Mike Baird’s KPMG exit in focus as whistleblower saga rolls on

The mess spilling out of KPMG Australia’s rolling whistleblower scandal has delivered no shortage of talking points in corporate and political circles, particularly after the saga forced the resignation of the firm’s CEO, Andrew Yates, last week.

So it was only natural that attention would at some point return to the departure of former NSW premier Mike Baird, who stepped down as a non-executive director at KPMG last September without so much as a peep from the firm at the time.

Baird’s departure was the subject of intrigue in April, when he quietly removed mention of the KPMG directorship from his LinkedIn profile, which The Australian Financial Review noted at the time.

More interesting to us, though, were the circumstances of his departure. The former premier, as a director of the accounting giant’s local board, was among those informed of the whistleblower complaint, CBD hears, and was displeased by the way it was handled, even if it wasn’t the driver of his departure.

KPMG didn’t respond to a request for comment in time for publication, and Baird declined to comment.

For those playing along at home: The KPMG whistleblower first made a complaint in 2024 containing dozens of allegations. As this masthead has previously reported, the claims alleged KPMG partners illicitly accessed board papers from a client, the construction giant Lendlease, which were used to win lucrative audit work for other big companies, including Westpac.

KPMG launched an internal investigation, which the firm on Friday admitted failed to be conducted with the “necessary rigour required”, before bringing in the law firm Ashurst to review the investigation. Ashurst greenlit the probe, but the whistleblower wasn’t satisfied.

The whistleblower later wrote to independent directors on the board. KPMG then brought in another law firm, Allens, which the company said on Friday was “continuing to challenge the conclusions” drawn in prior investigations. It also confirmed that confidential client data had been shared and potentially used to win new business. By Monday, KPMG was facing the prospect of losing Lendlease.

But if KPMG’s handling of the allegations wasn’t reason enough for Baird to look for the door, the firm also rejigged the responsibilities of its board to take on greater responsibility in other Asia-Pacific markets.

In response to questions on notice provided to a 2023 Senate Committee, KPMG said the firm’s independent board members are each paid “an annual fee of $160,000”. At that rate, we can understand why the former premier called it a day! We can only guess he’s feeling vindicated now.

Spotted: Dyson Heydon in Bronte

It’s been a while since we’ve heard from disgraced former High Court judge Dyson Heydon.

Heydon last surfaced in this column last year on the latest stop of his rehabilitation tour in Perth, following the release of his self-published textbook, some five years after this masthead revealed he’d been found by an independent High Court inquiry to have sexually harassed six female associates.

Well, it looks like the former High Court judge continues to hold his friends close. Heydon was spotted hobnobbing with The Australian’s high-profile columnist Janet Albrechtsen outside the European style restaurant Table Manners in Bronte around lunchtime on Friday.

Hardly a surprise, given Albrechtsen’s previous coverage of the man, who she has suggested is a victim of cancel culture.

‘Don’t Die’ Johnson heads for Australia

Bryan “Don’t Die” Johnson, the billionaire face of the global longevity movement obsessed with reversing the ageing process, is coming to Australia.

The 17-hour international flight, which he announced in a post to X last week, would, of course, increase his ageing. In the post, Johnson said he was travelling to Australia to meet the parents of his partner Kate, who is from Australia. We’ve been tricked into thinking travel is good, he wrote. It’s barbaric for the body, he continued.

“But I really love her so it’s worth the cost,” he said. The things we do for love.

The Don’t Die heads will no doubt be on tenterhooks over the prospect of crossing paths with Johnson in the wild. After all, it was only a couple of years ago this masthead reported dozens of wellness types were meeting to talk all things Johnson and biomarkers. And our guess is their enthusiasm has only intensified since.

So as we were considering where Johnson might show face during his visit, we wondered whether Tim Gurner had put a bid in for a bit of proximity to the global wellness phenomenon.

Gurner, who is perhaps best known for going viral in 2023 for his description of workers being “arrogant” post-COVID, runs the cult Melbourne wellness club Saint Haven and last year announced he’d open up shop in Sydney this year. Sadly, though, Gurner wouldn’t confirm or deny whether he was in touch with Johnson. “Due to the private nature of Saint Haven, we do not comment on members or guests of the club,” a spokeswoman told CBD.

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