Carr's Macquarie gig, Walkley finalists, Telegraph, Bruce Guthrie, Amcor, longest serving directors
July 28, 2008
Here are Stephen Mayne's six stories from the Crikey edition on Thursday, 13 October, 2005.
3. Carr's $500,000-a-year Macquarie gig
By Stephen Mayne
The Daily Telegraph today reports that Bob Carr is being paid $500,000 a year by Macquarie Bank for his consultancy, yet will remain based in his taxpayer funded office in Governor Macquarie Tower. While not begrudging Carr's right to earn a living, is this really no more than unadulterated greed, especially when you consider that Carr's wife is a multi-millionaire through her printing business?
And to think that Bob even promised to introduce some sort of code of conduct about post-political employment after the disgraceful arrangements which saw his former racing and gaming minister, Richard Face, stitched up by ICAC, the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption, for using ministerial resources to establish his own grog and gaming consultancy.
Will ICAC investigate the Carr situation? Somehow I don't think that ICAC commissioner Irene Moss, the wife of Macquarie Bank CEO Allan Moss who was appointed to the position by Carr in 1999, will have an appetite for this one. Besides, she's fundamentally conflicted.
There's no doubt that Australia's senior politicians are underpaid – but how can the system be fixed? We already have two tiers of pay with all new politicians only getting regular super courtesy of Mark Latham's most significant contribution to Australian public life.
The public probably wouldn't object to pay rises, provided some of the perks were curtailed in the same package. If politicians were stripped of their frequent flyer points, gold passes, unlimited petrol, travel allowances and pre-55 super entitlements, this would be quite an easy sell.
Here is a suggested new pay scale for our political class which would be indexed to inflation:
Federal Politics
Prime Minister: $600,000
Opposition Leader: $500,000
Cabinet Ministers (maximum of 12): $400,000
Outer Ministry: $300,000
Shadow Cabinet Ministers $300,000
Outer Ministry shadows: $250,000
Backbenchers: $200,000
State Politics
Premier $500,000
Opposition Leader: $350,000
Cabinet Ministers (maximum of 12): $300,000
Shadow Cabinet Ministers $250,000
Outer Ministry: $250,000
Outer Ministry shadows: $200,000
Backbenchers: $175,000
If it was clearly argued and slated to be introduced in 2010 with no net cost to taxpayers when you account for all perks, super changes and the like, then surely the public would wear it. Then you would have fewer retiring politicians cross the ethical line and try to cash in on their knowledge and connections within weeks of leaving office. Of course, an official two year cooling off period before taking such jobs should be introduced with this package.
Is anyone else for encouraging a mature debate about such changes? Otherwise, we really are headed down the peanuts and monkeys path, especially at a state level. The Latham Diaries will also deter many talented people from putting their names forward, so some changes to the salary packages would help redress this situation.
21. ABC and Fairfax dominate Walkley finalists
By Stephen Mayne
Fairfax and the ABC has traditionally done best at the Walkley Awards over the years, but this year's list of finalists was even more pronounced in their favour than usual. Check out the full list of finalists here.
Poor old 3AW Morning presenter Neil Mitchell stoicly read out name after name from the ABC at the Melbourne finalists announcement last night as his employer, Southern Cross Broadcasting, didn't rate a single mention. The same went for Channel Nine, which Laurie Oakes was last year trying to tell us was "the national broadcaster."
The year to September 2005 was arguably the biggest 12 months of news since 2001 and it showed with international events such as the Jakarta bombing, the Bali Nine and the Asian tsunami dominating. The ABC's legendary Indonesia correspondent Tim Palmer has been short-listed for five different Walkleys and appears destined to pick up a couple.
There was a record number of entries this year as the bad old days of News Ltd boycotting the awards have passed, although the Herald Sun churlishly only sent cartoonist Mark Knight to last year's awards at Crown Casino.
News Ltd are now well and truly in the tent with Malcolm Farr taking over as chairman of the Walkleys Advisory Panel. Check out the full list of judges here and the 2004 Walkleys Advisory Board here.
There isn't a hotel venue big enough in Sydney to host this year's event so it is being moved to Luna Park. It seems that Tony Abbott's ordinary, off the cuff guest speaking effort in 2000 put an end to political invitations even though Prime Ministers including Fraser, Hawke and Keating, along with wannabes such as Peter Costello have done them over the years.
23. What The Sunday Telegraph said about Latham
By Stephen Mayne
After Crikey expressed regret about publishing Mark Latham's reference to his fling 17 years ago with Sunday Telegraph editor Jeni Cooper, a journalist sent through the following: "The idea of someone from The Sunday Telegraph getting upset about their 'private life' being made public is just too funny for words. The only narcissism here is the hide of anyone working for Rupert Murdoch to complain about anything."
However, to get some context in this debate you need to look at what Jeni Cooper published about her former lover in the lead up to last year's 2004 election. Six days before polling day, The Sunday Telegraph splashed with a Glenn Milne beat up, "Latham's tax dodge."
The Milne lie was nailed by Laurie Oakes a few hours later. With Howard banging on about it during his Sunday interview, the Sphere of Influence retorted: "Well, if you say that he's dodged the question in this morning's newspaper, if you read page one of the Sunday Telegraph that's the case. But if you read through to page 104, which I suppose most people won't, you find that what he actually said was that he was prepared to give a commitment of no tax increases apart from those he's announced in the campaign. That's not dodging it."
On July 4 last year, the paper served up the following on page one from Lincoln Wright:
Meanwhile, friends of the Opposition Leader's former wife, Gabrielle Gwyther, released potentially damaging details of their troubled marriage of seven years. They said Ms Gwyther had felt intimidated by her husband and had left her Sydney home when Mr Latham secretly went on a holiday break with Janine Lacey, his new girlfriend and now wife, at Christmas, 1997.
A spokesman for the Opposition Leader last night said Ms Gwyther had given many interviews making false claims against Mr Latham. He said Mr Latham had responded to these in the past and did not intend to do so again.
Glenn Milne backed it up with this on page 9:
Allegations about Mark Latham's treatment of his first wife, Gabrielle, threaten to derail the Labor Leader's run for The Lodge. Gabrielle Gwyther has told family friends of less savoury aspects of her ex-husband's temper.
Ms Gwyther's comments became public as Channel Nine's Sunday program prepared to air what it billed an ``explosive'' Mr Latham profile. It was that profile – which Mr Latham refused to co-operate with – which reignited inquiries about his personal life.
Ms Gwyther was happy to assist last week, giving journalists the background on her failed marriage. Her involvement will only add to the pre-election volatility of national politics, with Labor pollsters nervously watching what happens to Mr Latham's support among women.
Then there's the claim – denied by the Opposition Leader – that he king-hit a fellow Labor member while on Liverpool City Council. Over the past 48 hours, there has also been fevered speculation in Canberra about the existence of a raunchy ``buck's night'' video involving Mr Latham.
Political insiders have always been aware of rumours about Mr Latham's attitude to women, which he has always vehemently denied. Running for the prime ministership means your private life inevitably belongs to the nation. Fairly or unfairly, Mr Latham is undergoing this test by fire.
No wonder Latham now believes all's fair in love and war with Jeni Cooper. That material was a disgrace and she's never recanted or even publicly justified it.
25. Bruce Guthrie lays into Akerman
By Stephen Mayne
Piers Akerman's bizarre letter in The Australian's Media section last week has sparked a public rebuke from his News Ltd colleague Bruce Guthrie, who used to edit The Sunday Age but is now in charge of The Australian Magazine. Bruce had the following letter in today's Media section:
Piers misses point
I have no problem with Piers Akerman singing the praise of Sunday Herald Sun editor Alan Howe, whose circulation performance over an extended period at the Melbourne tabloid has been admirable. But I can't accept Akerman's denunciation of former Sunday Age editors, myself included.
True, circulation of The Sunday Age has fallen more than 400,000 copies behind that of the Sunday Herald Sun in recent years. But it wasn't always the case. When I completed my editing stint there in October 1995, our circulation was a tick under 190,000, making it the third or fourth biggest selling Age of the week. Not bad for a paper that had only launched six years earlier. A decade later sales of The Sunday Age have moved 10,000 copies while the Sunday Herald Sun's sales have jumped from about 500,000 to more than 600,000
Why has this happened? Akerman blames all Sunday Age editors, but he would have been better advised to examine the calamitous decision in 1997 by Fairfax management to merge The Sunday Age operations with those of the weekday Age. It may have saved Fairfax some dollars but it robbed the paper of its staff, identity and, ultimately, sales momentum.
Finally, Akerman had a duty of disclosure. He briefly edited The Sunday Herald, which ceased publication in March 1991 after its circulation fell significantly behind that of The Sunday Age. By his definition that makes him a very unsuccessful editor.
That's a big hit on Akerman but Guthrie is also taking a shot at Steve Harris, who was the founding editor of The Sunday Age and had Guthrie as his deputy from 1989 until 1992. After that, Harris was poached by Rupert to clean up the Akerman mess at the Herald Sun and Guthrie edited The Sunday Age until 1995 when he took over from Alan Kohler as editor of The Age.
The musical chairs continued when Guthrie was shafted by Fairfax in 1997 and Harris returned as publisher and editor-in-chief of The Age, only to then merge the daily Age with The Sunday Age, in what Guthrie now slams as a "calamitous" decision.
Akerman last week claimed that the Herald Sun's circulation fell by about 30,000 during the Harris reign, but it should be remembered it was on a steep downward trajectory when he took over a paper that was featuring on bumper stickers all over Victoria which asked, "Is it the truth or did you read it in the Herald Sun?"
Akerman's aggressively populist/controversial model severely damaged the Herald Sun's reputation, which explains why he was sent to Fox in 1992 before quickly returning to Sydney as a columnist in 1993 after a still largely unexplained incident that forced Rupert Murdoch to parachute him out of America.
The Sunday Age has indeed struggled to make a big circulation mark, especially in the shadow of big selling Saturday Age – an issue which is quite different to the Herald Sun Saturday/Sunday dynamic – but it was good enough to defeat Murdoch's pincer attack in the early days of having a broadsheet and a tabloid to try to kill it off. It was Akerman's broadsheet Sunday Herald that was quickly closed, a point Guthrie makes to really twist the knife against his old foe in today's Media section.
27. Amcor joins the backflip club
By Stephen Mayne
Australian shareholders have historically had an appalling culture of rarely proposing resolutions of their own to be voted on, while accepting whatever company resolutions boards dish up for approval at the annual general meeting.
But could the times be changing? We've now had two companies perform backflips in the current AGM season. Amcor yesterday wilted over the options package for new CEO Ken McKenzie, as you can see here, and Consolidated Minerals withdrew a resolution to issue sign on and incentive shares to Michael Kiernan, as you can see here.
Both companies were facing the prospect of the specific resolution being voted down as well as the entire remuneration report.
Similarly, companies that still run accruing retirement benefit schemes for directors are also facing a large protest vote against their remuneration reports. These include the likes of Gunns, Paperlinx and Simsmetal. If anyone can name other companies still running the good behaviour bond lurk (stay around for a certain number of years and we'll give you a big lump sum farewell), drop us a line at smayne@crikey.com.au – it'll make a good list.
Here is the paltry list of other resolutions that have been withdrawn or defeated over the years:
Southern Cross Broadcasting: Announced the withdrawal of a resolution to increase retirement benefits for directors at 5.51pm on a Friday, October 26 2001 – as you can see here.
John Fairfax: Withdrew a proposed change to its constitution regarding proportional takeovers in 2001, but the losing proxy count was still released here. It was a special resolution requiring 75% approval and Fairfax only had 64.5% of the proxies in favour.
AMP: Withdrew its ludicrously generous and complex incentive schemes proposals for new CEO Andrew Mohl and current HHG CEO Roger Yates before the 2003 AGM after angry shareholders vowed to vote them down given the billions that had just been lost in the UK. Check out the backdown announcement here.
News Corp: I still think the rejection of Rupert's proposed options issue without performance hurdles for six executive directors at the 2003 AGM was the trigger for the move to America. The Sun King said it was Australian institutions who objected and it must have been some sort of "crazy misunderstanding."
Hills Motorway: John Cassidy resigned from the board one day before facing a re-election ballot at the 2004 AGM because it was clear the proxies were running against him. This is the only time in recent history than an endorsed incumbent director has been booted off a board.
Fleetwood Corporation: A proposal to issue options to executive directors was withdrawn at the 2004 AGM due to opposition from shareholders, although the company blamed "the inadvertent omission of some technical information required by the ASX."
28. The longest serving executive directors
By Stephen Mayne
We've packaged up our list of longest serving non-executive directors on the site here, so now it's time to start tracking the longest serving directors who have also been full-time executives at the same listed company. Here's a start to get things moving:
Ian McMullin: Founded Spotless in 1946 and is now 79 but still a non-executive director since retiring as CEO in 1972
Rupert Murdoch: CEO of News Corporation and its predecessor companies since 1953
Frank Lowy: CEO of Westfield since it first floated in 1961
Robert Millner: MD of WH Soul Pattinson from 1968-86 and still a director
Barry Thornton: Current GWA chairman first joined board as finance director in 1974
Brian Blythe: Now non-executive chairman of Spotless but first appointed MD in 1978
Ron Evans: First appointed executive director of Spotless in 1978, now non-executive director
Ken Cowley: News Corp director since 1980, retired as News Ltd executive chairman in 1996
Rob Patterson: Current MD of Argo Investments and a director since 1983
Wal King: CEO of Leighton Holdings since 1987
John Gay: CEO of Gunns since 1987
Gerry Harvey: CEO of Harvey Norman since 1987
Ian Norman: Co-founder of Harvey Norman since 1987 and still on the board today
The likes of Mark Johnson and David Clarke at Macquarie Bank should arguably qualify having founded the business in the early 1970s, but it only listed in 1996. We'll work to a cut off of 15 years so information on any other current or former executives who have been on a board since before the 1990s should be sent to smayne@crikey.com.au.
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