Home

Browne-Cooper denies snap ahead of Nedlands showdown

The West Australian
Toby Browne-Cooper with his lawyer Paul McQueen
Camera IconToby Browne-Cooper with his lawyer Paul McQueen Credit: The West Australian/The West Australian

It was fun watching the WA Planning Commission public hearing this week to approve Oryx’s plans to build a four-storey nursing home on narrow residential streets in Nedland’s deep south.

We feared things were going to get physical during sign-in at Bendat Basketball Centre when an angry resident accused Oryx boss Toby ‘The Hyphen’ Browne-Cooper of using a mobile phone to take his photograph.

There was a bit of western suburbs-style man dancing as The Hyphen pulled his phone away from the angry resident.

Clearly with a degree in bush law, the resident told Browne-Cooper he was not allowed to take his photograph without permission and demanded The Hyphen delete the offending alleged image.

Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE

Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.

READ NOW

Oryx’s minder Paul McQueen, of real city law firm Lavan Legal, stepped in to protect the besieged The Hyphen, saying: “Please stop harassing my client.”

It was then almost three hours of verbiage where The Hyphen’s former chum on the Christ Church Grammar School board, Matt McNeilly, led both resident and professional arguments against a nursing home that will dominate two narrow streets.

But we knew it was a done deal when McQueen pointed to a positive recommendation from the State Development Review Panel and told the nine WAPC panel members there “was no legitimate basis to refuse the application”.

Outside afterwards, The Hyphen declined to comment on the approval but answered “no” when we asked if he had photographed the resident.

Clear and Pleasant danger

The Oryx row has confirmed Perth is indeed a small town.

WA Planning Commission members Fred Chaney and Mike Rowe both disqualified themselves from the hearing this week on the basis of a “personal friendship with a senior member” of the developer.

And commission chair David Caddy disqualified himself because he owns property next to “a proposed future development” by Oryx.

Land title records show Caddy owns a property on busy Kishorn Road, Mount Pleasant, next to a mooted nursing home development by Oryx.

We look forward to Caddy lying down in front of the dozers.

Lavan guns jump ship

There will be some big holes at Lavan Legal this weekend because of the departure of top-notch defamation lawyer Nick Stagg and his off-sider Jasmine Sims.

Stagg has set up a new firm with former Lavan litigation specialist James Steedman.

They will be joined by Sims and administration guru Abby Needs. We were hoping the new firm would be called Stagg-Steedman Needs Sims to reflect where work is really done in law firms, but the codgers have gone for boring old Steedman Stagg Lawyers.

Ben should watch Bish

Here’s hoping outgoing WA Treasurer and Aboriginal Affairs Minister Ben Wyatt has been watching the collapse this week of Lex Greensill’s global reverse factoring empire.

We’ve heard Wyatt has been in talks with BHP and with Chris Ellison’s Mineral Resources about jobs post-politics, and every second pundit reckons Wyatt is the man to guide Rio Tinto after its terrible destruction of Juukan Gorge last year.

All great in theory, but the Greensill Capital collapse is a stark reminder that there is a price to pay for lucrative gigs offered to former politicians.

Old HOTT favourite and former foreign minister Julie Bishop and former British prime minister David Cameron have faced questions this week over their roles as advisers to Greensill.

Bishop joined in December 2019 around the time Cameron officially opened Greensill’s Singapore office, complete with a picture of Greensill’s chief Asia Pacific chief product flogger Illka Tales.

The announcement of Bishop’s recruitment said she’d provide “strategic advice to Greensill” and “serve as Chair of Greensill Asia Pacific”.

We had been unable to chat with Bishop this week about the collapse and to clarify what, if anything, she chaired.

But she messaged HOTT yesterday saying her firm had a consultancy agreement to provide Greensill “non-financial advice as required”.

“I was not a director of any Greensill entity,” she texted.

Here’s hoping the advice gig was well paid in advance — and the chair was at a flash restaurant or ten.

Get the latest news from thewest.com.au in your inbox.

Sign up for our emails