Arthur Laundy is many things: a billionaire rich-lister, a pub baron, a key NRL sponsor – and the newly minted owner of radio stations 3AW and 2GB. Soon he’ll be able to add rugby league radio ringleader to his resume.
Later this month, the elder Laundy will lead a contingent representing his newly acquired radio business when he heads to Las Vegas for the opening round of the NRL. Laundy will be joined by former Nine Radio boss turned Laundy lieutenant Tom Malone and a hatful of the company’s biggest advertisers and key talent.
The company is planning to take along 2GB’s Mark Levy – who was forced to promise to pay back creditors on air last month after his restaurant collapsed – to the rugby league carnival in Vegas, where we hear he’s set to broadcast his morning show live, while the station’s rugby league commentary will also set up shop in Sin City.
Laundy has been on a tour of the radio business’s key stations to rally the troops and get some face time with his new staff. One of the major questions that has swirled around the deal, as Nine prepares to relinquish control of the radio assets, is whether it paves the way for a return to the airwaves for retired radio titan Ray Hadley.
Recently, Hadley told this masthead he would discuss a return if the Laundy family wanted him.
“Ray’s a good friend of mine,” Laundy told CBD on a visit to Melbourne to meet 3AW staff. “I haven’t discussed anything with Ray.”
Laundy indicated any discussion would occur through station management, including Nine Radio managing director Malone, who is moving to the new network after the deal completes in a few months. Nine is the publisher of this masthead.
The former star, who has gone on the record saying he had changed his ways after several staff complaints about verbal abuse, retired from 2GB in December 2023 despite signing a contract extension until the end of this year.
But when the deal was announced a fortnight ago, Laundy said it was Toby Greene, the captain of the Greater Western Sydney Giants, who was one of the first to call.
“He just wanted to congratulate me,” Laundy said, adding Greene jokingly asked about a possible position at 3AW after he finished his football career.
“I said, he’d want to improve some, but, sure, we’d look at that.”
Sportsbet sinks its claws into MPs at the Australian Open
Just when we thought we were drowning in evidence suggesting the gambling industry had become an electoral dog with fleas, Canberra’s best and brightest continue to prove us wrong.
For the latest piece of evidence, look no further than Liberal MPs Mary Aldred and Dan Tehan, who joined Labor senator Raff Ciccone at the Australian Open as guests of Sportsbet, the bookmaking behemoth owned by Irish gaming company Flutter Entertainment.
“I co-chair the Parliamentary Friends of Thoroughbred Racing and was officially invited,” was Tehan’s response to questions from CBD. Far be it from us to question the official capacity in which our federal representatives turn up to these things.
Aldred and Ciccone, meanwhile, left our inquiries about their relationships with the company unanswered, along with whether they support the Albanese government’s stalled plans to further restrict gambling advertising. But why would they? If Labor can put those plans deep in the freezer, why can’t they make the most of the job’s perks?
For its part, Sportsbet, through a spokesman, said the company advocates for “meaningful, measured reform”, and is committed to further changes including caps on gambling ad frequency, and a ban on jersey ads.
This year, CBD’s coverage of the Australian Open (shout out to Media Watch for labelling us “much loved”) missed the appearances of Aldred, Tehan and Ciccone. But we have now caught up, thanks to parliamentary disclosures.
Of course, regular readers will recall we noted federal politicians were thin on the ground at the Open, save for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and a few guests of Tennis Australia.
But silly us! We didn’t look closely enough at the corporate boxes. Sportsbet has historically used all manner of dinners and sporting events to wine and dine striving parliamentarians and their bosses, who have often been all too happy to oblige.
For some, all it takes are tickets to a semi-final.
High-flying investor plots $1.6m reno on Bellevue Hill trophy home
Erstwhile Macquarie banker turned hedge fund investor Sebastian Barrack may have long ago left Australian shores for life stateside with his wife Snjezana, after taking a job heading up commodities at Ken Griffin’s Citadel Securities about eight years ago.
But the distance hasn’t stopped the pair from giving their $18 million Sydney trophy home a bit of a spruce up.
Recent paperwork filed with Woollahra Council shows the Bellevue Hill mansion, which the couple bought in 2017, is the subject of a development application which details a string of renovations set to cost a tick over $1.6 million.
Plans lodged with council show the work includes an enlarged first floor for the cabana. Then there’s some demountable steel and timber stairs, along with a first-floor extension on the existing “non-original 1959 balcony”. Let’s not forget new terrace stairs and planter.
On the south side, the couple also want a new pergola and viewing platform. We tried to reach Barrack through Citadel to learn more. But you can imagine how that went. Here’s to hoping the renos are done in time for the couple’s next visit home.
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