As bizoids descend on Canberra to talk productivity, living standards and artificial intelligence, CBD thought it was wise to see how the 1 per cent are travelling.
Commonwealth Bank boss Matt Comyn is one of dozens of guests at the government’s economic reform roundtable, and, sadly for him, short a couple of mill. The boss of Australia’s biggest business by market capitalisation pocketed $7 million in the year to June, compared with almost $9 million in the year prior. For those playing along at home, that’s $134,000 or so a week.
Productivity Commission chair Danielle Wood, Commonwealth Bank chief executive Matt Comyn, and former Treasury secretary Ken Henry.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
While Comyn’s fixed pay and cash bonus increased, he received less from deferred awards that vested during the year. The numbers were revealed last week along with results that investors disliked so much they knocked almost 5 per cent off the bank’s – admittedly fully priced – share price. Still, better to have your salary shaved than being replaced by AI chatbots, as happened to dozens of CommBank call centre staff recently.
At the Big Australian, big salaries are back – even as profits and dividends fall. Chief executive Mike Henry has trousered a 16 per cent annual pay rise, to $US8.5 million – or $13.11 million in local dollars. His colleagues, Brandon Craig and Vandita Pant, also both dug up healthy pay rises, of $US3.15 million ($4.85 million) and $US4.24 ($6.5 million) respectively.
All this as BHP looks at closing mines and its profit falling sharply to the smallest number since 2020. In explaining the increase to investors, the company said the market was very competitive for top talent and that the committee setting remuneration was “satisfied the outcomes are fair and reflect the shareholder experience during the period”.
Speaking of jobs, Comyn’s predecessor, Ian Narev, is now ensconced at job search business Seek where he’s just clocked an 8.1 per cent annual pay rise, to $5.4 million.
Canavan’s energetic table
Not everyone is getting into the roundtable spirit. Nationals senator Matt Canavan sat himself at a table across from Parliament House with a sign that screamed: “ENERGY PRICES ARE THE REAL PRODUCTIVITY ISSUE! CHANGE MY MIND”.
Canavan’s stunt attracted the attention of Sky News and The Guardian on Tuesday, proving a little colour can go a long way on a slow news day.
Canavan will this week host a rival event inside the great house, promising economists, former Treasury officials and former business group representatives.
Senator Matt Canavan recreates a meme outside Parliament House as the economic roundtable takes place inside Parliament House.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
Then there’s former Reserve Bank governor and current Macquarie Group chairman Glenn Stevens, who has blamed Australia’s poor productivity on weakness in the mining sector.
“What’s happened is that mining productivity has been going down,” he told an investor conference in June. Who will tell Gina Rinehart?
Stevens also reckons Australia’s had a list for improving productivity for about a decade, but politicians have done not much about it.
“More competition, less regulation, more flexibility, including in IR [industrial relations] things,” he says. “These are things that are not politically easy to do.”
More Al Muderis spin news
CBD brought word last week that disgraced orthopaedic surgeon Munjed Al Muderis had spent $19,000 on just nine days of crisis communications advice from PR veteran Peter Wilkinson after an investigation by this masthead and 60 Minutes found (among other things) that he’d left patients with maggot-infested wounds.
As we reported, Al Muderis ignored Wilkinson’s advice, which was to prioritise a media strategy over a legal one, and called in the defamation big gun, Sue Chrysanthou, SC.
He then proceeded to lose an epic trial against The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes, leaving the doctor on the hook for some $19 million in legal bills.
It turns out another PR firm worked for Al Muderis, before abruptly parting ways. CBD hears that Mark Hawthorne, a former senior editor at The Age and managing partner of pricey PR firm Civic Partnership, worked with Al Muderis for a few months during the first stages of his trial in 2023.
Public relations adviser Mark Hawthorne (rear) leaving court with Tolga Kumova (right) and Gilbert & Tobin solicitor Rebecca Dunn at a separate defamation trial.Credit: Oscar Colman
You might recall Civic’s work representing Israel Folau during his clash with Rugby Australia. Word on the street is the firm’s top managing partners charge up to $7000 a day.
Civic stopped taking calls from journalists about the case in October 2023, as the trial gathered pace. Asked for comment, Hawthorne responded: “At Civic, we do not discuss client matters.”
Cop, pollie, ambulance chaser?
Never let it be said Brad Battin runs from a challenge. The former police-officer-turned-leader of the Victorian opposition has raised eyebrows with his gung-ho approach to politics.
On Tuesday morning, Battin decided to do a press conference near a body at a crime scene in the Melbourne suburb of Dandenong. He told reporters he was passing by on his way to work and had decided to stop. At the time of the press conference, the next of kin had yet to be identified.
Allan government minister Colin Brooks described the move as “appalling behaviour from someone who aspires to be the leader of this state”.
“What we don’t need is politicians heading out to crime scenes,” Brooks told reporters. “That’s a real error of judgment, and he should apologise.”
Victorian Opposition Leader Brad Battin.Credit: Wayne Taylor
Asked later why it was appropriate to rock up at a crime scene, Battin doubled down and said he’d headed to the crime scene as he’d heard about it on the radio.
“I did a press conference with the cameras to highlight the fact crime is out of control,” he said.
“The cameras were already down there … it was already in the media. I went down there and highlighted the fact that in Victoria, this is just out of control.”
So, will Battin be turning up to more crime scenes?
“If I’m out and about and there’s a crime scene and I pop past, I will be making sure that people know what is going on in the state. I will continue to do that.”
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