The staggering sway of Harold Mitchell

Tim Burrowes

January 20, 2012 11:32

The Power Index today names Aegis Media chairman Harold Mitchell as the most powerful person in Melbourne. Andrew Crook profiles him.

Harold Mitchell takes pride in dispensing with the niceties. When The Power Index visited his South Melbourne private office before Christmas, fresh remains were scattered all over the boardroom table.

The victim of his latest salvo is Paul Keating’s 640 page tome After Words, chronicling the former PM’s post-politics public waffling. But Mitchell, who flies to London every three weeks to check in with the global ad behemoth he directs, prefers to travel light.

Keating’s essence, Mitchell discovered, could be distilled to three pages, which he promptly ripped out for the 22-hour commute. Keating wasn’t happy. “Paul said, ‘comrade, only three pages?’ and I said ‘that’s all you need!’,” said Mitchell, nominating short sentences on Asia, leadership and courage as the takeouts from Keating’s oeuvre.

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Tim Burrowes

Tim Burrowes is the publisher of Mumbrella and Unmade. He co-founded Mumbrella in 2008 and sister title Unmade in 2021. He's worked in the UK, Middle East, Asia & Australia and has specialised in writing about the communications world for the last 25 years. He wrote the book Media Unmade, published in 2021, and became the presenter of MediaLand on ABC Radio National in 2025.