By Amelia McGuire and Charlotte Grieve
The Royal Automobile Club has members offside with its peculiar decision to host a dinner this Friday titled “Pushing the Boundaries!” with controversial neurosurgeon Charlie Teo.
Teo is pictured in dark sunglasses and all-black outfit posing on a red Aprilia RSv4 for a photo promoting the event this Friday where he will “reflect” on his overseas two-wheeled adventures.
Charlie Teo and his motorcycle.Credit: The Royal Australian Automobile Club
For $95 a head, motoring enthusiasts are treated to a two-course meal and the chance to meet Teo – the man billed by the club as “well known for ‘pushing the boundaries’.”
“What you might not know is that Charlie Teo has been pushing his own personal boundaries recently: this time ticking off his bucket list, motorcycle trip through the Himalayas!”
Charlie Teo takes the high road. Credit: John Shakespeare
Teo is quoted as saying the trip was “a challenging ride and reminder of the fragility of life” that gave him “an opportunity to reflect”.
“I’m more confident than ever that we must continue to push boundaries. We can’t just accept the status quo … Rest assured I’m more determined than ever to fight and eliminate my ultimate enemy, brain cancer!”
The irony of the advertisement is that Teo was specifically criticised by the Professional Standards Committee barely two weeks ago for his “lack of reflection” in performing surgeries “without supporting statistical data or peer support”.
The surgeries left his patients in catastrophic conditions, and Teo was slammed by the committee for showing no remorse. He’s since taken to the media to say he “will never” accept the damning findings, blaming anyone but himself for the outcomes.
With restrictions now on his practice that make it virtually impossible for him to operate in Australia, one might ask – is it appropriate for the club to promote him as merely a fun-loving motor-head?
CBD called RACA’s events team, who seemed perplexed by our question. The event was organised long before the medical panel’s findings were released, and there has been no discussion over whether to cancel or postpone since.
Some members are furious, with one writing in with a simple message “not happy”. Yet the events team say they haven’t heard a peep, and they’re confident the discussion will steer clear of surgery.
‘MILLIONAIRES FACTORY’ UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
Former Reserve Bank governor and Macquarie’s chair Glenn Stevens should prepare to be grilled by shareholders about sticking by long-term auditor PwC at Thursday’s annual general meeting.
Luckily for the bank, their lead auditor is former acting chief executive officer Kristin Stubbins and not former audit committee chair Matthew Lunn who abruptly departed PwC last week.
Macquarie chose to keep PwC as auditor in May last year – they’ve had them on retainer since 1993 – and paid the embattled professional services firm a cool $79 million this financial year.
The group announced in 2022 it would commence a review of its auditor as part of its ongoing due diligence. Although the review was announced well ahead of PwC’s recent fall from grace, one can only assume its scope has since been expanded.
Making Stevens sweat is not the only task for shareholders on Thursday. They’ll also be charged with mulling whether to vote through a suite of executive pay packets that are colossal, even by Macquarie standards.
The head of commodities and global markets business, Nick O’Kane, was paid $57.6 million last financial year, the company disclosed in May. This is a hefty pay rise from the prior year when he earned $36 million, and $26 million the year before that. “That’s not a bad pay rise,” says one market watcher.
Although the bank may have expected its remuneration report to go over swimmingly (as is usual practice for the fat-cat laden group) proxy adviser ISS has told shareholders to vote against it.
While likely to be a minority view, ISS’s report, seen by CBD, is critical of O’Kane’s skyrocketing pay rise that’s way above industry peers, as well as chief executive Shemara Wikramanayake, whose stipend is considered “excessive … amid mixed company performance”.
It’s not all about money. ISS also slams Macquarie’s “lack of important investor-friendly features and disclosures” and “continues to rely on vague financial and non-financial factors”. Proxy rival Ownership Matters disagrees – waving through the pay packet. “It’s a very sizable sum,” says Dean Paatsch. “But that’s the Macquarie model.”
O’Kane could be forgiven if he’s a little miffed at the slight. The investment bank’s profits jumped 10 per cent over the year in question and his division was the standout performer.
HEMMES’ PADDINGTON TAKEOVER
Justin Hemmes’ ever-expanding hold over Australia’s food scene continues.
CBD can reveal Hemmes Trading applied for a development application to erect a second Jimmy’s Falafel in Sydney’s Oxford Street last week, with the works expected to cost $2.4 million. The venue is slated to open in mid-2024.
What’s that? You thought Freds, The Paddington, The Chicken Shop, Charlie Parkers and Hotel Centennial were enough Merivale locations for one street? You thought wrong.
“We’re excited to be expanding our Paddington precinct,” Hemmes told CBD.
“The success and support we’ve seen for the Jimmy’s Falafel brand since we opened in 2020 has been incredible, and we feel this will be a wonderful addition to the reinvigorated Woollahra end of Oxford Street.”
Melbourne’s Hemmes-less hospitality scene was far from impressed when the venue behemoth purchased Tomasetti House on Flinders Lane in 2021. Since then, the seven-storey house has been dormant, depriving the sceptics of anything to judge.
But now it seems the end of their wait nears. A planning application to begin construction and erect signage at the site was lodged by the group on May 31. Perhaps Hemmes is more confident now his first foray into Victoria’s foodie scene – a tried-and-trusted Totti’s in the coastal town of Lorne – has paid off.
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