This is just an excerpt. The full interview with ALEX VYNOKUR is available exclusively for Rampart subscribers - go to rampart.news to watch now.

When Alex Vynokur started Betashares in 2009, most Australians who heard of “ETFs” thought it was a reference to electronic fund transfers, rather than exchange-traded funds.

Sixteen years later, the company holds about 20% of Australia’s ETF market, with $80 billion in assets under management for a million Australians. It’s second only to global behemoth Vanguard.

In this episode of Rampart Talks, host Joe Aston traces Vynokur’s path from arriving in Bondi as a teenager from Soviet Ukraine, to a short stint at law firm Baker McKenzie, to working in asset management for Malcolm Turnbull.

Vynokur explains how he concluded that index funds would be a competitive force in the funds management industry. He speaks to how Betashares grew from ETFs into a direct investing platform and superannuation, and the impact artificial intelligence could have on the industry.

He also explains why he wants Betashares to remain privately-owned, as opposed to being floated on the ASX.

Vynokur also discusses the federal government’s new tax regime, why immigration matters to Australia and his efforts to assist the war effort in his native Ukraine.

Rampart Talks is brought to you by ⁠⁠BHP⁠, Generation Life and Ray White Commercial⁠.

About Joe Aston:

Joe Aston is one of Australia's most influential commentators on business, finance and politics.

For 12 years, he struck fear into the hearts of the nation's political and corporate leaders, transforming The Australian Financial Review's Rear Window into the nation's premier daily column.

In 2024, he became a best-selling author with the publication of his first book, The Chairman's Lounge: The Inside Story of How Qantas Sold Us Out.

And in 2025, he launched ⁠Rampart⁠, a premium subscription news publication specialising in Australian business and finance.

Follow Joe Aston on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ and ⁠X⁠.

Follow Rampart on ⁠LinkedIn⁠, ⁠Instagram⁠, ⁠X⁠, ⁠YouTube⁠.

Rampart Talks

Producer: Eliza Harvey

Production/Editing: Mentored Studios

This is just an excerpt. The full interview with GREG BOORER is available exclusively for Rampart subscribers - go to rampart.news to watch now.

In 2007, Greg Boorer put his house on the line to build a data centre in Canberra, when the government's critical systems were still sitting in office basements. Nearly two decades later, CDC is a $20 billion business, and Greg is one of the most powerful (and least-known) figures in Australia's AI infrastructure boom.

Joe Aston sits down with the low-profile founder to ask whether data centres are losing the public relations war, what ordinary Australians will actually get out of the AI boom, and about the future of CDC's partnership with Australian AI infrastructure company, Firmus.

In May 2026, CDC landed a 555-megawatt deal with a US hyperscaler believed to be Amazon Web Services, which is equivalent to the size of every other deal combined that CDC had done in the previous 19 years.

Joe and Greg share a love of cricket. As Chair of Cricket ACT, Boorer gives a candid take on the dysfunction in Australian cricket and the forced resignation of Mike Baird.

Rampart Talks is brought to you by ⁠⁠BHP⁠, ⁠Evidentia and Ray White Commercial⁠.

About Joe Aston:

Joe Aston is one of Australia's most influential commentators on business, finance and politics.

For 12 years, he struck fear into the hearts of the nation's political and corporate leaders, transforming The Australian Financial Review's Rear Window into the nation's premier daily column.

In 2024, he became a best-selling author with the publication of his first book, The Chairman's Lounge: The Inside Story of How Qantas Sold Us Out.

And in 2025, he launched ⁠Rampart⁠, a premium subscription news publication specialising in Australian business and finance.

Follow Joe Aston on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ and ⁠X⁠.

Follow Rampart on ⁠LinkedIn⁠, ⁠Instagram⁠, ⁠X⁠, ⁠YouTube⁠.

Rampart Talks

Producer: Eliza Harvey

Production/Editing: Mentored Studios

This is just an excerpt. The full interview with MICHAEL LEE is available exclusively for Rampart subscribers - go to rampart.news to watch now.

Justice Michael Lee has presided over some of the most important trials in recent Australian history: Bruce Lehrmann v Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson; Qantas' illegal sacking of 1,820 ground workers and the corporate regulator ASIC's case against Star Entertainment's former board directors and company executives.

He's also the judge who ruled against journalist Joe Aston and Nine Entertainment in a defamation trial taken by the former head of venture capital at Blue Sky Alternative Investments.

In this entertaining and candid conversation, Justice Lee explains why he thinks it's important that judges speak out on matters that are relevant to the administration of justice, the erosion of trust in courts and institutions and how artificial intelligence should be managed by corporations and board directors.

Justice Lee also discusses matters beyond the law, including his love of red ball cricket and disappointment about the state of the modern game. He's also writing a screenplay about Sydney in the Great Depression era and the former NSW Premier, Jack Lang.

Don't miss it.

Rampart Talks is brought to you by ⁠⁠BHP⁠, ⁠Generation Life and Ray White Commercial⁠.

About Joe Aston:

Joe Aston is one of Australia's most influential commentators on business, finance and politics.

For 12 years, he struck fear into the hearts of the nation's political and corporate leaders, transforming The Australian Financial Review's Rear Window into the nation's premier daily column.

In 2024, he became a best-selling author with the publication of his first book, The Chairman's Lounge: The Inside Story of How Qantas Sold Us Out.

And in 2025, he launched ⁠Rampart⁠, a premium subscription news publication specialising in Australian business and finance.

Follow Joe Aston on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ and ⁠X⁠.

Follow Rampart on ⁠LinkedIn⁠, ⁠Instagram⁠, ⁠X⁠, ⁠YouTube⁠.

Rampart Talks

Producer: Eliza Harvey

Production/Editing: Mentored Studios

Commercial support: Squiz Media