Twiggy’s plans for a new Rhodes scholarship – in Perth

It’s been nearly a decade sinceAndrew “Twiggy” Forrestand his wifeNicola Forrestdropped $65 million on a typically grandiose plan to launch a modern-day Rhodes Scholarship in Perth.

Twiggy wants to be the next Cecil Rhodes.

Twiggy wants to be the next Cecil Rhodes.John Shakespeare

Since then,the mining billionaire’s Forrest Research Foundation – which aims to attract the best and brightest academic stars from around the world to the city’s five universities – has copped a COVID-induced roadblock,thanks in no small part to Perth’s status as the most isolated outpost of Fortress Australia since 2020.

With borders open and life somewhat back to normal,the Forrests want that to change,and have drafted inJames Arvanitakis,a former pro vice chancellor (engagement) at Western Sydney University and most recently executive director at the Australian American Fulbright Commission,to run the foundation.

As director,Arvanitakis will oversee a rebrand and told CBD he was excited for the challenging task of bringing the world’s sharpest minds to Perth.

“It wasn’t the easiest to bring the best and brightest into Perth[during the pandemic],” he said.

“But every country had its challenges when it came to COVID. We want the city to become a cultural leader as well as an intellectual hub.”

We admire the optimism.

Members for Crypto

The Millennials are pouring into parliament,with Labor’s election win delivering a younger,more diverse crop of rookie MPs. With that comes a more diverse set of pecuniary interests:mining shares and blind trusts are out,cryptocurrency is in.

Labor’s new MP for the Melbourne seat of HoltCassandra Fernando declared an investment in cryptocurrency through Singapore-based currency exchange crypto.com on her disclosure form.

AndSally Sitou,who won the key Sydney marginal of Reid back for Labor,has crypto interests too:her partner Rui invests in ethereum. We hope they didn’t lose too much. Sitou has a fairly techie portfolio of her own,with shares in Amazon and Tesla.

Meanwhile,the Minerals Council of Australia rather cheekily gifted independent member for GoldsteinZoe Daniel a book and tote bag. Probably not enough to sway the teal from her calls for a 60 per cent emissions reduction,but a nice try.

Comyn round the mountain (of pay)

Commonwealth Bank chief executiveMatt Comynwarned home owners to expect a world of interest-rate-related pain ahead.

But there’s no such pain for Commbank’s executives. The bank’s results,released this week,showed Comyn got a major payday. His salary rose from $5.1 million in 2021 to $6.9 million in 2022.

Deputy chief executiveDavid Cohen also got a big bump:from $3.8 million to $4.6 million.

In fact,it was raises all around for the senior executive. The bulk of Comyn’s boost came from previously granted equity awards vested,a way of saying past bonuses which were contingent on hitting targets are now coming through,but his base salary went up by a cool $200,000,to $2.5 million.

According to the bank,fixed remuneration for executives is regularly reviewed “to ensure it is sufficiently competitive and reflects role scope and accountabilities”. Fixed pay increases averaged 3.6 per cent and were received by half of the bank’s 10 executive key management personnel,including Comyn.

Nice for some.

Uncool Brittania

There are many strange things about St Paul’s College,the all-male residential institution at the University of Sydney which has produced its share of prime ministers,business leaders and senior judges.

Beyond the cult-like hazing rituals,ostentatious displays of wealth,old school tie elitism,and stubborn refusal to admit women until the year of our lord 2023,there’s Pauls’ weird fetishisation of the British Empire. This was,after all,the institution which once held a “British Raj” themed formal,complete with brown-skinned waiters serving cocktails to the largely white,GPS-educated chaps.

But the pinnacle of that imperial nostalgia has to be Victoriana,the college’s Very British annual variety show,which,after running for more than half a century,returns to the stage next month after a two-year pandemic-induced absence.

The show is a strange,misty-eyed musical paean to Victorian-era England,with sea shanties,silly costumes,and,traditionally,a fair few songs that might be deemed ... problematic. Attendees are expected to show up in white tie,and traditionally belt out a stirring rendition ofLand of Hope and Gloryto close proceedings.

Frosty reception

The Australia and New Zealand Mental Health Association holds its 23rd international conference on the Gold Coast next month,with a slightly odd choice of keynote speaker.

FormerBachelor star,turned perennialDaily Mail AustraliafodderSam Frost is set to give an address because,like a number of D-grade celebrities,she’s launched her very own mental health awareness brand.

Frost achieved infamy last year after releasing an Instagram video explaining why she’d thus far refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19,and complaining about the “segregation” faced by her fellow objectors.

The use of the “s” word to refer to the unvaccinated drew richly deserved anger – “you ain’t Rosa Parks,” came the quip from one commentator.

Frost,now vaccinated,still has no regrets about the video. Why would you,when so little brand damage was done?

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Kishor Napier-Raman is a CBD columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Previously he worked as a reporter for Crikey,covering federal politics from the Canberra Press Gallery.

Benjamin Preiss is The Age's regional editor. He was previously state rounds reporter and has also covered education for The Age.

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