CBD

Hegarty flaunts a shirt in Jakarta

This week's turbulence in the precious metals sector didn't seem to worry Tigers Realm and G-Resources supremo Owen Hegarty too much, judging by the flamboyant batik shirt he wore as headline act at the Melbourne Mining Club's Jakarta function on Wednesday.

Hegarty was at the event to help spruik the Martabe gold and silver mine that G-Resources is building in Sumatra. His fashion statement was not matched by Australian ambassador to Indonesia Greg Moriarty and Austrade minions present, who opted for the suit-and-tie look at the breakfast event.

Still having a gas

It seems that not even losing his position as resources minister is enough to keep Martin Ferguson away from his beloved mining sector.

Ferguson lost the gig following his run-in with Prime Minister Julia Gillard over who gets to run the Labor Party - he favoured the restoration of Kevin Rudd - but on Wednesday he nonetheless popped up at an LNG conference in the home of oil and big hats, Houston, Texas. "Yes, absolutely, Martin Ferguson is here," said a spokesman for Ferguson's replacement, Gary Gray.

Indeed, it's so much of a love-in that Gray even paid tribute to Ferguson's contribution to the LNG industry in his speech to the conference. "Gary Gray invited Martin Ferguson to attend because Martin was committed to this event before the March 25 change of ministers and because, as Gary has said on a number of occasions, he is committed to continuing the same policies in the resources and energy portfolio," Gray's spokesman said.

Back into the fray

There's lots of talk about a revolving door between government and the private sector but surely three months is long enough for a humble public servant to tend the garden before getting back into the fray. That's how long former Treasury general manager Patrick Colmer spent between leaving Her Majesty's service and setting up his consultancy business, Colmer Waldron & Associates.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Colmer left Treasury in May last year and according to ASIC records his company was registered in August.

Colmer, who spent five years as executive manager of the Foreign Investment Review Board, vetted some of the largest foreign investment transactions in Australian corporate history, including Chinalco's $19.5 billion bid for a chunk of Rio Tinto and some of the Anglo-Australian giant's crown jewels. The Waldron part of the company is fellow former FIRBer Biljana Waldron.

Colmer is most famous for a foreign investment doctrine named after him, which expressed Canberra's preference for state-owned investors (read Chinese) to keep their equity stake in major miners below 15 per cent (or 50 per cent in the case of greenfield projects). Back in 2009, he dismayed many in the business community when he used a speech at a China-Australia business forum to outline the doctrine.

These days, according to his website, Colmer offers his private-sector clients "insight into the considerations that underlie government decision-making and help to develop strategies to simplify approval processes".

Say it again, Eddie

Nice to see multi-slashed Channel Nine/Foxtel/TripleM presenter and Collingwood Football Club president Eddie McGuire doing his bit for recycling. Speaking at a packed MCG lunch about Emirates - the major sponsor of his club - hooking up with Qantas, Eddie quipped: "I tell you, it's made me so happy - it's like your best mate marrying your daughter." CBD notes that Eddie Everywhere used the exact same line on the night of the big airline announcement in Sydney last year. In TV land we think it's called a rerun.

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bbutler@fairfaxmedia.com.au