Freedom of information? Crikey!
VICTOR. - 23.04.2002 00:12
JUST ANOTHER STORY ON THE INTERNET HWY.
Freedom of information? Crikey!
by yr fact checkin´ cuz 4:00pm Mon Apr 22 ´02
crikey is a closed site, until recently...
Monday, April 22, 2002, 3.33pm
Dear 3000 Sole Subscribers,
In today´s second update we have a couple of mini scoops:
John Olsen offered LA post
Mistubishi to get $90m bailout
Famous old boy and girls
Deep Purple cancel on the Kangas
Michael Pascoe on Frank Lowy´s dodgy tactics
Australia´s second worst mayor sues over stalking
Problems at Canberra Uni
Yoursay has been updated:  http://www.crikey.com.au/yoursay.html
JOHN OLSEN HEADED FOR LA
An Adelaide insider writes:
"For some reason disgraced former SA premier John Olsen is about to be rescued by the Feds, something they haven´t done for any other discarded Lib Premier.
He has been offered a trade position through DFAT in Los Angeles and his house has been listed in local Advertiser for sale the past two Saturdays under Toop & Toop real estate. Pic does not show house or address only its amazing view over Adelaide. Olsen clearly does have nine lives and with punters wondering through his house at yesterday´s open day we´re a little surprised the Advertiser have not cottoned onto this yarn."
Surely we can whip up enough outrage about this to force the government to withdraw this offer. We understand that Lex Loser (Alexander Downer) is the key driver and that a few mandarins in Canberra are not impressed. Olsen resigned as Premier in disgrace and if Howard and Downer go through with this it will just further illustrate how the concept of Ministerial accountability in Australia has disappeared. Time to dust off that notorious Howard cronyism list again it seems.
MITSUBISHI BAILOUT
The other breaking news in Adelaide has the Federal government tipped to announce a $90 million bail-out package for struggling Japanese car manufacturer Mitsubishi.
The cash component is tipped at $35 million with the rest in taxes foregone and other concessions.
We really must fire up that corporate welfare list and all contributions are greatly appreciated.
FAMOUS OLD BOYS AND OLD GIRLS
Our regular sealed sections of late about famous alumni has been collated by Neal Woolrich and is not up on the site: http://www.crikey.com.au/columnists/alumni.html
DEEP PURPLE CANCEL
We told you the Deep Purple benefit concert for the Kangaroos looked pretty dodgy from the start:
http://www.undercover.com.au/20020421_deeppurple.html
WHAT BUSINESS SUNDAY SAID ABOUT FRANK LOWY
This excellent "extraordinary item" from Michael Sunday on Business Sunday last week was just terrific and well worth a read.
"Business leaders are sometimes accused of lacking generosity - but that could never be said of philanthropist Frank Lowy, especially when it´s a cause dear to his heart.
Such as the British Labor Party funds raiser, Lord Levy.... who´s copped a quarter million pounds from Lowy´s Westfield empire over the past few years - supposedly for property consulting work, not for the fact that he plays tennis with Tony Blair, or is the UK´s special envoy to the Middle East.
Lowy, a former Israeli commando, maintains a close interest in the region.
But Westfield is remarkably egalitarian in its payments - as the building industry royal commission has heard, with the company slipping a union six figures for, well, friendship, we suppose.
And then there´s the $100,000 payment from Westfield America to a couple of alleged green groups opposing a new shopping centre outside Sacramento - Westfield happens to already have a centre in the city.
And Westfield donates regularly to Australian political parties as well - not that there would ever be any influence should a real estate planning decision be taken out of the hands of local government by a State minister.
Peers of the realm, unionists, greenies, politicians - it seems anyone can get Westfield money - even Ken Hooper.
He was the former political lobbyist and adviser to New South Wales Liberal premiers who Westfield financed to run a phoney residents action group to again prevent approval of a rival shopping centre in Sydney.
Does anyone see a pattern here?
When the Hooper scandal was uncovered, Frank Lowy, AO, released a statement saying the company had been "guilty of a lack of transparency and openness and this is a matter of great regret and embarrassment to the company".
Yeesss, but no promise not to do it again.
FROM TODAY´S COURIER MAIL
And we also told you that Maroochy Shire mayor Alison Grosse was the second worst Mayor in Australia after Wollongong´s George Harrison. This is what the Courier Mail carried on her this morning:
Mayor sues ex-lover for ´stalking´
Glenis Green
22 April 2002
THE Sunshine Coast´s first female mayor has launched legal action against a former lover and work colleague, accusing him of stalking her for eight years.
Maroochy Mayor Alison Grosse said she was suing former Sunshine Coast Regional Group Apprentices Limited managing director Rob Purvis for $180,000, including punitive damages.
Mr Purvis has responded with a vehement denial of the stalking claims, announcing that he has instructed his lawyers to counter-sue Cr Grosse for defamation.
In a statutory declaration dated Saturday, Mr Purvis said he intended to subpoena 27 witnesses in his defence, including Queensland MP Vince Lester, prominent local businessmen, and former state MP and convicted child rapist Keith Wright.
Cr Grosse, 52, who has said she had a brief intimate relationship with Mr Purvis several years ago, described his alleged unwanted advances as "serial harassment" and "emotional rape".
Her civil claim for damages was lodged in the Maroochydore District Court by Sunshine Coast lawyers Klooger, Phillips, Scott a week ago, with Mr Purvis being served with the details on Friday.
Cr Grosse´s lawyer Garry Scott said in a prepared statement that she had suffered various injuries ranging from post-traumatic stress disorder, fainting and vomiting spells because of Mr Purvis´s alleged unlawful behaviour.
This had allegedly included persistent telephone calls in the early hours and trespassing on her property at night wearing a balaclava.
"My client has been forced to bring this action only as a result of the alleged serial harassment of her by Robert Purvis over a number of years," Mr Scott said.
Cr Grosse, who will return from sick leave to her mayoral duties today, said her legal action was a last resort. She accused Mr Purvis of trying to ruin her career and reputation.
In his statutory declaration, Mr Purvis denied making unwanted advances to Cr Grosse, claiming that it was she who made sexual advances to him "on countless occasions" since 1993.
He said if he did harass Cr Grosse, it was for legitimate reasons such as attempting to retrieve company assets of SCRGAL and to contact her on occasions when she "appeared suicidal".
Mr Purvis alleged Cr Grosse had tried to suicide "on five occasions at least . . . when she was criticised".
The Mayor has admitted publicly to one attempt to take her own life.
Mr Purvis said he would defend her stalking claim by producing records of all hotel rooms he had shared with Cr Grosse over the past eight years and clothing she had left at his house as well as cards she had sent him - including an invitation to her third wedding last year.
Cr Grosse´s legal action and the action flagged yesterday by Mr Purvis come amid a bitter row over the management of SCRGAL, of which the Mayor is also the chair.
Mr Purvis, who was sacked from the group last December, has lodged a $510,000 claim for wrongful dismissal while SCRGAL has initiated action for Mr Purvis to return a $266,722 loan it made to him.
The State Department of Employment and Training is examining SCRGAL responses to questions raised about previous management.
OUR FIRST UNIVERSITY STORY
Crikey is about to sprint out the door for a coffee with an ANU academic, so we may as well trot this tale out and encourage more given our surging readership in academic circles:
"Dear Crikey,
Having recently switched from corporate to academic life the call for juicy uni stories seemed ripe. How about this:
The CUPA is the Canberra University Postgraduate Assoc. I got an email last thursday, ostensibly from the VC, that contained this:
"An audit of CUPA´s finances was commissioned and undertaken by Ernst and Young. It was completed on 11 March 2002. It discloses a worrying outcome. Cash reserves (at January 2001, in excess of $60,000) and the Capital Fund (at January 2001, in excess of $100,000) of CUPA have both been reduced in recent times such that there is no Capital Fund now and insufficient reserves at the time of audit for CUPA to meet its planned commitments. The auditors indicate that unsatisfactory or no answers have been received from CUPA office-bearers in regard to authorisations of many expenditures. No conclusion was reached by the auditors about the existence of dishonest practice or fraud by office-bearers but the inability or unwillingness to produce complete documentation for financial dealings points to poor practices at the least. "
Apparently CUPA is not an incorporated organisation so in the words of the VC´s letter "Recent legal advice indicates that office-bearers of CUPA are potentially exposed. "
Full text available from: http://www.canberra.edu.au/secretariat/council/Ltr2PGstudents.html
Full text copied below CUPA website: http://www.pgsa.canberra.edu.au/
Cheers, Name Withheld
Do ya best,
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