Have you seen this clown? If so contact Grafton Police

 

Not the first time this Hudsons Circus clown has gone missing.
It anonymously turned up at The Junktion, Bathuurst  in 2020.
IMAGE: Western Advocate, 2 March 2020

The Daily Telegraph, 2 June 2021:

Grafton has once again earned itself a spot in the coveted S--t Towns of Australia Power Rankings after someone stole a clown.

Yes, you read that correctly.

Last week visiting attraction Hudsons Circus raised the alarm that one of their promotional materials had been stolen.

“One of our 5m tall inflatable promo clowns and air blower has gone missing from Summerland Way, Grafton, overnight. The power lead going to the air blower has been cut off,” they wrote on their Facebook page.

“A police report has been made. If you have any information regarding this, please call Grafton police station or contact Policelink and send us a message.” News of the stolen clown soon reached the creators of Facebook page Sh*t Towns of Australia, who placed Grafton in the 10th spot in the latest top 10 Power Rankings list, and described the incident as “Gronks steal 5m inflatable clown from circus”.

Other towns to share the honour include Tennant Creek, NT, for a bloke getting his “head stuck under a security gate while trying to break into a bottle-o” and Mildura, Victoria, for a “woman charged with stealing 26 BBQ chickens”. The page, which has more than 50,000 followers, is well known for its savage, yet tongue-in-cheek articles describing various towns across Australia. In 2019 Grafton was pitted against Lismore, but ultimately lost the vote.

Australian Prime Minister Morrison gives full amnesty to employers who have stolen all or part of their employees superannuation

Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), media release, 24 February 2020: 

With daily revelations of wage theft dominating the start of the new parliamentary year, the Morrison Government has today passed a bill which will waive penalties for employers who have stolen superannuation from workers. 

The bill protects employers from prosecution by the ATO for any theft of superannuation back to the birth of the system, regardless of the size of the theft or the intent of the employer. 

This is an unprecedented move by a federal government – blanket pardoning of a serious contravention of federal law, with no caveats or limits. 

The Government has said publicly that if employers cannot determine the extent of their theft before the end of the amnesty, it will be extended.

Quotes attributable to ACTU President Michele O’Neil: “We are living through a national crisis of wage theft and superannuation forms a significant part of this issue. Instead of punishing the employers who have been stealing money from their employees, potentially for decades, the Morrison Government has waved them through without any penalty whatsoever. 

“This law will recover a tiny fraction of the billions in super estimated stolen since the beginning of the system and will do nothing to change behaviour in the business community. 

“The Government has had seven years and has done nothing to help workers with unpaid super. Workers need their right to Super included in the National Employment Standards so that repayment can be easily pursued and have super paid at the same time as wages. 

“The best way to stop wage and super theft is to allow unions to once again conduct compliance checks in workplaces to end this epidemic of ripping off workers. 

“This is a shameful act by a Government which it seems will stop at nothing to cater to employers at the expense of working people. 

“The ACTU will continue to explore all available legal avenues to ensure that working people get the money they are owed and that thieves are held accountable for their actions.”

The amount of unpaid super owed to workers in Australia was estimated in 2018 to be at least $5.9 billion and wages theft by employers was thought to total $12.8 billion.