Sea Eagles owner drops price on luxury Bellevue Hill mansion
There were hopes of more than $20m when the five-bedroom residence with iconic Sydney views at 5 Bulkara Rd first hit the market last October.
But there were no bites and the guide is now $16.5-$17.5m via Ray White Double Bay's Di Wilson and Ashley Bierman.
The home is in the name of Michele Brooks, wife of Andrew Michael who has a share in the Sea Eagles alongside the NRL club's chairman Scott Penn.
Michael, who has more than 40 years in the fashion industry as the director at Apparel Group, and his wife have been revealed as buyers of a $24m penthouse at the luxury Billyard Ave development in Elizabeth Bay.
The couple had bought the original home on the 967sqm block in Bulkara Rd for $1,575,000 in 1997, but later rebuilt and then renovated again a decade ago.
The impressive Arendt and Pyke-designed residence features stylish open-plan living spaces, large open-air courtyards, designer bathrooms and in-ground swimming pool.
The house is all on one level and comes with a gourmet marble kitchen with butlers pantry and well-designed bedrooms and a bespoke home office.
It's in one of the best streets in Bellevue Hill and has views over Double Bay, the Harbour Bridge, the city and Bondi Junction skylines.
It's also close to all the best private schools in the East.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
11 minutes ago
- ABC News
Off the productivity round table: What won't be discussed this week
Problem and productivity. It's a pairing that has become inseparable in recent times, given our productivity growth is the lowest in half a century. It'll also be a major point of discussion at the Economic Reform Roundtable that kicked off in Canberra this week. For a while, it appeared the entire forum would be devoted to the topic with our best and brightest assembled to nut out a way to address it. But solutions generally can only be found if we truly understand the root cause of the problem. And that's where things go horribly wrong when it comes to any discussion around labour productivity. A seemingly simple concept — the amount of product produced over a given period of time by the same amount of labour — understanding what drives it can be complex and prone to misinterpretation. And that's before you consider the difficulties in even measuring labour productivity, particularly in an economy such as ours where the vast bulk of workers, instead of churning out easily countable widgets, are providing services to other people. Professor Roy Green from the University of Technology points to Australian manufacturing's demise — which now accounts for just 6 per cent of our GDP — as a major contributor to our productivity conundrum. There is, he says, "an almost exact correlation between the decline of manufacturing, the decline of business expenditure on research and development and the decline of productivity growth, now at its lowest level in almost 60 years". And then there are factors that are totally off the agenda. For such a pointy headed topic, finding answers often involve traversing areas that are socially, culturally and politically explosive. In many cases, economists — fearing a community backlash — refuse to even mention some of the more obvious topics that have a legitimate bearing on productivity. That involves two other P-words: population and property. Many business leaders and most politicians confuse productivity with profitability. There's a common misconception that, if only we could keep wages in check, our labour productivity problems could fix themselves. True, there's a link between wages and how much we produce but, even then, it's not completely understood. If lower wages were the key to better productivity, company executives should have penalties imposed for underperformance rather than bonuses for turning up. Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock lamented last week's decision to downgrade its labour productivity forecasts for the nation, a move that sent headline writers into a frenzy. Rising productivity, she said, lifts living standards as it provides the scope for workers to earn higher wages without putting pressure on inflation. But there's a catch. Businesses need to invest in new technology to help workers lift productivity. And they'll only do that if wages are rising, so they can reduce costs and boost profit. So, what comes first? Do higher wages lead to better productivity? Or does better productivity lead to higher wages? Just between us, no-one really knows. Luckly for the RBA governor, she declared it well and truly outside her remit. "All the Reserve Bank can do is make sure we have low and stable inflation, and if we have full employment, both of those things are very stable environments for businesses to think about how they might improve productivity, how they might produce more for the same amount of labour and capital input," she said. Once upon a time, there was no such thing as an automated carwash. You either did it yourself or paid people to do it by hand. When the first auto washing machine opened in Australia in 1968, it sparked what should have been a trend to lay waste to the old style, expensive hand washing. Cheaper and quicker, with minimal labour input, it's a perfect example of a productivity improvement. But in the past 20 years, there's been a resurgence in car hand washing operations. You'll find them everywhere, in shopping centre car parks and on highway corners. Why? Perhaps hand washing delivers a superior finish. But the biggest factor may well be that hand washing comes at a competitive price because labour costs are no longer prohibitive. Regardless of the reason, it's a negative for our productivity numbers. Sydney University academic Salvatore Babones penned an interesting piece in the Australian Financial Review this week, sheeting home the blame for our tardy performance in labour productivity to our surging population growth. Most new arrivals, he points out, are not highly skilled, nor are they permanent. "Massive influxes of low-skilled workers are obvious drivers of trends in labour productivity," he wrote. "But they're not even mentioned in recent Reserve Bank of Australia and Productivity Commission reports." Only around half the 1 million students — who make up about 10 per cent of the workforce — in Australia attend a university. The rest are in courses primarily designed to deliver a working visa. The huge influx has artificially kept GDP numbers elevated. But it's been at the expense of productivity. In those proportions, they act as a cheap source of labour which, when combined with a rigid wage setting system, maintains a lid on wages growth, and dampens the incentive for businesses to invest. "If you flood the labour market with low-skilled immigrants, real wages (adjusted for inflation) will fall, and productivity will decline as labour is used less efficiently," he wrote. "It's that simple." As Babones points out, Australia may look down on other countries that exploit cheap, imported labour. But we do the same, under the guise of education visas. As they hunker down in working groups in the national capital this week, the dominant topic for conversation will be tax. There'll be furious debate about cutting the corporate tax rate and increasing the GST. But there is no guarantee either of those measures will lead to increased business investment or improve productivity. That's because businesses that earn bigger profits don't automatically invest the windfall gains. Most of the time they hand it back to shareholders, or at least a large slab of it. Our productivity may be among the worst in the developed world and our business investment woeful. But there is one area where Australians exceed on the investment front. Our obsession with real estate has resulted in a deluge of cash directed into housing. It's why our real estate is so horrifyingly expensive. According to the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, as a nation we are in hock to the tune of $2.3 trillion on property mortgages. And that's expected to rise as interest rates ease. More than 2.26 million Australians own an investment property, largely because of favourable tax policies that deliberately direct investment into real estate. It may be a radical idea but altering some of those tax policies, such as negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount, might have two beneficial impacts. It may lead to more affordable housing in the future. And it might result in resources being better allocated to more productive means. Just don't mention it in Canberra this week.
ABC News
41 minutes ago
- ABC News
Productivity summit begins with a warning on NDIS spending
Treasurer Jim Chalmers says this week's productivity round table will be about writing "the next chapter of economic reform" as he calls on business leaders, union chiefs and advocates attending the summit to provide "concrete ideas" that help the Albanese government turbocharge the economy. Opening the three-day event in Canberra, Mr Chalmers will urge participants to focus on three objectives: making the economy more productive to lift living standards, measures to sandbag Australia's economy and repairing the budget. "Global uncertainty surrounds us, big economic challenges confront us, and our ambitions must meet this moment," he is expected to say. "Our progress in the near term … gives us the time and space to attend to the bigger, more persistent structural issues." The treasurer will point to pressures in energy, demography, technology and geopolitics, warning that Australia must act despite global instability. "We are realistic about the impact of all of this but optimistic too," he will say. The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is set to loom large over the summit, with Thursday's session on budget sustainability and tax reform expected to examine its rapidly escalating cost. That conversation will come a day after Health Minister Mark Butler is expected to make a significant policy announcement on Wednesday aimed at tightening elements of the disability insurance scheme amid reports that 16 per cent of six-year-old boys are now recipients. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday flagged the need for reform, citing concerns about its growth trajectory. "We need to make sure the system's sustainable," he told Sky News. He added that reforms passed last year to rein in NDIS spending growth to 8 per cent was an "interim target", with that growth rate still well outpacing broader GDP growth. With annual costs projected to surpass $64 billion by 2029, the NDIS is on track to become the third most expensive item in the budget, behind only health and aged pensions. The Coalition has signalled it is open to further savings, with Shadow Treasurer Ted O'Brien saying in July the scheme must be made sustainable. The NDIS, as well as defence, debt costs, health and aged care will be among the structural issues up for discussion. In an interview with the ABC, Mr Chalmers framed the productivity discussions as an effort to "work out what additional steps we need to take to make our economy more productive so that we lift living standards over time". He told the ABC his case has been strengthened by the Reserve Bank's downgrade of growth forecasts from 1 per cent to 0.7 per cent last week. "The contribution from the Reserve Bank was confronting but nonetheless welcome because it helps people understand what we're up against," he said. RBA Governor Michele Bullock will address the summit on Tuesday morning. Another looming challenge is how to replace the billions of dollars raised each year from fuel excise as Australians switch from petrol to electric vehicles. A road-user charge is under active consideration, but both the model and timing are yet to be finalised. Government sources told the ABC a likely approach is a tapered model, beginning first with heavy vehicles before being extended more broadly. The aim would be to balance fairness for early adopters with the long-term need to protect the revenue base that funds roads and infrastructure. Mr Chalmers confirmed the issue is on the agenda, but stressed the government is not rushing. "The tax base is going to change dramatically over time … We're in no rush to make changes here. We want to work through the issues in a considered, consultative, methodical way," he said. He added that discussions with state and territory governments have been ongoing since before the election, given their shared reliance on road funding. "We haven't settled a model, we haven't set a time frame. This work will take a lot of time to get right. But a government will address this challenge and we've said we're prepared to grapple with it with our colleagues and that's what we're doing."
News.com.au
5 hours ago
- News.com.au
Star Tammy Hembrow shares new post as love life makes headlines
Fitness star Tammy Hembrow, who was recently revealed to be dating AFL player Bailey Smith, has shared an update as her personal life continues to push her into the spotlight. Hembrow, 31, was spotted cuddling up to and holding hands with the 24-year-old Geelong Cats player as they left a Gold Coast lunch spot on August 9. It was less than two months after the popular influencer announced she and husband Matt Zukowski had called it quits after just eight months of marriage. Now, the mother-of-three has shared a glimpse into what life looks like lately, with a carousel of images posted to Instagram. The photo dump included Hembrow wearing a skimpy crochet bikini, taking selfies with her children and enjoying rainbows and sunrises. Part of the photo series included what appeared to be Hembrow in the car, wearing Smith's Adidas jacket. The image had her feet curled up in the front seat of her car with the bottom of the vintage jacket in frame. It's not the first time she's been spotted flaunting the jacket that Smith appeared to be holding while out on their date. In a clip posted on August 13 — four days after the date and two days after the public found out it had happened — Hembrow mouthed the words from a movie that said: 'Don't be f***ing boring. This whole town is so f***ing boring. I don't care,' and rolled her eyes for dramatic flair. It was all while wearing THE jacket, which eagle-eyed fans identified as the very same jacket Smith was wearing in previous photos on his own Instagram. The update from Hembrow sparked a lot of comments from friends and fans, who have witnessed the onslaught of negative attention the influencer has copped thanks to her budding new romance. 'This new energy is everything,' one said. Someone else added: 'You're stunning beautiful as always.' 'OK body in the pilates video,' another commented. Noticeably missing from the update, bar the appearance of his jacket, was any sign of Smith himself — but that didn't stop fans from making comments. 'Tammy, you're missing one more boy,' one said. Another claimed: 'Hehe Bailey Smith's arm photo #6, cheeky but I love it. Love you Tammy.' The Dates It's been a whirlwind week for Hembrow since she was spotted out with Smith on August 9, after the pair were photographed leaving lunch at Burleigh Pavilion restaurant, Rick Shores. Smith apparently flew up from Melbourne just to see Hembrow, a day after helping the Cats secure a victory over Essendon in Geelong. The new couple were allegedly seen making out for hours, The Herald Sun reported. Hembrow was wearing a cropped white halter neck top with baggy jeans, while Smith wore an Adidas polo shirt, denim jeans, and his signature long hair tucked behind his ears. Less than a week after their first date, footage was shared by Influencer Updates AU of the duo walking at Nobby's Beach on August 15, with Smith's arm wrapped around Hembrow's waist. Hembrow wore blue denim shorts, a grey tank top and joggers while Smith opted for an equally casual attire with trackies, a T-shirt and a cap. 'Spotted at Nobby's Beach GC yesterday!' the post's caption read. 'They pulled up together in her car, got coffee and went for a walk then drove off with him driving her car!' The Backlash A lot has been said about Hembrow's newest romance, despite the fact that neither of the stars have officially confirmed their relationship status. However, most of the commentary was targeting Hembrow with misogynistic rhetoric. One man, WA football coach John Baggetta, commented under a news article: 'He's trying to keep his relevance and she's a c** bucket.' Many were quick to call for the coach's dismissal, and Harvey Brunswick Leschenault Football Club confirmed on Friday that he'd been terminated after he posted the offensive slur to Facebook. The club said such remarks were 'not to be tolerated in society'. Journalist Sherele Moody demanded his sacking in a post on social media. 'I shared a post recently with a range of disgusting misogynist slurs by Australian men directed at Tammy Hembrow after she went on a date,' she wrote. 'Old mate John Baggetta's comment was the worst – he called Tammy a C** Bucket. A man responsible for mentoring and shaping the points of view of young men is just casually throwing around sexist slurs.' The club said it consulted with its women's team and members before making the decision. The Divorce Hembrow and Zukowski announced their divorce in June, claiming it was a mutual decision to end their marriage after just eight months. However, when Hembrow and Smith were spotted together everyone was quick to wonder what the Love Island star thought. Zukowski has since addressed the news on his Where's Your Head At? podcast, admitting that while he was the one to end their relationship, seeing his ex-wife with someone else still stung. 'Yeah, so my weekend was a different style of weekend,' he told co-host Anna McEvoy. 'Obviously, everyone's seen it … my ex has moved on with someone'. He claimed that he made one of the hardest decisions of his life when he left a relationship that wasn't right for him, but despite all of that, it wasn't easy to see Hembrow move on. 'In doing that, it does not make it any easier seeing the person that you loved, the person that you married, move on with someone. In previous relationships I've been in … it's not a public thing,' he said. 'And there's things you can do. Block them, mute them, move cities even, tell your friends not to tell you anything about them. But unfortunately, with the relationship I was in, it's right there. 'So as much as I know the relationship was done, seeing the person that you married and once loved and thought you were gonna spend the rest of your life with, it's not an easy sight to see them moving on. When it's splashed everywhere, that sucks.' Hembrow also addressed the divorce over the weekend. She shared footage of herself crying, shaking and breaking down, with her wedding rings clearly visible in many of the clips. 'It felt like the heaviness would never end,' text over the video compilation reads, while the caption reads: 'Some traumas shake you so deeply, they change the way you see literally everything. The world, the people around you … and even yourself.' The montage then takes an uplifting turn, with the final clips showing Hembrow smiling and laughing with her friends and family, on holidays, and by the beach. 'But then I noticed the light creeping back in,' the text on screen reads. Neither figure has publicly confirmed their relationship status, but Smith gave an expletive-riddled answer when asked about Hembrow. 'It's Hem-bro, not Hem-brow. F*****g hell, do your research,' he replied to one journalist. Asked if they are officially an item, he answered: 'What do you want me to say, mate? You're a grown man c***. That's actually f***ed up.'. Before the pair were spotted together, Smith signed on as the face of Tinder's new Double Date campaign. To promote the feature, Smith appeared on the We Mean Well podcast in July. During the episode, he said the oldest he would date is 28 — three years younger than Hembrow. He said he's essentially been in back-to-back relationships since he was 16 and was trying to find the right one. He also revealed one thing he was wary of. 'The ones (girls) you normally want aren't the ones that approach you, you know what I mean?,' he said, according to the Herald Sun. 'I feel like if they approach me, it's kind of, not a red flag, but …. I like the chase. Like I get some 19, 20-year-olds that are just a bit fan-girly, but, I don't know, it's all part of it. 'But normally the ones you want, no, they're not coming up to you … a bit of a chase is good.'
