Joe Aston

Joe Aston's Biography

Joe Aston is one of Australia’s most influential commentators on business, finance and politics.

For 12 years he struck fear into the hearts of the nation’s political and corporate leaders with his must-read column Rear Window in The Australian Financial Review.

Aston interrogated some of the country’s biggest corporate stories and claimed massive scalps, including CPA Australia’s Alex Malley; multiple chairmen of Cricket Australia; both the CEO and chairman of Rio Tinto over the Juukan Gorge disaster; PwC CEO Tom Seymour and, most recently, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce and chairman Richard Goyder.

AFR editor-in-chief Michael Stutchbury says that Aston “turned a gossip column into a form of journalism like never before seen in Australia, and arguably the world.”

Aston is an entertaining after-dinner speaker, regaling audiences with extraordinary and hilarious war stories from his years holding Australia’s most powerful people to account.

Speaking Topics Include

Corporate scandals

Delusional CEOs and weak boards

Corporate governance

Corporate social responsibility

ESG and greenwashing

PR best-practice and cautionary tales

Australian politics

The Australian media

The business of sport

Or Aston can tailor his presentation to suit your event, large or small. He is also a skilled and engaging MC.

For speaking, MC and hosting enquiries for Joe contact Helene Greenham at helene@platinumspeakers.com.au