The Grinch is stealing this Christmas from NAB workers, AI comes next

October 20, 2026 — 1:25pm

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Westpac boss Anthony Miller thought he was issuing a hairy-chested war cry to his fellow employees in August when he bragged – while laying off hundreds of their colleagues – he worked every day of the year, including Christmas.

The comment was later clarified to mean he chatted to his dad about the bank over Christmas lunch, but by then his reputation as the Grinch who stole Christmas was solidly in place.

On Tuesday, his NAB counterpart Andrew Irvine showed us all what a real Grinch looks like.

Barely two months before the holidays, he announced that 1500 employees would be either jobless by Christmas or departing the week after.

The next 60 days will be utter chaos for NAB’s 42,000 staff, given the short timeframe for so many job losses. Another 1000 jobs will disappear by September next year.

Irvine’s clear message was that the bank’s bloated head office bureaucracy would be taking the biggest hit, both here and overseas, with its Melbourne HQ suffering most of the damage.

You don’t lay off 2500 staff and consultants in less than a year........

© WA Today