Retiring pollies' money grab, Paul Barry on Warnie, Murdoch's broken promise

4. Former politicians with their snouts in the trough



By Stephen Mayne

Crikey had a 15 minute discussion on air with ABC Brisbane Morning host Steve Austin today and we really fired up over this whole question of retiring politicians taking private sector moolah in their areas of expertise within weeks or months of leaving office.

Austin was surprised by the scale of our 8-strong list in yesterday's Crikey, but he really needs to go back and read this list, which tracks what hundreds of politicians have done since leaving office. However, it is now getting a little dated, so send any corrections or new information to smayne@crikey.com.au.

On researching what former Queensland Ministers have done before speaking to Austin, it dawned on Crikey what might explain this extract from The Latham Diaries:

Friday, July 16, 2004

I followed up in Melbourne yesterday with a co-operative agreement with the Premiers, sans Beattie, about needs-based school funding and health system reform, eliminating waste and duplication. We wanted to include Kyoto in the agreement by setting up a national carbon-trading system, but Beattie refused to co-operate, so it had to be dropped. He's super-sensitive about the coal industry, but it's crazy in terms of Queensland's long-term interests. Global warming is killing the Great Barrier Reef, the State's main economic and environmental resource, and Beattie won't support Kyoto to do something about it. Now he's rough-riding over the Reef, watching it die because of coral bleaching.

So what does the coal industry have over Peter Beattie? Well, former Goss Government Treasurer Keith de Lacy is chairman of Macarthur Coal and the man who succeeded him in Treasury, David Hamill, is chairman of the old Prime Infrastructure, which owns the huge Dalrymple Bay coal export terminal in Mackay. That probably explains Latham's revelation.

It seems the coal industry is to Beattie what the forestry industry is to Tasmanian Premier Paul Lennon – an influential opponent of environmental initiatives. If The Courier Mail is awake, it should be onto this story, although The Latham Diaries now appear to be largely banned from News Ltd publications.


5. The unauthorised Shane Warne, by Paul Barry



By Stephen Mayne

Sam Chisholm's ruthless cost cutting at the Nine Network appears to have given birth to a new book on that well known Packer family mate, Shane Warne. Chisholm decided that both Warne and Paul Barry should be flicked from Channel Nine to save PBL somewhere between $500,000 and $1 million a year.

Warne went on to have his best-ever series in England and would have been great talent to have on the Channel Nine slate during his Ashes heroics, while Barry decided to cast around for a book deal. Lo and behold, Random House, which has published Barry's four previous books on Alan Bond, Kerry Packer and the One-Tel collapse, decided after the Ashes that the time was right for the first ever decent book on Warnie.

Barry has signed up and the unauthorised Shane Warne biography, warts and all, should be on book shelves by the middle of next year. Barry told Crikey he is searching for a red-hot researcher to help him on the trail of Warnie and would obviously love to get as many insights from Victorians as he can. If you'd like to help, drop us a line at smayne@crikey.com.au and we'll pass it on to him.

Barry has had quite an amazing career since he came to Australia from the BBC and joined Four Corners in January 1986. He stayed with the program until 1994 and his hard-hitting television stories on Alan Bond and Kerry Packer were extended into best selling books during this period.

The Rise and Fall of Alan Bond came out in 1990 and sold 45,000 in hard back and about 50,000 in paperback. The Rise and Rise of Kerry Packer did even better in 1993, selling 95,000 in hardback and another 50,000. It still sells quite well today.

Barry then briefly worked on Channel Seven's The Times in 1995 and then Witness from 1996 until 1998 when Kerry Stokes finally pulled the plug. After collecting his payout from Seven, Barry produced his second Bondy book, Going For Broke, in 2000 which sold 37,000 in hardback and almost 30,000 in paperback.

He then joined Media Watch in 2000 and was also with The Sydney Morning Herald from 2000 until 2002, his biggest hit there being exposing all those tax dodging barristers.

After that, it was time for the One-Tel book, Rich Kids, which came out in 2002 and sold 25,000 in hardback and 15,000 paperback. This obviously impressed the Packers who hired Barry in January 2003 to first join A Current Affair and then 60 Minutes, before Sam Chisholm came along with yet another payout in July this year.

60 Minutes veteran Richard Carleton must have been furious with the Packers because he pursued Barry and Media Watch through the plaintiff-friendly ACT Supreme Court over a defamation matter in 2002, eventually getting nowhere whilst racking up a $500,000 legal bill for Australia's richest family.

Shane Warne claims he is still friends with both Kerry and James Packer despite Sam Chisholm ending his $300,000 a year PBL retainer, so it will be interesting to see if the Packers attempt to exert any influence over Barry's book.

After all, Jodee Rich claims that the Packers co-operated extensively with the One-Tel book. Will they co-operate again when a mate is in the firing line? Barry will no doubt be asking and he knows a lot about their affairs already.


24. Integrity concerns hit Murdoch satellites



By Stephen Mayne

Rupert Murdoch's broken promise over News Corp's poison pill is causing plenty of ripples around the world. The Sunday Telegraph in London had an interesting story this week pointing out that Hermes, the giant UK fund that pushes hard on corporate governance issues and is part of the Delaware litigation push, is also taking a stand on various matters at BSkyB over general "integrity issues."

Meanwhile, Rupert provided his first public comments about the Delaware litigation in Rome overnight as you can see from this AAP story running on The SMH website. It's a very defiant Sun King who declared it was all "totally legal," even though it would be "totally illegal" in Australia:

"We said it was currently a policy of the board not to exit it (the poison pill) without going to shareholders, and we expected a quick resolution of issues we had with Liberty, but they proved difficult so we changed our policy, which was totally legal," Murdoch told Reuters on the sidelines of a press conference in Rome."It was never a bylaw, it was never a promise, it was never a pledge, which has been reported in a lot of British press."

Crikey is torn about going to New York for the News Corp AGM next week as Mrs Crikey is dead against leaving her at home alone with the three kids for six nights. Similarly, given that Rupert has committed to a shareholder information meeting at The Advertiser building in Adelaide on November 16, there will still be a chance to lock horns with the world's most powerful man.

However, that meeting won't have any legal enforcement and Rupert can refuse to answer questions or even kick me out on the basis that I'd had a fair go in New York.

A Wall Street Journal hack send the following email overnight: "Hi there, I hear you are coming to New York to raise hell at the News Corp annual meeting. I'm covering the company now and would love to grab a beer with you when you're in town if you have a moment."

New York will be a big show down and it will be important to get there. Has anyone got any thoughts on where to stay in New York and whether they'd like to come along as a proxy or, potentially, fire off the questions if I end up staying home? Drop us a line at smayne@crikey.com.au.

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