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A new gender gap is forming as men are quicker to adopt AI tools than women, Telstra boss Vicki Brady says. While Macquarie’s CEO is adamant ‘diversity is good for business’.
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The bosses at two of Australia's biggest companies, Telstra and Macquarie, are pushing back on the Donald Trump-led anti-woke movement that threatens to spill into other Western democracies. They have called for greater diversity in workplaces as Australians prepare to head to the polls.

The 2025 federal election is an invaluable opportunity to lift the economy out of its productivity slump and win votes with sensible policies aimed at growth and arresting a decade of fiscal deficits, business leaders say.

How the younger brother of Afterpay founder Nick Molnar built a retail start-up that nabbed R.M. Williams as a customer and just raised around $US3.8m ($5.9m) to expand into the US with Target and Walmart in its sights.


BUSINESS
‘It’s woke to be anti-woke’: Macquarie boss
A new gender gap is forming as men are quicker to adopt AI tools than women, Telstra boss Vicki Brady says. While Macquarie’s CEO is adamant ‘diversity is good for business’.
By HELEN TRINCA, JARED LYNCH
FEDERAL ELECTION 2025
Productivity fix overdue but parties can act, say business leaders
Labor and the Coalition need to adopt an ‘Australia first ethos’ to turbocharge flatlining productivity and bolster competitiveness, say business leaders.
By JARED LYNCH, BRAD THOMPSON AND PERRY WILLIAMS
START-UPS
Afterpay founder’s young brother scores funding for retail venture
Simon Molnar has raised $5.9m to expand his retail start-up into the US after nabbing major retailers including R.M. Williams as a customer.
By JOSEPH LAM
APPOINTMENTS
Former WiseTech chairman returns as ‘independent’ director
WiseTech has appointed two board directors, including former chairman Andrew Harrison, who will assume the role of lead independent director.
By JOSEPH LAM
GREEN ECONOMY
Start-up looks to scale up green tech that turns plastic into clothes
Samara Eco has hired two new executives from the US to help scale its recycling technology, which aims to change fashion and combat plastic ­pollution.
By JARED LYNCH
EXCLUSIVE
Australia should hold its nerve against Facebook despite tariff threat
Papua New Guinea has banned Facebook and Australia should make a similar move and grant regulators more power to rein in the tech behemoth, former competition tsar Rod Sims says.
By JARED LYNCH
SPONSORED CONTENT
Scaling Agentic AI is business transformation – not just a tech project
The speed of AI adoption will be set by organisations’ speed of change. Businesses with the most organisational flexibility and readiness to adapt will realise the most value.
By STU SCOTIS