The bank forced his family off Carisbrooke Station, their property of 50 years. But the ANZ didn’t bargain on Charlie’s dignified determination.
He certainly won’t be bullied. And,on 60 Minutes, the ANZ made the most extraordinary back-down. ANZ Chief Executive Mike Smith flew 2,000 kilometres from the bank’s Melbourne headquarters to personally apologise to Charlie.
And that’s not all that happened during this extraordinary encounter.
It’s the most dramatic development yet in the story that 60 Minutes has been following for much of 2015: the desperate plight of farmers across Australia forced off their farms by the ANZ. Charlie’s win is a breakthrough.
But there are lots of questions for the ANZ boss about how this all happened, and what now for the many other distressed farmers just like Charlie.
How thin Mr Phillott is in comparison to the fat cat CEO of the ANZ. Very Symbolic.
