Taika Waititi, Chris Hemsworth, Elsa Pataky, Isla Fisher and Russell Crowe watch the Rabbitohs take on the Roosters on the weekend.Credit:Getty Images

In the same month, NSW National Party MP Andrew Gee was treated to lunch and a day pass inside a council suite to the Bathurst 500 event.

And in the race of parliamentary sporting gifts, Victorian Labor MP Julian Hill gets the wooden spoon. He was gifted an unstringed tennis racquet - a Yonex Ezone 98 blue racquet from the NK Foundation. Like all crap presents, he promptly gave it away to the Hallam Tennis Club. At least they could find a use for it.

A recurring issue regarding the industry-super backed New Dailys links with the ABC has reared its head again.

On Monday, 730 hosted a special focusing on retirement and superannuation presented by the ABCs finance presenter Alan Kohler, who also moonlights as a contributor to The New Daily, which is wholly owned by Industry Super Holdings. Previews for Kohlers four-part special on the subject gave a clear indication of the angle he was taking. In one clip, former prime minister Paul Keating declared superannuation is about personal empowerment while several experts expressed concerns about Aussies not having enough in retirement savings. Surely Industry Super Holdings wouldnt have scripted it any better themselves.

Loading

So would the program carry a disclaimer announcing Kohlers side hustle on Monday?

Well, kind of. An ABC spokeswoman said the program would carry a back announce saying Kohler also writes columns for The New Daily which is financially backed by industry super funds. It would also note his role as editor in chief for online financial website InvestSMART.

But the ABC is comfortable with his role at TND, they added. Its not unusual for ABC presenters who are not full-time staff members to undertake work for other media organisations, they said. Non-ABC work is always referred to the relevant manager for approval and any possible conflict of interest is taken into account to ensure the ABCs policies and expectations are adhered to.

Our dear friends at the $5 billion Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility faced a polite Senate inquisition last week with aplomb. Until one particular question killed the mood.

As CBD wrote last week, the federal governments Cairns-based development financier, which provides loans to projects in the Northern Territory, Queensland and Western Australia, has just lost its chairman as well as attracted the attention of the Commonwealth Ombudsman.

Senators were told that chairman Khory McCormick resigned on February 25 effective immediately but did not provide a reason for his departure to Northern Australia minister Keith Pitt. He leaves months before all board positions including the chair are due for renewal on June 30.

Smoothie CEO Chris Wade did a good job defending his restructures and rising redundancy bill, but when Queensland Labor Senator Murray Watt asked if there were any reports within the organisation about bullying or harassment, Wade cautiously read out an answer from a script.

It wish I could assist the Senator but I am mindful of the protections provided to disclosers under the Public Interest Disclosure Act including confidentiality in relation to the identity of the discloser and the subject matters of the disclosures. I would not wish to undermine these protections in this forum.

He took the questions on notice so he could seek legal advice. But given Wade was reading from a prepared statement, it seemed he had received quite a bit of advice already.

Wade said the Commonwealth Ombudsman had completed an investigation into NAIF after receiving a public interest disclosure. But questions about the nature of the investigation and NAIFs response sent him scurrying back to his prepared statement, which he repeated two further times.

CBD has no information, and does not wish to suggest, that the Ombudsmans report is in any way linked to the chairmans departure. But we are keen to see Wades written response to the senators questions.

An earlier version of this story said Andrew Gee was a Liberal Senator. He is the Nationals member for Calare.

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

Stephen Brook is a CBD columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. He is a former features editor and media editor at The Australian, where he wrote the Media Diary column and spent six years in London working for The Guardian.

Original post:

Laming still in The Club at Virgin, Qantas - Sydney Morning Herald