Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.<\/p>\n
CBD can report there\u2019s a rising star on the consulting scene. Swinburne University vice-chancellor Pascale Quester has been engaged by the government\u2019s medicines regulator.<\/p>\n
We spotted a $22,000 contract for \u201clegal services\u201d from the TGA to private marketing firm Hexagon, where Quester is listed as the sole director and shareholder.<\/p>\n
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Swinburrne University Vice-chancellor Professor Pascale Quester <\/span><\/p>\n The TGA tells CBD that the VC, a marketing expert, was engaged \u201cas an expert witness in the field of consumer behaviour\u201d in its recent tribunal battle with weight loss drugmaker Cat Media. You might remember that the TGA banned Cat\u2019s popular pill Fatblaster Max last year, after it was revealed the drug didn\u2019t \u201cblast\u201d fat at all. Apparently, a peek through its paperwork revealed it wasn\u2019t even designed for weight loss.<\/p>\n \u201cHexagon was contracted through a limited tender process, consistent with the rules,\u201d the TGA assured CBD. The VC gave evidence before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in March, where Cat is challenging the ban, and a judgment is expected shortly.<\/p>\n Quester herself is a \u201cno comment\u201d. But CBD notes that while she ranked among the country\u2019s highest-paid VCs last year, bagging a salary of more than $1million, she did take a gracious $20,000 pay cut compared to the year before.<\/p>\n That $22,000 TGA contract should fill the void nicely.<\/p>\n New boss of fashion \u201ce-tailer\u201d The Iconic Jere Calmes<\/b> has been in the top job for only two months but has reportedly already been making his presence well and truly felt.<\/p>\n According to our spies, on Thursday morning, ahead of announcing 72 redundancies at the company, Calmes told a staff all-hands that the restructure, the second since February, was in part due to \u201chistorical mismanagement\u201d. Ouch.<\/p>\n As we know, the former boss of The Iconic, Erica Berchtold<\/b>, parted ways with the company earlier this year to take the top job at discount chain Best & Less, only to be told \u201cthanks but no thanks\u201d when the company was sold in an off-market deal to retail moguls Brett \u201cMr Sanity\u201d Blundy<\/b> and Ray Itaoui<\/b>.<\/p>\n Berchtold is, CBD understands, still in the hunt for a new role, so were Calmes\u2019 comments a case of kicking someone while they\u2019re down? Maybe he needs to Calmes his farm when there are Gen Z staff with iPhones in the room.<\/p>\n Mark Latham<\/strong> wants everyone to know he\u2019s doing just fine after his acrimonious and utterly unsurprising recent political separation from Pauline Hanson<\/strong>.<\/p>\n On Friday, Latham was all scrubbed up alongside Sydney\u2019s D-grade celebrities at the Everest Carnival Long Lunch at Royal Randwick. The former Labor leader was so excited about posing next to television personality Kerri-Anne Kennerley <\/strong>that he posted the same photo of them three times across his two Instagram accounts.<\/p>\n Joe Benke<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Benke<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a well-known celebrity A-lister,\u201d Latham wrote.<\/p>\n We\u2019re sure the pair had plenty in common.<\/p>\n Later in the day, Mark was in a more reflective mood, with a poetic caption accompanying a picture of an espresso martini.<\/p>\n \u201cExpresso [sic] Martini<\/p>\n Royal Randwick Stables<\/p>\n Talking track and other random shit.<\/p>\n Does life get any better?\u201d<\/p>\n For Latham, whose political career continues to take strange twists and turns, we\u2019re not sure if it does.<\/p>\n Canberra\u2019s lanyard-toting public servants have a particularly dorky idea of fun. Over at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, they\u2019ve splurged $25,000 on virtual reality headsets.<\/p>\n The department would not say what the goggles were being used for, or if Minister Murray Watt<\/b> had his own set.<\/p>\n But the company\u2019s website boasts that it caters to all three styles of learning, so that\u2019s a relief.<\/p>\n Still, CBD hopes those public servants are careful out there. A 2020 government review of the tech espoused its virtues for agriculture training, including an up-close-and-personal run through of a cow teat examination, but it also warned of hygiene concerns and debilitating \u201cVR sickness\u201d. Oh my.<\/p>\n The Conservative Political Action Conference might have come and gone, and Beyonce still hasn\u2019t announced Australian dates for her Renaissance tour, but at least one of CBD\u2019s favourite right wing fire breathers is set to make a return Down Under next year.<\/p>\nTHE CALMES BEFORE THE STORM<\/h3>\n
MAKING HIS MARK<\/h3>\n
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VR GUYS<\/b><\/h3>\n
ILES AND ILES<\/h3>\n