This was published 15 years ago
Underbelly stunt the real thing
Matt O'Sullivan says to avoid roulette, Russian or any sort.
SUSPECTED gunmen should think twice about the offices they seek sanctuary in.
Take Whybin TBWA, an advertising agency well-versed in underworld antics, having spent months promoting Nine's Underbelly series about gangland killings.
Yesterday afternoon Bleak City came to Whybin when a man suspected of shooting a Star City casino worker arrived unannounced in its Pyrmont office building. "A couple of staff thought it was our promotions' department doing a stunt for Underbelly," said the agency's Sydney boss, Paul Bradbury.
The alleged gunman, sporting a false beard, liked the staff so much he stayed for more than 15 minutes, using a toilet to get changed before walking through the offices with a shopping bag allegedly containing three handguns. Once outside on street, his walkabout came to an end when police arrived en masse.
Bradbury had earlier been watching the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, open Fairfax Media's HQ across the road, only to return to his office to find police everywhere. "I thought George Bush was back in town," he said.
Tabcorp's revenues were unaffected as gamblers ignored the fiasco.
Lose some, lose more
Pity ANZ's chief teller, Mike Smith. Fresh from having to flag ANZ's first profit fall in more than a decade, the Pom was left sitting on the sidelines of a banking backslapping fest at the Hilton last night.
CBA's resident Kiwi, Ralph Norris, took the top gong for best finance executive for the second year running, while MacBank's Allan Moss accepted an award on the Fee Factory's behalf.
It turns out ANZ was the only bank among the big five to leave empty handed; even Paul Fegan's St George won a prize in the same week the Friendly Dragon cut its earnings target.
Smithers can take some comfort from the knowledge that awards are not always a sign of future success. In the '80s at least two winners of the entrepreneur of the year - awarded by Kerry Packer's now long defunct mag Australian Business - were execs of companies that subsequently hit the wall.
One year even Christopher Skase presented the magazine's awards.
Girl power
Mystery surrounds the sudden departure of Macarthur Coal's chief bean counter, Ian Fuller.
The former Xstrata Coal finance controller cleared his desk after less than six months in the job, and just two weeks after Xstrata's approach to the Macarthur board about a bid.
The only certainty about his exit is that it leaves two women - Nicole Hollows and Belinda Smith - in charge of the coal digger, which must surely be a first for an Australian mining company.
Rock stolid
You'd think real-estate salesmen and property developers would savour a chance to rock, but even the appearance of the singers Denny Hines and Christine Anu at Jones Lang LaSalle's 50th anniversary bash at Wildfire on Wednesday could not entice a crowd of more than 400 heavyweights from Sydney's property sector into the mosh pit.
Not that the organisers had not tried to get them to boogie. It seemed that they had had in mind something more akin to Woodstock or Glastonbury, with a line-up of amplifiers to make any rocker proud.
But the property types could not be swayed. Perhaps it had something to do with the bar closing at 10.30pm sharp to allow Jones Lang staff to slave over an Allco property sale?
Or perhaps the absence of the ageing rockers Greg Paramor (more recently of Mirvac fame) and Greg Clarke (Lend Lease). Then again, perhaps Sting and the Police are more Clarke's scene.
Speakers' corner
Yet another one-time prime ministerial aspirant looks set to join the speaking circuit.
Andrew Peacock has finally quit his post as invisible chairman of the Southport property mob Octaviar, previously of MFS fame. And what a send-off Octaviar gave the former Liberal Party leader, noting his "guidance and leadership during a very difficult period for the company".
After all, the truly honourable Peacock has only overseen Octaviar lose $2.8 billion in value since last May.
With a bit more spare time on his hands, the well-tanned Peacock could always join another prime ministerial aspirant, John Hewson, in putting investors on the path to corporate success.
Hewson has a gig providing his expertise to mortgage brokers and other finance types in Sydney late next week. He also has a bit more time on his hands after recently quitting the boards of Pulse Health and Natural Fuel.
The title of Hewson's speech? How Sub-Prime Can We Go?
Southern discomfort
Bob Browning is getting an education in southern hospitality at his new gig in the US.
You may remember that the former boss of the Perth energy company Alinta set off on his big adventure to Alabama last year after a management buy-out caused a few headaches in the wild west.
He has since found that his new gig at Austal USA, the US arm of the listed Perth company Austal, is a change in pace even by West Australian standards.
Just weeks after Austal USA was accused of allowing racial discrimination to flourish, a worker found a noose hanging from the rafters of a building at its shipyard.
Fortunately Browning has stepped in to insist that Austal does not discriminate, or turn a blind eye to racist behaviour by any of its workers.
This has not put a stop to a group of 22 black present and former employees suing Austal USA, alleging it runs a racially hostile work environment.
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