Before the boat jaunt, ABC executive’s brag backfired

April 17, 2026 — 5:00am

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There is something of a nautical theme developing in this column in 2026. Cast your minds back to February, with news of the veteran Daily Telegraph reporter Buzz Rothfield’s boozy boat party send-off. In March, there was Gina Rinehart’s $25,000 luxury boat for Sky host Rita Panahi’s birthday. On Thursday, this masthead revealed that one of the ABC’s top HR executives had resigned after questions about a team-building day, which he held on a rich lister mate’s yacht on Sydney Harbour!

So here’s the backstory.

Back on dry land, there had been significant churn over the past year in the ABC’s employee relations team, run by head of employment relations and safety Josh Keech.

Four of Keech’s in-house employment lawyers have moved on since January alone. Another two employment lawyers left the team last year too, according to internal correspondence seen by On Background. That left just one remaining employment relations counsel still aboard.

It’s a rate of turnover in a small team that would be notable at any time, but it came during crucial pay bargaining negotiations with ABC staff and unions led by Keech’s division.

NSW governor hated noisy party boats, until she hopped aboard

Then there was the boat trip. On Background sources said one team member declined the invitation to go on the boat, which was made available to Keech as a personal favour by businessman and philanthropist Tom Snow.

Snow comes from serious money and has been politically influential. He’s the son of the late rich lister and Canberra Airport owner........

© Brisbane Times