us.
FREEDOM FIGHTING
CBD loves a political schism, and today we bring word of a beauty, as the friendly freedom freaks over at the Libertarian Party (formerly the Liberal Democrats) stand on the brink of civil war – over a logo.
Thanks to a 2022 High Court decision that followed decades of objections from the Liberal Party, the Liberal Democrats were forced to change their name to the Libertarian Party. But choosing a new logo has been a fraught exercise.
Some senior Libertarians, including NSW upper house MP John Ruddick, wanted to put the rebrand to a members’ vote. But in behaviour more reminiscent of a bloated Canberra bureaucracy, the federal executive resisted and instead hired a Brisbane-based marketing firm called New Word Order – yeah, seriously – to run focus groups and come up with a snazzy new look.
The Libertarian Party’s rebrand hasn’t been popular among all members.Credit: Twitter
On Sunday, we got a peek at the rebrand – a map of Australia with random lines coming out of it, plus a series of posters with weird fonts and all lower case captions. The response was lukewarm, at best.
“It reminds me of Jehovah’s Witnesses literature,” Ruddick told CBD.
The MP reaffirmed his calls for the party’s leadership to hold a vote on the redesign.
Former Howard government MP Ross Cameron, who’s now president of the NSW division – dubbed the democracy division by those in the Premier State – agreed, telling CBD that denying members a say was exactly the type of carry-on that drove him away from the Liberals.
Victorian Libertarian MP David Limbrick took a different view, noting that “when you get 10 people in a room discussing their favourite colour, you get 10 different opinions,” and telling us that the party’s volunteers had consulted widely with members.
Victorian Libertarian MP David Limbrick (left) and NSW MP John Ruddick.Credit: Nine
“I would urge the nine people in the room who didn’t get the colours they want to refocus on defending the rights of Australians.”
Party president Anthony Bull told CBD that the process had been the most consultative in its history, noting that rebrands weren’t traditionally voted on by the members. As for whether the logo stays, “The assets are still being developed,” he said. “We stand by the research, and we stand by the new branding, which will be rolled out shortly.”
Once that’s all sorted, the party can get back to the big ideological issues, as Cameron so eloquently put it.
“In truth, I’d rather be arguing over the real philosophical questions, like why Paul Keating is right about AUKUS, or why we shouldn’t be spending another cent on the war in Ukraine,” he said.
CAFE SOCIETY
Last week, the beleaguered restaurant industry got just what every beleaguered industry needs: a new lobby group.
The Australian Restaurant and Cafe Association, which is not to be confused with the pre-existing Restaurant and Catering Association, has the added star power of celebrity chefs Neil Perry and Luke Mangan.
It’s also already asking people to work for free, which ain’t a great look in an industry rife with wage theft. In a LinkedIn advertisement, the ARCA was looking for unpaid “association volunteers”. That’s one way to avoid paying the award!
Meanwhile, the new upstart group is helmed by Wes Lambert, a former boss of the Restaurant and Catering Association, an organisation struggling with a depleted staff, and the $1.8 million in debt accrued under the leadership of ... Wes Lambert.
BLING KER-CHING
Fast fashion jewellery retailer Lovisa, where the bling is inexpensive but the chief executives are not, has traded its boss in for, and there’s no avoiding this, a cheaper version.
Victor Herrero has been running the chain – part-owned by Brett Blundy’s BB Retail Capital – since 2021, but his $30 million pay deal last year, making him the second highest-paid ASX CEO, prompted an investor revolt, for the third-year running.
Markets were told on Monday that Herrero will stand down in 12 months and that his remuneration for his remaining stint behind the till at Lovisa will take quite the haircut, with the Spaniard earning a touch under $2 million for the year, although his multimillion-dollar long-term bonuses, which will vest in that period, should be some consolation.
Replacing Hererro in 2025 will be John Cheston, chief executive of Solomon Lew’s pencil case emporium chain, Smiggle, in a talent-poaching exercise that has not gone unremarked upon by observers of the sector.
Cheston’s remuneration package at Lovisa will be handy, no question, with the new boss to earn $2.35 million a year, which he could double with annual performance bonuses and long-term incentives potentially adding more than $7 million over his first three years in the job.
But even if Cheston nails his KPIs and trousers those bonuses, he’ll still be earning less than a third of what his predecessor took home last year.
Neither man was talking on Monday, but Blundy told the markets that he was pleased with the new arrangements.
Investors, not so much though. They sent Lovisa shares crashing more than 10 per cent on the day.
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correction
An earlier version of this article stated the Game Management Authority executives’ trip to Denmark cost $31,000. The authority says the cost was $16,000.