Liberal rebel in stand-off over Sharma domain name

Poor Dave Sharma, the Liberal Party’s great hope in Wentworth, sure can’t catch a break.

Having sent Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s preferred candidate Katherine O’Regan packing (to a salubrious posting at Rookwood Cemetery), Sharma was re-endorsed to run against Kerryn Phelps at the coming federal election.

The only problem?

Some hack has made off with his domain name, davesharma.com.au.

Illustration: John ShakespeareCredit:

The Sharma camp soon discovered it had, in fact, been commandeered by Rushcutters Bay resident Carlin Rookes, whose company Standard Pty Ltd we were shocked to find had also registered the business name Dave Sharma with the corporate regulator.

As Rookes is a Liberal Party member, we assumed extracting the website would be easy.

But this has not been the case, with months of negotiation and even legal threats failing to persuade Rookes — who is a member of the branch where O’Regan is president.

Stranger still was Rookes’ sighting at Phelps’ Bondi Surf Club Christmas bash last year.

(Meanwhile, Phelps has reopened her Cooper Street Clinic while Parliament is on break, charging a cool $400 per consultation, clearly satisfied she isn’t in breach of section 44.)

We predict it’ll be lawyers at ten paces with patience fraying over Sharma’s website.

Caledonia's double-or-nothing

Caledonia Investments Mike Messara, pictured in 2016, is navigating the funds manager through a difficult period.Credit: Daniel Munoz

The bad news for Gretel Packer’s childhood friend and Point Piper-domiciled stock picker Will Vicars would be well-known to this column’s regular readers.

His fund, Caledonia Investments, has been weighed down all year by large losses at its largest bets: American real estate outfit Zillow, delivery app GrubHub and gambling operator The Stars Group.

But we were surprised to hear of even more bung investments for Vicars and his right-hand man Mike Messara, who have for years been some of the best money managers in town.

With $4.4 billion in funds, and a near 20 per cent annual return, they were the ones to beat.

However, piling the cash into more recent picks like investment manager Challenger — down 40 per cent in six months — and automotive purveyor TrueCar, has backfired.

Still, Vicars certainly backs himself.

A recent Caledonia update, sent to investors earlier this month, shows they have added another food delivery service, German company Delivery Hero, to the holdings.

We hope it goes better than it did in Australia, where Delivery Hero subsidiary Foodora is in receivership and, as we reported late last year, may be in ASIC’s sights.

Another new addition to the books: New York-listed media outfit Liberty One, which owns the Sirius XM satellite radio empire and is controlled by American billionaire John Malone.

Will the ship be righted before nervous investors begin to pull their money?

Backing the bankers

ANZ executive Maile Carnegie has been appointed to the board of the Australian Museum.Credit: Peter Braig

Arts Minister Don Harwin made the news last week for a remarkable backflip — not on policy, just over the concrete steps of an Albury gallery space.

So it wasn't a shock that he'd avoided making a public announcement about the latest round of appointments, on Friday, to the rarified world of Sydney’s art galleries and museums board.

Surely it couldn’t have anything to do with the number of appointees connected with financial institutions and the nearness of the banking royal commission's findings?

Not satisfied with appointments as ANZ chairman and UNSW chancellor, David Gonski has been re-appointed to the Art Gallery of NSW.

Former Kambala council president Sally Herman, already a director at Suncorp and the Solomon Lew-chaired Premier Investments, also made the AGNSW, as did Virgin Australia chief executive John Borghetti (a nice retirement option, perhaps, as he prepares to leave).

The Australian Museum gained Maile Carnegie, ANZ’s digital banking boss, while former O’Farrell government minister George Souris was re-appointed to the State Library.

He’ll be joined by the chair of ANZ’s trustee OnePath Custodians, Victoria Weekes, and former senior Crown Prosecutor Mark Tedeschi QC.

And onto the Powerhouse Museum board went Dexus Property Group chief executive Darren Steinberg, perhaps measuring the curtains at Pyrmont, and former Labor minister David Borger.