Treasury secretary John Fraser is a busy man. Very busy. As he reminded Senate estimates a few times on Wednesday.
ALP Senator Katy Gallagher was homing in on why Treasury had abandoned the "wellbeing framework" in its four-year corporate plan.
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The wellbeing framework was a strategy that ensured Treasury looked outside of its ivory tower of managing the economy to the environment and social sustainability of its goals and policies.
In true Senate estimates fashion, where time is of the essence, Gallagher went about it the long way asking about when the corporate plan was written.
!["We've got a lot of things to do. We've got a lot of things to do" said John Fraser.](/web/20161225001335im_/http://www.canberratimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/5/k/l/u/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gs5ibp.png/1476896940998.jpg)
"I wrote the corporate plan between 6 and 8.30 one night as I was waiting to go out to dinner," Fraser told the committee.
"Is that correct?!" Gallagher said nearly falling off her chair.
"Yes! The opening, yes. I mean ... We've got a lot of things to do. We've got a lot of things to do," Fraser added.
CBD must admit that writing corporate plans is not really our forte. The best we can muster between 6pm and 8.30pm before going out to dinner is knocking over a bottle of mid-range plonk.
![Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou.](/web/20161225001335im_/http://www.canberratimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/r/y/f/h/j/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gs5ibp.png/1476882118898.jpg)
Sock it to 'em
It seems the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, a self-confessed Sydney Swans fan, has upset Frank Lowy's beloved round ball game when he copped a blast in Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou in his new book Changing the Game, where he claims that the government would make better headway in China if soccer was used as a tool of soft diplomacy instead of the Australian Football League.
In April this year on trade visit to China, Mr Turnbull announced Port Adelaide and the Gold Coast Suns would play the first AFL game for premiership points in China in 2017.
![Illustration: John Shakespeare.](/web/20161225001335im_/http://www.canberratimes.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/6/1/9/s/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gs5ibp.png/1476882118898.jpg)
According to Ange, "the prime minister couldn't help but clamber all over the possibilities, exalting the greatness of Australia's native game".
In the chapter Leave and Cleave, Ange says: "If a prime minister, on behalf of a trade mission and business leaders, is going to impress the Chinese in the world of sport, surely he should use a sport common to both, like football (soccer to CBD), where Australia and China actually have relations and that the Chinese actually care about".
"Neither the PM nor anyone in his office noticed that Chinese President Xi Jinping is actually a football fan," Ange thundered.
So will we see the PM shouting for Sydney FC or the Western Sydney Wanderers anytime soon?
Who/What
Never heard of Donal O'Dwyer? You could be forgiven, although if you are a shareholder in Cochlear, Mesoblast, NIB Holdings, Atcor and also Fisher and Paykel Healthcare, then he is a director of your companies, which means he's drawing down more than $700,000 in fees as a non-executive director once he settles into all of his new gigs.
Unsurprisingly, one of the proxy advisory firms reckons O'Dwyer is spreading himself around too thinly, advising clients to oppose his re-election to the Cochlear board on Tuesday.
Even the Cochlear chairman Rick Holliday-Smith reckons he's not seen any of his directors nod off during meetings and, in the event, only 22 per cent of shares cast opposed the Irishman's re-election – which was well short of the majority needed to block his appointment, and not enough for either of them to lose too much sleep over.
But the point has been made. Loud and clear.
Bowser wars
It seems petrol wars aren't just fought at the bowser through prices.
According to the folks at Credit Suisse, in a note entitled "Is she really going out with him", they say they "really struggle to see how a rational business like BP will economically be able to outbid Julian Segal's, Caltex – indeed we viewed them as sellers in Australia, not buyers, historically".
It comes from media speculation that Caltex confirmed its interest in Brad Banducci's Woolworths sites and that BP has "edged ahead" in the race.
"The Woolworths assets make sense for Caltex, and lost earnings is never good, but we applaud their capital discipline if they don't chase it," the note says.
CBD can only hope that filling up her jalopy will be a bit cheaper, although we won't hold our breaths.
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