Last week, Sydney Roosters chairman Nick Politis would not be drawn on the club’s ties to Arthur Tzaneros, the ACFS Port Logistics boss who stepped down after he downplayed the seriousness of sexual assault allegations against three students of Scots College.
Tzaneros was merely a club member, Politis told CBD at the time, and a member of the Roosters Chairman’s Club. It was a no comment on the rest.
But on Wednesday, Politis was clearly feeling a little chattier. The Roosters chairman said the club was right to have stripped ACFS of the branding entitlements it receives as part of its partnership with them.
The action was confirmed to CBD by the club this week. A spokeswoman also confirmed ACFS has been a partner of the Sydney Roosters’ Players Club since 2018. The arrangement is due to expire at the end of this season.
As part of the deal, ACFS gets a “range of benefits”, from hospitality, ticketing and merch to branding associated with an “allocated player”. In the case of ACFS, they get the club’s star fullback James Tedesco. But the Roosters said the arrangement “is not, and has never been” a direct sponsorship of the State of Origin star.
“Following the club becoming aware of the circumstances surrounding Mr Tzaneros stepping aside from ACFS, the club removed ACFS’ Players Club branding entitlements, effective from Round 25, the club’s first home game after the matter came to its attention,” the Roosters spokeswoman told CBD.
Tzaneros’ ties to the Roosters caught our attention last week after the Herald revealed the ACFS boss had downplayed the seriousness of sexual assault allegations against three Scots students in a WhatsApp group with former classmates. In the messages, Tzaneros described the alleged victim as a “willing participant” in the attack. Tzaneros unreservedly apologised for his comments.
The Roosters “money man”, as Tzaneros was described to CBD by one source, has previously appeared as a guest panellist at an end of year event hosted by the club’s “Roosters Business Club”, alongside coach Trent Robinson. He was in the top job at his family-controlled company when it was a back-of-jersey sponsor during the Roosters’ 2013 premiership-winning run.
When we contacted ACFS, though, it looked like the company and the club weren’t exactly on the same page.
“Arthur personally sponsored Tedesco up to 2024. At that point, Michael Tzaneros took over as Tedesco’s personal sponsor, and continues to sponsor him,” an ACFS spokesman told CBD. “ACFS Port Logistics Australia is a Roosters NRL Players Club partner.”
Oh, how things change. The Sydney Roosters corporate website has now scrubbed ACFS from its list of NRL Players Club partners. But our guess is the team at ACFS have other things on their minds.
Friends in high places
Liberal MP Simon Kennedy was among the elected officials who sat down for interviews with ABC’s Four Corners program for a segment on the influence of lobbyists in Parliament House that aired on Monday.
The segment took aim at the capital’s political supplicants and the covert tactics self-described influence peddlers use to sway government policy. But it was Kennedy who emerged among the lobbying industry’s biggest critics. He said there were too many of them.
“I think Australia is governed for vested interests and for the squeaky wheels,” Kennedy told Four Corners. “And why I came into parliament is I want to be the lobbyist and advocate for the Australians who can’t afford lobbyists. I’m their lobbyist, that’s why I’m elected.”
So some of the capital’s hired guns were tickled to receive invitations, just a couple of days later, from the Member for Cook to an “intimate dinner” with him and Senator Jane Hume in Melbourne scheduled to go ahead on September 3.
“You’re invited to an intimate dinner with Senator Jane Hume, Deputy Leader of the Opposition & Mr Simon Kennedy, Shadow Assistant to the Leader of the Opposition in Melbourne CBD on Thursday, September 3,” read one text message invite seen by CBD. “It’s a unique opportunity to hear directly from Jane and Simon in a private setting.”
Kennedy is already one of the Liberal Party’s biggest fundraisers, and, for his part, told us he’d speak to anyone, although there are some whose money he wouldn’t accept!
“I’m proud to raise money for the Liberal Party and I’ll keep doing it,” Kennedy told CBD on Wednesday. “But while I’ll talk to anyone, my job is to be the lobbyist for everyday Australians, and no donation will change that.”
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