It turns out Maxsted and some of his fellow directors are booked in to check in with one of those firms — Institutional Shareholder Services — in Sydney on Monday. That’s just a few days since the financial crimes regulator launched legal action against Westpac. Last year ISS told its clients it was “difficult to discern” why Hartzer and other executives should receive their bonuses, citing reasons including “reputational damage”. We can’t wait to see what they say this year. Westpac sources said the meeting had been set up months in advance. Still, with pitchfork-wielding shareholders at the doorstep, every positive recommendation will count. Or perhaps any recommendation that doesn’t point out the bank’s management sat idly by while one customer used its services to allegedly funnel money to a man later arrested on child sex trafficking charges. As it stands, there is little enthusiasm about backing Hartzer’s bonuses or re-electing former Allens partner Ewen Crouch, the head of the board’s risk and compliance committee.

Even with five directors up for election, Maxsted apparently intends to dial in to Monday’s proxy advisory meeting. We’d have thought he’d be wearing out his Ferragamos up and down Martin Place. LET US BRAY Former TransGrid director Suzanne Jones has endured a torrid year at Landcom, the state government development agency she now chairs, with a workplace investigation which concluded in March this year finding she had kicked the shin of an employee after telling them “I am the deputy chair of the board”. But a redacted draft copy of that workplace investigation — tabled in Parliament on Thursday — details exactly what the high-powered Landcom board (and a number of past members) really think of their chairwoman.

With redaction in place, it’s hard to connect the speaker with the comment. Instead, we’ll helpfully point out the board members and leave it to you. Those who spoke to the workplace investigators for the report included former Liberal leader John Brogden, now Landcom’s chief executive; Peter Roberts, the former chief financial officer at Dexus and Charter Hall; former Stockland chief executive Matthew Quinn and Mirvac co-founder Bob Hamilton. “Her behaviour is inconsistent – ie. she can be particularly rude and aggressive one moment and then saccharine sweet the next – but it is artificial sweetness – insincere – and people see through it,” one person told the investigators. “[They] said that if she was one of his staff members’, then he would performance manage her out of his organisation,” said another. One simply suggested she was "not capable" of being a director.

Unfortunately for those directors, after legal advice, Treasury secretary Michael Pratt decided to keep Jones around. Board meetings suddenly became more interesting. SILLY SEASON For Canberra's most exclusive social grouping, the Parliamentary Partners Association, Christmas heralds the arrival of its popular end-of-year-lunch and annual general meeting. This year, the spouses society loses its two chief players: convenor Robyn Coulton, the wife of Regional Services Minister Mark Coulton, and secretary Teresa Ramsey, who is married to government whip Rowan Ramsey. So far, nobody has volunteered to take over. As one member told CBD: “You usually can’t hand them away.”

Still, there's still just over a week until the leadership change is on the cards. Then everyone will decamp from Parliament House to Griffith diner Rubicon for a Christmas bash. BOOK ENDS The corporate crowd (and Prime Minister Scott Morrison) may have been at the Fullerton Hotel for the Business Council’s annual knees-up on Wednesday, but we did spot a number of interesting faces down the road at the launch of Financial Review scribe Aaron Patrick’s book The Surprise Party. Held over at Ashurst HQ, we noted outgoing Credit Suisse chief executive John Knox, Melbourne businessman James Baillieu, J Capital Research managing partner and WiseTech nemesis Tim Murray, the Fin’s managing editor Joanne Gray, former Westpac banker David Fite and the firm’s corporate law boss Mark Stanbridge.