Rest assured,the big end of town hasn’t completely abandoned the Libs,although some seem almost embarrassed to be funding a party gasping for relevance.
How else to explain two donations worth $6000 from the shadowy-sounding “Oryxium Investments” … a company that just happens to be controlled bySteven andDavid Lowy,of the shopping-centre dynasty.
Billionaire Caledonia fund manager Will Vicars,who gave $7000 on election eve,was less opaque about his donation. As was Sydney Roosters chairNick Politis,whose $7000 beat the $5000 given to Labor by the South Sydney Rabbitohs,adding a whole new layer to that storied NRL rivalry.
PhilanthropistJohn B. Fairfax,of the family who once owned this masthead,chipped in $1500,which might cause some intergenerational tension given his sonNick Fairfax is a big teal donor.
Speaking of teals,we were intrigued to see Extend Your Edge Pty Ltd,a company linked toKirsty Gold,wife of private equity directorPeter Gold,which had fundedZali Steggall’s first Warringah campaign,giving $7000 to the Libs.
A few ex-pollies went through a bit of cash. Former Howard government ministerSanto Santoro,who quit politics after a scandalous failure to declare his shareholdings,made three donations worth $5000 in the campaign’s final days.
Kerry Chikarovski,one of the few Liberal elders to show up atDom Perrottet’s losing party,coughed up $1500,whileKathryn Greiner,ex-wife of former premierNick Greiner,gave $2000.
Spilt milk
The rapid-delivery service Milkrun closed its doors last week,surprising no one who’d been paying attention.
But the #thoughtleadership of Australia’s start-up world appeared affronted at how the collapse was covered in the mainstream media.
Adam Jacobs,a co-founder of The Iconic,andBrad Lindenberg,who made a motser from his QuadPay buy-now-pay-later company,trotted out the usual platitudes about “Australia’s tall poppy obsession”.
FormerBig Brother contestantMichael Beveridge was at it too,posting a picture over the weekend of him giving the finger to Milkrun founderDany Milham as the two hung out at Bondi sea baths.
“Picture:Dany Milham from theAFR’s perspective,” wrote Beveridge,who used to work for Milham at his Koala mattress company. The caption also included a bit about “dogshit media” and,in a burst of originality,“tall poppy pile-ons”.
Maybe CBD has been in the game too long,but – one slightly odd piece aside – theFin’s coverage of the collapse hasn’t looked too bad to us. Milham certainly hasn’t suffered theJoe Aston blowtorch applied in recent days to aviation heavyweightsAlan Joyce andJayne Hrdlicka – and Qantas and Virgin are still in business,last time we checked.
Jacobs,Lindenberg and Beveridge are all entitled to go public in defence of their mates. But we’d like to hear a bit more from those investors – including Atlassian billionairesMike Cannon-Brookes andScott Farquhar,who pumped $86 million into Milkrun last year and who look certain to have done most,if not all,their dough.
Naked truth
CBD was intrigued at the choice of venue for the latest unfortunate coming together of independent senatorLidia Thorpe and a smartphone set to record.
Maxine’s Gentleman’s Club on Sydney Road in Brunswick – the scene of an altercation between the former Greens senator and a group of men early on Sunday morning – is a bit of a storied institution that once traded as a franchise of US smut kingLarry Flynt’sHustler empire and is owned by Melbourne adult-industry legendMaxine Fensom.
The club lost no time on Monday morning slapping a lifetime ban on Thorpe,which is kinda tragic because Fensom has a teeny tiny role in the senator’s political origin story.
Back in 2002,the club owner ran in the state election for the seat of Melbourne – then a safer-than-safe Labor lock held byBronwyn Pike but now a Greens stronghold – with Fensom garnering a modest 254 primary votes.
But she did direct her preferences to an up-and-comer calledRichard Di Natale as he laid the groundwork to turn Melbourne Green and for his career to take him to the top of the party – which he led for five years before resigning as leader in 2020,with the party in its wisdom handing Di Natale’s senate seat to Thorpe.
Small world,eh?
While we’re on the subject of Thorpe,readers are reminded that it’s not too late to apply for the plum role of media adviser to the senator.
Applications close today,so if you’re quick and you make the grade,who knows? It could be you fielding the calls from journalists next time there’s a public blow-up.
Liddell Lion man
Former Bill Shorten chief of staffRyan Liddell keeps winning in the lobbying game,with his firm Principle Advisory recently picking up seasoned operatorKathryn Conroy,erstwhile government relations director at beer giants Lion.
Like clockwork,Lion was added to Principle’s books – they’d already been working together in South Australia – but the boozer landed on the federal lobbyist register last week.
On paper,that relationship looks a little awkward for one of Principle’s other clients,DrinkWise,the booze-industry-backed body telling Aussies to cut down on the grog – not completely but just a little. Lion,meanwhile,is pushing for cuts to beer taxes and other such favourable policy settings. Who said lobbying didn’t require a bit of dexterity!
But while DrinkWise takes great pains to reinforce its independence from the booze sector,the fine print makes it pretty clear the company’s funded by alcohol companies,including Lion. And,it seems,advised by the same firm.
Sleep-in for Berejiklian
We brought word yesterday thatGladys Berejiklian would be joining her barrister boyfriendArthur Moses at the annual Vinnies CEO Sleepout this winter.
Turns out it was a false alarm,with the charity’s people telling us that the former premier had pulled out late last week. Amid all the hullabaloo around the Sleepout’s launch,Vinnies had neglected to sort out that omission on its website.
We’re told the Optus executive won’t be available and will be finding other ways to support Moses.
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