Christine Holgate’s hidden message in her white jacket is revealed as she breaks down on Today

Ousted Australia Post CEO Christine Holgate has broken down in tears after accusing Scott Morrison of bullying her out of her job – as she wore white in support of the women’s suffragette movement.  

Ms Holgate this week broke a five-month silence on the scandal that forced her resignation, claiming she was bullied out of the role and ended up close to suicide.

The British-Australian executive – who resigned after it emerged she gave four staff members luxury $20,000 Cartier watches as a bonus – told the Today show the past five months had been ‘dreadful’.

‘It wasn’t just five months ago,’ she said. ‘It’s been continuous what the organisation has put me through.

Ousted Australia Post CEO Christine Holgate has broken down in tears after accusing Scott Morrison of bullying her out of her job

‘But I am stronger today and I think a better leader for it because thousands of people across our fantastic country have come out and supported me and it has just been amazing. 

Fighting back tears, she said standing up against bullying was ‘bloody hard’. 

‘It almost broke me, Ally, but it didn’t break me. And I will come back stronger,’ she said. 

She later told Sunrise the prime minister’s ‘bullying’ calls for her to resign at the height of the scandal was ‘probably the worst act I’ve ever seen’.  

‘I think sometimes you do have to talk about that pain because you’ve got to be open about it to stop these things happening,’ she said.  

‘And if I don’t stand up and speak about bullying, then I’m not sure who is going to because it’s probably the worst act I’ve ever seen.’ 

She said the backlash to her decision to award her staff Cartier watches was ‘silly’.

‘I wanted to give them something very special they could wear every day and see that actually, they did something that saved community post offices,’ she said.

During Wednesday morning’s interviews and in the senate hearing on Tuesday, Ms Holgate and her supporters had worn white in a deliberate show of force in honour of the women’s suffragette movement. 

Her clothing referenced the Wear White 2 Unite campaign, which calls for men and women to unite to end workplace bullying.

In her first interview after the scandal, she has demanded an apology from Prime Minister Scott Morrison over his scathing attack of her in parliament last October, describing it as ‘one of the worse acts of bullying I’ve ever witnessed’.

A defiant Ms Holgate has opened up on the toll it took on her life, hours after she fronted a Senate inquiry where she revealed she was ‘suicidal’ after being publicly pushed from her role.

The saga began when she was found to have gifted four Australia Post executives luxury watches as bonuses after they sealed a lucrative deal.

She revealed she hadn’t ruled out legal action and had a personal message for Mr Morrison for help in settling her ongoing feud with her former employer.

Former Australia Post boss Christine Holgate (pictured at the Senate inquiry on Tuesday) has broken her silence over the scandal that forced her resignation

Former Australia Post boss Christine Holgate (pictured at the Senate inquiry on Tuesday) has broken her silence over the scandal that forced her resignation

‘Maybe if the Prime Minister is watching he could give me a call and I would love an apology, but he could help me resolve my contract,’ she told ABC’s 7.30. 

She didn’t see Mr Morrison’s angry address during Question Time demanding her to immediately resign until several weeks afterwards, and admitted it’s still painful to watch. 

‘I think it’s one of the worst acts of bullying I’ve ever witnessed,’ Ms Holgate said

‘And even now I have to take myself out of myself to watch it. It’s an utter disgrace.’

‘I think you would have rather hoped that before someone publicly hung and humiliated you, that they may pick up the phone and call you and ask you directly what happened and why.’

Speaking about her reasons for finally speaking out, Ms Holgate said she wanted to take a stand against a culture of harassment and bullying by powerful men.

‘I thought it was critically important that we speak out for all people that have been bullied. I want what happened to me to never happen again,’ Ms Holgate said.

‘I didn’t need to sit and contemplate what those men did to me. And I did it because I want to stop to work place bullying, I want a stop to this ridiculous intimidation. 

‘They harassed me and they thought they’d got away with it.’

Christine Holgate (pictured on 7.30) said she hasn't ruled out legal action against Australia Post after she was publicly slammed for gifting watches to executives

Christine Holgate (pictured on 7.30) said she hasn’t ruled out legal action against Australia Post after she was publicly slammed for gifting watches to executives 

Ms Holgate defended her decision to gift $20,000 worth of Cartier watches to four executives as a bonus for saving a ‘very, very important service’ for rural and regional Australia.

‘Truth of the matter was it was all about a service call being threatened with closure,’ she said.

‘If we lost that service, that would have meant 55 per cent of all communities in Australia would have no access to any financial services because the banks had already left.  

The former Australia Post boss has demanded an apology from Prime Minister Scott Morrison (pictured), describing his attack on her as 'one of worse acts of bullying I've ever witnessed'

The former Australia Post boss has demanded an apology from Prime Minister Scott Morrison (pictured), describing his attack on her as ‘one of worse acts of bullying I’ve ever witnessed’

‘If anyone’s in any doubt about how important this (investment) was, go into the local community post office and ask the owner,’ she said.

‘This was for actually getting a life-saving investment that many could have argued the government should have been giving to us to save the post offices. 

Ms Holgate added the bonuses were ‘celebrated’ internally before it became public and sparked national outrage.

‘I wanted to give them something special, it was a moment in time and one of the team had worked at Deutsch [Bank] and he shared about how they would always given watches and I, you know, I agreed with him,’ she said.

‘I thought it was an appropriate recognition and I was immensely proud of those four people.’   

Christine Holgate (pictured in 2017) spent three years in the top job at Australia Post

Christine Holgate (pictured in 2017) spent three years in the top job at Australia Post

Ms Holgate recalled her outrage of receiving a letter from the Australia Post chairman Lucio Di Bartolomeo saying that she had agreed to stand down. 

‘It’s not plausible, I never agreed to do it, I asked constantly for details of when I did,’ she said.

‘Even again went back to them after their letter and said ‘tell me when exactly this phone call took place’. Their response was, ‘we will have to talk to our lawyers’.’  

‘They did nothing to defend my reputation. I can’t see one act where that chairman genuinely tried to help and support me.’ 

She described the last five months as shocking but remains optimistic about the future.

‘I hope that going forward I’ll be a stronger leader from this, a more compassionate leader, because I know what it feels like to be the person on your own facing a massive organisation,’ Ms Holgate said.

‘I really believe in our country, I believe in the importance of e-commerce and the importance of growth, I don’t mind taking on a hard challenge, so I’m ready to jump back in again. 

Christine Holgate defended her decision to gift four executives Cartier watches as a bonus

Christine Holgate defended her decision to gift four executives Cartier watches as a bonus

Ousted Australia Post CEO Christine Holgate reveals she was left suicidal and unable to sleep after Scott Morrison ‘humiliated’ her over Cartier watches scandal

By Charlie Moore, political reporter for Daily Mail Australia and AAP

Ousted Australia Post boss Christine Holgate has slammed Scott Morrison for ‘humiliating her’ in public after she gifted Cartier watches to executives and revealed she was ‘suicidal’ after being forced out of the company.

Wearing suffragette white for a senate hearing on Tuesday, Ms Holgate said she was ‘thrown under the bus’ and ‘driven to despair’ when she offered to resign in November.

She revealed she was ‘going through hell’ in the days after Mr Morrison demanded her resignation, saying: ‘I was seriously ill, I was on [insomnia medication] temazepam. I was suicidal.’ 

Ms Holgate also claimed she was treated so poorly because she is a woman.

‘I have never seen any male public servant depicted in that way. So do I believe it’s partially a gender issue? You’re absolutely right I do,’ she said. 

‘I think it would be fair to say I’ve never seen a media article comment about a male politician’s watch and yet I was depicted as a prostitute,’ she added, referring to media scrutiny over her gifts. 

The prime minister last year roasted Ms Holgate for giving four executives luxury Cartier watches worth $20,000 in October 2018 as a reward for securing a $66 million deal with three big banks.

On hearing about the reward, a furious Mr Morrison told Parliament the Cartier gifts were disgraceful and appalling.

‘She’s been instructed to stand aside and if she doesn’t do that, she can go,’ he said.

Ms Holgate, who was born in Cheshire, north England, claims she offered to go on annual leave pending an investigation and later offered to resign.

But she said her contract has never been resolved and claims on LinkedIn that she is still CEO, despite the board appointing a new boss, former Woolworths executive Paul Graham. 

Ms Holgate said she would be willing to return as CEO but only if chair Lucio Di Bartolomeo – aka Lucho – left the company, something he refused to do. 

She said she was treated ‘like a criminal’, ‘abandoned to a media firestorm’ and wrongfully ousted against her will.

In her opening statement to a senate inquiry on Tuesday, Ms Holgate said: ‘I was humiliated by our prime minister for committing no offence and then bullied by my chairman.

Christine Holgate in the senate hearing

She added: ‘Lucho unlawfully stood me down under public direction of the Prime Minister. This made my leadership at Australia Post untenable and seriously threatened my health. 

‘I have done no wrong. Their bullying of me was far from over.

‘The simple truth is I was bullied out of my job. I was humiliated and driven to despair. I was thrown under the bus by the chairman of Australia Post, to curry favour with his political masters. But I’m still here and I’m stronger for surviving it,’ she said. 

Chairman Lucio Di Bartolomeo has hit back at Ms Holgate’s accusations, insisting that he never wanted her to step down.

‘I view the purchase of the watches as an error of judgement made in good faith by an otherwise highly effective CEO,’ he said. 

The chair said he did not believe she was owed an apology by the board but implied she was treated badly by the media and the government.  

‘Christine Holgate has been treated abysmally, but I believe the board and management did the right things by her,’ he said.  

Mr Di Bartolomeo revealed that Communications Minister Paul Fletcher called him at 1.09pm and 1.30pm on 22 October – hours after the watch scandal broke – to tell him that he wanted Ms Holgate to stand aside.

The chair said he called a board meeting at 4pm that afternoon and the board agreed to ask Ms Holgate to stand aside and to take further action if she refused.

Mr Di Bartolomeo said Mr Fletcher did not direct him to stand Ms Holgate aside but made his desires clear. 

In her statement to the inquiry which contained emails, photos of cards and a letter to her lawyers, Ms Holgate blamed Mr Di Bartolomeo for her being forced out of the top job.  

The former Blackmores executive said the watches were bought legally and signed off by then-chairman John Stanhope, auditors, and Australia Post’s chief financial officer.

An independent investigation later cleared Ms Holgate of any dishonesty, fraud, corruption, or intentional misuse of taxpayer funds. 

She insisted the gift of the watches was signed off and no-one raised any eyebrows. 

‘[It was] widely celebrated within the organisation, and presented at a morning tea by the previous chairman and me with a thank you card signed by both of us,’ she wrote.

‘It was then found to be legal by the ‘review’ which was clearly intended to find it otherwise.’

Pictured: Australia Post Chair Lucio Di Bartolomeo appears before a Senate estimates hearing at Parliament House in Canberra on November 9

Pictured: Australia Post Chair Lucio Di Bartolomeo appears before a Senate estimates hearing at Parliament House in Canberra on November 9

Mr Di Bartolomeo told an inquiry last November he would have blocked the purchase of the luxury watches if he was in charge when the gifts were handed out.

‘He lied repeatedly to the Australian people and to their parliament about his actions,’ she claimed in the submission.

‘Time after time he has made statements that I had agreed to stand down when I had done no such thing.

‘He then abandoned me to a media firestorm that he and others had created and cut me off from resources, despite knowing that these events had caused me to seek mental health care and medication.’ 

Last Wednesday Mr Di Bartolomeo hit back with a 1,000-word statement and said Ms Holgate was a ‘very good chief executive’ but accused her of making a series of incorrect claims in her submission.

‘Ms Holgate agreed with me to stand aside from her role pending the outcome of the shareholder departments’ investigation and any further actions taken by Australia Post,’ he said.

‘The board’s intent was to ensure that both Ms Holgate and the organisation could focus their attentions on full co-operation with the investigation. 

Ms Holgate said the watches were given as a reward to four executives who worked hard over a deal with Australia's big banks. Pictured: An Australia Post store in Sydney

Ms Holgate said the watches were given as a reward to four executives who worked hard over a deal with Australia’s big banks. Pictured: An Australia Post store in Sydney 

‘The board did not stand down, or suspend, Ms Holgate from her role – that being an unnecessary consideration given her agreement to stand aside.’

He claimed the agreement was reached in telephone conversations, which go against Ms Holgate’s claim that the pair communicated in two emails on the same afternoon that Mr Morrison demanded she step aside. 

Mr Di Bartolomeo said he and Ms Holgate did not speak after the Question Time comments, ‘however, phone records support my recollection – including that we had conversations at 4.27pm and 5.50pm on that day’.

In response to Ms Holgate’s comment that she only ‘offered to resign’ and never signed the deed of release, the chairman said she wrote to Australia Post at 10.46am on November 2 advising her immediate resignation.

‘We understand that Ms Holgate then released the statement at 2pm and subsequently advised the Australia Post Executive Team at 2.29pm that she had done so,’ he said.

Ms Holgate said she had two witnesses who could support her version of events, including Australia Post’s human resources boss Sue Davies who joined her on the three-hour trip to Sydney from Canberra after Mr Morrison’s comments.

It was within those three hours that Ms Holgate and Mr Di Bartolomeo exchanged emails, according to her statement. 

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the gifts were as unacceptable and ordered her to step down

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the gifts were as unacceptable and ordered her to step down

In his lengthy statement, Mr Di Bartolomeo also said he did not try to restrict Ms Holgate from working elsewhere for 12 months.

‘Ms Holgate claims that I made a counteroffer which would have prevented her from working for 12 months without pay. That is not correct.

‘The existing provisions of Ms Holgate’s contract of employment contained non-compete provisions, as is common for such senior executive roles. These provisions apply only to working for a competitor for a period of six months from the end of Ms Holgate’s employment – and therefore expire on May 2, 2021.

‘Regarding payment, Ms Holgate had already advised the Board and stated publicly that she was not seeking any financial compensation.’

The ex CEO also said she asked Australia Post for support but was met with ‘continuous requests to examine credit card expense records, on the disguise that they must be made public, presumably to cause me even greater harm’.

But Mr Di Bartolemo said he was complying with a freedom of information request.

‘She also claims there were leaks of misleading reports regarding the management of expenses. This is not correct,’ he added.

‘Australia Post was obligated to disclose information regarding credit card transactions and other expenses, in response to Senate Committee questions and Freedom of Information requests.’

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