Stage whispers are almost as old as the stage itself – Outsider feels sure that Shakespeare occasionally uttered behind the scenes whispers when he noted one or other his leading men (and they were all men) forgetting their lines.
However, Outsider believes the current deputy chair of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), Karen Chester, would do well to remember that things have moved on since the days of London’s Globe Theatre and that modern microphones are very sensitive devices which miss very little of what is said, particularly during video conferences.
Thus, Outsider believes that those who are vetting the candidates to replace James Shipton as chair of ASIC will have noted the manner in which Chester may have mastered the art of the stage whisper but may not have mastered the auditory acuity of modern microphones.
Outsider is not at all sure that Chester’s colleague ASIC commissioner, Danielle Press, needed the whispered advice during ASIC’s recent appearance before the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics to “take it on notice”.
Chester has admitted throwing her hat in the ring to be the next chair of ASIC and seems unafraid to give voice to reinforcing those leadership ambitions.
