WESTPAC AGM
(Image: AAP/Joel Carrett)

On its front page today, the Fin reveals what it calls “The short walk that sealed Hartzer’s fate” — the few hours on Monday when Westpac chairman Lindsay Maxsted, accompanied by the bank’s head of investor relations Andrew Bowden, walked the streets of Melbourne to meet investors in various city offices.

“Brian Hartzer’s fate was sealed in the space of just a few Melbourne city blocks,” the story explained. “Not on ritzy Collins Street, where luxury office buildings rub shoulders with high-end boutiques … but in the decidedly more grimy Lonsdale Street, where industry super funds attracted by the lower rents have set up their own fortress.”

The story — one of no fewer than 23 the Fin published about Westpac today — even carries a detailed map of the Maxsted CBD odyssey.

As they walked the streets of Melbourne, a Crikey tipster was all ears:

Just saw Westpac chair Lindsay Maxsted walking down Russell Street with a couple of other suits just near Westpac’s new Melbourne office, and I heard the guy next to him say to him “… work out some accountability”.