Episode 177: Special Guest Joe Aston Joins, Winter Olympics Sexism, the Rise and Fall of Luke Sayers, Corporate Travel Management and Temple & Webster Crash
The guys are joined by Joe Aston to discuss the rise and fall of Melbourne's man about town, CTM's downfall, Temple & Webster smashed on profit numbers, Councils behaving badly, and another Adam quiz.
The Contrarians catchup
The episode opens with one of Adam’s favourite hobby horses: injurious falsehood - the weird legal workaround companies use because, in Australia, large companies can’t sue for defamation. This week’s case study: Judo Bank
Adir’s take: “The measure of truth in injurious falsehood rests in the eyes of the individual making the claim. Is that not a bizarre law?”
Melbourne councils are fining residents for parking infringements within minutes while allowing 7.6-metre caravans to sit untouched for days. Adir is “okay with that, by the way.”
Adir on jaywalking: “The problem with jaywalking is that it takes away all decision making and judgment from the individual and makes you totally trusting these lights and I’m not in favour of anything that removes judgment and replaces it with law.”
Winter Olympics: equality, maths & political spin
The Sports Minister, Anika Wells, proudly noted that 62% of Australia’s Winter Olympic team is female. Adir wasn’t impressed. His argument: overall Winter Olympic participation globally is roughly 53% male/47% female - moving toward 50/50.
So if Australia is 62% female, are men now under-represented?
Adir: “I’m all in favour of women having equality in sports, as you know, like selfishly for Catapult, and also just because I think it’s right. But I’m not in favour of twisting the truth.
Adam: “You don’t solve sexism with more sexism.”
Destanee Aiava: social media & athlete abuse
Australian tennis player Destanee Aiava has stepped away from tennis at 26, describing the sport like an “abusive boyfriend.” Body shaming and online abuse were major factors.
Being top 200 in the world should feel like winning. Instead, online mobs make elite athletes miserable. The guys advice is simple: “stay away from social media… these people are all jealous.”
Adam: “That’s why I stopped writing on Twitter, because of the abuse you get from people who think it’s okay to insult people, it’s just bizarre.”
Adir: “Turn this stuff off and find happiness in your own endeavours.”
US vs China: what things actually cost
A quick-fire quiz compared everyday prices in the US vs China. Some highlights:
US monthly salary (after tax): ~$5,000
China monthly salary: ~$1,000
Cappuccino: surprisingly similar
Public transport: vastly cheaper in China
McDonald’s combo: $12 US vs ~$5 China
Mobile plans: dramatically cheaper in China
The takeaway? Consumer luxuries cluster in cities, but essentials are often subsidised differently - and some assumptions don’t hold.
Adir: “Usually your quizzes are junk, to be honest. This quiz is actually something that you can wrap your head around, not just me guessing which country has 32 letters with a J in the middle and has the smallest company that makes feet.”
The Big Interview: Joe Aston
Three-time guest, still number one (in frequency and, arguably, appeal), Joe Aston joined to discuss his new venture Rampart, the subscription journalism platform he launched after leaving the AFR.
Joe revealed he’s already surpassed his initial subscriber targets by ~50%, is profitable, and has signed a major naming sponsor for his video interview series.
Rather than compete head-to-head with traditional mastheads, he’s building around personality-driven journalism. His strategy: “Start as small as possible. Don’t raise capital. Bootstrap it and grow incrementally.”
Joe: “If you incrementally add other really compelling voices, then that 10,000 might become, over time, 15, 20, 25, 30,000 and with the price prices we have, I think the economics can be quite attractive.”
CTM: the slow-motion car crash
Joe has written extensively about Corporate Travel Management and CEO Jamie Pherous.
The issue: retained refunds owed to clients (particularly UK government contracts) and years of accounting questions dating back to short-seller reports. The stock remains suspended. Joe’s view: “Every corporate fraud in history had an auditor.”
The debate turned to boards, auditors and whether directors truly dig deep, or rely too heavily on management assurances.
Adir (from the inside of boardrooms) offered a candid counterpoint: it’s easier than people think for executives to mislead boards - unless someone is actively probing.
Adam: “How is it not a crime to retain refunds that were due - in my view, it’s no different to getting paid money in your bank account by mistake and retaining and spending all this stuff.”
Luke Sayers: soap opera or systemic problem?
Joe has long scrutinised Luke Sayers (former PwC Australia CEO). Recent headlines involve explicit photo allegations and AFL governance issues.
But Joe’s bigger point isn’t the prurience - it’s credibility: “He said things that have been contradicted by all of the other evidence… and yet he just still charges on.”
The underlying theme: networks, parochialism, and how reputations persist in tight business communities - until they don’t.
Joe: “To me, the only thing that’s interesting about the dick pic scandal is how similar it is to his previous scandal in that people seem to believe what comes out of his mouth, and then get really surprised when it turns out not to be true. He’s just a hilariously false individual.”
Temple & Webster: growth at any cost
Temple & Webster fell 32% in a single day after missing expectations. Revenue was up 20%; margins weren’t. CEO Mark Coulter told investors that “in our eyes it is not a miss.”
Adam’s breakdown:
Revenue growth required sacrificing margin.
Contribution margin barely improved.
EBITDA expectations were missed.
Growth and profitability remain mutually exclusive (for now).
The stock has fallen sharply from its highs, but the debate remains whether it’s still materially overvalued.
Adir: “We could have written these half yearly results three months ago. I think we picked the revenue number and we picked the EBITDA margin.”
Five other stories worth following:
Memory chip demand from AI data centers and gadgets outstrips supply as Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron recover from pandemic boom-bust cycles and underinvestment. New factories take years, so phones, PCs, consoles, and routers likely keep getting pricier.
OpenAI hired OpenClaw founder Peter Steinberger, creator of autonomous AI agents like Clawdbot. Sam Altman praised him and said OpenClaw will become an open-source foundation project that OpenAI supports as it pursues more capable agent technology.
Warner Bros. Discovery may reconsider talks with Paramount Skydance after new offers aimed at blocking Netflix. Some board members see potential for a better deal, but no decision has been made about pursuing negotiations.
IBM plans to triple US entry-level hiring, shifting junior roles toward client work while AI handles routine tasks. Dropbox is expanding graduate programs too, even as entry-level job postings overall remain sharply lower since 2023.
China’s Lunar New Year begins a massive travel surge, with a record 9.5B trips expected over 40 days. The festival launches the Year of the Fire Horse and drives major spending across travel, food, and gifting sectors.