WiseTech founder Richard White remains in Tech Council freezer despite settling legal stoush with ex-lover

Australia’s peak tech lobby group is refusing to say when WiseTech founder Richard White will return to public duties as pressure mounts on the organisation over its handling of saga.

WiseTech Global chief executive Richard White remains absent from public duties as part of his role as a Tech Council of Australia director. Picture: Aaron Francis

Australia’s peak tech lobby group has refused to say when Richard White will return to public duties, despite the billionaire settling a legal fight with a former lover.

Mr White, the founder and chief executive of logistics software giant WiseTech, stopped making public appearances as part of his role as a Tech Council of Australia director last week following a string of sensational allegations about his personal life.

Former Victorian innovation minister Philip Dalidakis – now managing partner at corporate advisory firm Orizontas – said Mr White stepping down from public duties at the TCA was a “first step”.

“But it may require a decision to be taken about whether he resigns from the board with a clear indication that there is a pathway to being brought back on to the board once the issue is resolved,” Mr Dalidakis told The Australian.

TCA board members, which include former NSW customer service minister Victor Dominello and Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar, referred questions about Mr White to the council.

A TCA spokeswoman said he would remain absent “while a personal matter is being resolved in court”.

Contacted by The Australian on Wednesday – a day after Mr White and former lover Linda Rogan abandoned their dispute – the spokeswoman said there were no changes to the previous statement and she could not say when Mr White would return to public duties.

Despite the federal court action – which involved Mr White attempting to bankrupt Ms Rogan – the crisis has continued to engulf ASX-listed WiseTech, with the corporate regulator “monitoring” the allegations, which involve Mr White having affairs with women and buying homes for some of them.

Citi analysts say while there is no threat to WiseTech’s near-term earnings, the allegations could delay new customers signing up to its Cargowise platform and risks a potential succession drama at the $36bn company.

Australia’s technology sector is facing a host of challenges, including a chronic shortage of workers, lack of venture capital investment and losing top talent to the US and other countries.

Before allegations involving his relationship with Ms Rogan, which he attempted to suppress in the Federal Court, surfaced, Mr White had been one of the biggest advocates in finding ways to solve the nation’s tech crisis, including urging other companies to follow WiseTech’s lead in paying students the equivalent of $300,000 while they completed their degrees and worked part-time.

Like WiseTech’s share price – which plunged almost 19 per cent before ending a five-day losing streak on Tuesday after Mr White and Ms Rogan settled their dispute – the uncertainty about his role at the TCA threatens to overshadow the lobby group’s work.

“The Tech Council of Australia has a responsibility, obviously, to its members and the broader industry and so the decisions that they take, as difficult as they may be in relation to individuals, are secondary in relation to their responsibility to the people and the industry that they represent,” Mr Dalidakis said. “I went through similar decision-making as the Victorian minister for innovation, just after we’d announced a partnership and a relationship with 500 Startups, when the allegations started to surface in relation to the behaviour of their founder, Dave McClure.

“It was my view then, as it is today, that as embarrassing as it may have been for those allegations in relation to the Victorian government’s brand, that was a secondary consideration to the wellbeing of the women and alleged victims at that time, of all the victims of the allegations.”

Mr McClure received an undisclosed figure from the Andrews government’s LaunchVic $60m start-up fund in 2017 before he was stood down over allegations of sexual harassment.

Mr Dalidakis wrote on Twitter at the time: “Under no circumstances is sexual harassment acceptable.”

“Our deal was with 500, not one man. And whilst Dave was the face of 500, he has betrayed all he stood for,” he wrote.

WiseTech, which remains a TCA member, was contacted for comment about Mr White’s ongoing role at the lobby group but did not respond before deadline.

Reporting of the case sparked claims about Mr White’s private life. Ms Rogan’s allegations were yet to be tested in court before the case was abandoned.

Originally published as WiseTech founder Richard White remains in Tech Council freezer despite settling legal stoush with ex-lover