This is just an excerpt. The full interview with Jayne Hrdlicka is available exclusively for Rampart subscribers - go to rampart.news to watch now.
Former Jetstar and Virgin Australia CEO Jayne Hrdlicka has built a reputation as one of Australia's toughest corporate operators. Now she's taking on her biggest challenge yet: turning around the Endeavour Group, the $7 billion pokies and liquor business struggling with declining sales and a 35% share price collapse since demerging from Woolworths.
This interview with Jayne is a candid conversation about resilience, ambition, and the personal cost of corporate leadership. Topics covered:
Career moves: why she's taking on another brutal turnaround job in her sixties after making a paper fortune at Virgin.
Corporate leadership: including what made Alan Joyce such an extraordinary CEO and whether he had changed by the end.
Virgin Australia's resurrection: how she rebuilt an insolvent airline during a pandemic with absolute conviction travel would return, as well as the the irony of Qatar Airways' blocked air rights leading to a better outcome for Virgin (and her opinion on whether Alan Joyce convinced Anthony Albanese to block Qatar's expansion).
Gender and leadership: how language gets weaponised against female CEOs differently than their male counterparts, and why being called "abrasive" and "driven" bothers her more than being compared to Cruella de Vil.
Personal tragedy: working under enormous pressure while her husband Jason was dying of cancer, and then losing her beloved father a year later and deciding she couldn't take Virgin public. She also touches on her father's extraordinary childhood escaping communist Czechoslovakia at age 16 and how that’s shaped her.
Tennis and power: the networking power of prime courtside seats at the Australian Open finals, and what it's like sitting in the Wimbledon royal box with the Beckhams.
Rampart Talks is brought to you by RESOLVE Forensic, BHP and Ray White Commercial.
About Joe Aston:
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, transforming The Australian Financial Review’s Rear Window into the nation’s premier daily column.
In 2024, he became a best-selling author with the publication of his first book, The Chairman’s Lounge: The Inside Story of How Qantas Sold Us Out.
And in 2025, he launched Rampart, a premium subscription news publication specialising in Australian business and finance.
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Rampart Talks
Producer: Eliza Harvey
Production/Editing: Mentored Studios
Technical and commercial support: Squiz Media
