Nine gives Joe Aston temporary legal support while he lawyers up

It’s been a big few days for our friends at The Australian Financial Review. Last Wednesday, staff were told their editor-in-chief James Chessell would leave the newspaper to reunite with Joe Aston, the masthead’s former Rear Window columnist, at his upstart business publication, Rampart, next month.

By the end of the week, Chessell’s final day at the newspaper had been brought forward to Friday, following an angry staff letter. Over the weekend, Nine’s managing director of publishing, Tory Maguire, and Aston agreed to end a deal giving Rampart pre- and post-publication legal support and photography in exchange for a monthly Aston column and a cut of Rampart’s revenue.

But the deal, it would seem, hasn’t exactly been torn up with immediate effect.

Nine, which also owns this masthead, will continue to offer Aston’s Rampart legal support over the next two months or so, said two people familiar with the situation. The rest of the deal will be wound down on that same timeline, said one of the people, with the exception of Aston’s monthly column in the Financial Review, which is already a fixture of the past. No hard feelings then, we guess.

Still, the divorce negotiations threw up a handful of questions in media circles on Monday. Among them, at least for some staff at the Financial Review, was how big an appetite News Corp Australia’s executive chairman Michael Miller might have for offering up the support of Holt Street to the Rampart cause.

Not much appetite at all, it turns out. There has been no approach, according to a person close to the executive, and there are no plans to consider getting involved in the Nine-Rampart separation, leaving Aston to lawyer up and go it alone.

But our guess is his former colleagues won’t mind. Chessell’s resignation last week sparked an uncharacteristic wave of backlash in the Financial Review newsroom. A few of the newsroom’s union members wrote to management late last week outraged, asking why Chessell was being allowed back into the building before heading off to work for a competitor.

On Monday, Chessell’s successor, Cosima Marriner, cut her holiday short to head into Nine’s North Sydney headquarters for yet another staff town hall, to address staff concerns. Word is the meeting went as well as it could have for Marriner, at least.

There are still strong feelings of betrayal among staff at the nation’s premiere business newspaper. In the town hall, Chessell was accused by some staff of not being fully straight. Then there have been grumblings about Chessell being allowed to walk out of Nine’s office and immediately into the arms of Aston, without any cooling-off period.

Political afterlife

It appears there is life after politics and it can often look remarkably similar to life in politics. CBD has been alerted to a number of updates to some post-Parliament resumes, with former ministers sharing their expertise outside of parliament’s four walls.

Last month DBG Health, parent company of pharmaceutical giant Arrotex, announced former federal health minister Greg Hunt will join its board as a non-executive director, touting his experience across healthcare policy, medicines access and innovation.

Former Victorian Premier Denis Napthine, who CBD readers may recall chose to retain the racing portfolio during his short stint leading the state, has also found himself on familiar turf, recently taking over as the independent chair of Greyhounds Australia.

Former Reason Party MP and long-time drug-law reform campaigner Fiona Patten was recently announced as the new chief executive of the newly formed Medicinal Cannabis Council Australia, the industry’s peak advocacy body. Patten replaced government-relations executive Gail Morgan who had been unveiled as council’s chief in June.

Bruce Billson, a Victorian MP who served as small business minister in the federal government, has joined the Motor Trades Association – a peak body representing new and used car salesmen (and women) – as executive director. He took up the role in July. The MTAA is lobbying the government on the right to repair laws and unfair trading protections.

Purple curse continues

Seems it wasn’t a good weekend for anything to do with purple in the sporting space.

First, Fremantle got mowed down by Brisbane in the dying minutes of the AFL grand final at the MCG after having established a seemingly unbeatable lead. Blame “Wharfie Time”.

Had the Dockers got up, the club would have won its first AFL premiership – breaking its maiden status in the league.

The run of bad luck then headed north on Sunday with a horse named Purple Haze missing out on breaking through for its maiden win.

Purple seems like it was a curse on the last weekend in September!

Purple Haze, a six-year-old gelding trained by Adam Duggan, lined up in race 3 at Port Macquarie in NSW and was pipped by Warm Front by a third of a length – so near yet so far, just like the Dockers.