CBD Melbourne – The Age

Even more interesting was newly minted Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson who has revealed shes paid back a loan she received from a vehicle linked to Geelongs wealthy Costa family. Frank Costa, the Geelong-based grocer, has been one of Hendersons most enduring supporters. And so it came as little surprise to learn in October via her inaugural statement of interests that Henderson had received a personal loan from Ajax Capital after Mays federal election.

Ajax counts former Costa executive Gary Meadows and current Costa executive Liza Whitmore as its only shareholders. It is also run out of the same Moorabool Street, Geelong address as Costa Asset Management, which is chaired by Franks brother, Robert Costa.

But its a delicate subject, apparently. When asked about the loan on Wednesday, Henderson declined to comment.

Outgoing Westpac chairman Lindsay Maxsted felt the wrath of the banks shareholders at its annual general meeting last Thursday. As the man in charge when it was revealed the bank had breached anti-money-laundering regulations 23 million times, and potentially handled payments that facilitated child abuse, the criticism was expected.

Shareholders took aim at the banks inability to quantify just how much it will have to pay out in fines to AUSTRAC, the governments financial intelligence agency, as a result of the foreign payments scandal.

As it stands, the bank knows it's in line to cough up a motza, but doesnt know how much. So, it has accounted for the fine in financial statements as an unquantifiable but significant contingent liability.

Credit:Matt Golding

Shareholders werent happy about it on Thursday. But new accounts to emerge from Treasury this week show Maxsted might have a point.

A flick through Josh Frydenbergs release of the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook indicates the government is just as stuck trying to gauge the size of the fine as Westpac.

The accounts statement of risks shows Treasury has also booked the fine which will be a windfall for the government as a contingent asset that cant be quantified.

Of course, the MYEFO accounts this week were dominated by news a budget surplus projected for this financial year will come in about $2 billion below expectations. Presumably Westpacs payment will help trim that margin.

It was a takes-all-types affair on Tuesday for Christmas drinks at the Institute of Public Affairs John Roskams right-of-centre thinktank.

IPA chair Janet Albrechtsen was front centre at the event held in its Collins Street headquarters, which also doubled as a book launch for the former Australian Ambassador to Poland, John Burgess, who has written about his years in Europe in The Solidarity Challenge: Poland 1980-81, An Australian Diary.

The book, which charts the rise of Polands trade union movement and the beginning of the end of communism in the country, carries a foreword by historian Geoffrey Blainey. It was launched on the night by former Trades Hall assistant secretary and long-time Australian Workers' Union organiser David Cragg.

The common thread? Were happy to work with anyone who believes in freedom and freedom of speech, Albrechtsen said. That includes the unions, Getup, the Greens if they want to get on the right side of freedom, were here with open arms.

We thought JP Morgans Annabelle Mooney would finish the year as the US firms most high-profile investment banker, after shopping around town an organisational chart alleging she has a direct (dotted) line to JP Morgans global chairman Jamie Dimon.

JP Morgan has more than 200,000 staff so we are not sure a mid-tier Australian banker would get much phone time with the big boss.

Anyway, Mooney has competition in the form or her former PwC colleague Katie Tabb who is now a vice-president at JP Morgan. Tabb made a splash on reality television on a recent episode of Love It Or List It, which features homeowners unsure about keeping or selling their homes.

The episode with Tabb and her Macquarie banker partner Tom Colebatch was so entertaining that it featured on another program Gogglebox Australia.

Tom and Katie always dreamed of living among other white short wearers, we are told. Tragically, two years ago, they had to swap the white pants for a fedora, when they bought a house in [Surry Hills] Or, as Tabb puts it, Ugh, Surry Hills.

Life can be tough in a $2.24 million two-storey terrace in inner-city Sydney, after all.

Samantha is the The Age's CBD columnist. She recently covered Victorian and NSW politics and business for News Corp, and previously worked for the Australian Financial Review.

Kylar Loussikian is The Sydney Morning Herald's CBD columnist.

Read the original here:

CBD Melbourne - The Age