I mean, David Jones has been with us all of our lives, as it were, but the truth is that it just simply started to struggle, especially under the weight of those giant leases they've got in those shopping centres.

Yeah, good afternoon, Ross.

That's exactly right.

I mean, the changes and transformation, if you like, to department stores globally has seen that particular sector really struggling, leaning into headwinds.

Ross, you've touched on a few of them.

The growth of online, the growth of direct-to-consumer, the Amazon Sheen team, all these models are transforming and changing retail around the world.

And David Jones in particular, a $2 billion business in sales, but it's balance sheet that you've touched on, impacted by some of the conditions I've touched on, heavy debt burden, a lot of cash going out of the business all the time, and effectively straddled with the inability to remain viable.

That's not the DJ's model, but I wonder whether that has to be the model in the future.

ooh,

this day is going pretty badly.

And for half an hour, he stood there, wanting to kill me.

He didn't really want to kill me.

He said he was going to kill me, but did he really want to? I don't know.

Maybe he did, maybe he didn't.

But I knew that this could have gone very badly indeed.

No,

Brian, are you able to share how you assessed Anita's condition at the time? You know, was she in the final stages from what you remember?

The story started about two years ago when Danny came to me and said, "Would you look after my wife?" I said, "Yes, no trouble at all." "There's only one condition," he said.

"Uh, what's that?" "You, you can't mention the cancer." "Oh, okay." So here I am with a, a lady who's got, uh, uh, lymphoma and needs a referral to an oncologist for her management for chemotherapy.

Nope, not a bit of that.

I, I wasn't able to speak about that.

Open questions, of course, uh, to invite Anita to accept that this needs to, uh, the next step, but no, this is absolutely not possible.

Fear was, was predominant there.

So I guess, Brian, are you able to kinda walk us through that? What did you see happen in, in Anita's body, and is there, you know, a medical explanation for it?

Brian, do you want to go first?

This took my knowledge from a theory into practice.

And I had to actually start living the reality that this reality we see is not actually real at all.

And that's very, very true.

I've had a number of experiences which I can now put into context.

For example, my little brother died in 2018.

I was flying to Scotland to see him.

Do you think your response to your son's death would have been a lot different had you not witnessed what happened with Anita and this confidence that life continues in some way?

Why? That's the big question.

Ross, what a great time to speak with you, and this is very topical.

Supermarkets in this country, and Coles as a prime example, are a 861 store business.

They're a $40 billion turnover.

Um, thin, thin margins, Ross.

So supermarkets, as they lean into AI and all the changes that the marketplaces will bring, are looking to build into what they would describe as structurally attractive.

And so they look at a business like Greencross and say, well, the Australia's pet market is $20 billion annu- annually.

Surely Coles doesn't wanna run vet businesses.

Brian, do you wanna go first?

This took my knowledge from a theory into practice, and I had to actually start living the reality that this reality we see is not actually real at all, and it's very, very true.

I've had a number of experiences which I can now put into context.

For example, my little brother died in 2018.

I, I f- I was flying to, to, to Scotland to see him, and I had a chat with him [laughs] actually on the plane.

Uh, it's only when I landed in London to have my sister call and say, he's actually, he's, he's passed away.

I s- well, I should've known that.

Do you think your response to your son's death would've been a lot different had you not witnessed what happened with Anita and this confidence that life continues in some way?

Brian, are you able to share how you assessed Anita's condition at the time? You know, was she in the final stages from what you remember?

The story started about two years ago when Danny came to me and said, "Would you look after my wife?" I said, "Yes, no trouble at all." "There's only one condition," he said.

"What's that?" "You can't mention the cancer."Okay.

So here I am with a, a lady who's got, uh, a lymphoma and needs referral to an oncologist for her management for chemotherapy.

Nope, not a bit of that.

I, I wasn't able to speak about that.

Open questions, of course, uh, to invite Anita to accept that this needs to, uh, the next step.

So I guess, Brian, are you able to kind of walk us through that? What did you see happen in A- Anita's body, and is there, you know, a medical explanation for it?

Brian, are you able to share how you assessed Anita's condition at the time? You know, was she in the final stages from what you remember?

The story started about two years ago when Danny came to me and said, "Would you look after my wife?" I said, "Yes, no trouble at all." "There's only one condition," he said.

"What's that?" "You can't mention the cancer." "Oh, okay." So here I am with a, a lady who's got, uh, a lymphoma and needs a referral to an oncologist for, for management for chemotherapy.

Nope, not a bit of that.

I, I wasn't able to speak about that.

Open questions, of course, uh, to invite Anita to accept that this needs to, uh, the next step.

But no, this is absolutely not possible.

So I guess, Brian, are you able to kinda walk us through that? What did you see happen in, in Anita's body, and is there, you know, a medical explanation for it?