andojc 🌈🐯

DEAR ANGUS TAYLOR — DAVID JONES, FACTS AND YOUR LATEST LOAD OF POLITICAL BULLSHIT. Dear Angus, The day you stop trying to spin bullshit and mislead the Australian public is the day the Liberal Party might, and we emphasise a very little might, have a chance of becoming a serious political party again instead of the bowl of overbaked cookies that you are currently. The impotence of your political contribution is matched only by the toilet tide mark of your waffle. What you have just written about David Jones is a spectacular exercise in selective history, political opportunism and misleading attribution. And frankly, it's an excellent illustration of why your claims to economic credibility deserve considerably more scrutiny than you appear comfortable with. HERE. ARE. THE. FACTS. YOU. DECEPTIVE. DRIP. First, let us acknowledge something you apparently regard as little more than an opportunity for political point-scoring. It is genuinely sad to see a 188-year-old Australian retail institution enter administration, with approximately 6,000 employees facing uncertainty. But you've managed to take that unfortunate situation and turn it into a lengthy advertisement for the Liberal Party. You wrote: "But after 188 years, it cannot find a way forward in Labor's economy." And: "What we're seeing is an economy that's crumbling under Labor." Oh, Angus. Your grasp of economic history appears to have a remarkably convenient starting date. 21 MAY 2022. Because, apparently, everything that happened before that date is irrelevant. Well, let's introduce you to a concept called CORPORATE HISTORY. David Jones' decline did not begin under Anthony Albanese. It has been developing for well over a decade, across governments of both political persuasions, as its traditional department-store model struggled to adapt to changing consumer behaviour. The warning signs were apparent by 2010–2011, and by 2018 its financial deterioration was unmistakable. OF PARTICULAR INTEREST IS ITS OWNERSHIP HISTORY. In 2014, South Africa's Woolworths Holdings acquired David Jones for approximately $2.1 BILLION. By March 2023, the business had been sold to Australian private equity firm Anchorage Capital Partners for approximately $100 MILLION. Now, Angus, we appreciate arithmetic can become terribly inconvenient when you're constructing political narratives. But that's a reported reduction in sale price of approximately 95%. Different transactions, different circumstances, certainly. Nevertheless, an extraordinary illustration of what had happened to the fortunes of this once-prestigious business. AND HERE'S AN INTERESTING CONNECTION. Anchorage Capital Partners also previously owned DICK SMITH ELECTRONICS. Anchorage bought Dick Smith in 2012, floated it on the ASX in December 2013, and Dick Smith collapsed into administration in January 2016. In fact, from 2013, Dick Smith even operated electronics departments inside David Jones stores. Two major Australian retail institutions. Different circumstances, but the same private equity firm appearing in both ownership histories. That alone doesn't establish responsibility for either collapse, but it certainly makes their corporate histories worthy of examination. NOW, ANGUS, SOME DATES. PLEASE TRY TO FOLLOW ALONG. 2008–2011: Online shopping increasingly challenged established department stores. David Jones faced greater competition, declining margins and changing consumer expectations. 2012–2014: Structural problems were already recognised. Woolworths Holdings acquired David Jones for approximately $2.1 billion. 2017: Comparable-store sales fell 0.7%. Discounting and disappointing private-label performance undermined profitability. 2018–2019: Woolworths Holdings recorded substantial impairments against its David Jones investment, exceeding $1 billion across this period. 2020–2022: COVID accelerated changes in retail shopping, exposing further weaknesses in the traditional department-store model. 2023: Anchorage Capital Partners acquired David Jones for approximately $100 million. 2023–2024: David Jones recorded a $74.1 MILLION PRE-TAX LOSS. 2024–2025: Another $95.5 MILLION PRE-TAX LOSS. 5 NOVEMBER 2026: David Jones entered voluntary administration and receivership after negotiations with major landlords broke down. AND HERE'S SOMETHING YOU LEFT OUT, ANGUS. According to reporting on the administration, Westfield owner Scentre Group said it had offered Anchorage Capital Partners a proposal that would have facilitated David Jones continuing to trade. ANCHORAGE REJECTED THAT OFFER. Now, we are not suggesting that accepting the offer would necessarily have saved David Jones. But it's a rather important part of the immediate circumstances surrounding the administration, wouldn't you agree? Yet somehow your lengthy political sermon overlooks the owners, the financing, the leases, the longstanding commercial problems and the breakdown in negotiations. Instead, you offer us a sweeping condemnation of Labor. WHAT ABOUT THE ACTUAL FINANCIAL HISTORY? David Jones was suffering serious structural problems before Labor returned to government in 2022. It was written down substantially during the Coalition's years in office. Its business model had been under pressure for years. Its ownership changed repeatedly. And its recent losses and rental disputes brought those problems to a head. None of that establishes that the present government bears no responsibility for broader economic conditions. But neither does it establish that Labor caused the collapse of David Jones. That's the difference between economic analysis and political spin. You claim David Jones has survived two world wars, the Great Depression and countless economic crises, but cannot survive Labor's economy. A lovely rhetorical flourish. Unfortunately, Angus, surviving two world wars doesn't make a company immune to poor strategic decisions, declining competitiveness, expensive leases or an outdated retail model. A BUSINESS CAN SURVIVE THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND STILL FAIL TO SURVIVE ITS OWN BUSINESS MODEL. And as for your claim that David Jones' administration proves Australia's economy is crumbling? (This also BACKFIRES like a gaseous ANUS when we look at the facts we prepared earlier - See below***) The failure of an individual company, even a famous one, is not by itself a measure of the performance of an entire national economy. You know that. Or at least someone advising you on economics ought to. The decline of David Jones is a legitimate subject for serious examination. Its ownership, corporate strategy, financial structure, store network, supplier relationships and long struggle to adapt to modern retail all deserve scrutiny. So do the wider economic pressures facing Australian businesses. BUT YOU DON'T GET TO ERASE FIFTEEN YEARS OF CORPORATE HISTORY AND REPLACE IT WITH AN ALBANESE CAMPAIGN SLOGAN. This is precisely the problem with your statement. It takes a genuinely distressing event for thousands of workers and attempts to transform it into proof of a political conclusion that the available corporate evidence simply does not establish. We have sympathy for the David Jones employees. We have sympathy for suppliers and businesses that may suffer financial losses. And we have sympathy for Australians watching another iconic retail institution struggle for survival. What we don't have is much patience for politicians who use that uncertainty to promote a conveniently selective account of history. ANGUS, DAVID JONES DIDN'T START FAILING WHEN LABOR WAS ELECTED IN 2022. And no amount of theatrical outrage in your social media posts can make the years before that disappear. YOU CAN REWRITE A FACEBOOK POST, ANGUS. YOU CAN'T REWRITE A COMPANY'S FINANCIAL HISTORY. Now leave politics and do something more suited to your skill level and character - SELL USED CARS. DO. NOT. TREAT. AUSTRALIANS. AS. DUMB. Oh, and for BALANCE, we are publishing later this morning, linking to this reply the following: *** →14 MAJOR retailers that collapsed under the LNP →KPMG's retail analysis: what happened under YOUR government PRE-COVID so that you can't use that handy, overused bullshit escape hatch →TWO ENORMOUS non-retail businesses that also imploded on your watch. We will also include SOURCES because unlike you, Angus, we come with fucking receipts. You just come with twisted political opportunism that is deceptive.