WTF: TAC’s moving parts, golfer banned, clucky character, scoreboard issues
In this week’s WTF column, we wonder why some past and present TAC executives are claiming the same position, while one local golf club has taken the rare step of “terminating” a membership following a flurry of abuse.
Online platform LinkedIn is seen by many as the go to source for all things business, while also providing professionals a platform for gratuitous self-promotion.
So it came as some surprise to us here at WTF that one-time senior TAC and WorkSafe employee Andrew Holt is yet to update his profile to remove his current role as the road safety organisation’s executive general manager of performance, risk and strategy.
Holt, who had been in the role since October 2023, abruptly departed TAC last month because of “personal reasons”.
Following our report on his exit, WTF’s inbox was inundated with some juicy scuttlebutt that was doing the rounds within the Brougham St corridors.
We put the rumours to Holt but never heard back, while the TAC is maintaining its “personal reasons” position.
Meanwhile, he has been replaced, for the time being at least, by Steve Moylan.
The long-time clinical director at Barwon Health’s Mental Health Drugs and Alcohol Services announced the move recently on – yes, you guessed it – LinkedIn.
Moylan will serve in the role while an external recruitment process is undertaken.
The same process saw Adam Cunningham appointed TAC’s executive general manager of finance and governance in June – a position that Nadia Coppe also has listed as her current role on LinkedIn.
Like Holt’s departure, the apparent demotion of Coppe, a 17-year TAC veteran, sparked much discussion among workers, who like us, are struggling to keep up with all the moving and shaking.
Turning our attention to WorkSafe, we note the Geelong-headquartered organisation has not yet appointed a replacement for Joe Calafiore, who resigned from the top job in February just one year into the role.
Calafiore, a former TAC chief executive, said at the time he was “unable to commit the full focus that the role requires”.
The well-liked Ashley West, an AFL Barwon commissioner, has, not for the first time, been acting in the position.
Executive recruitment firm BlueSteps closed applications three months ago, but we’re yet to hear of an appointment.
We asked WorkSafe Minister Ben Carroll what the timeline was and were told the organisation “continues to have stable leadership team and the organisation is performing well” and that “an announcement will be made in due course”.
GOLFER TEES OFF
Golf can be an emotional game, but one member of a local club took it too far recently.
So much so that they had their (costly) membership ripped up.
The Sands Torquay informed its members via email of the decision on Monday, using it as an opportunity to remind them that the club would not tolerate any form of abuse towards staff or fellow golfers.
“Last week, we made the difficult decision to terminate a membership due to abusive and offensive communications directed toward staff,” operations manager Mat Mackay wrote.
“While such incidents are rare, they are taken very seriously.”
While WTF is unaware of the details of this particular matter, we do know that many members and staff were fuming last year after learning that the club was for sale via the Addy.
CLUCKY CHARACTER
The sights you see in the CBD early in the morning.
A regular WTF reader spotted this caged creature in Banks Place, off Little Malop St, which is exactly where the same spy reported in June of hearing the regular crow of a rooster.
“We can confirm that a rooster that was heard in central Geelong recently was removed by its owner from a Little Malop St premises on the night of Thursday June 5 to a different location,” council’s executive director of city Life Anthony Basford said back then.
“The rooster had been caged in a courtyard – it’s believed the owner was in the process of trying to find the bird a new home.”
Could it be that the rooster has made a return?
Which, if true, would disprove the theory of one reader who sent us an email with the subject line: The Geelong CBD Rooster – Cluck Norris: The Bird, The Myth, The Meal.”
In short, it claimed the rooster – Cluck Norris – had ended up in someone’s oven.
SCOREBOARD ISSUES
Away footy fans visiting North Geelong’s Osborne Park could be forgiven for thinking there’s a ploy to conceal the score from anyone watching from a fair chunk of the outer.
Bizarrely, the one scoreboard installed at Keith Barclay Oval points directly at the modest club grandstand with very little understanding of the Aussie footy drive-in tradition.
What is worse, when the sun hits the board it is barely visible to half of the ground meaning either scheduled walks to check on the tally or reverting to good DIY adding up.
Can anyone spread some light on why the Magpies electronic display is so acutely angled rather than being positioned more equitably for all to see?
Answers on a postcard, facing this way please.
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Originally published as WTF: TAC’s moving parts, golfer banned, clucky character, scoreboard issues
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