You may recall Westpac chief executive Brian Hartzer announcing in October 2017 that, for the first time in the bank’s 200-year history, 50 per cent of its leadership positions were occupied by women. It was arguably the most ill-conceived ‘Mission Accomplished’ stunt since George W. Bush landed his S-3 Viking on the USS Abraham Lincoln.

Westpac, of course, had achieved no such thing. Through the Commonwealth’s mandatory employer reporting regime, it had only just informed the Workplace Gender Equality Agency that 39.31 per cent of its managers were women in FY17, up from 38.6 per cent in FY16.

Westpac declined to apply for 2020 accreditation as an Employer of Choice with the Workplace Gender Equality Agency. Will Willitts

Plenty of time has subsequently elapsed and Westpac is now better known for its international banking of paedophiles than its bogus gender equality. Nevertheless, the bank’s star has fallen yet further with the WGEA.

The agency announced its 2020 Employer of Choice for Gender Equality citation holders on February 25. There are 119 in all, down from 141. And for the first time in 15 years, Westpac wasn’t one of them. A spokesman for the bank confirms it didn’t even apply.

Which is entirely unsurprising given that the WGEA this year “strengthened the eligibility criteria by placing even greater emphasis on accountability, outcomes, evidence and internal reporting processes”, four parameters for which Westpac’s gross disregard is well established.