Corporate communications often comes down to the art of semantics. Nowhere is that semantic precision more critical than at the market’s biggest companies, where an errant word can move a share price.
So the fact Commonwealth Bank Chief Executive Matt Comyn’s media offsider refused to deny that he has a personal relationship with high-profile News24 broadcaster Laura Jayes piqued our interest.
The relationship, which we don’t yet know how to characterise, was first reported by The Australian Financial Review on Wednesday night, a day after CBD revealed Comyn has been separated from his wife for “some time”. The bank said the couple was working through the terms privately.
The Financial Review reported Comyn and Jayes had been seen around Bondi and gone on holiday together. It immediately lit up group chats in business and media circles, and landed as the Commonwealth Bank boss sat with journalists for the bank’s annual media dinner on Wednesday night.
But when we sent questions about Comyn’s relationship with Jayes to the bank’s flack on Thursday morning, it was crickets until the afternoon. Then a simple “no comment”.
The lack of response to our questions over at News Corp Australia also raised our eyebrows. The Murdoch-controlled media giant owns News24, formerly Sky News Australia, where Jayes hosts the network’s morning political program, AM Agenda.
A handful of the company’s leadership team didn’t know anything about Jayes’ ties with Comyn beyond what they’d read the night before, we’re told. But even then, they weren’t surprised to learn the pair could be Sydney’s newest power couple – or power friends!
Spokespeople for News Corp Australia and News24, who are usually pretty quick to tell us when what we’re hearing is “horsesh-t”, to borrow from the Holt Street vernacular, didn’t even pick up the phone.
But something tells us it won’t be long before we learn more. There are already questions simmering in media circles about how Jayes will manage the perception of a conflict of interest, to the extent she needs to cover the bank or its engagement with the Albanese government in her day job. Investors, meanwhile, tend to be alert when a CEO is going through a divorce.
Still, the pair could well be Sydney’s most eligible bachelor and bachelorette. So if it turns out they are in a relationship, good luck to them.
Sydney Swans call for backup
The Sydney Swans have a de facto crisis expert on its board in Brian Tyson, the chairman of SEC Newgate. So it was little surprise to learn the Swans had retained Tyson’s firm to help answer the phones from journalists as the club remains engulfed in scandal.
SEC Newgate was brought in to help on Tuesday, CBD hears, but the firm is not expected to work with the club long-term.
By Thursday, the club was still reckoning with the fallout of a Victoria Police investigation into an allegation of sexual assault. Just a day earlier, the club announced the suspensions of Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, Riley Bice and James Jordon on Wednesday for unrelated breaches of the club’s behavioural standards at the Pullman East Melbourne hotel on Monday morning.
Given the crisis has led front pages and news bulletins across the country all week, we can only imagine the phones at Swans HQ have been ringing off the hook.
Tyson is no stranger to high-stakes crises and financial transactions. Over the years, Newgate has advised several big Australian corporates on all manner of work, including in Canberra. Among the firm’s known clients, at least as disclosed to the lobbyists register, are Westpac, Toyota, American Express, Ebay, Domain, and AI giant Anthropic.
Kellie Sloane’s lullaby
NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane has done a pretty good job of pretending the party’s living ICAC nightmare is not really happening.
And it was more of the same at its Coogee campaign launch at the beachside Intercontinental Hotel on Wednesday evening, CBD hears, where a decent number of people turned up for a special guest appearance from the opposition leader herself. The Libs reckon it was a sellout crowd.
But if the scene report from inside the room is anything to go by, it was a pretty sedate affair. We were sent a photo of a guy in attendance appearing to nod off.
When we alerted the party and Sloane’s office to this, they understandably wanted receipts, which we dutifully provided but have decided to omit from this column for privacy reasons. In response, a spokeswoman for Sloane argued the man pictured – who stood with his arms crossed, chin down, eyes closed – may just have “closed his eyes for a second”. Fair enough – he may have just dropped in after a long day at work.
The party’s candidate for Coogee is Carolyn Martyn. Sloane addressed the room. But funnily enough, so did senior Liberal MP Chris Rath.
This is the same Rath who the ICAC confirmed this month was integral in helping Jeremy Greenwood, and Jean-Claude and Charles Perrottet avoid attending a parliamentary inquiry, as this masthead reported last week.
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