Panama Papers: some of the corporations Malcolm and/or Lucy Turnbull created or invested in since 1981

A reader asked if North Coast Voices would look at the Australian Prime Minister’s investments in light of the release of information contained in the Panama Papers.

A searchable online database is yet to be created and information in the media on the ‘who and when’ of use of the Panamanian tax haven is still emerging, so there is not that much to compare Mr. Turnbull's extensive financial portfolio with at present.

However, I have created a short company list readers can refer to when the subject of Mossack Fonseca’s Australian clients is mentioned.

Companies/investments marked with a red asterisk denote association with a tax haven/low tax jurisdiction.

Private companies of which Malcolm Bligh Turnbull is known to be a director:

Turnbull & Partners Pty Limited –  created 1998, private investment company 

Turnbull & Partners Holdings Pty Ltd – created 1987, private investment company 
M.B. Turnbull Pty. Limited – created 1998, private investment company 

Wilcrow Pty. Limited –  created 1998, private investment company 

Pokana Pty Ltd – created 1981, private investment company/trustee of self-managed super fund 
Bonalil Pty Ltd – created 1985, private investment company 

Felix Bay Ltd – created 2000, not for profit company/trustee of the Turnbull Foundation 

Bonedale Pty Ltd – created 1987, intermediate holding company 

A selection of some of the corporations in which Malcolm and/or Lucy Turnbull invested from time to time, as set out in his Members’ Interests statements:

Century Turnbull LLC – created 2014 and incorporated in US, private holding company for Lucy Turnbull's New York property investments
Want Want China Holdings P/L,  – Chinese company, food manufacturing 

Hochtief AG – German company, construction. Taken to court by Australian Securities & Investment Commission for alleged insider trading of Leighton Holdings (now CIMIC) shares 

Melbourne IT Limited – incorporated Australia, domain registration company

Prima BioMed Limited – incorporated in Australia, German-Australian company, biotechnology

Porsche Automobil Holding – German-based holding company, automobile manufacture

Rubicor Group Limited – incorporated in Australia, contracting & recruitment services

Seadrill Limited – incorporated in Bermuda, offshore deepwater drilling 

CVB Financial Corporation – incorporated in U.S., holding company for Citizens Business Bank

Siemens AG – German company, industrial conglomerate. Certain Siemen managers were allegedly clients of Mossack Fonseca in the British Virgin Islands tax haven after corruption scandal *

Salzgitter AG – German-based company, steel production

Volkswagen AG VORZ - German automobile manufacturer

Centric Wealth – incorporated in Australia, financial services 

Lexmark International (?) – US company, printing and imaging equipment

New World Energy Ltd – incorporated in Australia, renewable energy 

Tarazz Pte Ltd – incorporated in Singapore,  IT *

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group – allegedly facilitated clients use of Mossack Fonseca in the British Virgin Islands tax haven *

Commonwealth Bank of Australia – allegedly facilitated clients use of Mossack Fonseca in the British Virgin Islands tax haven *

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles – incorporated in The Netherlands, automobile manufacture 

Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF

BHP Billiton Limited – incorporated in UK, approx. 19 subsidiaries incorporated in British Virgin Islands, diversified resources, alleged client of Mossack Fonseca in the British Virgin Islands tax haven *

ETFS Physical Palladium Shares - shares issued by ETFS Palladium Trust aa company providing specialist investment solutions

Panoro Energy ASA – Norwegian-based company, exploration and production of oil and gas resources in West Africa

SPDR S&P 500 – incorporated in US,  exchange-traded fund 

Orocobre Ltd  – Argentinian-based company, industrial chemicals and minerals 

Magellan Flagship Fund Limited  – ASX-listed investment company

Forte Energy  – incorporated in Australia, minerals company focused on the exploration, evaluation and development of uranium and energy-related projects worldwide

JPMorgan USD Emerg Markets Bond  – incorporated in US, exchange-traded fund

iShares MSCI Brazil Index Fund – investment fund 

iShares iBoxx $ Invst Grade Crp Bond – investment fund trading in U.S. investment grade corporate bonds *

Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund – incorporated  in US, exchange-traded fund 

Annaly Capital Management Inc –  US-based company, mortgage real estate investment trust

Avita Medical Ltd – global medical technology company 

Revo Pty Ltd  – Australian-based company, custom computer programming service 

Goldman Sachs Private Equity Funds – part of a US-based investment group specializing in fund of funds and direct co-investments with 21 entities registered in Cayman Islands tax haven. The firm invests in other funds that invest in leveraged buyouts, growth financings, natural resources, venture capital, and distressed securities. It also acts as a co-investor in direct investments. The firm seeks to invest in private equity funds located in the United States, the United Kingdom, continental Europe, Latin America, and Asia *

Zebedee Growth Fund - incorporated in Cayman Islands, hedge fund *

Bowery  Opportunity Fund – incorporated in Cayman Islands, distressed debt *

3G Natural Resources Offshore Fund Ltd – Cayman Islands-based, hedge fund *

Predictive Discovery Limited – incorporated in Australia, gold and uranium exploration company

Vanguard Health Care ETF – incorporated in US, exchange-traded fund

CVC Global Credit Opportunity Fund  - incorporated in Cayman Islands, hedge fund *

MSD Torchlight Partners Ltd  - incorporated in Cayman Islands, hedge fund *

Seven Locks Enhanced Fund Ltd – registered in Cayman Islands, double-leveraged equity fund *

Elbrook Offshore Fund Ltd – registered in Cayman Islands, hedge fund *

 Brookfield Wells Street Offshore Fund – Cayman Islands-based, pooled fund global real estate equities *

 Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund IV – US-based company, global commercial property portfolio.

First Eagle Global Fund – incorporated in US, long-term growth of capital

Malcolm Turnbull's last Register of Members' Interests statement dated December 2013 can be found here.

How the Federal and Queensland Governments are betraying The Great Barrier Reef and the people of Australia

This billionare Gautam Adani and his family, through majority ownership of the Adani Group, are apparently considered favoured foreign investors by both the Abbott-Turnbull Federal Government and successive Queensland Governments.

He and his family are responsible for this…..

https://youtu.be/_wfjwlWlGTk

The bribery…..

ABC 7.30, 17 October 2012:

 Investigators have raised concerns about some of Adani enterprise's dealings with politicians and officials. In August the Auditor-General named Adani Power as one of the companies that received coal deposits from the Government at well below market rates. Gautam Adani declined our request for an interview, but the companies Australian CEO says Adani enterprises has always acted in accordance with the law…..

The Central Bureau of Investigation is now probing allegations of corruption and has opened files on at least seven unnamed companies. The Auditor-General says the lack of a transparent bidding process cost the Government $33 billion in lost revenue…..

Former Chief Justice Santosh Hegde is a well-known anti-corruption campaigner. Last year in his final act as Karnataka State Ombudsman, he released a detail report into the theft of iron ore by numerous companies which cost the state $3 billion in royalties. Justice Hegde's report found Adani Enterprises acted corruptly in the illicit transportation of iron ore in excess of the permitted quantity…..

Justice Hegde's report says the officials of ports department, custom, police, mines, local politicians and others received bribe money from Adani Enterprises.

The pollution…..

Business Standard, 24 December 2015:

Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) has issued notices to Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) and two major companies handling coal at its terminal under pollution control norms for allegedly causing environmental hazard.

GSPCB has issued show cause notice to MPT, M/s Adani Murmugao Port Terminal Private Ltd and JSW's South West Port Ltd after it was noticed that the dust pollution emanating from the coal handling has increased in the port town of Vasco, 40 kms from here.

Board Chairman Jose Manuel Noronha said the companies and the port administration have been asked why their consent under Water and Air Pollution Prevention Act should not be withdrawn.

"The show cause notices were issued when it was noticed that the coal handling terminals did not take mandatory measures to control the pollution emanating from the coal dust," Noronha said.

The deaths…..

The New York Times, 22 March 2013:

This month, the first comprehensive assessment of the health impact of pollution from India’s coal-fired power plants was published.

The findings are grim. Scientists estimate that exposure to coal-related pollution caused between 80,000 and 115,000 premature deaths and more than 20 million asthma attacks in 2011-12.

The conclusion is particularly worrying, given that the World Resources Institute estimates that 455 new coal power plants are planned in India, more than four times the number that exist now.

UbAlert, 10 April 2015:

Madhya Pradesh: Five people, three laborers and two security guards, died mysteriously in a Neemuch-based private factory on Thursday when they stepped down to clean a 25-feet deep tank filled with impurities generated by oil milling. The incident occurred at Adani Wilmar Oil Limited located four kilometers away from Neemuch district headquarter. Investigation is going on as to what caused the deaths of the factory workers whether it was acid in tank or they died due to suffocation.

The exploitation….

The Sydney Morning Herald, 5 September 2014:

But a Fairfax Media investigation into the treatment of 6000 construction labourers at a luxury housing project in Gujarat owned by the Adani family has uncovered lax safety standards, underage workers and regular cholera outbreaks from contaminated drinking water.

It comes after Mr Adani's company was found in February to have failed to gain proper environmental approval for construction around India's largest private port, also in Gujarat - destroying mangroves and displacing local villagers.

The poor choice of senior management…..

ABC News, 12 November 2015:

Adani Australia's chief executive officer was in charge of an African copper mine which allowed a flood of dangerous pollutants to pour into a Zambian river, the ABC can reveal.

Jeyakumar Janakaraj has been chief executive of Adani's Australian operations since leaving Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) in Zambia in 2013.

Now KCM and its parent company Vedanta Resources are being taken to the High Court in London by locals who say pollution from the company's huge Chingola open-pit copper mine made them ill and devastated nearby farmland over a 10-year period from 2004.

Mr Janakaraj was director of operations of KMC when the company was charged in 2010 with causing a serious pollution spill, which saw a toxic brew of highly acidic, metal-laden discharge released into the Kafue River.

The river is one of Zambia's largest waterways and a source of water and food for about 40 per cent of the country's people.

The 31-square-kilometre KCM open pit mine in Zambia's Chingola region is described as the biggest copper mine in Africa, producing about 2 million tonnes of ore a year.

The 2009 annual report of KCM's parent company, London-listed mining conglomerate Vedanta Resources, said Mr Janakaraj was "responsible for overall operations of KCM".

"On [Mr Janakaraj's] watch, significant pollution events happened," lawyer Ariane Wilkinson of Environmental Justice Australia said.

"The court documents show that they discharged what's called a pregnant liquor solution into the Kafue River. That's a highly acidic, metal-laden pollutant, and that it changed the colour of the river."

KCM was prosecuted by the Zambian Government, and the company pleaded guilty to charges of polluting the environment, discharging toxic matter into the aquatic environment, wilfully failing to report an incident of pollution, and the failure to comply with the requirements for discharge of effluent.

The court was told the source of the contamination was the mine's tailings leach plant, with the pollution changing the colour of the Kafue River to "deep blue". The company was fined 21,970,000 Zambian kwacha (about $4,030).

A few months later, in 2011, a Zambian newspaper reported the company's copper mine had again polluted the river, and that environmental authorities were investigating.

The lies told….

The Age, 16 December 2015:

A Queensland court has found Indian mining company Adani exaggerated the economic benefits of its proposed Carmichael coal mine, including the amount of jobs and royalties the $16.5 billion project would generate…..

he court agreed the company had overstated the economic benefits that would flow from its project both in its environmental impact statement and in statements to the court.

Adani has promoted the project as a jobs bonanza for Queensland and its environmental impact statement forecast 10,000 jobs annually from 2024 and $22 billion in royalties.

But Adani's own witness Jerome Fahrer told the court this year the coal mine and connecting rail project would create an average of just 1464 jobs annually, an assessment Queensland Land Court president Carmel MacDonald agreed with.

"Dr Fahrer's evidence, which I have accepted, was that the Carmichael Coal and Rail Project will increase average annual employment by 1206 fte [full time equivalent] jobs in Queensland and 1,464 fte jobs in Australia," her judgment states.

President MacDonald also found Adani's modelling had "probably overstated the selling price of the coal and therefore the royalties generated by the project and the corporate tax payable".

The environmental danger....

The Sydney Morning Herald, 4 April 2016:

But conservationists say the mine is an environmental disaster waiting to happen, citing particular risks to the Great Barrier Reef.

"It's an extraordinary decision, especially coming at a time when the Great Barrier Reef is experiencing its worst ever coral bleaching event," Australian Conservation Foundation chief executive Kelly O'Shanassy said. "We know the bleaching is because of global warming, and Carmichael will only make that worse."

By Adani's own figures, the mine and its coal will emit more than 4.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide over its lifetime. "The pollution from this mine is so big that it cancels the pollution cuts the Turnbull government committed to at the Paris Climate Summit," Ms O'Shanassy said.

The impact of such emissions could be terminal to the reef, according to Dr Veron. "The reef is obviously in dire straights, irrespective of what anyone says, and that's blindly obvious.

"There is extraordinary disconnect between science and the political action. Politicians think the mine is good because it's good for economy, but we are selling out the next generation of Australians as fast as we can go."

Dr Veron has devoted his life to studying coral reefs: he discovered more than 20 per cent of the world's coral species, and has been likened by Sir David Attenborough to a modern day Charles Darwin.

"Roughly a third of marine species have parts of their life cycle in coral reefs," Dr Veron said. "So if you take out coral reefs you have an ecological collapse of the oceans. It's happened before, mass extinctions through ocean acidification, and the main driver of that is CO₂."

Dr Veron recently travelled to Canberra to talk to government about the decline in the reef. "The politicians do listen to scientists, but that is the worst part of it," he said. 

"If this was all done out of sheer ignorance, that is sort of understandable. It's like child porn – you might say you don't know it exists, but if you know it exists and you do everything to promote it, then that's evil."

The granting of the Carmichael leases coincides with increased concerns over threats to Great Barrier Reef from land-based pollution, including sediments, nutrients and pesticides.

Australian Institute of Marine Science principal research scientist Dr Frederieke Kroon has told the ABC that government policies designed to keep the reef on UNESCO's World Heritage list are insufficient.

"Our review finds that current efforts are not sufficient to achieve the water quality targets set in the Reef 2050 Plan," she said.

The other danger….

The Age, 10 December 2015:

Last week billionaire businessman Gautam Adani paid a visit to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull asking him to enact a special law to stop anyone challenging big coal and gas projects once they have been approved by government. This meeting raises questions about the relationship between government and big polluting companies.

The Prime Minister is entitled to meet with anyone he likes, you may very well say, but there are two issues here – one is the fossil fuel industry's direct access to power and the other is the implications of that on Australia's democracy.

Turnbull's back room meeting with international billionaire businessman Adani is an example of the warm reception the fossil fuel industry enjoys in Australia. This direct access to the highest office in our country is an unfortunate feature of our democracy, and speaks of the pernicious dynamic where money enables access to power. Just by the way, according to data released by the AEC, Adani donated $49,500 to the Liberal Party of Australia in the 2013-2014 financial year.

The state government manoeuvres....

The Sydney Morning Herald, 4 April 2016:

Two groups fighting the mine in separate court battles have accused Dr Lynham of abandoning previous assurances that leases would not be granted until two existing cases were resolved.

Just eight weeks ago, Dr Lynham said he wanted to give certainty to Adani and "granting a mining lease in the presence of two JRs (judicial reviews) does not provide the certainty".

Separate Federal Court challenges brought by the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) and the Wangan and Jagalingou (W&J) traditional owners are yet to be concluded.

The Environmental Defenders Office - which is representing ACF in its challenge to the project's federal approvals - has already said it's considering challenging Dr Lynham's decision to grant Adani mining leases.

AAP has asked Dr Lynham to explain why he issued the leases despite the two outstanding challenges.

On ABC radio on Monday, he agreed there was a prospect of further court appeals.

The solemn vow and plea for assistance....

Excerpt from a 4 April 2016 email from Adrian Burragubba on behalf of the Wangan and Jagalingou Traditional Owners:

The Queensland Government just betrayed us.

Queensland Mines Minister Anthony Lynham wrote a letter to us in October, promising he would await the outcome of our Federal Court action against the Carmichael mine before considering issuing Adani with the mining leases. But today the Premier and the Minister double-crossed us.

Adani doesn't have our free, prior and informed consent to build their Carmichael coal mine on our land, and they never will.

The Queensland Government just rode roughshod over our rights and granted the mining leases anyway. They have given Adani the green light to ignore our opposition and to tear the heart out of our country. To destroy our rivers and drain billions of litres of groundwater. To leave a black hole of monumental proportions in our homelands.

The Minister has trashed our rights and pushed the leases out the door in one of the worst acts of bad faith towards Queensland's Indigenous people in living memory.

This fight will define our people and be a landmark moment for Indigenous rights in Australia. Can you help us fight for our rights and our country in court?

Adani and the Queensland Government think they can walk all over us but they've never seen anything like this. Our lands and our way of life, and the legacy of our ancestors, mean too much to our people for us to roll over.

Our resolve is doubled. Minister Lynham can issue all the bits of paper he likes, hide behind false claims of jobs and benefits, and pander to big coal for an unviable project.

But our people's rights are not expendable. This act of infamy will be challenged all the way to the High Court if necessary, and we will continue to pursue our rights under international law. 

Adrian Burragubba leads a protest against the proposed mine outside Queensland Parliament in March.ABC News: Patrick Williams

'Truffles' Turnbull and his reasons for bringing back the ABCC

Prime Minister Malcolm ‘Truffles’ Turnbull has made it clear that if the Senate refuses consent, for a bill re-establishing the federal  Office of the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner (ABCC) with even greater legislated power, he will call a double dissolution election for 2 July 2016.

Turnbull is effusive in his praise for the effectiveness of the ABCC:

Turnbull's office says his claim about a 20 per cent jump in productivity came from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. It's there all right, if you use 2012-13 as the end date for the ABCC even though it finished at the end of 2011-12. But over the same period productivity in the entire market sector jumped 14 per cent. Something other than the ABCC was at play. In the post-ABCC era productivity in the construction sector climbed 3 per cent. Productivity in the entire market sector climbed 7 per cent.

So is he right about the ABCC?

The Office of the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner (ABCC) commenced operating on 1 October 2005 under the Howard Coalition Government. It possessed significant investigative and regulatory powers in relation to the Australian building and construction industry.

In the four years up to the 2011-12 financial year the ABCC reportedly cost taxpayers somewhere between an est. $135 to $165 million, depending on who you’re talking to.

From 1 June 2012 the Gillard Labor Government replaced the ABCC with the  Fair Work Building and Construction (FWBC) regulator.

According to the Productivity Commission Inquiry Report: Public Infrastructure, Volume 2 (27 May 2014) data covering approximately ten years:

The Commission has carefully reviewed the studies and the empirical evidence on aggregate productivity (appendix I).

This assessment covers the evidence from IE and MBA (sub. DR211), and the Commission’s own synthesis of studies and data.

The Commission’s view is that given the case studies, industry surveys and other micro evidence, there is no doubt that local productivity has been adversely affected by union (and associated employer) conduct on some building sites, and that the BIT/ABCC is likely to have improved outcomes.

However, when scrutinised meticulously, the quantitative results provided by IE or others do not provide credible evidence that the BIT/ABCC regime created a resurgence in aggregate construction productivity or that the removal of the ABCC has had material aggregate effects. Indeed, the available data suggests that the regime did not have a large aggregate impact….

There is no robust evidence that the new industrial relations environment specific to construction had significant effects on the costs and productivity performance of the construction industry as a whole. There is likely to have been more important effects for the non-residential building segment of the industry, but any such effects would be hard to discover in the aggregate construction productivity data.

The report also said this:

FWBC can take matters to court or refer them to other enforcement agencies. Its own enforcement powers relate only to civil matters (as did the ABCC).

Up until February 2014, the ABCC/FWBC had formally referred 21 matters to the State or Federal Police. Data on FWBC’s investigations and court actions suggest that it has commonly found breaches by employers as well as employees (or their nominated agents).

In 2012-13, out of just over 1100 investigations, its four main areas of investigation related to recovering employees’ wages and entitlements (31 per cent), freedom of association (13 per cent), coercion (13 per cent) and unprotected industrial action (12 per cent).

Most investigations have not resulted in actions before the courts. In 2012-13, there were 13 cases before the courts under the FWA, which involved unlawful industrial action (4), wages and entitlements (4), coercion (3), sham contracting (1) and adverse action (1) (FWBC 2013a, pp. 29, 38–39)….

the issue of notices dropped significantly after 2009-10, even though the ABCC was still in place and possessed the same statutory powers (Independent Economics 2013, p. 10)….

What the report shows is that any increases in building and construction industry productivity are more likely to be localised to individual companies/building sites and overall productivity levels cannot be safely attributed solely to the existence of the ABCC.

It also highlights that on average only two matters per year were referred to the courts by either the ABCC or FWBC over an approximately eight-year period.

Liberal Party of Australia going into the 2016 federal election campaign with tattered petticoats

On 31 March 2016 The Australian revealed the names of political donors that the Liberal Party of Australia had been attempting to deny to the Australian Electoral Commission.

It is noted that property developers are banned from making donations to political parties standing for election in New South Wales.

It is noted that the Free Enterprise Foundation donated $75,000 to the NSW division of the Liberal Party in 2013-14, $225,00 to the federal division of the Liberal Party in 2012-13, $1,250,000 to the federal division in 2013-14 and another $100,000 to the federal division in 2014-15.

Those donors with a red asterisk beside their names are known to have been mentioned (or their representatives gave evidence) during NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption “Operation Spicer” hearings.

This is the list of those names as published, with my annotations:

Donations to the Free Enterprise Foundation ahead of the NSW 2011 state election

Date, donor, amount

5/11/10: Renlyn Bell Investments *, $9,900 – part-owned by Sydney property developer Garry Bonaccorso through G & R Bonaccorso Family Trust.

5/11/10: DP Smith Enterprises *, $10,000 – involved in building & development.

5/11/10: E & B Pastoral P/L *, $500 – co-owner of industrial units.

5/11/10: Walker Pearse P/L *, $500 – Central Coast business consultant, former interest in retirement village.

5/11/10: PJC Holdings P/L *, $2,000 – said to be a company connected with Arthur Maroon of Beraci Pty Ltd, a housing construction company.

5/11/10: Belside P/L *, $10,000 – directors Sam Maroon and Joe Becharra.

5/11/10: ANZ Real Estate Consultants *, $5000

5/11/10: Naletran P/L *, $3000

18/11/10: Myall Coast Health *, $500 – currently owned by Ochre Health Group.

18/11/10: Australbricks *, $5000

6/12/10: Big Country Developments *, $9900 – NSW property development company operating since 1958, sole director Peter Heskey.

6/12/10: Anthony Shepherd *, $1500 - chairman of then Liberal Prime Minister Tony Abbott's Commission of Audit.

9/12/10: TSM Projects P/L *, $750 – property development.

9/12/10: Precinct 8C Wadalba Lobby Group *, $4000 – group of land owners pushing to have their Wadalba land re-zoned for subdivision.

9/12/10: Threshold Developments P/L *, $2000 – March 2013 land rezoned at Wadalba by NSW Coalition Government.

9/12/10: Everitt & Everitt Executive Super, $750

13/12/10: Tesrol Group Projects P/L, $1499 – land developers possibly belonging to the Tesrol Group of Companies.

13/12/10: Tesrol Bridge St P/L, $1499 - possibly belonging to the Tesrol Group of Companies.

13/12/10: Seasonsrage P/L, $1499

13/12/10: Smeaton Grange P/L, $1499

13/12/10: Rumerone P/L, $1499

13/12/10: Lorset P/L, $1499

13/12/10: Kirkstall P/L, $1499

13/12/10: Epivision P/L, $1499

13/12/10: Dribonn P/L, $1499

13/12/10: Tesrol P/L, $1499 – Tesrol Group of Companies comprising property development and joinery businesses.

14/12/10: Jilliby Stage 2 Land Owners Action Group *, $4000 – 2013 NSW Coalition Government attitude to development in Wyong Valley said to soften.

14/12/10: Holland Fine Art & Cars P/L , $10,000 – In 2013-2014 as a co-defendant the company was successfully sued over sale of forged artwork.

16/12/10: Transnational Storage P/L *, $12,500 – a Tuggerah NSW business.

16/12/10: Boardwalk Resources P/L *, $53,000 – then an unlisted mining exploration and development company with coal exploration assets in NSW & Qld subject to investigation during NSW ICAC. Operation Spicer

16/12/10: Sunbeat Bissap P/L, $10,000 – Chinese global trader of juice, tea and jellies.

16/12/10: Adaptive P/L, $500

16/12/10: T & R Pridham, $500

16/12/10: Adaptive P/L, $800

16/12/10: Aline Pumps Sales & Service *, $1490

16/12/10: JR & JM Pridham, $1500

16/12/10: SFH P/L ATF Stead Family Trust, $600

16/12/10: SFH P/L ATF Stead Family Trust, $375

16/12/10: SFH P/L ATF Stead Family Trust, $500

16/12/10: PR & GA Monks, $1000

16/12/10: RA & EJ Kennard, $1500

16/12/10: T & GM Pridham, $500

16/12/10: JS & SJ Lindqvist, $50

16/12/10: DG Firth & MJ Firth, $1490

16/12/10: DJ & CR Kennard, $1500

16/12/10: Jerry & Debbie Kennard, $1500

16/12/10: KJ & SE Truswell, $1200

16/12/10: Allsteel Products P/L, $1499

16/12/10: EJ & JG Fooks, $1000

16/12/10: BD & RG Gooden, $1499

16/12/10: JP & DR Monks, $1490

16/12/10: Interspan Industries P/L, $1490

16/12/10: The Advance Precision Trust, $1499

16/12/10: NJ & PG Kennard, $750

16/12/10: NJ & PG Kennard, $750

16/12/10: Fooks P/L, $1499

16/12/10: Fooks P/L, $1499

16/12/10: Fooks P/L, $1499

16/12/10: Weltson P/L, $5000

17/12/10: Petra Civil P/L, $2000

17/12/10: Elmslea Land Developments *, $20,000 – wanted land rezoned to expand Elmslea Village, proposal still being progressed by local council in 2015.

17/12/10: Swift Exhaust, $1499

17/12/10: A & SA Davis, $1450

17/12/10: The Heaney Family Trust, $1499

17/12/10: CJ & JR Shore, $1499

17/12/10: Fleetwood Urban P/L, $1499

17/12/10: Windsor Farm Equipment, $1499

17/12/10: Printban P/L *, $10,000 – a property lessor company on the NSW Central Coast associated with Tim Gunasinghe, general manager/ director of Commercialhq a commercial property development company located on the NSW Central Coast specializing in commercial office accommodation, retail shopping centres, specialized retail and commercial development.

20/12/10: Town & Country Lands P/L, $10,000 - lawn and garden service company.

20/12/10: Soul Pattinson *, $50,000 – Washington H. Soul Pattinson has a property investment portfolio, which at the time of this donation had cross-shareholdings with Brickworks since 1969. Soul Pattinson donated $50,000 dollars to the federal division of the Liberal Party in 2012-13.

20/12/10: Brickworks *, $125,000 – brick manufacturing business & property developer through its Land and Development Group. Donated $100,000 to the NSW division of the Liberal Party in 2013-14. and 21/12/10: Westfield Limited *, $150,000 – previously Westfield Development Corporation Limited and now Scentre Limited, a large international property development company registered in NSW. Westfield Limited donated $150,000 to the federal division of the Liberal Party in 2012-13.

22/12/10: Walker Group Holdings *, $100,000 – part of a large property development group established in 1964 and headquartered in Sydney NSW. The Walker Group donated $20,000 to the NSW division of the Liberal Party in 2013-14 and $100,000 to the federal division of the Liberal Party in 2012-13.

Total: $680,214

FEDERAL LIBERAL PARTY DONATIONS

Donations to the Free Enterprise Foundation

Date, donor, amount

28/07/10: Meriton Premier Apartments *, $25,000

29/07/10: Brickworks *, $50,000 – donated $150,000 to federal division Liberal Party in 2012-13.

5/8/10: Xiang Rong (Aust) Inv Group P/L *, $20,000

19/08/10: Crown International Holdings *, $10,000

19/08/10: Vaste Developments P/L, $3000

8/9/10: Lin Mingchi, $5000

Total: $113,000

A political observation in 5 easy tweets

@MarkDiStef FYI: The barrister who is representing the cross-bench’s High Court challenge to senate voting reform is Peter King.

@MarkDiStef The same Peter King who got totally f*cked on and his blue ribbon seat stolen ….{by} Malcolm Turnbull in 2004

@MarkDiStef They also live just houses from each other in Point Piper. Lesson: Grudges never really go away.

@smurray38 King also mounted an unsuccessful challenge to the Murray-Darling reforms - one of Turnbull's noted achievements as a Howard Min

@MarkDiStef  Grudges Never Really Go Away #GNRGA

Malcolm Bligh Turnbull - public relations whiz extraordinaire

First Prime Minister Malcolm Bligh Turnbull forgets to greet a territory chief minister - leaving him to enter The Lodge all alone

https://twitter.com/BreakfastNews/status/715646197784924160 

Then he has a “class photo” taken which omits a state premier

Left to Right: NT Chief Minister, TAS Premier, NSW Premier, VIC Premier, Prime Minister, 

QLD Premier, SA Premier, ACT Chief Minister   

Capping off what was a bad public relations day the Prime Minister was also discovered making a statement which could easily be refuted by journalists

By April Fool's Day the state and territory leaders were obviously becoming rattled by Maltony's lack of political and people skills with two going so so far as to forget their own names - resulting in the Victorian Premier and Northern Territory Chief Minister signing on each other's dotted line

And yes, it was Malcolm Turnbull himself who obligingly gave the world a digital copy of this blunder.

At one point on 1 April the Prime Minister put icing on the PR cake by inviting the media to what might be the shortest photo opportunity on record at 4.20pm

One has to wonder about the staying ability of this particular Liberal prime minister.