As the Trump Revolution sweeps away the dead hand of wokeism in the US, especially its weaponised ‘Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’ ideology, the DEI troughers in Australia are desperately digging in. Clearly terrified that the lucrative positions they didn’t earn will be prised from their grasping hands, the Quota Queens are weaponising some of their most captured corporate institutions to try and cement their undeserved privilege.
The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) and Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI), which represent some of the nation’s largest super funds and institutional investors, are backing the ASX Corporate Governance Council’s proposed changes to its principles and recommendations, which include higher quotas for women in company boardrooms, and a proposal for company reporting of diversity efforts beyond gender and including “other relevant diversity considerations”.
How about the only consideration that should matter: competence.
What am I saying? Demand competence from these greedy Quota Queens and they’d all be out of a job. Where would, say, our illustrious Governor-General be, if she’d ever had to risk her own money starting up a business, instead of parachuting herself into one lucrative corporate sinecure after another?
The woke takeover of the superannuation industry is one of the most egregious insults to working-class Australians since the Labor Party kept pretending they’re the ‘party of the worker’. Thanks to Paul Keating and his compulsory superannuation scheme, Australian workers – almost none of whom even choose to join unions in the first place – have been forced to hand over billions of their hard-earned to union parasites, who then go on to use worker’s own money to push through a policy agenda actively inimical to worker’s interests.
Check out the roster of avaricious Didn’t Earn It troughers:
ASFA chief executive Mary Delahunty […] ACSI chief executive Louise Davidson […] ASX Limited chief executive Helen Lofthouse […] HESTA chief executive Debby Blakey said increased diversity boosted the long-term performance of companies through improved decision-making and higher productivity.
Which is a load of evidence-free horse shit, of course. But asking these entitled princesses to stump up evidence is like asking a monkey to operate a nuclear reactor. The enraged monkeys fling their poo and everything ends up a poisonous wasteland.
Corporates who’ve spinelessly refused to stand up to this nonsense, no matter the ruinous consequences, are finally being emboldened by the shifting policy winds in the US.
Some of Australia’s senior business leaders have banded together to condemn a controversial move requiring company directors to disclose their sexual orientation and religious beliefs, amid expectations diversity reforms will be put on ice as tensions erupt within corporate boardrooms.
The 19 members of the ASX Corporate Governance Council last week failed to find consensus on a new set of corporate governance principles and on Wednesday they are likely to announce they will be paused amid growing concerns among directors over the contentious changes. The looming capitulation follows a call from investor John Wylie for the dismantling of the council over fears the reforms will damage the national economy and drive successful publicly listed companies into private hands.
The powerful Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia had called for the inclusion of even “stronger language” around the proposed extension of diversity characteristics to include race, sexual orientation, religious beliefs and socio-economic background.
But Mr Wylie, founder of the $3bn investment fund Tanarra, said the proposed changes marked a massive overreach by fringe members of the Council and should be binned.
As Wylie points out, one of the most grotesque consequences of this rubbish is that prospective board members would have to out themselves, whether they wished to or not. Even leaving that aside, the idea that Australians should have to publicly announce their sexual preference is a sick invasion of privacy.
“AFL players aren’t obliged to disclose that and you have to question what is the relevance to corporate performance and the suitability of sitting on a board.”
Mr Wylie, backed by a dozen top directors including BlueScope chair Jane McAloon and UBS Australasia chair Lindsay Maxsted, said it was time to axe the diversity debate which had created a deep divide within the council […]
Other directors who added their support to Mr Wylie’s blueprint included top corporate lawyer Leon Zwier, barrister Allan Myers and leading director Christine Christian.
Notice that, in contrast to the entitled princesses of DEI, both sexes are speaking out against this preposterous nonsense.
Commentators have suggested a pushback against diversity programs is likely to escalate in Australia after Mr Trump signed an executive order in January promising to terminate all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) offices, positions and programs across the US federal government.
We can only wish. And look across the Pacific with envy.
