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.

Finding a place for right-wing think tanks

Are you sick and tired of reading or hearing what seems like an endless stream of drivel from right-wing think tanks, especially the one that parades under the banner of the Institute of Public Affairs?

Well, you're not Pat Malone!

A correspondent in the letters section of The Age who, it would seem, has also had a gutful of the IPA has come up with a solution that would relieve readers of the tediously repetitive and sickening task of reading the IPA's regurgitated rubbish in The Age.

Hopefully, other Australian newspapers will recognise the merit in the reader's suggestion and implement it pronto.

Leaping ahead

HERE'S a plan to keep readers of The Age up to date on all the big issues. On social issues, a weekly column by Tim Costello would be great. On the environment, a weekly column by Tim Flannery might give us some hope for our future.

On the economic meltdown, an article by the Institute of Public Affairs every second February 29 should be more than sufficient.

Peter Bainbridge, Maiden Gully

Waynesville NC: This year's most ticked-off cease and desist letter?

Found at Chilling Effects:

April 23, 2008

Sender Information:
[Private]
Sent by: [Private]
[Private]
North Car, 28786, USA

Recipient Information:
[Private]
[Private]
Michigan, 48040

Sent via: internet post-htt
Re: cease& desist
To:
[private]
Marysville, MI 48040

From:
[private]
Waynesville NC 28786

It has come to my attention that you are continuing to attempt to harass and or cause undue and further harm to me personally, financially and emotionally, by continuing to make libelous and / or slanderous statements about me, my business and my family members, via various Internet chat forums, bloggs and websites you have created.

It has also come to my attention that you continue to engage in this libelous and criminal activity by posting my personal and / or business information on various Internet chat forums bloggs and websites you have created, as well as photographs of myself sent to you when we were friends, intended for your personal viewing only.

Your continued libelous statements are no doubt and attempt to inflict financial harm, as well as inflict emotional distress to myself, my family members and my business and to attempt to engage me further and "call me out" to defend myself against your totally FALSE and libelous, malicious, and defamatory statements.
Your continued illegal cyberstalking actions, has left me no choice but to send you this last good faith communication in an last ditch effort to get you to CEASE and Desist in this illegal activity at once.

All fifty U.S. states criminalized stalking in the 1990's, and many have passed cyberstalking statutes as well.
All fifty U.S. states also have laws againts the very same endeavors you are engaged in including THE MICHIGAN PENAL CODE
Your continued endeavor in this harassment campaign appears that you may also indeed be classified as a cyberstalker (Internet stalker) as defined by various criminal statues.

Make NO Mistake About IT, [private].
I WILL PROSECUTE YOU TO THE FULL EXISTENT OF THE LAW
IF THIS ACTIVITY DOES NOT CEASE IMMEDIATELY.
You have simply left me no other choice.

Several months ago, I sent you an informal request via e mail, as well as a formal CEASE and Desist letter to your home address, asking you to not engage in this activity any further,
yet you continue to do so.
I have also made various good faith efforts via post on various Internet chat forms, for you to stop this and allow us all to move forward... to no avail.

Various friends, associates and Internet cyber crime advocates have and continue to record and document the irrefutable events and outburst, as evidence, or your illegal activity and I WILL SEEK CRIMINAL AND CIVIL PROSECUTION IF YOU DO NOT CEASE AND DESIST these activities IMMEDIATELY.

It is my intention to also seek possibly, both civil and criminal actions against the administrators of the host who continue to allow you to post your defamatory and totally false allegations.

You are hereby directed to REMOVE any mention of my family members names, my name, as well as my Internet business names and or URLS (website names) and / or pictures of us and or any family members you have posted on the various Internet chat forums, blogs and websites you have created.

If you are unable to REMOVE this maliciously posted libelous material, than I strongly urge you to have the administrators REMOVE libelous material, as well as any mention of my family members names, my name, my business name, and or pictures of me and or any family
members you have posted on the various Internet chat forums bloggs and websites you have created.

This is my FINAL attempt to rectify this situation in a good faith effort.
I suggest you do not make me take this further.

Submitted for Your Consideration: By [private] and uploaded on this 11th day of June 2007.

Will Japan hunt Southern Ocean whales again this year?

According to The Sydney Morning Herald last Monday:

THE RUDD Government's new special envoy on whaling, the former Sydney Olympics chief Sandy Hollway, will try to persuade Japan to curtail its Antarctic whaling this summer.

Mr Hollway has opened a confidential new diplomatic dialogue, and the summer's whaling is high on his agenda.

The fleet is due to leave Japan next month for waters south-east of Australia, and into Antarctica's Ross Sea.

It plans to kill up to 985 whales. The fleet also faces direct action from Sea Shepherd, and possibly Greenpeace.

Mr Hollway told the Herald last night that Australia should keep working for a whaling suspension, and he would visit Tokyo again before the fleet was due to leave.

Will Japan hunt Southern Ocean whales again this year?

It would be nice to answer that question with a negative, however it is highly unlikely that Japan will willingly forgo its annual hunt in Antarctic waters.

So called scientific whaling has become an issue of stubborn pride for the Government of Japan, who curiously continue to endorse the killing and eating of a range of whale and dolphin species even though there is evidence of high levels of mercury contamination.

The Japan Times last Friday:

People who frequently eat pilot whale meat tend to have abnormally high levels of mercury in their hair, according to a study of residents of the whaling town of Taiji, Wakayama Prefecture.
The study was conducted by a team that included researchers from the Health Sciences University of Hokkaido and the College of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Daiichi University in Fukuoka Prefecture.
The team said there were three people whose hair mercury exceeded 50 parts per million, a level that can cause neurological symptoms.
Whales and dolphins tend to have high concentrations of mercury accumulated through the food chain.
Tetsuya Endo, an associate professor at the Health Sciences University of Hokkaido, said it is unlikely the residents will immediately experience mercury-induced health problems, but those with high mercury levels should consider cutting down on the amount of whale they eat.
The group collected hair samples from 30 men and 20 women between last December and July and asked them how often they eat pilot whale meat.
Mercury levels averaged 21.6 ppm among the men and 11.9 ppm among the women, both of which are about 10 times the national average, it said.
The three people whose hair mercury levels exceeded 50 ppm were all men, the team said. The three men ate whale meat more than once a month.
The study found that mercury levels were halved in about two months if the test subjects stopped eating whale meat.

This contamination is not restricted to species within Japanese territorial waters and whales migrating up and down the Australian east coast are currently being monitored for mercury contamination and its effect on species viability and sustainability.

So to remind us all of what is at stake here.

Whales of the Southern Ocean - Australian East Coast to Antarctica

Photographs from Google Images.