Why aren’t we Juukan-Gorging Twiggy up the wazoo?
by Joe Aston · Australian Financial ReviewJoe AstonColumnist
Jun 5, 2026 – 9.00am
It is truly spectacular what Andrew Forrest routinely gets away with. That’s almost become a truism in recent years, but the awarding of a pitiful $150 million in compensation to the long-suffering Yindjibarndi people last month may be the apex moment in Twiggy’s life mission as a false prophet.
For reasons no more complex than innate credulity and bone laziness, the preponderance of Australian policymakers and journalists accept at face value Forrest’s self-portrayal as statesman, green energy visionary, ender of slavery, saver of the oceans, merciful euthaniser of livestock and, most dubiously, lifelong friend of his Indigenous fellow countrymen in the Pilbara. Twiggy’s deep bonds with them are foundational to his origin myth. He claims he learned to speak Yamatji at the same time as English. He hasn’t claimed to have been suckled by a black wet nurse, but there’s still time.
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Joe AstonColumnistJoe Aston is the founder of Rampart and the best-selling author of The Chairman’s Lounge: The inside story of how Qantas sold us out. From 2012 to 2023, Joe helmed The Australian Financial Review’s Rear Window column. Email Joe at hello@rampart.news
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