Nauru Airlines terminates the employment of two top executives at the carrier’s Brisbane headquarters

Geoff Bowmaker returned to Nauru Airlines as acting CEO this week and has already terminated the employment of two top executives at the Brisbane headquarters.

SHAKING IT UP

GEOFF Bowmaker has wasted no time in shaking things up this week inside the Brisbane headquarters of deeply-troubled Nauru Airlines.

The acting CEO, who only started work on Monday, alerted all staff via email late on Thursday afternoon that he had terminated the employment of chief operating officer Tony Middleton and chief commercial officer Richard Miller.

The sweeping change follows the creation of a three-person “review panel” set up by Nauru’s new president to examine the carrier’s operations following an avalanche of criticism from insiders.

Bowmaker retired in early 2018 after 11 years as CEO but was invited back by the Nauru Government to help clean up the mess.

Both Middleton and Miller were close allies of besieged chairman Trevor Jensen, who critics allege has allowed a poisonous corporate culture of bullying and abuse to flourish since taking the helm early last year. Jensen has denied these allegations.

Things are so bad that former CEO Peter Sheehan and two other top executives wrote a blistering letter in May to both CASA and the Nauru Government outlining their deep concerns about the airline’s operation and staff management. Middleton is a longtime industry colleague of Jensen’s and both men are co-directors of aviation training outfit AA Nova Global Pty Ltd.

Nauru Airlines acting CEO Geoff Bowmaker. Picture: Mark Calleja

Jensen maintains the business, only launched in mid-2017, is dormant but his mobile phone number still appears as the point of contact on the company’s Facebook page.

Middleton’s personal Facebook page, which depicts him in a blonde party wig and dark sunnies, still says he “manages AA Nova Global’’.

City Beat spies report that the company remains active in Myanmar, the home country of one of its three directors, Aye Aye Naing, a former Miss Myanmar who has enjoyed at least three trips courtesy of Nauru Airlines this year. One of these junkets was to the Marshall Islands, where she was a guest of the inaugural Miss Marshall Islands Pageant, an event that was sponsored by Nauru Airlines.

Miller, meanwhile, continues to operate Philippines-based consultancy DK Jennings, which has deployed Naing to speak at various aviation conferences across Asia, including several with Jensen. When City Beat reached him in Bangkok yesterday, Middleton was matter of fact about his dismissal, which he blamed on the change of government in Nauru.

“I’ve got no issues with the decision. If they don’t need me, they don’t need me. I’m a big boy,’’ he said.

“We believe we’ve always acted in the best interest of the Nauru Government and Nauru Airlines. We’ve done the best we could.’’

Neither Miller nor Jensen returned calls seeking comment.

PIONEER RETIRES

ONE of the trailblazing pioneers of north Queensland’s tourism sector has called it a day, pivoting into retirement as he battles health issues.

Mike Ball has passed the baton of operating his Mike Ball Dive Expeditions business to his right-hand man, Craig Stephen.

Cairns diving legend Mike Ball.

The change, announced this week, comes an amazing 50 years after Ball launched his Cairns-based scuba diving business, which helped revolutionise the industry with its live-aboard trips for clients.

Ball, now 71, arrived in Australia as a “10 pound Pom’’ and, after his car broke down, he found himself working at a sports store in Townsville. Soon enough he launched a dive school in town. Frustrated by charter boats either breaking down or suffering design problems, Ball bankrolled what is believed to be the world’s first custom-built live-aboard catamaran in 1981.

The company’s flagship vessel “Spoilsport’’ was built in 1989 and is still in use, taking clients through the Ribbon Reefs, up to Lizard Island and out to Osprey Reef, where divers mix it up with numerous sharks.

Stephen, a native of Scotland, started working as a manager with Ball in 2002 and has now bought the business from him.

“He’s had a wonderful career and has left an amazing legacy,’’ Stephen told us.