Union trailblazer Luba Grigorovitch continues on fast track

The rise and rise of Luba Grigorovitch continues. The national executive of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union has appointed the Victorian branch secretary as the first female national president of the organisation, which has 31,500 members.

Luba Grigorivitch.Credit:Scott McNaughton

As they are fond of saying at the union, RTBU LOUD, RTBU PROUD.

It is another historic appointment for Grigorovitch, who in 2014 was the youngest person and first woman to become Victorian secretary, aged 28.

The national president post is honorary, but Grigorovitch will still do nicely out of her state secretary gig, collecting $164,000 (plus super, plus vehicle, plus parking) for looking after 7796 branch members.

National Secretary Mark Diamond said Grigorovitch was the “perfect fit” for the position, as she was one of the union’s “most hardened generals”.

Good times. Certainly happier times than in April, when Grigorovitch had to write to the Registered Organisations Commission to ask for an extension in submitting the branch’s annual audited financial reporting, due to an “internal conflict between some elected officials in the Victorian branch”. The dispute resulted in the union’s accountant taking time off on workers’ compensation.

Chris Enright, executive director of the Registered Organisations Commission, granted the union an initial extension to June 30. The union eventually filed the reports on July 14.

Grigorovitch last appeared in CBD when we revealed the unexpected news last December that she was dating venture capitalist Ben Grey, who makes up one-third of Collins Street’s BGH private equity giant.

Grigorovitch, a former Hobsons Bay councillor, came to statewide prominence in 2015 when she spearheaded an industrial campaign that brought the city to a halt as Metro train drivers walked off the job â€" the first public transport stoppage in 18 years. Driver salaries were boosted to about $120,000 in a subsequent pay deal.

Grigorovitch replaces former RTBU national president, train driver Shayne Kummerfeld, who takes the vacant role of assistant national secretary.

As ever, a state or federal parliamentary seat awaits. As Diamond noted to members, “it’s about time we had a woman as our president”.

Forbes smells success

Following on from our revelation that legacy business magazine Forbes was setting up a local edition, comes news of its publisher: Sydney-based Success Publishing. Nope, we hadn’t either.

No word of who will be editor-in-chief of Success Publishing, which will produce Forbes Australia under licence next year as a magazine, website, conference series and presumably an Aussie Forbes Rich List. Are you quaking in your boots, AFR?

Credit:Shakespeare

Turns out Sydney-based Success Publishing is part of the Singapore-based Success Global Media, which styles itself as “world’s largest education seminar company”. That’s self-help seminars to you and me, featuring speakers who write books titled Crushing It! How Great Entrepreneurs Build Business and Influence â€" and How You Can, Too.

Success Resources, another offshoot, is led by Richard Tan, who is “considered the godfather of the industry in his regions by dignitaries and consumers alike”, according to the SR website, while spouse Veronica Tan is “widely regarded as a champion in the development of businesswomen globally having been awarded the 2017 Global Women award”.

And its seminars have apparently “impacted 12 million people across 37 countries” over the past decade, featuring the likes of Bill Clinton! Tony Blair! Anthony Robbins! And Boost Juice founder Janine Allis.

Success Global Media managing director Michael Lane has done talent management for Richard Branson and Mark Bouris. Say no more.

Forbes has 45 licensed editions in 76 countries and the mag says Forbes Australia will “ignite conversations around some of the most influential Australian leaders and entrepreneurs who are driving change, transforming business and making a significant impact on the world”. Can’t wait.

Bond to the rescue

It’s touch and go to see whether the French government receives Trade Minister Dan Tehan in Paris this week as he attends the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Ministerial Council Meeting.

James Bond was deployed on a diplomatic mission.Credit:Eon

On Tuesday Tehan admitted his French counterpart Franck Riester had rejected a meeting. No surprises there, considering the French are still seething over the AUKUS alliance, which torpedoed a $90 billion contract to furnish us with submarines, while driving a wedge between the country and its two oldest allies the UK and the US.

Australia has been placed in the deep freeze as well as the US, with France withdrawing its ambassadors.

The reception has been marginally warmer for the UK, but not by much. New British ambassador to France Menna Rawlings, the British high commissioner to Australia from 2015 to 2019, is yet to be received by French President Emmanuel Macron.

Still fuming, Macron is reported by the British press to be making Rawlings wait until the end of the month to present her credentials despite arriving in Paris in August. Quel snub diplomatique.

But earlier this month, Rawlings revealed an ace up her sleeve. Step forward, fictional but photogenic secret service agent James Bond. Turns out the latest instalment in the Bond franchise is the ultimate weapon of soft diplomacy.

Rawlings hosted a pre-release screening of No Time To Die at the British embassy, with die-hard Bond fans in the French government reportedly forced to swallow their pride â€" and to cross diplomatic lines â€" to ask for an invitation. A persuasive export indeed.

Stephen Brook is a CBD columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. He is a former features editor and media editor at The Australian, where he wrote the Media Diary column and spent six years in London working for The Guardian.Connect via Twitter or email.Samantha Hutchinson is a CBD columnist for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. She recently covered Victorian and NSW politics and business for News Corp, and previously worked for the Australian Financial Review.Connect via Twitter or email.

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