The founder and former chief executive of financially troubled cybersecurity company MailGuard was locked out of its systems before allegations emerged that he had charged substantial personal expenses to the corporate card, as the business’s creditor debts climbed beyond $3 million.

Craig McDonald, who has been described as the ‘award-winning entrepreneur and cybersecurity visionary’ behind MailGuard, filed a case against his former company with the Fair Work Commission last month.

Mr McDonald alleged that he was unfairly dismissed after exercising workplace rights to raise complaints and make inquiries concerning his employment.

However, the FWC dismissed his August 14 application because it was filed 18 days outside the deadline. The substance of Mr McDonald’s claim was not considered.

In its published ruling, the FWC said serious misconduct allegations had been made against Mr McDonald when his employment ended.

Daily Mail can also reveal that ASIC records show receivers were appointed to MailGuard in June, when the company owed $1 million to Macquarie Bank.

A company spokesperson told the Daily Mail that the Macquarie Bank debt has since been ‘completely discharged’ and that the ‘receivers retired’.

The FWC decision, dated September 10, states that Mr McDonald was appointed chief executive on December 24, 2025.

On June 29, before his dismissal, Mr McDonald questioned his removal and offered to serve a six-month notice period. The next day, he discovered his access to MailGuard’s systems had been revoked.

After being locked out, Mr McDonald wrote to MailGuard asserting he was still employed and requested that key records relating to his employment be preserved.

On July 6, he was notified his employment was terminated with immediate effect, via a letter citing ‘a number of alleged acts of misconduct’, according to the FWC decision.

The allegations – untested and detailed in the FWC’s published decision – include ‘incurring excessive personal expenses on a business credit card’ and repudiating his contract.

MailGuard also alleged Mr McDonald caused ‘serious risk’ to the company’s ‘reputation and profitability’ by telling Macquarie Bank and staff the business ‘is over’.

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The letter additionally accused Mr McDonald of encouraging the appointed receiver and manager to initiate a sale process and place MailGuard into liquidation without board approval.

It further alleged ‘the continuation of engagement’ of Mr McDonald’s wife, also without notifying the board and in breach of contract.

Daily Mail does not suggest any allegations of wrongdoing against Mr McDonald’s wife.

An ASIC report on the company’s activities and property shows a receiver and manager from Ernst & Young were appointed by Macquarie Bank on June 11.

The report dated August 11 showed Macquarie Bank had a claim over all MailGuard assets, including $130,000 in company bank accounts, computer equipment, and intellectual property.

Other creditors listed include AMEX, owed $245,210.70; the ATO, owed $478,273.00; and the State Revenue Office Victoria, owed $124,322.70. Additional ‘unknown trade creditors’ are owed $832,126.18.

At the time, employees were owed $861,942.27 in annual leave, superannuation, and long service leave entitlements, according to the report, while MailGuard itself was owed $251,771.

The ASIC report did not name Mr McDonald, and Daily Mail does not suggest he is responsible for any amounts owed to creditors.

A spokesperson for MailGuard said: ‘The company is operating its business as usual’

‘It does not owe wages or salary to its employees. As with any ongoing business, it has continuing commitments to its employees with respect to annual leave, long service leave, and superannuation.’

‘We otherwise do not comment on claims before the Fair Work Commission.’ 

Craig McDonald was approached for comment.

It is 6pm, dinner is on the go and you reach into the fridge for a bottle of wine. One glass while cooking feels like a familiar end-of-day routine. You are staying home and have no intention of getting drunk — it is simply part of unwinding.

By midlife, many people are more conscious of their wellbeing than they were at 30. They may walk regularly, make healthier food choices, monitor blood pressure and try to protect their sleep. But the nightly glass of wine can easily avoid that same level of attention.

After the age of 50, however, alcohol can affect the body in ways that differ from earlier decades — even when the serving size has not changed.

What happens after the first sip?

And the effects of that first drink begin surprisingly quickly.

Cardiologist Professor Hosen Kiat tells Daily Mail that alcohol is absorbed rapidly from the first sip, entering the bloodstream and reaching the brain within minutes.

Meanwhile, the liver starts processing the alcohol. This process creates acetaldehyde, a toxic chemical linked to cancer, before an enzyme known as aldehyde dehydrogenase — or ALDH — converts it into less harmful substances.

This sequence occurs whenever alcohol is consumed, at any age. What shifts over time is the body’s capacity to manage it.

Ageing is often accompanied by losses in muscle mass and body water, alongside an increase in body fat. Professor Kiat says the body may also metabolise alcohol less efficiently. Combined, these changes can mean the same drink produces a higher blood-alcohol concentration than it did years earlier.

The wine in your glass may be exactly the same, but the body drinking it is not.

As Kiat explains, a single glass can have a far stronger effect at 50 or 60 than it did at 25.

Your 50-year-old body isn’t your 25-year-old body

Feeling the effects of that glass sooner isn’t the only difference you might notice. Alcohol can affect balance, judgement and memory, while higher amounts can raise blood pressure and trigger palpitations or irregular heart rhythms.

And if you’re pouring a glass because it helps you relax at the end of the day, there’s another catch.

‘Alcohol may briefly blunt stress, but the effect is short-lived,’ Kiat says. ‘The consequences can show up quickly through poorer sleep or increased anxiety.’

Medication can complicate things further. Alcohol can alter the effects of some drugs and make others more potent, including sleeping tablets, sedatives, pain medicines and certain blood pressure and diabetes medications. It can also interact with some antibiotics.

For women after menopause, that nightly glass may come with another set of considerations.

‘Alcohol can disrupt sleep and worsen hot flushes, while even low levels of alcohol consumption are associated with an increased risk of breast cancer,’ Kiat says.

What if ‘one glass’ is every night?

Of course, one glass of wine with dinner is very different from a big night of drinking. But Kiat says it is also worth looking at how often that one glass is being poured.

‘One or two drinks most nights may not feel excessive, but alcohol-related harm is cumulative, particularly when it comes to cancer and liver disease,’ he says.

Australian guidelines recommend healthy adults have no more than 10 standard drinks a week and no more than four on any one day. They also make clear that drinking within those limits doesn’t remove all risk: the less alcohol you drink, the lower your risk of harm.

Kiat also dismisses the idea that wine deserves a health halo because of its antioxidants.

‘If I want the antioxidants in grapes, I eat the grapes,’ he says. ‘The ethanol carries the same health risks regardless of the drink it is disguised in.’

Daily drinking also becomes increasingly common as we age. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare figures show 6.5 per cent of people in their 50s drink daily, rising to 8.5 per cent in their 60s and 11.7 per cent among those aged 70 and over.

But before you start counting the glasses in your week, there is another question worth asking: did you actually decide you wanted the one in your hand?

Did you actually decide to pour it?

For Georgia Foster, a clinical hypnotherapist and behavioural change practitioner who created the online 7 Days to Drink Less program, that question gets to something people can easily overlook.

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As we get older, she says, drinking often moves away from pubs, parties and big nights out and into the home, where it can slip quietly ‘under the radar’. Wine becomes something you pour while making dinner, or when you finally sit down after work. Before long, 5pm itself can become a cue.

‘You might be chopping your vegetables and then suddenly think, ‘Where did that glass of wine go?” Foster says.

After years of repeating the same ritual, reaching for the bottle can become so familiar that there is very little conscious thought involved.

‘It’s a bit like getting in the car and driving,’ she says. ‘The mind has already made the decision before they know what they’re doing because it is autopilot.’

That doesn’t necessarily mean someone has a drinking problem. Foster says some people reach for alcohol in response to stress, anxiety, boredom or loneliness, while for others it is largely habit. Often, it is a mixture of both.

For Foster, the useful part is noticing what happened just before you reached for the bottle.

Ask yourself why you want it

Rather than starting with how much you drink, Foster suggests paying attention to what sits behind the routine. For one person it may be stress, for another boredom or loneliness. For someone else, there may be no great emotional explanation at all. The wine has simply become part of making dinner.

Once you know what is driving it, breaking the routine can be surprisingly practical. If 5pm usually means wine, Foster suggests doing something different at that time: go for a walk, call a friend or head to the gym. Move the alcohol from its usual spot, pour something else while you cook, or simply postpone the first glass for an hour.

The point is to put some space between the thought of having a drink and automatically acting on it.

And Foster isn’t suggesting everyone needs to give up alcohol altogether. For some people, drinking less is enough. What matters is being able to make that decision consciously.

As she puts it, people want to reach a point where they can ‘manage it rather than it manages them’.

Before you pour the glass

So tonight, when 6pm rolls around and you find yourself reaching for the bottle while dinner is on the stove, Foster isn’t necessarily suggesting you put it back.

She is asking you to notice that moment before the wine reaches the glass.

‘Sit down and just pause for a few moments and ask yourself, what is this actually going to give me?’ she says. ‘Is it space? Is it silence? Is it calm?’