Liverpool mayor keeping mum on planned mega-mansion

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Beleaguered Liverpool City Council mayor Ned Mannoun has surely had some sleepless nights over the past few months. A public inquiry investigating his council has produced headline after headline detailing the utter dysfunction of the joint.

But Mannoun may sleep a little easier once construction on his new “prime waterfront” mansion is complete. The design statement by MDP Architecture rejoices that the renovation is a “testament to the conquest of nature over the built form”.

Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun’s council is under the spotlight.

Mannoun and wife, local MP Tina Ayyad, bought the 1033 sq m block of land with 53 metre frontage along the Georges River eight years ago for $1.12 million — an absolute steal given the property came with DA approval for five bedrooms and the owner had wanted $1.15 million.

Located near Ayyad’s southwestern seat of Holsworthy, the north-facing haunt will come with sweeping views, a garden roof, studio, car stacker and swimming pool.

Documents lodged with Sutherland Council show the estimated cost of the knockdown and rebuild will cost a cool $1.2 million. But those projections were done in 2019, before inflation sent construction costs into the stratosphere.

After spending the vast majority of their respective careers serving Sydney’s southwest as councillors and as a parliamentarian, the power couple’s opulent new home, featuring off-form concrete, walls of glass and stone-paved driveway, will be quite something.

As to when the family might move, Mannoun was tight-lipped, noting only he bought the property in 2017.

“I don’t want to tell anyone anything about my house,” he told CBD, which in the annals of Sydney property, must make him unique.

Comeback kid?

Macquarie Street has been rife with rumours that Stuart Ayres, the former Liberal minister turned chief executive of development lobbyist NSW Urban Development Institute of Australia, is considering a return to parliament.

If the hat fits… is former deputy Liberal leader Stuart Ayres contemplating a comeback?

Liberal HQ recently opened nominations for key seats, including Ayres’ former electorate of Penrith. There have been insistent whispers that the seat will be left open long enough for Ayres to sign up late, mounting a comeback for the seat he lost in 2023.

Ayres has insisted privately and publicly that he has no plans and is enthralled with the development industry. But CBD’s spies were intrigued when they spotted Ayres catching up with Liberal elder Damien Tudehope and councillor Reece Nuttall for Sunday breakfast at Mr Watkins Bar (we’re told it’s also a cafe) in Penrith last month.

Splitting his time chairing the NSW Tourism Association, Ayres has obviously been keeping himself busy since CBD broke the news of his split with Marise Payne, the former Liberal foreign affairs minister, last December.

With the Liberal brand about as popular as Chernobyl, many are understandably bracing for an utter wipeout at the March 2027 state election. Could this prove an opportunity for Ayres?

Alas, CBD is told the brunch chat was not about plotting Ayres’ return, but rather workshopping budget estimates questions the Libs might throw at Western Sydney Minister Courtney Houssos.

Not really the sort of activity undertaken by the head of a lobby group that will impress the state Labor government.

Ayres tells CBD the breakfast was a regular catch-up that Tudehope dropped in on, and that western Sydney issues, including a sports centre and Mulgoa Road, were discussed.

The answer to whether he’ll run? Ayres says it’s still a no.

Conference kumbaya

Corporate Australia loves nothing more than a shameless conference kumbaya and can’t resist getting in front of a microphone to preach the gospel to a captive C-suite crowd.

Offered the chance at one of these events on Thursday, Super Retail Group’s chief people and safety officer Kevin Figueiredo did not falter.

He told the crowd his leadership practice was “simply being clear as a leader, as clear as I can be”.

“And for me, clear is about being compassionate, listening empathetically, and knowing the difference between empathy and compassion,” Figueiredo told the Sonder Summit, the talkfest of “people, risk and safety leaders” who understand that workforce wellbeing “isn’t ‘nice to have’, it’s critical”.

Regular readers will recall that days earlier, SRG chief executive Anthony Heraghty was sensationally sacked for misleading the board about the nature of his years-long work affair.

SRG was not noted for its compassion towards former executives-turned-whistleblowers Amelia Berczelly and Rebecca Farrell, who had brought to light details of the affair between Heraghty and the group’s former HR boss, Jane Kelly.

In affidavits lodged with the Federal Court, Berczelly alleged SRG’s treatment resulted in her being “bedridden, had difficulty eating and sleeping, suffered severe panic attacks, kept crying and was contemplating suicide”.

Not that Figueiredo was accused of any fault, but documents pointed out he was a member of the leadership team. He certainly didn’t address any of this at the conference, but did impart some final wisdom: “If you are a people leader in the room, you lead people, my message for you is be kind to your people.”

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