Rytenskild eyes his old Tabcorp job; ACCC boss sings from a different hymn sheet

Could Adam Rytenskild return to the company which unceremoniously dumped him? Picture: John Feder

What does the future hold for dumped Tabcorp CEO Adam Rytenskild?

Fresh from a win against his ex-employer in the Fair Work Commission this week – and what a gloriously damning smackdown it was! – the exiled former leader is now quietly ­shaping a plan to … get his old job back.

Reinstatement is one of the options available to Rytenskild – and we hear he’s examining it very closely – as he advances ­towards mediation with Tabcorp. Compensation is the alternative, of course, and who’s to say that’s not just as attractive when there’s a house-build in Sydney’s Palm Beach that needs to be finished off.

We can see why Rytenskild would be eager to restore himself to the leadership of Tabcorp. Is there a higher form of vindication that he could pursue given the appalling circumstances under which he was marched from the company?

The details are all there to read across a scathing judgment delivered in Rytenskild’s favour at the FWC on Monday. Deputy president Gerard Boyce, prodigiously dunking on Tabcorp throughout his 37-page verdict, concluded that the former chief executive could pursue an unfair dismissal case based on how his so-called resignation unfolded on March 14.

Craig Garvin, who was recalled to Parmalat six months after being removed.

Rytenskild’s crime – denied to this day – was a vulgar remark he allegedly made nine months earlier about a Victorian regulatory official. Tabcorp’s then-executive chairman, Bruce Akhurst, summoned Rytenskild to a meeting with directors David Gallop and Raelene Murphy, at which he was presented with two hopeless options: resign or be terminated.

Boyce’s description of the circumstances leading up to this moment described an obvious ambush: Akhurst texted Rytenskild, ordered him to a meeting, then refused to take his calls seeking clarification on what was going on.

Rytenskild wasn’t given time to seek legal advice, and Boyce went on to reject almost every defence submitted on behalf of Tabcorp as to how its directors conducted themselves – and this, too, is pitiable, considering Tabcorp hired two top-tier law firms specifically to avoid the very mess the company now faces.

Rytenskild’s got Tabcorp right over a barrel now, especially when his CEO position has already been backfilled with former AFL chief Gillon McLachlan, bereft as he remains of finalised probity checks in the jurisdictions where Tabcorp operates (due to be completed by Christmas).

If mediation fails, Rytenskild still has the option of a Federal Court hearing. He could turn this into a test case? Listed company boards might think twice before cancelling their executives on such flimsy, ham-fisted pretences.

Although, it’s not unprecedented for a dumped CEO to be rehired. Listed wine producer Australian Vintage reinstated Craig Garvin just a few weeks ago, and that was six months after he was abruptly removed for a “lack of judgment” that the company never expounded upon. Garvin, fortunately, hadn’t been replaced by that point. YB

Blast from the past

ACCC boss Gina Cass-Gottlieb made waves this week at the competition regulator’s public hearings into supermarkets, taking over from the ACCC’s counsel, Naomi Sharp SC, to ask some pointed questions of former Woolworths chief executive Brad Banducci.

Cass-Gottlieb made particular note of a 2015 investor presentation in which the retail major said it was the most competitive on price than it had been since the previous year – did that imply Woolies had discretion on how hard it tried to compete, she wondered?

She’d be in a position to know, as one of the country’s top competition lawyers.

Curiously enough, though, back in 2014 Cass-Gottlieb was espousing slightly different views, through a starring contribution to a Productivity Commission review of supermarkets from the now defunct Australian National Retailers Association – of which Woolies was a member.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb. Picture: Jane Dempster

To be fair, plenty has changed in the economy since then, but the arguments advanced by the big retailers really haven’t.

The submission, which credited the “expert assistance of Dr Alistair Davey of Pegasus Economics and Ms Gina Cass-Gottlieb of Gilbert & Tobin Lawyers”, said competition in the sector was vibrant and vigorous.

“Frequent commentary about a so-called ‘duopoly’ ignores the actual market structure, the potential for consumers and producers to switch consumption and production decisions, and the increasing prevalence and importance in Australia of global retailers,” the submission said.

Which might sound eerily familiar to anyone listening to Banducci and new Woolies boss Amanda Bardwell mount their own duopoly defence, arguing that there was plenty of new competition in the market from the likes of Amazon, Bunnings and Chemist Warehouse – all expanding into products traditionally dominated by supermarkets. NE

Billionaire party time

Presumably Heloise Pratt – currently neck deep in a legal pursuit of her estranged husband, Alex Waislitz – will make an appearance at her sister’s birthday party in suburban Melbourne next weekend?

Yes, Fiona Geminder – rich-lister and wife of billionaire Pact Group founder Raphael Geminder – is ringing in her 60th at the family’s historic and ever-expanding mansion.

The theme? Sixties black tie, according to the invitation, which specifies a dress code of “fun and colourful”. Her brother, Visy’s Anthony Pratt,would merely need to show up to meet that requirement.

Heloise Pratt and her sister, Fiona Geminder. Picture: Jason Edwards

The invitation itself is a bit of a laugh, too, styled as a movie poster for The Party, a late sixties comedy that starred Peter Sellers – except instead of a clumsy Sellers in the foreground there’s a deep-etch of Fiona looking resplendent in a carmine dress.

“No gifts please,” goes the other instruction, and what could she possibly want for anyway? Greater control (with her family) over Thorney Investments, as we revealed on Wednesday? Ah, but that’s a gift which cannot be wrapped in a bow.

As for attendees, Fiona wouldn’t expand on the guest list. Should we expect that brass-balled fellow who pulled off an outrageous impersonation of her husband at the Melbourne Cup?

If Fiona’s got a sense of humour she’ll be of a mind to let him in. YB