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Sydney’s Royal Automobile Club has some members offside with its peculiar decision to host a dinner this Friday titled “Himalayas and Beyond” with controversial neurosurgeon Charlie Teo.

Charlie Teo and his motorcycle.Credit: The Royal Australian Automobile Club

Teo is pictured in dark sunglasses and all-black outfit posing on a red Aprilia RSv4 in a promotional photo for the event where he promises to “reflect” on his overseas two-wheeled adventure.

For $95 a head, motor enthusiasts will be treated to a two-course meal and the chance to meet Teo – the man billed by the club as “well known for ‘pushing the boundaries’”. Drinks not included.

“What you might not know is that Charlie Teo has been pushing his own personal boundaries recently: this time ticking off his bucket list, [with a] motorcycle trip through the Himalayas!”

Teo is quoted as saying the trip was “a challenging ride and reminder of the fragility of life” that gave him “an opportunity to reflect”.

Charlie Teo takes the high road.Credit: John Shakespeare

“I’m more confident than ever that we must continue to push boundaries. We can’t just accept the status quo … Rest assured I’m more determined than ever to fight and eliminate my ultimate enemy, brain cancer!”

An irony here is that Teo was specifically criticised by the professional standards committee barely two weeks ago for his “lack of reflection” in performing surgeries “without supporting statistical data or peer support”.

These surgeries left two patients in catastrophic conditions, and Teo was slammed by the committee for showing no remorse, lacking insight, empathy and judgment. He’s since taken to the media to say he “will never” accept the damning findings.

With restrictions now on his practice that make it virtually impossible for him to operate in Australia, one might ask – is it appropriate for RACS to promote him as a fun-loving motor-head?

CBD called RAC’s events team, who seemed perplexed by our question. The event was organised long before the medical panel’s findings were released, and there has been no discussion since over whether to cancel or postpone, we were told.

Some members are quietly furious, writing “not happy” in one message. Yet, the events team say they haven’t heard a peep and they’re confident the discussion will focus on bikes, not surgery.

MILLIONAIRES UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

Former Reserve Bank governor and Macquarie’s chair Glenn Stevens should prepare to be grilled by shareholders on sticking by long-term auditor PwC at Thursday’s annual general meeting.

Luckily for the bank, their lead auditor is former acting chief executive officer Kristin Stubbins and not former audit committee chair Matthew Lunn, who abruptly departed PwC last week.

Macquarie chose to keep PwC as auditor in May last year – who they’ve had on retainer since 1993 – and paid the embattled professional services firm a cool $79 million this financial year.

Macquarie Group chairman Glenn Stevens at last year’s AGM.Credit: Elke Meitzel

The group announced it would commence a review of its auditor as part of its ongoing due diligence in 2022. Although the review was announced well ahead of PwC’s recent fall from grace, one can only assume its scope has since been expanded.

Making Stevens sweat is not the only task for shareholders on Thursday. They’ll also be charged with mulling whether to vote through a suite of colossal executive pay packets, even by Macquarie standards.

The head of commodities and global markets business, Nick O’Kane, was paid $57.6 million last financial year, the company disclosed in May. This is a hefty pay rise from the prior year when he earned $36 million, and $26 million the year before that. “That’s not a bad pay rise,” says one market watcher.

Although the bank may have expected its remuneration report to go over swimmingly (as is usual practice for the fat-cat laden group), proxy adviser ISS has told shareholders to vote against it.

While likely to be a minority view, ISS’s report, seen by CBD, is critical of O’Kane’s skyrocketing pay rise that’s way above industry peers – as well as CEO Shemara Wikramanayake, whose stipend is considered “excessive …amid mixed company performance”.

It’s not all about money. The proxy adviser also slams Macquarie’s “lack of important investor-friendly features and disclosures” and “continues to rely on vague financial and non-financial factors”.

O’Kane could be forgiven if he’s a little miffed at the slight. The investment bank’s profits jumped 10 per cent over the year in question and his division was the standout performer. And he’s got at least one supporter – Dean Paatsch from Ownership Matters, whose proxy firm is waving through the deal. “It’s a very sizeable sum,” says Paatsch. “But that’s the Macquarie model.”

GENGHIS HEMMES CONTINUES PADDINGTON, MELBOURNE PILLAGE

Justin Hemmes is at it again with his ever-expanding hold over Australia’s food scene.

CBD can reveal Hemmes Trading applied for a development application to erect a second Jimmy’s Falafel in Sydney’s Oxford street last week, with the works expected to cost $2.4 million. The venue is slated to open in mid-2024.

Merivale owner Justin Hemmes.Credit: Louise Kennerley

What’s that? You thought Freds, The Paddington, The Chicken Shop, Charlie Parker and Hotel Centennial were enough Merivale locations for one street? You thought wrong.

“We’re excited to be expanding our Paddington precinct,” Hemmes told CBD. “The success and support we’ve seen for the Jimmy’s Falafel brand since we opened in 2020 has been incredible, and we feel this will be a wonderful addition to the reinvigorated Woollahra end of Oxford Street.”

Melbourne’s Hemmes-less hospitality scene was less than impressed when the hospitality behemoth purchased Tomasetti House on Flinders Lane in 2021. Since then, the seven-story house has been dormant, depriving the sceptics of anything to judge.

But now it seems the end of their wait nears. A planning application to begin construction and erect signage at the site was lodged by the group on May 31.

Perhaps Hemmes might well be more confident now his first foray into Victoria’s foodie scene – a tried-and-trusted Tottis in the coastal town of Lorne – has paid off.

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