The 'I Knows Nuffink' defence reaches the height of absurdity during NSW ICAC Operation Spicer hearing

An exchange between junior counsel assisting the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption Greg O'Mahoney and Queanbeyan property developer Lee Jay Brinkmeyer during an Operation Spicer hearing on 9 September 2014:

O’MAHONEY: Do you appreciate, Mr Brinkmeyer, that as a businessman who is spending company funds that you’ve written a $20,000 cheque to an organisation you know nothing about on the say so of a person whom you only have a mobile phone contact for without knowing precisely where the money’s going to go and having made no inquiries about where the money actually went, is that the effect of your evidence?

BRINKMEYER: Yeah. I mean, when you put that way - - -

O’MAHONEY: That’s it in a nutshell?

BRINKMEYER: When you put it that way it sounds bad but that’s - - -

O’MAHONEY: It sounds more than bad, Mr Brinkmeyer?

BRINKMEYER: That’s correct

O’MAHONEY: It sounds absurd, if you wouldn’t mind me saying?

BRINKMEYER: Well look, when I’ve made other donations in the past whether it - - -

Is PayWave picking your pocket at the checkout?

Tweed Daily News 3 September 2014:

PAYWAVE card payments have improved efficiency at the checkout, but the experience of one South Grafton man suggests you should be vigilant near one of the terminals.

Last week, Don Booth, of South Grafton, was waiting behind another customer at the cash register of a Grafton business.

As he watched the cashier, he noticed she did something different and asked her what happened.

He was shocked to find that instead of billing the customer in front of him, the terminal had picked up the card in his wallet and completed the transaction with his money.

"Because the girl at the checkout noticed it, we were able to fix it up straight away," Mr Booth said.

He said the girl at the checkout told him it was not her first experience of a payWave transaction going wrong.

"She said it happened in Coles to a customer, in the same way it happened to me," Mr Booth said.

Mr Booth said he would be taking extra care to check his next card statement.

Perhaps the rise in credit card fraud NSW Police Coffs Clarence Police Command has recently complained about may also be a result of flaws in wireless near field communication technology.

In October last year Among Tech posted this information on electronic pickpocketing:

The fact that you can use your smartphone to pay at a restaurant or a store is great and with NFC (Near Field Communication) technology you can do just that, but what else? Several months back a report from CBC showed us how easy it is to steal credit card credentials using an App and NFC technology which is integrated in most of the high end Android smartphones, but even after 6 months it is still possible to download one of these Apps and hack someone’s credit card and Google has made no changes to its software in order to make it harder for people to steal someone else’s credit card info.

Apps like SquareLess allow users to see a credit cards number, security code and expiration date which later can be used by hackers to purchase products online without the credit card holder to give them permission to do so. SquareLess is just one of the many apps available on the Play Store that allow you to do just this, which is a very serious issue. A study done by xdadevelopers that any of the following credit cards can be hacked using NFC:

American Express Blue Cards

Barclaycard

Chase Credit Cards

MasterCard PayPass

Visa payWave Cards

So, How can an App and NFC read credit card credentials? NFC technology is also what is used in stores to read our credit card, a credit card will give its information which allows you to make the transaction once it finds a valid payment terminal device but the credit card doesn’t look at what type of terminal device this is (since it doesn’t know this information), it is just interested in finding one. Making the smartphone function like a payment terminal can allow you to “fool” the credit card making it think it is what it is looking for, easily allow the app to read all the necessary credentials. In order to do so, all that is required is for the smartphone with NFC to be approximately 10cm close to the credit card. Here is a video demonstrating just how easy it can be done……

Channel 7 Today Tonight also broadcast an item on this subject in July this year.

Internet websites are now offering RFID-shielding passport holders/wallets/sleeves to prevent remote scanning and skimming of Paywave or touch-and-go-credit cards, although the effectiveness of these products is open to question.

NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption: Has the other shoe dropped for former premier Barry O'Farrell?

Retired as NSW Premier and Minister for Western Sydney effective 17 April 2014 and moved to the back bench after giving false evidence to the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption, Barry O’Farrell Liberal MP for Kur-ing-gai for is recalled as a witness today.

The Sydney Morning Herald 9 September 2014:

Two weeks before the 2011 election, then opposition leader Barry O'Farrell announced a tax policy that benefited developer Brickworks while the company was allegedly bankrolling a researcher in his office and had secretly donated $125,000 to the Liberal campaign.

As Premier, Mr O'Farrell made good on the policy – to repeal a controversial property transfer tax – six weeks after the election.

The researcher, Matt Crocker, is now director of policy to Premier Mike Baird.
Mr O'Farrell is due to give evidence at the Independent Commission Against Corruption on Tuesday after the commission heard last week that Brickworks secretly funded Mr Crocker's position in his office while he was opposition leader.

Former Liberal fundraiser Paul Nicolaou told the commission that Brickworks paid for a researcher in 2009, 2010 and 2011 at a cost of $50,000 a year……

The ICAC has also heard Brickworks donated $125,000 to the Liberal-linked Free Enterprise Foundation, a federally registered organisation, which was then allegedly channelled back to the NSW Liberals for use in the 2011 state election campaign.

Brickworks is Australia's largest brickmaker but also has a property development arm. Property developers have been banned from donating to state election campaigns in NSW since late 2009.

Mr O'Farrell visited the Horsley Park headquarters of Brickworks subsidiary Austral Bricks on March 12, 2011.

During the visit Mr O'Farrell announced that if Coalition won the March 26 election it would repeal what he called Labor's "sneaky" home buyers tax – a levy on property transfers worth more than $500,000, announced by planning minister Tony Kelly in 2010.

Attending the announcement was a representative of the Property Council of Australia which had railed against the new tax as "a brake on investment" and "effectively ... a second stamp duty".

Six weeks after winning the election, Mr O'Farrell made good on his pledge to repeal the property tax with legislation introduced to the Parliament on May 9.

The repeal bill was introduced to the Legislative Assembly by Mike Baird, who was then the Treasurer and who became Premier in April this year after Mr O'Farrell resigned over giving false evidence to a previous ICAC inquiry…..

Can the Speaker in the House of Representatives deny knowledge of alleged laundered money routed through The Dame Pattie Menzies Liberal Foundation?

According to a report in The Sydney Morning Herald on 8 September 2014, Liberal Party MP for Mackellar and Speaker in the House of Representatives Bronwyn Bishop has been identified in evidence before the Operation Spicer investigation as being a director of the Dame Pattie Menzies Foundation Trust which received $11,000 from the Free Enterprise Foundation on December 9, 2010, which it then directed to the NSW branch of the party for use in the 2011 state election and The previous day, Mr Partridge has sent a cheque for $125,000 to the Free Enterprise Foundation with a note which read: "We trust this donation will provide assistance with the 2011 NSW State election campaign". Additionally, A $2000 donation to the Dame Pattie foundation from Australian Corporate Holdings, a company connected to Sydney property developer and sailor Syd Fischer, was also passed on to the NSW Liberals.

So sure was the foundation that these donations would not be queried that they were included on the relevant disclosure from:

The Dame Pattie Menzies Liberal Foundation Ltd disclosure of political donations and expenditure for the financial year 2010-11

Can Bronwyn Bishop deny all knowledge of this foundation receiving ‘laundered’ developer donations before passing them onto the NSW Liberal Party, when Australian Securities & Investment Commission records reveal that at least three current office bearers of The Dame Pattie Menzies Liberal Foundation Ltd (incorporated in NSW) are being questioned concerning allegations of corruption currently being heard during NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) Operation Spicer hearings:

JOHN PEGG,  9 Bushlands Avenue, GORDON NSW 2072, appointed 15.11.93 appeared before NSW ICAC on 8 September 2014

BRONWYN KATHLEEN BISHOP, 21 Pacific Parade, DEE WHY NSW 2099, appointed 29.08.86

WARWICK JAMES WILKINSON,  6A Parriwi Road, MOSMAN NSW 2088, appointed 29.08.86

GILLIAN STOREY, Werong, YASS NSW 2582, appointed 23.11.92 

CHRISTINE MARGARET LIDDY, 103 Raglan Street, MOSMAN NSW 2088, appointed 20.02.04

DENISE ANNE FINK, Unit 11, 282 Sailors Bay Road, NORTHBRIDGE NSW 2063, appointed 20.02.04

DAMIAN JONES,  853 Barrenjoey Road, PALM BEACH NSW 2108, first appointed 06.01.05

NICHOLAS CAMPBELL, 6 Rhonda Close, WAHROONGA NSW 2076 appointed 13.12.13 appearing before NSW ICAC 9 September 2014

The company secretary since 2008 is:

SIMON JOHN MCINNES 5 Hillpine Avenue, KOGARAH NSW 2217, appeared before NSW ICAC 4 September 2014

NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) OPERATION SPICER witness list for week commencing 8 September 2014 - witness cheat sheet UPDATED

NSW ICAC OPERATION SPICER witness list for week commencing 8 September 2014:

Monday 8 September

Mark Neeham - former State Director of the New South Wales Liberal Party, executive director polling/lobbying firm Crosby Textor

Michael Photios - member of the NSW Liberal Party's state executive until September 2013, contracted by Australian Water Holdings in 2011 to lobby NSW O’Farrell Government, chairman of registered lobbyist company Premier State Consulting Pty Ltd

Michael Yabsley - former Liberal NSW MLC and former minister in the Greiner Government, former Honorary Federal Treasurer of Liberal Party of Australia and former member of the party's Federal Finance Committee, CEO Australia Gulf Council, founding director of Government Relations Australia now merged into GRACosway lobbyists for mining interests such as AGL, MMG & QGC

John Pegg - member of the three-man panel appointed by NSW Premier Mike Baird to take control of the state party’s finances, property and fundraising in the wake evidence before ICAC

Nicholas Jones – electoral officer of Gary Edwards, the NSW Liberal MP for Swansea who moved to the cross bench, after allegations during evidence that he had received an unlawful political donation

Tuesday 9 September

Barry O'Farrell - NSW Liberal MP for Ku-ring-gai,  resigned as Premier and Minister for Western Sydney effective 17 April 2014 and moved to the back bench when it was proven that he had not told the truth when giving evidence at a NSW Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) Operation Credo hearing in relation to an undeclared $3,000 gift from the then CEO of Australian Water Holdings.

Nicholas Campbell - director at The Dame Patty Menzies Liberal Foundation Ltd
Natasha McLaren-Jones - Liberal Party NSW MLC since March 2011

Lee Brinkmeyer - political donor to NSW Liberal Party, Queanbeyan property developer with Elmslea Development, possibly related to land speculator and former president of the Queanbeyan branch of the Liberal Party Alex Brinkmeyer

Mark Vaile – former Nationals MP for Lyne, former leader of the Federal National Party and deputy prime minister, Independent Non-Executive Director at Whitehaven Coal Ltd, shareholder in Whitehaven through Wendmar Pty Ltd

Anthony Bandle - chartered accountant Bandle McAneney & Co, trustee of Canberra-based associated entity Free Enterprise Foundation, previously called as a witness in Operation Spicer hearing in May 2014 

Wednesday 10 September

Not sitting day

Thursday 11 September 2014

Wayne Brown - NSW Liberal party state executive member

Aaron Henry - member of the Liberal Party and former staffer with Liberal MP for The Entrance Chris Spence now sitting on the cross benches as an independent after expulsion from the party

Robert Webster - former NSW Planning and Energy Minister in Greiner Coalition Government

Friday 12 September 2014

Craig Baumann - NSW Liberal MP for Port Stephens previously mentioned in evidence given during Operation Spicer

Jeff McCloy – property developer, Chairman of the McCloy Group, former Newcastle mayor who resigned his mayoral position due to admissions that he had made to ICAC that he had made unlawful political donations to the NSW Liberal Party

Hilton Grugeon - millionaire NSW property developer and owner of the Hunter Advantage company, co-founder of Hunter Land Pty Ltd

Vincent Heufel – accountant, Heufel Partners Business Advisers Pty Ltd 

Richard Shields - General Manager Government and Stakeholder Relations at Insurance Council Of Australia, former Metgasco Ltd External Relations Manager, former Deputy Director of the Liberal Party of Australia (NSW Division) and former Interim State Director

Ray Carter - former electorate officer for then NSW Resources and Energy Minister Chris Hartcher

Arthur Sinodinos  - Federal Liberal Senator for NSW and Assistant Treasurer in the Abbott Government  - not fulfilling assistant treasurer duties for the duration of the ICAC Operation Credo and Operation Spicer investigations, after allegations concerning the corporation Australia Water Holdings of which he was a director were made during Operation Credo 

NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption now has evidence before it that implicates members of the election campaign team which helped Tony Abbott become Prime Minister of Australia

@Kate_McClymont

Well it can no longer be ignored, the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption now has evidence before it that implicates members of the election campaign team which helped Tony Abbott achieve his goal of becoming Prime Minister of Australia.

This is a section of the 2010 email (above) copied to Brian Loughnane, Federal Director of the Liberal Party of Australia and husband of Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s chief of staff, as well as Arthur Sinodinos who was then Honorary Treasurer of the NSW Division of the Liberal Party and a former chief of staff to John Howard when he was prime minister:

This email makes it clear that one property developer is unlawfully donating $25,000 to the NSW Liberal Party of Australia via the party’s federal associated entity, the Free Enterprise Foundation.

So will Brian Loughnane assert that he didn't read his emails in 2010 or will he, like Senator Sinodinos' lawyer, claim that routing unlawful donations to the NSW Liberal Party through the Free Enterprise Foundation was a legitimate action.

UPDATE

According to a report in The Sydney Morning Herald on 8 September 2014, Liberal Party MP for Mackellar and Speaker in the House of Representatives Bronwyn Bishop has been identified in evidence before the Operation Spicer investigation as being a director of the Dame Pattie Menzies Foundation Trust which received $11,000 from the Free Enterprise Foundation on December 9, 2010, which it then directed to the NSW branch of the party for use in the 2011 state election and The previous day, Mr Partridge has sent a cheque for $125,000 to the Free Enterprise Foundation with a note which read: "We trust this donation will provide assistance with the 2011 NSW State election campaign". Additionally, A $2000 donation to the Dame Pattie foundation from Australian Corporate Holdings, a company connected to Sydney property developer and sailor Syd Fischer, was also passed on to the NSW Liberals.

The same article also pointed out that:

Previously suppressed emails at a corruption inquiry raise serious concerns about major donors to the Liberal Party being rewarded with extraordinary access to senior party figures.

The emails are from the chief fundraiser of the NSW Liberal Party Paul Nicolaou to Peta Credlin, one of the most powerful figures in the federal government….

As well as being chief of staff to Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Ms Credlin is married to Brian Loughnane, the party's federal director.

The emails reveal that, in March 2011, while in Opposition, Ms Credlin was advised by Mr Nicolaou that the managing director of Brickworks, Lindsay Partridge, was "a very good supporter to the party".

 Brickworks was one of the largest corporate donors to the Liberal Party, giving a massive $384,000 in a nine-month period from July 2010 to April 2011.

As well as its brand Austral Bricks, Brickworks also lists property development as a core business. The ICAC has heard that Brickworks used the Free Enterprise Foundation, a shadowy Canberra-based organisation, to channel $125,000 in illicit donations  to the NSW Liberals for the March 2011 state election.

The warmonger is in...............

The Sydney Morning Herald 6 September 2014:

If there was some way Tony Abbott could squeeze himself into a camouflaged hi-vis outfit, he surely would. A fetching ensemble it would make too. Combat-ready battle dress in bright orange dessert warfare pattern to signal to Australia's mining billionaires that no matter how small the threat from a balanced tax system, he stood ready to go to war with everyone everywhere to distract our attention in their defence.

Abbott is not the first politician to beat the drums of war but there is something striking in the difference between his concern-trolling of the Islamic State (and Russia for that matter) and Barack Obama's reticence, caution and obvious care for the unintended consequences of intemperate action.....

BBC News 4 September 2014:

The growing list of military commitments has led to a lengthy debate in the Senate on whether Australia's federal parliament should be required to approve such deployments.

Analysts are also worried the nation could be trying to punch too far above its weight.

"It is hard to understand how a military deployment to Ukraine is in Australia's national interests given that we didn't have diplomatic representation there a month ago," said James Brown, a fellow at the Sydney-based Lowy Institute and former Australian army officer who served in Iraq and Afghanistan,

"There is a real danger now that Tony Abbott finds himself over-committed with his use of military force. He came to power claiming a foreign policy that would be more Jakarta-orientated than Geneva-orientated," he warned.

"Now Australia finds itself contributing soldiers to a European war in Ukraine. It finds itself contemplating contributing significant forces to Iraq and Syria and all the while, we have still got issues in our region that we are responsible for if they flare up."