After 20 years as Australia's leading business program, Channel 9's
Business Sunday is being merged with the
Sunday program from September 3. To mark its last episode as a stand-alone program,
Business Sunday this week will present a special retrospective, featuring some of the show's greatest moments and its most remarkable characters.
Just about every business leader in Australia has appeared on
Business Sunday since 1986 — businessmen like Christopher Skase and Alan Bond who went from triumph to disgrace, and others like New Corporation's Rupert Murdoch, Woolworths' Roger Corbett and Harvey Norman's Gerry Harvey who are still powering on.
Business Sunday was there during the Wall Street crash of 1987 and broke the story of CSR covering up asbestos deaths at Wittenoom. Its reporters have been shot at in Bougainville and yelled at by a variety of unhappy CEOs. Its video library is a remarkable insight into the changing face of business over 20 years.
Also on the show this week —
Business Sunday and
The Bulletin present their list of the 20 people who have had the greatest influence on Australia's business sector over 20 years. Pioneers, inventors, wealth creators, autocrats and politicians are among them. Terry McCrann will look back at his experience as the show's commentator since its early days.
A show not to be missed.
ROSS GREENWOOD: A generation of business leadership has created a nation that is again moving up the OECD global prosperity tables, while corporate prosperity has never been higher. During the past 20 years, two of Australia's leading news and business commentary teams have been observing first hand the people who have shaped our companies and economies.
Business Sunday and
The Bulletin now acknowledge 20 people who have had the greatest influence on Australia's business sector. Some are pioneers, inventors or incredible wealth creators. Others are autocrats or politicians. Some saw their careers end in disgrace, but their legacy changed corporate regulation and standards.
The list begins with a titan of Australian business, Rupert Murdoch. When many people who are now retiring took their first rite of passage to London, Rupert Murdoch was there taking over newspapers and his journey through the media markets of the world has never ended.
Don Argus. He's acknowledged as the country's best banker as head of the National, and he helped merge BHP with Billiton to create the world's largest mining company.
Macquarie Bank boss, Allan Moss, created a remarkable Australian banking model, with not even the London Stock Exchange immune to its deal-making. And Michael Chaney of Wesfarmers who transformed the sedate WA Farmers Co-Op into a corporate giant including Bunnings Warehouse.
Every market has heroes and villains. Villains like Alan Bond and Christopher Skase, who forced us to closely examine our own corporate standards. But Bond, who served his time, should also be remembered for his vision. He dreamt of a Superpit, the largest mine in the Southern Hemisphere.
Politicians often shape industry, and two Labor men did a lot. John Button restructured Australia's tariffs, forcing efficiency on carmakers as well as others. And Paul Keating, he floated the dollar, de-regulated the banks and left the legacy of compulsory superannuation, spawning a trillion-dollar funds management industry.
And we shouldn't forget the Nine Network's founder, Kerry Packer. His vision changed television and made him our richest man.
There's John Ralph, manager of Rio Tinto, who shook up the corporate world with his Ralph Inquiry. John Symond, the one-time bankrupt, changed the home lending business with just three words — "We'll Save You".
Graeme Clark invented the Cochlear bionic ear and Catherine Livingstone was the CEO who took it to profit.
Gerry Harvey grew Harvey Norman to success through a hatred of Alan Bond, an eye for technology and great sales pitch while the country's third-richest man, Richard Pratt, took Aussie recycling to the world and the second richest, Frank Lowy, did the same with shopping centres.
Transport giant Toll boomed through the deal-making skills of Paul Little, and Chris Corrigan, boss of Little's latest target Patrick, makes the list for helping re-shape industrial relations and building BT Australia and Patrick.
Qantas boss Geoff Dixon is in the stratosphere while other aviators are falling out of the sky, and last but not least, Roger Corbett and Paul Simons, a pair of Woolies, jump-started the slow-growth business of food retailing, with aggressive streamlining and a vigorous attack on their competitors.
Well, that's our Top 20.
