By Noel Towell and Kishor Napier-Raman
The first day of Big School – more commonly known as federal parliament – for the year was dominated by Senator Lidia Thorpe’s defection from the Greens after an internal bust-up over the party’s position on the First Nations Voice to parliament.
Senator Lidia Thorpe makes her Greens getaway.Credit: Shakespeare
The firebrand senator wasn’t hanging around parliament after making her announcement around lunchtime on Monday.
Barely 20 minutes after her presser, in which she took no questions, CBD spotted Thorpe power-walking through the corridors with aviators on, staffer and suitcases in tow, before being whisked away by a waiting car.
The rest of Thorpe’s Senate colleagues were observing a day of condolence motions for the late Jim Molan.
Thorpe wants freedom to “amplify the black sovereign movement” outside the shackles of a party. But despite her staunch opposition to an Indigenous Voice slated for a referendum this year, we doubt she’ll be helping out the organised No campaign, stacked with conservative types.
Which is rough for the Recognise a Better Way campaign, whose backers include Country Liberal Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, former Labor national president turned Liberal candidate Warren Mundine and ex-charities commissioner Gary Johns, who look like they need all the help they can get.
Since its “launch” last week, the campaign has just about managed to put together a fairly amateur-looking Facebook page – less than 200 likes so far, but y’know, early days – and a Twitter account featuring one post and has brought 77 followers to the banner.
In contrast, the Uluru Statement from the Heart has the backing of Anthony Albanese’s Labor government, and a vast, well-established online profile.
Social media will probably be key to wooing the undecideds at the upcoming referendum but, so far, it looks like the No case isn’t talking to anyone beyond the few hundred viewers who tune into Sky News.
CUP-RISING
Pity the poor employees of our national broadcaster. We brought word last year that the demise of a cafe at the ABC’s Ultimo headquarters, Auntie Knows Best, was greeted with shock and grief among the denizens of the building.
After eight years caffeinating the ABC’s biggest stars, the last mob lost out at a competitive tender to an outpost of “boulangerie and patisserie” Baked by Keiran, which is already ruffling a few feathers among staff who have taken to the internet to express unhappiness with the change.
On a social media page populated by ABC staff, the complaints centred on the price of coffee (a whole dollar higher than before!) and a lack of vegan options.
One employee suggested writing a letter on behalf of their vegan pals, with others floating the idea of setting up a staff sausage sizzle as an act of “revolution”.
On the one hand, it’s not like Ultimo, which is on the doorstep of Sydney’s CBD, is lacking good food and coffee options – just ask our other public broadcasting friends at SBS, stuck out at Artarmon, on the harbour city’s north shore.
Stepping outside the ABC building is really not so hard.
Then again, ABC staff are in mutinous mood, talking about going on strike after rejecting a pay offer of a 3 per cent pay increase (really a pay cut when you factor in inflation) from the corporation’s Ita Buttrose-led management.
The latte price spike could be the spark that finally lights the fire of insurrection.
You’ve been warned, Ita.
STRIKING GOLD
A big corporate takeover in Australia just isn’t the same without a few large executive payouts as the new owners clear out the C-suite to make way for a fresh management team.
And while the whopping $24 billion takeover move on Australia’s biggest gold miner Newcrest by global producer Newmont is unlikely to produce any of the all-time greats, payouts wise, Newcrest’s interim CEO Sherry Duhe might be in line for an, um, golden handshake not to be sniffed at.
Acting Newcrest CEO Sherry Duhe has plenty to smile about.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
Duhe, a former Woodside CFO, was tapped by the company to act as interim CEO in December until it found a permanent replacement for Sandeep Biswas, who was due to remain with Newcrest in an “advisory capacity” until his formal retirement mid next month.
The interim chief executive was on a $1.5 million salary, not in the same league of the man who she replaced. Biswas’s remuneration surged past $9 million in 2022, but Duhe, who also earns long and short-term incentives to be paid in shares, is in line for a year’s salary if Newmont closes the deal and chooses to appoint its own CEO, as usually happens in these matters.
That package might pale in comparison to the deal former Crown Resorts CEO Steve McCann scored when the gaming giant was taken over by Blackstone last year, with McCann walking away from the role $9 million richer after just 16 months in charge.
But, still, it won’t be bad result for Duhe for a few months’ work.
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