The other Mr Billabong falls on tough times

Brisbane's Courier Mail reports:


Former chief executive of Billabong, Matthew Perrin, who made hundreds of millions of dollars from the Aussie surfwear group, is broke.

Perrin today filed a debtor’s petition with the Insolvency Trustee Service of Australia and placed all his corporate entities under external administration.

Mr Graham Starkey of PA Lucas & Co has been appointed as Mr Perrin’s trustee in bankruptcy.

Once a Gold Coast lawyer, Perrin rode the crest of the Billabong wave, selling his shares and making several hundred of millions as a result.

His slide into bankruptcy was caused by his investments in a property and supermarket group located in Xian and Hunan provinces in China.

International Women's Day events in the Clarence Valley, 6-13 March 2009

There is a range of activities during the week before and after 8th March, the official International Women’s Day. Clarence Valley Council and the NSW Office for Women’s Policy are supporting the following events.

Friday 6 March
Breakfast organized by Clarence Valley Women Inc with guest speaker, UrsulaWilkinson.
Grafton Community & Function Centre, 59 Duke Street, Grafton.
7.30 am – 9 am $15 per person or $8 for pensioners/students
RSVP by Tuesday 3 March to Vicki on 0409 035 433 or cvw16@bigpond.com

Saturday 7 March
Breakfast organized by Lower Clarence Women’s Group.
Sassafras Restaurant, 16 Coldstream Street, Yamba.
Guest speaker Pauline Plant - Clarence Valley Citizen of the Year.
Contact: susan.howland@clarence.nsw.gov.au
8 am – 9.30 am - $15 per person or $8 for pensioners/students
Purchase tickets by Friday 6 March at Sassafras on 6646 1011

Sunday 8 March
Iluka women are gathering at the Picnic Area at Iluka Beach with guests Pat Jenkins – ‘Magic of Carbon in our Soils’ & Rivka Forest - ‘The Art of Healing’
10 am -12 noon. Bring your own drinks, folding chair, sun protection. Morning munchies provided.
Contact: Kerrie Howland 0432 665 305 for information.

Sunday 8 March
Lower Clarence Aboriginal Women’s Group invite women to join them for morning tea at the CWA rooms, River Street, Maclean. Contact: Susan on 0427 975 131 or susan.howland@clarence.nsw.gov.au

Friday 13 March
Yamba Evening View Club - Morning tea, two guest speakers, a fashion parade by Clovelly’s of Maclean & Yamba, a light lunch, raffle, lucky door prizes and entertainment.
Treelands Drive Community Centre, Treelands Drive, Yamba
9.30 am – 2 pm. $10 p/person payable at the door
RSVP Anne Dinham on 66462644 or better still email to dinhams@aapt.net.au by Tuesday, 10th March

Some trees are more equal than others or Malcolm Turnbull exposed once more

Not for the first time the suspect nature of the Federal Leader of the Opposition Malcolm Turnbulls' commitment to a sustainable environment comes to light.
First his revelation that planting trees across Australia will save all in the face of climate change and then the media rediscovery of the fact that Turnbull actively support forest logging in the Pacific:
JUST as Malcolm Turnbull tries to outsmart Labor on environmental issues, a file of documents has emerged linking the Leader of the Opposition to a mass logging operation in the Solomon Islands.
The tiny island of Vangunu is a speck on the world map; a dot in the Pacific and home to just over 2000 people. It forms part of the collection of thousands of land masses that make up the Solomon Islands.
Once covered in pristine rainforest, the island and the surrounding Marovo Lagoon were the subject of lobbying by the New Zealand government and environmentalists to have it World Heritage-listed in the late 1980s.
Almost two decades later, the island is again being talked about - only this time for different reasons.
The emergence of a carefully-documented file detailing mass logging operations and the ongoing impacts in the region has Vangunu back in the spotlight.
More specifically, the file - obtained by The Sunday Telegraph - records the involvement of Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull over that time.
Mr Turnbull was the chairman of a company called Axiom Holdings after he and fellow investors purchased a 16.21 per cent stake in the company in 1991.
The company was one of several companies with logging activities in the Solomons.
It was also one of the largest.

One wonders just how long the Coalition king makers are going to tolerate this man, whose diverse financial dealings make him vulnerable to criticism (and sometimes legal action) on so many fronts.

Photograph of Vangunu from Picassa Web Albums

How Internet filters work 101

livefeet2 27/02/09 5:34PM

I was recently denied access to the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) on the grounds that it contained illegal content.

From New Matilda, 25 February 2009

Letter to Guest Speak on corruption and p@edophilia

Last week a letter was submitted to Guest Speak for publication.
This letter contained a number of untrue or defamatory statements so cannot be included here.
However, as the general subject matters were alleged police corruption and p*edophilia and because ramifications from various government inquiries are still flowing, North Coast Voices has included the following historical links for readers interested in these issues.

Inquiry into allegations of misconduct in the investigation of p#edophilia in Queensland: Kimmins report

This report of the Kimmins Inquiry addresses the first four terms of reference related to the possibility of systemic wrongdoing in the Queensland Police Service in the handling of suspected p#edophilia cases. The report on the final term of reference (which looked at isolated complaints against individual police officers) was published separately in February 1999.

Inquiry into allegations of misconduct in the investigation of p#edophilia in Queensland: Kimmins report: term of reference no. 5

This report examines the fifth and final term of reference addressed by the Kimmins Inquiry. The fifth term of reference related to 56 separate complaints that were made of isolated incidents related to police mishandling of cases involving suspected p#edophilia rather than of systemic wrongdoing.

Commission of Inquiry into Possible Illegal Activities and Associated Police Misconduct also known as the Fitzgerald Inquiry.

Courier Mail: Shadow Land reporting by Michael Ware.

Royal Commission Into Whether There Has Been Corrupt Or Criminal Conduct By Any Western Australian Police Officer also known as the Kennedy report

Exposing corruption within senior levels of Victoria Police, Office of Police Integrity

Exposing Victoria's underbelly, February 2009

Royal Commission into the NSW Police Service Final Report also known as the Wood Royal Commission.

VOLUME1.pdf (1,733kb)

VOLUME2.pdf (2,140kb)

VOLUME3.pdf (5,944kb)

VOLUME4.pdf (6,732kb)

VOLUME5.pdf (2,483kb)

VOLUME6.pdf (12,098kb)

Guest Speak is a North Coast Voices segment allowing serious or satirical comment from NSW Northern Rivers residents. Email ncvguestpeak at live dot com dot au to submit comment for consideration.