Opinion
All the President’s men (and a few women) line up for Origin schmooze
By Kishor Napier-Raman and Noel Towell
Despite the disappointing result, State of Origin’s triumphant return to Sydney on Wednesday night was rugby league at its gladiatorial best.
The action didn’t end on the field either, with the President’s Suite at Accor stadium playing host to a cast of characters almost as colourful as an NRL off-season (in CBD’s eyes at least).
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his vanquished predecessor Scott Morrison, both league diehards, were quickly ushered to different ends of the aisle after a brief, awkward interaction. Albo proceeded to cop a very gentle ribbing about his recent bike-riding exploits with Indonesian President Joko Widodo in Jakarta this week.
Macquarie Street was also well-represented, with Premier Dominic Perrottet, Treasurer Matt Kean and NSW Deputy Leader Stuart Ayres – along with his partner, former foreign minister Marise Payne – in the suite.
A few smug Queenslanders even managed to park in enemy territory – notably federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers and newly-minted Sports Minister Anika Wells.
Plenty of corporate heavies attended too, with Atlassian CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes spotted jabbering animatedly about Souths (the club he now owns a stake in). From the media world came Nine CEO Mike Sneesby and managing director, publishing James Chessell, Sky News chief executive Paul “Boris” Whittaker, Australian editor Chris Dore, The Tele’s Ben English, Herald editor Bevan Shields and executive editor of the Herald and The Age Tory Maguire.
And of course, a mostly full contingent from leagueland – ARLC Chairman Peter “showbags” V’landys who snagged a photo with Albo, along with his fellow commissioners. But spare a thought for NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo sidelined by an ill-timed bout of COVID.
No cold, soggy fries in the suite either – goodies included oysters, prawns, rare beef, and . . . party pies. It’s league after all.
Nuix: it’s the ethical way to do your dough
We were intrigued by the announcement from super fund Australian Ethical Investments on Thursday that it was now a major shareholder in Nuix, and was now the proud owner of a little more than 5 per cent – worth about $13.7 million – of the troubled Aussie tech outfit.
So CBD asked Australian Ethical how a company under investigation by the corporate regulator over its disclosure obligations, that was raided last year by the AFP pursuing allegations of historical insider trading and is being sued in at least two class actions by shareholders alleging they were misled on revenue forecasts ahead of its listing fits the criteria of an ethical investment.
Oh, and then there’s the matter of another legal action on the go, this one from former Nuix CEO Eddie Sheehy over up to $183 million in share proceeds he says were wrongly denied to him.
An Australian Ethical spokesperson told us the fund was considered ethical investment “because of the positive service it provides through software that is used by ... global and local regulatory bodies, law firms and advisory firms.”
Shares in the company hit a new low on Thursday of 86 cents, meaning anyone who bought into the original issue in December 2020 has done nearly 90 per cent of their dough, so it’s not clear to us why Australian Ethical thinks it’s a winner.
The $29 million of its members’ money the fund has plunged on Nuix since June last year was worth less than $13.9 million at close of business on Thursday.
But recently appointed Nuix CEO Jonathan Rubinzstein remains upbeat – maybe it’s the inspiration he took from a TedX talk he caught in Vancouver in April from Tesla boss Elon Musk – with Rubinsztein telling his troops last month that the future was bright for Nuix, in response to a scathing Australian Financial Review article.
“We have a good strategy and our success will be based on the execution of our plan, not on our competitors, or journalist’s assessment of our plan,” Rubinsztein wrote in a May 30 all-staffer.
There then followed the customary plea for staff to stop leaking to the media, with the whole thing promptly leaked as soon as it hit inboxes.
They never learn.
PvO’s new tome
Ten’s political editor Peter Van Onselen will have one of the first election-related reads to hit the stands, with PVO: Beyond The Headlines set for release this month.
The book is just an anthology of Van Onselen’s columns for The Australian, along with a smattering of commentary. But PVO tells CBD he won’t be shying away from the occasional wildly inaccurate election predictions for which he’s become notorious.
“The fun of doing this stuff is just to make predictions, I don’t care if I get it right or wrong,” he said.
That means PVO’s confident early calls downplaying the electoral chances of teal independents will still get a run, with a bit of self-deprecating analysis to boot.
What’s more interesting is PVO’s choice of publisher. He was approached for the anthology by Wilkinson Publishing, a small Melbourne-based house run by Michael Wilkinson, an old journalism hand who got his big break writing a book on Phar Lap in the 1980s.
Lately, Wilkinson has become the go-to publisher for the Sky News pundit set, putting out titles by Mark Latham, men’s rights activist Bettina Arndt, former army officer turned conspiracy theorist Riccardo Bosi, and alt-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos (remember him?). It’s quite the lineup.
Meanwhile, we hear PVO’s working on another, longer election-related tome for Hachette with regular collaborator Wayne Errington.
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