Ex-Australia Post boss Christine Holgate slams AFR cartoon she said depicted ... trends now
Ex-Australia Post boss Christine Holgate has revealed her worst day during her Cartier watch scandal - when she was portrayed in a national newspaper cartoon in a way she said made her look like a prostitute.
The former CEO was ousted out of her job in 2020 when it emerged she had gifted four Cartier watches to senior managers - worth more than $20,000 in total - as a reward for securing a deal with three major banks that would allow people to do banking in post offices.
An investigation later found no indication of dishonesty, fraud, corruption or intentional misuse of Australia Post funds relating to the watches, and Ms Holgate was cleared of any wrongdoing.
Speaking candidly about the incident and subsequent media scrutiny that left her suicidal at a Forbes event on Wednesday, Ms Holgate said it was a cartoon drawn by David Rowe and published in the Australian Financial Review that shocked her the most.
The cartoon depicted an uninterested former prime minister Scott Morrison with several watches around his wrist while Ms Holgate was seen walking out the door behind him in a short dress white dress with red lipstick smeared across her face.
Christine Holgate is interviewed by Forbes Australia Editor-in-Chief Sarah O'Carroll during the Power of Resilience talk at the Forbes Australia Women's Summit at ICC Sydney
'I was depicted as a prostitute in a cartoon in a national newspaper. That wouldn't have happened to a man,' Ms Holgate said at the Forbes Australia Women's Summit in Sydney on Wednesday.
Adding to the pain of the ordeal, Ms Holgate's two nephews, the sons of her late sister who she sees as 'my boys', had also seen the cartoon.
'How would you feel if you saw your sister or mother depicted as a prostitute in the newspaper for doing no wrong?' she said.
'The hurt I felt for the humiliation I brought to people I love was much deeper than any
