A film by Jeremy Bowtell.

Don’t take the call is a documentary examining toxic leadership in the workplace, highlighting how a ‘boy’s club’ culture paves the way for misconduct, malfeasance, fraud and corruption. Our story centres on the collapse of global startup Scale Facilitation, which rapidly rose to international prominence before being raided by Australian Federal Police for significant tax fraud. The company’s founder David Collard – who had attracted the accolades of numerous business leaders and political heavyweights – has left staff penniless, creditors in limbo, and communities reeling all the world over.

For many this was a huge and sudden shock, however for others the relentlessly coercive nature of Collard meant the writing was always on the wall. One such notable remark came from April Palmerlee, CEO of the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia, with a thinly veiled warning at the company’s World Trade Centre office launch; “if you don’t want to invest in Scale Facilitation, don’t take a call from David Collard.”

The financial burden is well into the millions, and doubt remains about a reported billion dollar turnover in the company’s last reporting period. One certainty though is the pain felt by individuals, families and communities across the business’ bases of operation in Australia, USA, UK, as well as suppliers in India and China owed enormous sums. With so many lives shaken by the fallout and so much still at stake, we seek to shine a light on how this sort of behaviour is allowed to happen, the systems that reinforce it and the true cost of doing business when it does.