Business with $30m in government contracts goes bust

Rubik3 Pty Ltd was taken over by external administrators on March 7, according to Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) documents.

Rubik3 currently holds millions worth of Commonwealth procurement contracts for temporary employee services.

These are primarily for the Bureau of Meteorology, but also the Department of Veterans' Affairs; Health and Aged Care; Employment and Workplace Relations and the National Emergency Management Agency.

The company also holds one $163,900 ACT government contract providing the Chief Minister's directorate with professional and consulting services.

Rubik3 was co-founded by former federal public servant and accountant Guy Cornell Earnshaw, 47, in 2015.

A 2022 paid advertisement for The Canberra Times said Mr Earnshaw "[spent] decades working behind the scenes of DVA".

He is currently sole owner and director of Rubik3.

The business received prominent coverage in local and national media.

It was the Australian Financial Review's top start-up company of 2018 and sponsored the Canberra Women in Business Awards in 2020 and 2021.

In the branded content for The Canberra Times, the business claimed to have supported Women in ICT, the Indigenous Reading Project and the AFLW.

Mr Earnshaw has listed degrees from the University of Canberra and the Canberra Institute of Technology on his LinkedIn.

He is involved with other companies, including Rubik3 Indigenous Pty Ltd - a separate company to Rubik3, which has collapsed.

Rubik3 Indigenous is listed as a registered Indigenous business by Supply Nation.

Supply Nation verifies businesses who have 50 per cent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ownership.

Many government departments have procurement policies which aim to stimulate First Nations business and employment by granting contracts to Indigenous suppliers.

This includes a $185,000 contract with the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water which will conclude in June, 2024.

Rubik3 Indigenous is currently co-owned and co-directed by Mr Earnshaw and Indigenous actor and rapper Garth John Edwards, 44.

They attended the Canberra Indigenous Business Showcase in October 2023.

Mr Edwards is also known by his middle name, John, or his rapper name, JPoint.

Mr Edwards' Flatmates profile, seeking a room for rent for up to $300 a week in Cairns, was last updated two months ago.

"I'm also a co-owner of Rubik3 Indigenous, a boutique professional services firm delivering top-notch accounting, ICT, and project management services to a diverse clientele, including government agencies, private sector entities, and nonprofit organisations," it said.

Rubik3 Indigenous has had procurement contracts with several federal departments for temporary personnel and computer services.

Rubik3 Pty Ltd - the company which has been liquidated - is listed as having been an Indigenous business supplier for the Australian Tax Office from August 2015 to February 2020.

The Canberra Times understands the business previously had First Nations co-owners.

Mr Earnshaw is also the sole director and shareholder in Really Awesome People Pty Ltd, which advertises "workforce services for government in VIC, ACT, WA and NSW" on LinkedIn.

It was registered in October 2018, and has labour hire contracts with government departments worth at least $5.9 million in total.

Mr Earnshaw was contacted by The Canberra Times but did not wish to comment.

Liquidators Slaven Torline did not respond to requests to comment by deadline.