Yamba fringe festival starts tonight! Surfing the Coldstream, Friday 24 to Sunday 26 October 2008

Sun, sand, surf and theatre in Northern New South Wales!

Starting with the Tent of Marvels tonight at the Big Top, Yamba Oval from 7pm - 11pm and the Yaegl Welcome to Country ceremony on Saturday at noon on Yamba Oval, this is a weekend filled morning to night with bands, singers, street performance, drummers, poetry, dance, cabaret, art walk, workshops, good food, bar and a riverside market.

Right in the heart of Yamba village at the mouth of the mighty Clarence river - everyone's welcome!!

This is a free entry event.

Just how dishonest is The Oz willing to be?

It would be hard to miss recent argument and counter-argument concerning the Rudd Government pledge to guarantee all deposits held in APRA-regulated financial institutions.
The media has been playing the Federal Opposition's attack for all it is worth.

The Australian in an effort to act as Teh Opposition Gazette worked really hard to make the grade and ended up basically accusing the Rudd Government and Treasury of lying over the issue of an unlimited guarantee.

Along with Liberal Senator Abetz*, it was caught out using this tack and Treasury Secretary Henry told a Senate estimates economics hearing that The Australian's report was W.R.O.N.G.!

In the process Ken Henry pointed out that the issue of capping the amount at which deposits would be able to evade a levy was being considered:

“Far be it from me to offend anyone, and especially you Senator,” Henry began drily, “ but there’s been some misunderstanding about the term ‘cap’.” He went on to explain the difference between a cap on the guarantee and a cap at which point deposits would be treated as wholesale lending and thus attract a cost to access the guarantee. [Crikey.com.au, 22 October 2008]

Now after declaring it was right all along, The Australian has switched tactics and in a less than honest report it included a virtually unreadable version of the Stevens letter to Henry dealing with the levy.
Obviously hoping that the general public will conflate the two cap types.

The Australian version of the Stevens letter here.

* I would wishfully like to think the reason why the relevant online Senate transcript was not available at time of writing was because a contrite Senator Abetz and staff were busying trying unsuccessfully to obliterate his very unwise remarks from Hansard and history.

At what point does a regional newspaper die, fade away or simply get killed off by its inept editor?

The Daily Examiner out of Grafton on the NSW North Coast has been around a long time. Since 1859 in fact.

It has had its ups and downs, but is still strongly supported and rather affectionately known as The Egg Timer - because local wags are convinced that you can always read it cover-to-cover in under three minutes.

If one local is any indication, that affection has begun to slip since Peter Chapman became this newspaper's editor.
With what could only be described as indignation, Tuesday's opinion page was pushed under my nose that day and, one of the many inconsistencies of the 'new' editor pointed out to me.

I have to say that I see the point.

The Daily Examiner had previously begun a juvenile, weekly name and shame file for DOI drivers convicted by the court.
Convictions, names, street addresses, and up until now professions or job descriptions if available, were published with gay abandon.
It seems that the editor subscribes to the notion that convicted persons should be punished twice - once by the court and once by his good self. All in the name of a supposed push to curb local drink driving.

So it was rather surprising to see the editor on that particular opinion page both defend his DOI file and at the same time encourage people to go forth and gamble at the Pacific Hotel in Yamba and "cheer on the long shots. Two hours of free booze is just as good as backing the winner yourself." [The Daily Examiner,Grafton,Tuesday October 21 2008,p.8]

Yes, there it was, the editor encouraging a booze up.

I wasn't surprised when my friend's observations ended with words to the effect that Chapman had been doing the rounds of the Clarence Valley in a meet and greet exercise obviously looking for positive strokes like 'you're wonderful, Peter', but that she was damned if she was going to go up and give him what he wanted.

This little incident occurred in the same week Chapman was being taken to task in the letters column for his 'advertorials', a recent downer on a Lower Clarence festival and for proclaiming the death of a village which knew itself to be alive and kicking.

But then, since Chapman arrived on the scene, proclaiming a death ahead of time is not unknown in The Daily Examiner.

Personally I'm looking forward to hearing the hiss of collectively indrawn breath when it is realised that, in defending yet another of his recent by-line pieces yesterday, Chapman incorrectly cited Clarence Valley Council rules and regulations regarding domestic animals as a justification for his little spit.

NSW North Coast storm season safety check list

Northern Rivers storm, January 2003

Courtesy of The Northern Star on Thursday:

A BLIZZARD of flying hail and roaring wind so loud it masked the sound of a falling tree marked yesterday’s arrival of the storm season.

Scenes of destruction were most obvious just south of Byron Bay, at Suffolk Park, where stripped vegetation littered the ground and the smell of eucalypt and pine wafted in the air.

Be Storm Safe!

Before Storm Season

• Ensure you have an emergency kit with first aid supplies, tinned food and clean containers for drinking water ready just in case.
  
• Prune tree branches well clear of your house or fences.
  
• Have a portable radio and torch with fresh batteries handy.
  
• It is good to have some emergency supplies such as masking tape for glass and plastic sheeting for emergency rain protection.
  
• Clear your yard of loose objects that could become airborne.
  
• Check and clear roof, guttering and downpipes of leaves and debris.

Keep yourself informed as the storm approaches

• Listen to your local radio for updates.
  
• Make sure your pets and animals are safe and protected from the elements.
  
• If possible put your cars under cover or protect them with tarpaulins.
  
• Disconnect all electrical appliances at the wall to avoid electrical surges.
  
• If the storm is severe take precautionary action and put tape across large windows in an X pattern.

When the storm hits

• Stay inside and keep clear of windows. Don't venture outside as you may put yourself in danger unnecessarily.
  
• If you find yourself caught outdoors when the storm hits, find emergency shelter but not under a tree. Stay away from any fallen powerlines and fallen trees.
  
• Listen to your portable radio for storm updates.
  
• Avoid using a land-line telephone during a storm.

When the storm subsides

• Listen to local radio for official warnings/advice.
  
• Check to see if your house has suffered any damage.
  
• Make sure your neighbours and friends are unharmed and see if they need any help.
  
• Beware of potential dangers such as fallen power lines, damaged buildings and trees or flooded watercourses.

Emergency Contacts

State Emergency Service:
For emergency assistance with house damage, and/or advice about temporary accommodation, food and clothing, phone the State Emergency Service on 132 500.

Country Energy
For power failure, water leaks and blockages, fallen power lines, or other electrical problems contact the Country Energy customer service centre at 81-83 Molesworth Street Lismore or phone 13 20 80.

Storm tracker here.

Malcolm Turnbull turns and trips over his ego

Well, you just gotta hand it to Truffles - it isn't always easy to make such a pig's ear of the job of Leader of the Opposition but he managed it this week.

Under attack by the banks and the Rudd Government over his past statements of the economy, he goes on to suggest that the global financial crisis is being hyped up, gets into an internal party cat fight, makes a cake of himself with an attack on a senior public servant the substance of which (to his embarrassment) is not actually supported by Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Glenn Stevens, and finally tops it off by ignoring the House of Reps call for him to apologize.

Truffles obviously thinks that we are all dumb and some of us even dumber.
That we didn't see that there had been no significant movement of money (out of non-guaranteed into deposit guaranteed Australian financial institutions) until Malcolm Turnbull & Co starting crying that the sky was falling.
He forgets that these days not only can we follow breaking issues on the World Wide, the ABC provides us all with a 24hr news radio station as well.

This ABC TV Lateline exchange on Wednesday says it all:
"RAFAEL EPSTEIN: Louis Christopher says the leakage of funds may have started only after only it became an issue in Canberra and the media this week.
LOUIS CHRISTOPHER: I think that that's a fair call. I believe, yes, that the redemptions before this week were on the uptick but it was in our opinion something that the sector was handling reasonably well, barring a few exceptions.
However, given the recent media attention over the past 48 hours, well now it has become quite a problem, and redemptions have certainly accelerated."

No wonder that one Oz letter writer opined:
Listening to Malcolm Turnbull's statements over the past few days, it appears the Opposition Leader considers the international financial crisis to be either a figment of Kevin Rudd's imagination, or a Labor plot to gain political advantage, ultimately denying Mr Turnbull his rightful place in the Lodge.
Isabelle Wharley
Willoughby

I think that Isabelle has hit the nail squarely on the head - Turnbull's massive ego and belief in the divine right to rule is betraying his practical political ambitions.
In hindsight it was mildly amusing to realise how Truffles made a train wreck of the Australian Republic campaign.
His continuing hubris which now sees him willing to wreck the national economy is another matter all together.

US08: Something to keep international interest from flagging after the presidential election is over

The accusations from both sides of the US presidential race about 'registration fraud' and possible 'voter fraud' are bubbling along.

Together with complaints beginning to surface about pre-poll electronic voting, this should ensure that whoever wins the White House in November will be dogged for months with claim and counter-claim about the legitimacy of their win.

If nothing else, media coverage of this looming dog fight should divert our attention from whatever gloomy new global financial crises rear up next month.

Black America Web reports:

Sen. Barack Obama's campaign has asked the Justice Department to turn over its investigations of possible voter fraud or suppression to the special prosecutor investigating the U.S. Attorneys firing scandal.

It's the latest move in the ongoing battle between the Democratic and Republican campaigns over who will be allowed to vote.

Part of the problem is the switch by states from locally managed voting lists to statewide database operations -- required under federal law -- that was designed to be more efficient has instead led to the flagging of discrepancies between voting registration information and other official records, sometimes because of mistakes outside of the control of voters.

The Help America Vote Act, passed by Congress in 2002, was intended to upgrade voting equipment and procedures to streamline the registration and confirmation process following reported problems in the 2000 presidential race that resulted in the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the election of George W. Bush.

CBS News reveals:

The owner of a signature-gathering firm has been arrested on suspicion of voter registration fraud, authorities said Sunday.
Mark Anthony Jacoby, who owns the firm Young Political Majors, is accused of registering himself to vote twice - in 2006 and in 2007 - using the address of a childhood home in Los Angeles where he no longer lived.
The Secretary of State's Office said Jacoby used the address to meet a state requirement that signature-gatherers sign a declaration stating that they are either registered to vote in California or are eligible to do so.

While The Wall Street Journal ran with this:

The U.S. Supreme Court quashed attempts to force hundreds of thousands of newly registered voters to undergo added scrutiny in Ohio, potentially dealing a setback to John McCain less than three weeks before the election.
The unanimous decision set aside a lower-court order that would require election officials to examine more closely the legitimacy of many new voter registrations.

The Washington Post went thus:

Thousands of voters across the country must reestablish their eligibility in the next three weeks in order for their votes to count on Nov. 4, a result of new state registration systems that are incorrectly rejecting them. The challenges have led to a dozen lawsuits, testy arguments among state officials and escalating partisan battles. Because many voters may not know that their names have been flagged, eligibility questions could cause added confusion on Election Day, beyond the delays that may come with a huge turnout.

The Charleston Gazette weighed in with:

At least three early voters in Jackson County had a hard time voting for candidates they want to win.
Virginia Matheney and Calvin Thomas said touch-screen machines in the county clerk's office in Ripley kept switching their votes from Democratic to Republican candidates.
"When I touched the screen for Barack Obama, the check mark moved from his box to the box indicating a vote for John McCain," said Matheney, who lives in Kenna.
When she reported the problem, she said, the poll worker in charge "responded that everything was all right. It was just that the screen was sensitive and I was touching the screen too hard. She instructed me to use only my fingernail."
Even after she began using her fingernail, Matheney said, the problem persisted.
When she tried to vote for candidates running for two open seats on the Supreme Court, the electronic machine canceled her second vote twice.
On her third try, Matheney managed to cast votes for both Menis Ketchum and Margaret Workman, Democratic candidates for the two open seats.

Finally, Portfolio.com reveals:

The electronic voting machines used in 18 of New Jersey's 21 counties can be hacked into in as little as seven minutes and manipulated to alter votes or fix elections, a new report by a Princeton University professor shows.
The report, by Andrew Appel of the Center for Information Technology Policy at Princeton, was released Friday following a hearing in an ongoing lawsuit to void the machines as unreliable.
"The AVC Advantage is too insecure to use in New Jersey," Appel concluded of the machine he tested over the summer. "New Jersey should not use any version of the AVC Advantage that it has not actually examined with the assistance of skilled computer-security experts."
Appel, a computer expert, tested New Jersey's most often-used touch-screen voting machine over the summer after questions arose about the accuracy of vote totals on some machines used in the Feb. 5 presidential primary.
His tests involved two machines that were used that day, including one that malfunctioned, said Penny Venetis, a law professor at Rutgers School of Law-Newark and co-director of its constitutional litigation clinic. Venetis represents the Coalition for Peace Action and others who have sued to force New Jersey to scrap its 10,000 electronic voting machines and return to paper balloting.
"We want these machines to be decommissioned. Enough is enough," Venetis said.

Stephen Mayne gives a rundown on the golden parachute brigade and tracks the Aussie fallen

Cartoon by Alan Moir

From the Mayne Report on Monday:

Payouts to executive fat cats are now a hot issue globally. We've contributed to the debate in this recent Today Tonight story and now produce the following full list of excessive CEO payouts over the past 20 years in Australia.

Rodney Adler: collected a $4.3 million termination when HIH Insurance took over his worm-infested FAI business in 1998 but then stayed on the board as a non-executive director with a $480,000-a-year consultancy that was not disclosed to shareholders. Well advised, Malcolm Turnbull!

Paul Anderson: the BHP CEO engineered his only early departure by gifting $5 billion of value to Billiton in the "$58 billion merger". Despite all his public statements about executive excess, Anderson came out on top of the Aussie-based list with a grand pay packet of $18 million in his final year at the top. Lo and behold, he is allowed to go a year early, receive his contract in full as if terminated and also stay on a non-executive director. Not bad if you can get it.

Paul Anthony: measuring the specific termination element wasn't easy but this Welshman pocketed $17 million for 17 months work at AGL which was outrageously excessive given the performance he delivered.

Don Argus: walked away from the NAB with $9.259 million in cash in 1999 including $7.47 million in "retirement allowances". The Don was also allowed to keep all his options which have made him more than $20 million in profits.

Peter Bartels: new Foster's chairman Nobby Clarke did himself no credit by agreeing to an $8 million payout to Peter Bartels when he refused to sign the accounts in 1992. Outrageously, this was staggered over 5 years so it never showed up as a big lump sum and the market was never told.

Len Bleasel: after starting out as a humble plumber, the retired AGL CEO collected a very handy $11 million in 2001 and that's before considering superannuation.

Chase Carey: became a director of Fox Entertainment in 1992 and was News Corp's co-chief operating officer from 1996 until 2002 when he departed after the Sky Global float fell over and Lachlan Murdoch was promoted over him. The total pay of $US10.7 million included $US5 million for termination, a base of $US1.6 million and a $US3 million bonus.

Rod Chadwick: After 37 years with Pacific Dunlop, the ousted CEO collected a total payout of $3.49 million in 2001.

Sir CK Chow: given a huge package by Brambles chairman Don Argus after the dual listed company merger with GKN in 2001 and then performed terribly but departed with a $7.7 million payout three years later.

Frank Cicutto: hand-picked by Don Argus to succeed him as NAB CEO and then presided over the Homside and foreign exchange debacles before departing in early 2004 with a package reported to be worth $14 million but which did specifically include $6.5 million in termination benefits.

Ian Clack: when punted from Burns Philp in the mid-1990s, the former CEO received a total payout of $7 million.

Chris Cuffe: the former managing director of Colonial First State shocked everyone when his farewell package from Commonwealth Bank in 2003 weighed in at a staggering $32 million.

Tony D'Aloisio: flicked by the ASX in 2006 after SFE Corp shareholders insisted that their man Rob Ellstone run the combined operation. The $7.8 million payout was just under the level that would have required shareholder approval. And this man is now running ASIC!

Doug Ebert: the long-serving CEO of NAB's Michigan National bank collected a whopping $20.8 million payout and pension when NAB sold it for a $2 billion profit to ABN Amro in 2001. The structure was put in place back in 1995 and at least he created loads of shareholder value, although the current owner of the busines, Royal Bank of Scotland, wouldn't agree now that it is majority government owned.

Dennis Eck: the Coles Myer CEO walked away with $8.65 million in his final year at the retailing giant in 2000-01 and remained on a consultancy deal for several years. This included specific termination benefits worth $4.7 million.

John Ellice-Flint: ousted from Santos in 2008 with an enormous payout of mroe than $15 million which assumed all his long-term incentive hurdles had been satisfied. They hadn't.

Duncan Fischer: the former audit signing partner of collapsed property group Estate Mortgage resurrected himself to become CEO of Tattersall's and then departed with a $4.4 million termination payout in 2006 after the Unitab merger when shareholders preferred Dick McIlwain to run the combined business.

John Fletcher: terminated by Brambles when Don "Don't Argue" Argus took over as chairman and he got precisely the same payout that Dennis Eck enjoyed from Coles Myer. But after a few weeks of golf, Fletch decided he'd like to replace Eck even though he'd not been into a supermarket for 20 years. The underperformance relative to Woolworths was appalling but Fletcher still pocketed about $50 million from running Coles until it was bought by Wesfarmers which is now suffering huge indigestion.

Greg Gailey: departed as Zinifex CEO in 2007 at the very top of the resources bubble and collected a $12.6 million payout based on a share price assumption of almost $20 when it is now back below the equivalent of $5 after the Oxiana merger. Read The Australian's strong coverage.

Brian Gilbertson: punted as BHP-Billiton CEO in early 2003 after initiating merger discussions with Rio Tinto without board approval, the package was estimated at $10 million with the most outrageous element being the $1.5 million indexed pension for life.

Owen Hegarty: did a great job building Oxiana Resources during the commodities bubble but then disgraced himelf by pocketing an $8.4 million ex gratia termination payout after the Oz Minerals merger, even though shareholders had specifically rejected an earlier $10.7 million payout proposal which was assuming the share price would top $6 by 2012. The stock plunged to below $1 in October 2008 and whilist Hegarty is meant to be chairing the board's integration merger committee, he's already run off and joined the Fortescue Metals board.

David Higgins: the former Lease CEO is now chief executive of the body delivering the London Olympics but gets by nicely with that $6.7 million termination payout when he left the Australian property giant in 2002.

Hugh Harris: NAB's former Homeside chief financial officer copped a $4.53 million "performance based" lump sum when terminated for losing $4 billion in 2001 which brought his total pay to a thoroughly undeserved $5.6 million.

Nick Falloon: It is not so bad getting sacked by the Packers when you walk out with $5.27 million which is exactly what happened to the former PBL CEO. A nice round $3 million of this was for "termination".

Ted Kunkel: after an entire career at Foster's, we all thought Ted Kunkel was retiring after an excessive 12 years as CEO but instead he walked out with a termination payment worth $3.4 million in April 2004, as The SMH explains.

Keith Lambert: hired to run the business because was the son-in-law of largest shareholder Bob Oatley, the former Foster's strategy chief made a right hash of things and was fired with termination benefits worth $4.4 million in 2003.

Peter Macdonald: might yet go to jail for James Hardie's asbestos dodge and by any measure his $8.2 million termination package after tarnishing a once great Australian corporate brand was outrageous.

Joe Pickett: NAB's former Homeside CEO was fired when he lost $4 billion but still walked out with a handsome $5.8 million in 2001 which included "performance based remuneration" of $4.53 million.

Sheryl Pressler: the ousted head of Lend Lease's US real estate business managed to get her contract paid out in full so she walked away with $15 million in 2001 which was 10 per cent of the company's overall profit in 2000-01.

John Prescott: after almost 40 years with BHP, John Prescott walked away after an 8 years stint as CEO with $11.17 million in his final year back in 1998. The company wrote off about $10 billion thanks to his mistakes so he should have been sacked at least three years earlier.

Tom Park: the former Southcorp CEO only spent 5 months of his 5 year contract with the company but after buying Rosemout for $1.5 billion and bringing the management team in he was redundant but still collected $7.8 million in 2001. Add another $2.3 million that he got the following year and Park's 5 month effort paid him an incredible $10.1 million. Later joined Goodman Fielder where he lined up for another huge whack of options that were paid out when Gary Hart took it over and these days is the highly paid Paperlinx CEO.

Andrew Scott: after building Centro into a debt-fuelled house of cards, the long-serving CEO was finally flicked in January 2008 with a golden goodbye worth $3 million.

Mike Tilley: the former investment banker hardly set the world on fire at Challenger Financial Group but pocketed another fortune after his recently renewed five year contract was terminated at short notice in 2008, sparking a $1.75 termination benefit on top of the $8.1 million paid in 2007-08.

George Trumbull: after 3 years causing a lot of damage at AMP, the brash American was finally sacked in August 1999 and walked away with a tidy $12.12 million in his final year. Collected $4.94 million the year before and didn't need to work again.

Lloyd Williams: after PBL bought Crown casino, Lloyd bowed out of PBL with a $375,000 base salary and a $6.92 million "termination payment" bringing the total figure in 1999-2000 to $7.295m. James Packer revealed at the 2000 PBL AGM that an independent arbitrator came up with the figure despite the fact that Lloyd and Kerry were best mates.

Peter Yates: Kerry Packer never really liked the man promoted by his son James to run PBL, but the former Macquarie Banker negotiated himself a water-tight contract and walked out with a $6.5 million payout.

As we watch the greatest destruction of wealth since the second world war, the time has come to start tracking the people who have fallen off both the brw and Mayne Report Rich Lists.

Philip Adams: the MFS co-founder was represented for 2 years with a peak of $370 million in 2007

Phillip Adams: the ABC braodcaster was represented for 1 year with a peak of $10 million in 1984

Bob Ansett: the former Budget rent-a-car boss and son of Ansett founder Reg Ansett was represented for 3 years with a peak of $44 million in 1988

Ross Atkins: controversial mining entrpreneur who represented for 3 years with a peak of $140 million in 1994 and even bought Alan Bond's mansion at one point.

John Avram: the Interwest founder and colourful Shepparton entrepreneur was represented for 3 years with a peak of $85 million in 1987

David Bardas: the former Sportsgirl owner was represented for 9 years with a peak of $100 million in 1989 but took a big hit with that big Sportsgirl Centre building on Collins Street.

Sir Roderick Carnegie: the former CRA chief executive was represented for 3 years with a peak of $55 million in 1987 but then almost went belly up in the early 1990s.

Brian Coppin: the hard-bitten Perth entrepreneur was represented for 4 years with a peak of $40 million in 1986

Ken Done: the well-known artist was represented for 2 years with a peak of $30 million in 1992, before CBA became his adviser and allegedly blew much of his fortune.

John Elliott: the former Elders and Foster's boss was represented for 3 years with a peak of $70 million in 1989 before coming a cropper courtesy of too much debt and grog.

Mayne's e-mail subscription invitation here.