Aunty’s radio star slams Sales, 7.30 over Calombaris ‘ad’

Jon Faine lashes 7.30 interview with George Calombaris; admits attack could lose him friends.

Jon Faine has turned on the ABC over Leigh Sales’ interview with George Calombaris.

Top ABC radio presenter Jon Faine has lashed Leigh Sales’s 7.30 over a prerecorded interview with celebrity chef George Calombaris, which he attacked as nothing more than an “ad” for the em­battled restaurateur.

Faine said he accepted his words might lose him friends but he was disappointed by Wednesday night’s interview with the former MasterChef judge on the flagship 7.30 program.

“If this costs me friendships and relationships with some of my colleagues in other parts of this ­organisation, then I’m sorry,” he said on air this morning.

“But I was very disappointed that the ABC agreed to do the ­interview on his turf in a way that he could … turn it into an ad.”

Speaking on air to a former worker who said she was yet to ­receive backpay, Faine said: “What did you think of the ABC agreeing to interview him in one of his own restaurants, allowing him to constantly turn it into an ad, by saying we’re committed to great food and great service?”

Fair Work inspectors found significant underpayments occurred at the MAdE Establishment-owned restaurants, of which ­Calombaris was the face, because they failed to correctly apply annualised salary arrangements for some staff. This included failing to conduct annual reconciliations to check that workers on annual salary arrangements were paid for overtime and penalty rate hours worked.

Leigh Sales interviewed George Calombaris.

George Calombaris speaking to Leigh Sales. Picture: ABC.

MAdE Establishment backpaid $7,832,953 to 515 current or former employees of Press Club, Gazi and Hellenic Republic for work ­between 2011 and 2017. A further $16,371 has been backpaid to nine employees of Jimmy Grants.

Faine made his comments during an interview with ex-Hellenic Republic employee Orlaith Belfrage, who told him she was still owed thousands of dollars.

Ms Belfrage told Faine the ­celebrity chef deserved tougher questions than those he got. “I was a bit surprised … a bit taken aback about how much we had to listen to his emotional state,” she said.

“I pretty much have no interest in (that). It should be about the principles and the laws, which he’s broken.”

Calombaris apologised for underpaying his staff by almost $8 million in the prerecorded ­interview with Sales.

He blamed the missing money on a lack of “sophistication” in the “back end” of his companies and his lack of experience. “The thing about 13 years ago, you’re a young chef, 26 years of age, you want to open your first restaurant, you get together with three other partners at that point,” he said.

“You open the first one, then the second one opens, the third one, the creativity is flying, the ideas are flying, the dreaming is there … But the sophistication in the back end wasn’t there.”

The Australian understands the interview took place at Hellenic Republic in the inner-northern Melbourne suburb of Brunswick with the crew arriving before Sales to set up. Questions were not provided beforehand and Sales ­decided when to end the interview.

A spokesman for MAdE Establishment said all current and former employees had been repaid, with the bulk of the payments made in 2017.

“MAdE Establishment is aware of accusations in the media by a small number of former employees, some of whom are part of the union-aligned activist group Hospo Voice,” he said.

“All known affected former and current employees have been compensated with their correct entitlements in accordance with the law, using a methodology that has been fully disclosed by us to the Fair Work Ombudsman and tested by them as part of their ­investigation.”

Sales and the ABC did not ­respond to The Australian’s ­request for comment.