Deloitte chieftain Adam Powick did not shower himself in glory when he appeared before a fired-up group of senators last month.
It’s a dangerous place for well-paid big four consulting bosses, and facing a barrage of questioning, Powick feebly conceded, yes, his $3.5 million salary was too high.
Adam Powick admitted to a Senate committee his position is not worthy of a pay packet worth seven times that of the prime minister’s.Credit: Martin Ollman
He then tried to salvage a bit of pride by urging his troops via all-staff edict to “stand tall” in the face of rampant media criticism of the firm, as public anger over the PwC scandal turned management consultants into some of the least trusted people in Australia.
Later, Powick would liken his ordeal to Steve Waugh facing a fired-up Curtly Ambrose on a bouncy wicket. Cricket tragics might recall that Waugh followed his most gruelling battle with Ambrose in 1995 with a series-winning, epoch-shifting double hundred in Kingston.
Powick, on the other hand, seems to have found his last bumper barrage all a bit much. While Deloitte is up before a NSW parliamentary inquiry into the state’s use of consulting services on Wednesday, the boss won’t be padding up.
Instead, other members of Deloitte’s top brass, including chairman Tom Imbesi, will be there to answer questions. We asked the firm what was up with Powick’s snub.
“Deloitte’s representatives at the NSW inquiry on Wednesday are the leaders from the firm most relevant to the matters outlined in the terms of reference,” a spokesperson from the firm told CBD.
Convenient.
DEEMING GOES NATIONAL
Victoria’s own contentiously expelled MP Moira Deeming has made it to Liberal Party big time: a featured speaker to the well-heeled harbourside branches in Sydney.
Moira Deeming is getting plenty of invitations to speak to grassroots Liberals.Credit: Joe Armao
With the fate of wealthy Liberal heartland imperilled by the success of the insatiable political force that is the inner-city teals, rank-and-file Liberal Party branches are getting, well, predictable, in their attempts to bring voters back into the fold.
One way is to back a strategy already shown to have its limitations: organise around trans rights.
Deeming, of course, was exiled by Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto’s party room after appearing at an anti-trans rally that was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.
Now the Bellevue Hill and Vaucluse branches of the NSW Liberal Party have ushered her into the schmick halls at the Woollahra Golf Club in Rose Bay.
Both branches are, interestingly, within the bounds of the Wentworth electorate.
This is the same electorate where Katherine Deves’ campaign flamed out after then prime minister Scott Morrison made her the centrepiece of last year’s federal election.
Not stopping there, Deeming is also billed for some South Australian senator Alex Antic-sponsored antics at Parliament House in September at an event called “Why can’t women talk about sex?”. Right.
This is after Deeming’s local Sydenham electoral committee in July attracted some big names – like Peta Credlin and Labor defector Warren Mundine – for a local show.
“I just try really hard to tell people to not quit and not give up on the Liberal Party and not be furiously angry with people who voted against me,” she told this column.
Deeming said she’d be tacking her chat on the back of her appearance at CPAC, which, we know, has had some issues of its own of late.
F45 DELISTED FROM NYSE
Embattled Australian-born gym chain F45 is set to die in darkness. Just two years ago, the company floated on the New York Stock Exchange to much fanfare, at a ceremony fronted by its biggest celebrity backer Mark Wahlberg.
After a turgid year, F45 announced its delisting from the stock exchange this week, just months after the company was threatened by regulators with being booted after its share price had languished under $US1 for more than 30 days. It gave the firm six months to get its house in order.
F45 founder Adam Gilchrist (right) and shareholder Mark Wahlberg on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in 2021.Credit: Getty
Meanwhile, the firm still hasn’t filed its 2022 annual results, asking for more time this year because of issues with its auditor. Now, rather than hand in its homework, F45 seems to be quitting school altogether.
And in July, the “rats off a sinking ship” vibe continued. Bob Madore, appointed interim chief financial officer only in February, recently resigned with 30 days’ notice, according to documents filed with American regulators.
Perhaps Madore took the whole “interim” part very literally, because there isn’t even a mention of F45 on the self-described “strategic thought leader’s” LinkedIn page.
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