Mark and Briony Scott move from Roseville to Manly

It’s hard to get more north shore-coded than the Scotts. So imagine our surprise to hear University of Sydney vice chanceller Mark Scott and his high-flying wife, Dr Briony Scott, have packed up and sold their Roseville home on Sydney’s gilded north shore.

The sale has set tongues wagging – and we don’t even know the price. The Scotts found a buyer for their five-bedroom Roseville home in late September after asking in the region of $5 million. But the sale hasn’t yet settled, according to title documents, and the selling agent declined to comment.

But we must admit we were almost more interested in where the couple moved. Word is the Scotts have traded the area of Sydney they’ve become synonymous with over two decades for Manly, according to people familiar with the move, to be closer to Dr Scott’s latest gig as chief executive of Royal Far West, the children’s health services charity based in Manly.

The Scotts were contacted for comment.

No doubt the move would’ve been unthinkable to some in Sydney circles just a few years ago. This is, after all, the duo that the once-relevant Daily Telegraph has previously dubbed a “north shore power couple”.

Still, there’s no doubting the Scotts continue to wield influence across the city. Dr Scott is, of course, a former principal of two of Sydney’s north shore private schools for girls: Roseville College from 2006 until 2011; and then Wenona School in North Sydney. In May this year, Scott took up the reins at Royal Far West.

Regular readers will no doubt recall Mark Scott is an erstwhile editor of this masthead. But he is, perhaps, better known as a former managing director of the ABC, and is currently on a decent wicket at the University of Sydney, where it sounds like he’s got more than enough to keep him busy. At least now he has a nearby beach to wash off the stress.

Pyne on the move

Former defence minister-turned-lobbyist Christopher Pyne is a big fan of Bambini Trust, the Castlereagh Street haunt favoured by lobbyists, bankers, lawyers and all manner of corporate types armed with expense accounts.

And our guess is the Bambini Trust waitstaff will start seeing a lot more of him because Pyne has moved the office of his lobby shop Pyne and Partners from the St James Centre to the St James Trust Building, just a few floors above his beloved eatery.

“I don’t have to go far now for their scampi or tuna tartare,” Pyne told CBD when reached on Thursday.

Pyne wasn’t alone in cashing in on the dark arts from the St James Centre. And he won’t be alone in his new digs either. Bourke Street Advisory, the lobby shop started by former Coalition adviser Amelia Metcalf, is not only in the same building, but on the same floor. She’d have it known she was there first.

“Mr Pyne is welcome to drop in any time for a gin, and I’ll make sure I have lemons,” Metcalf told us.

News Corp’s AI brains trust

News Corp’s executives both in New York and Sydney have been among the world’s most vocal critics of the ways AI giants have pilfered content from publishers.

But Robert Thomson, whose zingers on the topic have included threats to “woo or sue” AI companies, and the company’s Australian chairman, Michael Miller, have had no trouble exercising a little pluralism when it comes to ratcheting up the technology’s use within the company.

News Corp Australia was among the first local media companies to roll out its own internal AI tool. On Wednesday, though, the company’s chief digital and technology officer Nandor Locher told staff there would be yet more AI adoption to come.

The brains trust brought in to oversee the company’s AI plans will soon include Paul Stevenson, who was appointed director of AI, innovation and transformation at the company, according to an email to staff seen by CBD.

Stevenson will start at the company on November 16. He’ll be joined next month by Nicholle Lindner, who’s been brought in as the company’s new director of enterprise, AI and data platforms.

“Both Paul and Nicholle will play pivotal roles in leading the next phase of our AI adoption across News Australia,” reads the email.

“Paul will lead our innovation and new ways of working across our [technology, digital and data] teams, and Nicholle will head up the foundational enterprise, data, and AI platforms that power our products safely and reliably.”

News Corp didn’t respond to a request for comment.

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