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Issue No. 146 | 26 July 2002 |
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Crean-ite Is Not A Dirty Word
Interview: Trans Tasman Cole-Watch: The Full Story Unions: The Right To A Life Bad Boss: Phoenix Rising Politics: The Virtuous State International: The Champions History: Mandatory Mums Corporate: Network Governance Review: Navigating The Doublespeak Satire: Hector The Galah Found Hiding Poetry: Eight Days a Week
The Soapbox The Locker Room Postcard Week in Review Bosswatch
 No Need To Import IT WorkersKangaroo Court Horrifies ReaderSite Reunites Redundant WorkersCarr Off CourseThe Banners of GreedJoin The PartyShocks and Stares
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Bosswatch Walls Come Tumbling Down
Shares Go South World markets lost billions as the fall-out from the headline corporate collapses in the United States spread from Wall Street around the world. While the Australian markets had appeared to weather the storm from the big dip in the US last Friday, by mid-week two per cent of the value of Australian stock had disappeared as the Wall Street sank to a five year low. In was a similar story in other countries: Tokyo and Hong Kong lost two percent and more than three percent respectively in their Tuesday afternoon sessions, while Britain's FTSE-100 index ended one per cent lower on Tuesday. But for a bit of perspective there's a long way further to fall: the Australian market lost 63 per cent during the Great Depression and the 50 per cent stock market crash in 1987. (Various Sources) Brad's Boardroom Privileges Exposed Revelations of some of the behind the scenes action in the lead-up to Australia's largest corporate collapse were on show this week at the HIH Royal Commission. The star of the show is Brad Cooper, the Rodney Adler protege who delivered a $250,000 HIH sponsorship to the Collingwood football club just days before he was up for re-election as a director. During three days in the witness box, the self-made millionaire has also been accused - along with former HIH chief executive Ray Williams - of attempting to illegally prop up the share price of HIH after discussions about the company's financial difficulties. It was claimed Mr Cooper purchased about $1 million worth of shares in the company on August 26, 1999, the day after the release of the HIH results showing a large loss. He's also denied suggestions that he created a false documentary trail to back his claim for $1.5 million from HIH shortly before its collapse. (Various Sources) One.Tel Inquiry Hears About Whistleblower Email Meanwhile, the inquiry into Australia's other spectacular corporate collapse, One.Tel, has heard evidence about an email from a whistleblower, containing allegations of fraud within the telecommunications company. The liquidator's inquiry is hearing evidence from a Packer company employee sent into One.Tel to work out its financial position. Business analyst, Darren Miller, worked for Kerry Packer's Publishing and Broadcasting Limited at the time of One.Tel's collapse in May last year. He told the hearing about an email from a One.Tel whistleblower "ghost.dog.peril" which made allegations about serious financial problems and mismanagement, including fraudulent activity. He says he did not fully investigate all the allegations and was not able to form a view about who the whistleblower was. (Source: ABC) Whitlam Quits Top Job But Digs In As Director NRMA board members have labelled Nick Whitlam's decision to resign as NRMA president but remain a director opportunistic, arrogant, and a farce. Whitlam this week announced that he would resign from his position and called for a board meeting to be held today so that his successor could be elected. Yet several board members believe Mr Whitlam should also step down as a director and have no role in electing his successor. Last week, Mr Whitlam was found to have breached his duties as a director of NRMA, meaning he could be fined $200,000 and banned as a company director for life. The case, brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, relates to the 1998 NRMA annual general meeting at which Mr Whitlam was to cast votes as proxy on behalf of 3973 members against a resolution to give directors a $190,000 fee increase. (Source: SMH) Worldcom Lumbers Into Bankruptcy Internationally, the mega-collapse of WorldCom, plagued by the rapid erosion of its profits and an accounting scandal that created billions in illusory earnings, is set to become the largest ever bankruptcy. The bankruptcy, filed on Sunday, is expected to shake an already wobbling telecommunications industry but is unlikely to have an immediate impact on its customers, including the 20 million users of its MCI long-distance service. Also expected to be operating normally are the group's Australian interests, including WorldCom Australia and OzEmail - Australia's second largest Internet service provider, behind Telstra.. The WorldCom filing listed more than $US107 billion ($193 billion) in assets, far surpassing those of Enron ($US63.4 billion), which filed last December. The bankruptcy filing had been expected since WorldCom disclosed in late June that it had improperly accounted for more than $US3.8 billion of expenses. (Source: New York Times) AOL's Pittman Takes Fall Meanwhile, the ongoing troubles of media colossus AOL Time Warner have been laid on the head of its 49-year-old chief operating officer, Robert Pittman, who quit his post after weeks of speculation about his fate. AOL Time Warner Inc. replaced Pittman as part of a management shake-up that reflected the dimming both of AOL's fortunes and of once-glittering hopes that the far-flung units of the world's largest media conglomerate could be knit more closely together. The company is also dividing its businesses into two distinct operating units, an acknowledgment that the sprawling array of media properties -- which include CNN, HBO, Warner Bros. and Time magazine -- was too big to be centrally directed by one operating executive. (Source: The Australian) Comm Bank To Axe 400 Commonwealth Bank workers will fight a plan to shed 400 middle management staff by lodging unfair dismissal cases in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission. After reviewing its staffing, the Commonwealth Bank has notified 400 branch workers in Queensland and Victoria they are no longer required. hey have been given two weeks to find another position in the bank or be retrenched. The CBA has told the managers they were no longer needed as the bank's branches had less staff to supervise, particularly as more customers banked online, Finance Sector Union (FSU) state president Peter Presdee says The Finance Sector Union is trying to negotiate the redeployment of staff to other areas of the bank. (Various Sources) Community Bank Celebrates Birthday Brighter news at the Bendigo Bank, as it celebrates the fourth birthday as Australia's fist community bank. The bank has established community banks in 72 towns, with the latest plans including Charlton, Pyramid Hill and Rushworth in central Victoria. More than $1.75 billion worth of business has been generated, with the Maldon bank making a $90,000 profit in the past year. Economics Hurting Fish Stocks Finally, even the fish are the victims of economists, with Australia's fish stocks are being threatened by shonky economics used by recreational and commercial fishers. Tor Hundloe says politicians and government departments were being led astray by vested interests trying to prove their sector was more economically important than the other. Professor Hundloe released a book this week which attempts to set an economic framework for determining the true value of a fishery. Professor Hundloe says the recent debate in NSW about access by commercial and recreational fishers to particular tidal lakes was an example of faulty economics getting in the way of the proper decision making process. As fish stocks declined there would be more pressure on the commercial and recreational sectors to justify their presence in a fishery, he said. Without the proper way to determine the value of those fisheries, the wrong decisions were likely to be made.
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