By Kishor Napier-Raman and Noel Towell
After a few years battling to turn around the fortunes of Gloria Jean’s and Donut King franchisor Retail Food Group, Peter George should be ready to put his feet up with a good book.
For those who don’t follow these matters, George was brought into RFG as executive chairman in late 2018 with the company in freefall, facing full year losses of more than $300 million, the closure of hundreds of its outlets, and an Optus-level publicity nightmare over its treatment of franchisees.
Page turner: Peter George is embarking on his next adventure with eccentric Booktopia founder Tony Nash.Credit: Shakespeare
It’s been a wild ride since then for RFG, with scrutiny from the Tax Office, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the national parliament relating to allegations of breaches of consumer law, mistreatment of its franchisees and suspicions of insider trading. Not to mention the small matter of the pandemic.
But by September this year, the former Optus director was able to report some green shoots, with strong sales growth from Donut King, Gloria Jean’s and Michel’s Patisserie, although trade remained below pre-COVID levels.
So time for George’s next adventure. While it does have a literary flavour, taking the helm at Booktopia – the online retailer floated in 2020 by its eccentric entrepreneur founder Tony Nash – doesn’t sound like our idea of a relaxing time.
Nash was effectively forced out of Booktopia’s executive ranks after the company lost more than 90 per cent of its value – a $300 million loss to investors – amid an ill-timed share sale by the founder, and the market losing patience with bookseller’s inability to meet upbeat earning forecasts.
But now, Nash appears back in the driver’s seat after a purge of the board, and was in the mix on Tuesday with an announcement welcoming George as Booktopia’s new chairman.
So settle in, this is going to be a real page turner.
NEWS VALUES
We always admire a media company trying to Do Better. The latest florid piece of internal corporate image laundering comes from our friends at News Corp, where CEO Robert Thomson sent a missive to staff this week outlining the media empire’s new Standards of Business Conduct, described as the “cornerstone” of the company’s commitment to “the highest legal and ethical standards”.
Former editor-in-chief of The Australian newspaper Chris Dore.Credit: Jesse Marlow
Staff will have an opportunity to acquaint themselves with these new standards by undertaking a new training module, where they’ll get to hear from leaders across News Corp, and watch real life scenarios from the business exemplifying those values.
We wonder, then, if the recent troubles at Holt St will be used as an example of what not to do. Just weeks ago, The Australian’s editor-in-chief Chris Dore parted ways with the company after allegedly making lewd comments to a woman at an event in the United States.
We’re not sure that behaviour matches those exalted standards. Neither does the company’s response – staff were kept entirely in the dark over the reasons for Dore’s abrupt departure.
Thomson ended his note by urging employees to “please be passionate about being principled”.
We hope everyone at the empire takes those hollow words to heart.
KEVIN UNCANCELLED
It’s a tale as old as the internet. An election candidate is vetted and preselected, only for their online history to be embarrassingly dredged up, forcing a swift withdrawal.
Back in 2013, that Main Character was Kevin Baker, the Liberal candidate for the relatively safe Labor seat of Charlton on the NSW Central Coast. His sin was running a web forum for Mini Cooper enthusiasts, where everyday blokes went to make awful racist and sexist jokes and share links to pornography.
It got so bad that Baker eventually announced he wouldn’t contest, even though his name was already on the ballot paper. Thanks to the anti-Labor landslide, he still managed to take home 28 per cent of the primary vote.
But like many cancel culture cautionary tales, this one has a happy ending for Baker. After stints working for state Liberals, most recently as a senior policy advisor to Communities, Families and Disability Services Minister Natasha Maclaren-Jones, Baker has landed a new gig as principal government relations and stakeholder engagement at mining giant BHP.
Proof that sometimes, the internet does, in fact, forget.
LEGAL DRAMA
The boss of the embattled Administrative Appeal Tribunal has resigned just eight months after being hired by former Liberal attorney-general Michaelia Cash.
Fiona Meagher was among the last of the Coalition’s appointments to the tribunal in its nine years in government, during which at least 79 former Liberal Party politicians, candidates, former staffers and party associates were hired, some on salaries approaching $500,000.
Fiona Meagher has resigned as president of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
The problems facing the tribunal have continued to mount since Meagher’s appointment, with 19 members accused of workplace bullying, harassment or discrimination in the past six years.
Those revelations and the delays facing applicants to the tribunal prompted Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, who had flagged he wanted changes to what he called a “Liberal Party employment agency”, to seek an explanation from Meagher about what was going on.
Dreyfus’ office told CBD on Thursday morning that it had accepted Meagher’s resignation, thanked her for her service and confirmed that Federal Court judge Berna Collier would act as interim president.
The AAT was in Labor’s sights long before it took government. A parliamentary Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, led by now-retired Labor veteran Kim Carr, called for the tribunal to be scrapped and re-established.
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.