By Noel Towell and Kishor Napier-Raman
CBD loves to see people broaden their horizons and embark on new adventures. We wish more people would do it in fact – but we won’t name names today – so we were delighted to learn this week that former federal Liberal MP Julia Banks is going back to school. Well, sort of.
We most recently heard from Banks just last week when she told the ABC’s Nemesis doco – and it’s not the first time she has expressed such views – that former prime minister Scott Morrison’s approach to working with women during his years in power left something to be desired.
Former Liberal MP Julia Banks.Credit: Kristoffer Paulsen
“He has a really weak if no regard … particularly bizarre ... for working women with children,” Banks told the ABC’s cameras.
In the very next frame, for the record, Morrison denied having a problem with women, arguing that his record working with female MPs and ministers supported his view.
This matter has history, as they say in the classics. In the years after Banks, who held the outer eastern Melbourne seat of Chisholm, bailed on the Liberal Party in 2018, her criticism of Morrison’s leadership grew ever sharper.
Credit: John Shakespeare
It culminated in an interview in 2021, as Banks promoted her book, Power Play: Breaking Through Bias, Barriers and Boys’ Clubs, when she described her former leader – who was still prime minister at that point – as like “controlling menacing wallpaper” who tried to keep Banks in line, either directly or through “emissaries”.
Morrison issued an official denial to that one too.
But hey! All that was like nearly three years ago, and we’re meant to be talking about new beginnings, right? So Julia went public this week on her next chapter, a PhD at Melbourne’s Deakin Uni.
The subject? “Coercive control in the workplace”. So we’ll just leave that there, for now, and move on to our own next chapter, which we’ll call…
RUDD SLINGING
The leaked text message from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s chief of staff Tim Gartrell.
… and it concerns yesterday’s dramatic leak of a missive from Anthony Albanese’s chief of staff Tim Gartrell – revealing that veteran politico David Epstein was joining the prime minister’s office heading into “the election year” – that sent rumours about an early national poll into overdrive.
It’s not the first CBD has heard of such talk – some in the NSW Liberal Party are certainly alive to the possibility of an election this year and planning accordingly. But back to Epstein, who before holding roles with Big End of Town players like BHP and Qantas, worked as Kevin Rudd’s chief of staff during his first years as prime minister.
Those familiar with The Killing Season – forerunner to Nemesis – would know that this was a rather ... exciting time, as the Ruddster did his best to move fast and break things. Often literally.
Epstein hasn’t always reflected so fondly on that period. In a 2014 book titled The Gatekeepers: Lessons from Prime Ministers’ Chiefs of Staff, by R.A.W Rhodes and Anne Tiernan, Epstein offered a few candid thoughts on life in the Ruddverse.
“The constant problem we had to cope with was meetings running over time and the ad-hoc-ery and the episodic changes to the program,” Epstein said, looking back on Kevin 07’s infamous Australia 2020 summit. “It was difficult to juggle at times. It is a reflection on Kevin Rudd’s personality.”
He went on to say that the Rudd family needed to be “hand-held” while transitioning to life in The Lodge. We hope for Albanese’s sake that Epstein’s latest stint in the PMO goes more smoothly. If not, we might be reading more about it in years to come.
SHEIK-OUT
Simon Sheikh’s career trajectory, from the national director of the now largely impotent progressive rabble-rousers Get Up! to an enterprising super fund boss, means he’s now having to do unpleasant CEO things like announce job cuts.
Future Group founder and chief executive Simon Sheikh.
Sheikh’s Future Group – a super fund backed by teal bankroller Simon Holmes à Court which avoids investing in fossil fuels or other such nasties – recently grew its assets under management more than tenfold in 48 months. But those growing pains came with an organisational restructure.
“Sadly, this means saying farewell to some valued individuals who’ve made important contributions to our mission,” Sheikh wrote in a LinkedIn post this week.
Sheikh also mentioned that the team would be consulting with affected employees, and was kind enough to send a shout-out to other businesses out there, see if they’re interested in hiring any of Simon’s soon-to-be former colleagues, a move that won plaudits from fellow thought-leaders on the bad social network.
Responding to CBD’s inquiries, Sheikh said the cuts were a result of having to transition to operating a single team.
“Around 40 roles have been impacted and our team has been supported with a well-designed and above-market support package,” he said.
Future Group had, since the LinkedIn post, been “inundated” with offers from the financial services and climate sector to “support our talented team where they can”.
Whether that’s enough to comfort those who’ve lost their jobs remains to be seen.