Election wash-up, Mayne Report strategic review, Manningham, Ten, Gina, Falloon for Fairfax, Orica AGM, ABC year-ender, Cornwall, Rich List and then some
December 22, 2010
Greetings one and all,
Below is a final bumper email edition of The Mayne Report for 2010, although there may be an update or two on specific issues before the end of the year. The web version is available here if you fancy an on-pass or you can unsubscribe here.
Strategic review of The Mayne Report
After more than three years of operation, the better half has ordered a "strategic review" of The Mayne Report which costs about $100,000 a year to run.
As was joked to Lindy Burns during this week's regular segment on 774 ABC Melbourne, Paula has said it's time to "get a job".
After missing out on the CEO's position at the Australian Shareholders' Association last month, it's hard to imagine too many other full-time jobs that would be appropriate for someone committed to independently promoting good governance and transparency.
Balance of power in the Victorian upper house certainly would have fit the bill, but it might also have been hell as is discussed below.
Anyway, the options to consider during this "strategic review" are as follows:
* Seek an equity injection into The Mayne Report to fund some more contributors and then crank up the subscriber model moving to more regular editions like the old days of Crikey.
* Scale back the costs of The Mayne Report to a more bare bones operation without third party contributors, video or audio and then use it as a platform for an increased focus on the talk circuit and paid contributions to other media outlets such as Crikey, ABC radio, Fairfax's BusinessDay, Sky Business and Aunty's The Drum.
* Close The Mayne Report and seek to sell some of the more interesting content such as the 1500 name Rich List and director rankings as part of a broader content deal with other media outlets or research houses.
* Seek an exclusive contributor arrangement with one particular media outlet.
* Revitalise the idea of writing a book in 2011. News Corp's Harper Collins book division originally commissioned something they wanted to call Memoir of a Ratbag in 2007. Rupert and his minions weren't happy when they heard a contract had been signed to hand over $20,000 to the Sun King's biggest Australian critic but after a manuscript still hadn't been delivered three years later, they gave me $10,000 to terminate the contract in February this year. This money was used to fly to New York and annoy Rupert at the News Corp AGM in October as you can see from this package.
* Spend more time with the kids and focus on bread and butter Manningham Council issues.
* Pursue a mooted offer with a not-for-profit in the shareholder space doing some governance project work.
* Pursue an offer to work professionally on the women on boards project.
It's a diverse range of options and we're open to all suggestions so do drop us a line to Stephen@maynereport.com if you have any comments on what should be pursued in 2011.
Supporting Tibet and our gun multi-media producer Shane Marden
For the past three and a half years, our multi-media producer Shane Marden has been the backbone of The Mayne Report capturing and editing audio and video from AGM webcasts, radio gigs, council meetings and speeches. He's also compiled a tonne of lists, produced endless transcripts and generally managing all production issues around the website and email newsletter.
Shane is also passionate about the Tibetan people and self-published a beautiful photography book after travelling to India and meeting the Dalai Lama in 1999.
Bob Brown gave a cracking speech when he launched the book last year and Shane's passion plus all the relevent links can be accessed through this package.
The book sells for just $69 (including postage) and would make a lovely Christmas gift.
Whilst we're not sure what Shane and The Mayne Report will be doing after March next year, anyone who buys a copy of the book will also receive our subscriber updates over the next few weeks.
Once again, have a read of Shane's explanation of his Tibetan adventure and do consider supporting his cause.
Final thoughts on the Victorian election result
The final results and preference distributions are in for the Victorian election and we ended up missing out in the Northern Metropolitan upper house region by 3098 votes, not 3790 votes as The Age reported on Wednesday.
That's because the final surge in the Green vote to 19.21% meant we ended up being closer to overhauling Family First. The race for the fifth and final spot in Northern Metropolitan started off as follows after the first four 16.67% quotas (65,627 votes each) had been deducted but before the distribution of preferences:
1. Liberal number two Craig Ondarchie: 41,277 votes or 10.48%
2. Labor's number three Nathan Murphy: 34,035 votes or 8.64%
3. Sex Party's Fiona Patten: 14,291 votes or 3.63%
4. DLP's John Kavanagh: 10,665 votes or 2.71%
5. Green number two Alex Bhathal: 10,032 votes or 2.55%
6. Family First's Andrew Conlon: 9136 votes ro 2.32%
7. Independent Stephen Mayne: 3861 votes or 0.98%
8. Christian Democrats: 3539 votes or 0.9%
9. Independent Parents and Carers: 2342 votes or 0.59%
10. Country Alliance: 2074 votes or 0.53%
After you distribute Country Alliance to the Sex Party, the Independent carers to us and the Christian Democrats to the DLP, I bow out out in what Antony Green describes as the ninth count. In reality, you have to distribute all the below the line votes so it is the 138th count according to the Excell spreadsheet of the preference distribution accessible through this link on the VEC website.
At that point, with just seven candidates left in the field, the bottom three candidates were as follows:
Second Green: 10,084
Family First: 9,392
Stephen Mayne: 6,294
In terms of what would would have been a winning scenario, I needed 1550 Family First voters to switch my way. Alternatively, victory would also have come if 1895 extra Green voters had supported our tilt.
Alternatively, we would have won if 3791 Green voters had instead voted Liberal because the Labor vote was weak enough that preference flows from the Greens, DLP, Sex Party and Family First would have been enough to get ahead of Labor's Nathan Murphy and then knock off Liberal Craig Ondarchie for the final spot.
Whilst the preference flows were good, at the end of the day we needed more primary votes. A miserable 0.98% of the primary vote or 3861 votes just didn't cut it. Assuming the Greens and Family First votes remained the same, we just needed to poll about 1.8% of the vote or roughly 7000.
The Liberal victory in the end was reasonably comfortable with 65,854 votes to Labor's 53,240 after everyone else was distributed. This meant my 2042 above the line preferences to the Liberals were not decisive in delivering them control of both houses because the same thing would have happened if I'd preferenced Labor ahead of the Liberals.
This is very different from 2006 when my preferences were decisive in getting Labor's number two Evan Thornley over the line in Southern Metropolitan.
How Green voters backed our tilt
Targeting Green voters was indeed the correct strategy when you consider our primary vote was as follows in the 11 lower house seats excluding postals, pre-poll and absentee votes:
Ivanhoe: 460
Richmond: 425
Brunswick: 416
Northcote: 396
Melbourne: 382
Yan Yean: 338
Mill Park: 140
Preston: 129
Bundoora: 122
Broadmeadows: 99
Thomastown: 84
In other words, we crashed and burned in the safe Labor areas and did best in the strong inner-city Green seats, plus Ivanhoe and Yan Yean which are slightly better Liberal areas that also border Manningham.
One again we had a ridiculously large below the line vote of 47.1% or 1819 votes out of the 3861 total. The best way to assess where your support comes from is to see where these votes finish in the prefererence distribution. It's a similar trend to the Senate and 2006 Victorian election:
Greens: 758
Sex Party: 304
Labor: 241
Liberal: 161
Exhausted: 140
DLP: 91
Family First: 72
Dealing with the let-down of defeat
The public awareness of the upper house situation has been quite incredible since that blitz of media in the days immediately after the election. The chairs of David Jones, Nufarm and Orica have mentioned it at recent AGMs and I must have had 30 conversations about it at the RACV President's dinner on Wednesday night.
Passers by continue to offer commiserations in the street and one bloke at a petrol station just said "good luck mate, use the balance of power wisely".
Whilst it is obviously disappointing to lose, it would have been a hugely stressful life changer to hold the balance of power exclusively for four years.
"Be careful what you wish for," as they say, and at least we'll be able to spend plenty of time with our three kids as they complete their primary school years.
Final batch of media on state election
Finally, here is just some of the recent media related to the state election tilt:
All power to Baillieu as upper house win looms
Tim Colebatch, The Age, December 9
Coalition can count on both houses
The Age, December 14
How the Sex Party disposed of a junketeering speaker
Crikey, December 8, 2010
Stephen Mayne concedes defeat
Melbourne Weekly Eastern
RRR The Breakfasters - discussing the ongoing election results and WikiLeaks on December 8, 2010.
Expenses go on the record
Preston Leader, December 7, 2010
The Mayne Chance
Preston Leader, December 7, 2010
System subverts voter preferences
Editorial, The Age, December 7, 2010
Stephen Mayne man to target council governance
Genevieve Gannon, Melbourne Times Weekly, December 7, 2010
Mayne looks set for upper house
Melbourne Leader, December 6, 2010
Announcement of results of election count
Below are videos of Craig Ondarchie's victory speech at the formal declaration of the poll on Wednesday and one or our favourite videos of Peter Costello announcing victory after the 2007 Federal election and scolding us for not attending.
The Night Life with Rod Quinn - filling in for Tony Delroy
For the past three years we've done a 50-minute end of year review with Rod Quinn, the regular summer fill-in host for Tony Delroy on The Night Life, which goes out nationally on ABC local radio.
If you were listening between 10pm and 11pm last night, you would have heard the big news events of 2010 covered in a lively banter that took in a few callers. The audio files of the last three years are available as follows:
2010: from 10-11pm on ABC local radio across the country on December 16. Territory covered included Kevin Rudd, Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, federal and state elections, and other main events from 2010.
2009: wide-ranging discussion from 10-11pm on ABC local radio across the country on December 21. Territory covered included climate change, various international elections, the GFC, Tiger Woods, Barnaby Joyce and Tony Abbott.
2008 - wide-ranging discussion from 10-11pm on ABC local radio across the country on December 29. Territory covered included the GFC, sport, Georgia, Iraq, Obama, the Beijing Olympics and the performance of Kevin Rudd.
The National Interest on ABC Radio National
This end of year ABC radio wrap has been quite a common occurence over the years as we also found these three in the archive from Radio National:
2008 - half hour discussion with host Peter Mares and other guests including John Roskam on December 19. Territory covered included bailouts and handouts, not-so-tough climate targets and household debt. Download audio
2007 - half hour discussion on December 23 with host Peter Mares and two other panellists on issues such as the defeat of Howard, a Rudd Government, global warming, continuing drought and Australia's ability to cope in tougher economic times.
2004 - on December 19 Andrew West, Karen Middleton and Stephen Mayne joined Terry Lane to review the main issues of the year in politics, business and foreign policy. Read the transcript
Orica AGM at the Melbourne Museum
The Orica AGM was a relatively tame affair yesterday given their good performance and we asked the following six questions:
What is the relationship with Perpetual, your biggest shareholder?
What was the proxy position on the aborted constitutional changes which would have made it harder for external candidates
Are there any rules about tenure limits? What was the process of sourcing the two new directors?
Could you discuss the geographical diversity of the board and how that is managed?
What is the agreed chairman's fee for the current financial year?
Do you think there is a connection between your remuneration policies and the stable management team at Orica? There are too many loans for executives
Sequel to the dramatic Ten Network AGM
We published a special edition on the Ten Network AGM last week and there have been some interesting developments since then.
Firstly, the new board under chairman Brian Long has decided to appoint Grant Blackley as CEO of the whole company.
As we pointed out at the AGM, it was bizarre to have a CEO of the television division and a separate CEO of Eye Corp with no-one running the whole show after the departure of Nick Falloon.
However, unlike virtually every other major public company, Blackley has not been appointed as a voting director because the recent appointments of James Packer, Lachlan Murdoch and Gina Rinehart has left the board at the maximum 11 directors.
Why on earth would you give the last remaining vacancy to a mining heiress with no media experience rather than the CEO?
Largest shareholder Bruce Gordon seemed perplexed by the appointment which can only mean it was backed by James Packer, Lachlan Murdoch and the new independent chair Brian Long.
Supporting more female directors - but not the climate change denying mining heiress
Cash for comment shock jock Alan Jones once said: "People like Stephen Mayne don't deserve a place in society."
Jones remains one of Australia's more odious figures, but he still garners remarkable support from many notable figures on the right of politics.
Despite cash for comment, reckless climate denialism and triggering the Cronulla riots, Jones managed to attract 1100 people to a dinner in Sydney recently where James Packer launched an emotional tribute.
It was reportedly at this dinner where Gina Rinehart decided to get more active against the mining tax by snaffling key stakes in influential media companies such as Ten and Fairfax.
Gina is no ordinary female director. Earlier this year she paid for notorious climate denialist Lord Monckton to visit Perth and give a lecture at her alma mater, St Hildas Anglican Girls School in Mosman Park. Check out this press report.
Media Watch did Lord Monckton over in February and you can see vision of him with Jones in that episode.
Given all of these troubling associations, it was appropriate to give Rinehart a spray at the Ten AGM.
Amusingly, the day before she launched a bizarre attack on "stupid" journalists who refer to her as a "mining heiress".
This only sparked more AGM references to her being a "mining heiress" which ABC radio's PM program then ran in its Ten AGM package direct from the webcast. Gina will not be happy.
Besides, she is a mining heiress. When Lang Hancock died, she was collecting $15 million a year in royalty payments from Rio Tinto. Okay, the office building might have been mortgaged but Blind Freddy could turn that situation around with a guaranteed income flow from Rio which has now hit almost $100 million a year.
Sure, she has maximised her position by going into a 50-50 joint venture to develop the Hope Downs iron ore mine with Rio, but it's not exactly hard to make money when you inherit tenements to the greatest iron ore province in the world a few years before an unprecedented China-driven commodities boom.
Nick Falloon should join the Fairfax board
I sent the following email to Fairfax's head of investor relations, Frank Sufferini, and general counsel Gail Hambly last Friday:
Hi Gail and Frank, could you please flick this to chairman Roger Corbett and anyone else involved in board succession planning at Fairfax.
Nick Falloon told me yesterday that he was looking for a couple of Sydney-based NED positions in 2011. He'd be perfect for Fairfax, especially if a vacancy opens up with Greg Hywood going permanent.
Please confirm that you've passed this suggestion on.
Regards, Stephen Mayne
Roger has got the message and it will be interesting to see if Fairfax acts. Some other commentators have suggested Falloon could be appointed CEO of Fairfax. I would have thought he is looking to slow down a bit and that Hywood is a better option given his direct experience running the key Fairfax newspapers over the years.
If Falloon joined the Fairfax board, he would be a potential successor to Corbett as chairman in a couple of years. It would also annoy James Packer and galvanise Fairfax to compete aggressively against Packer's media interests given the appalling way Falloon has been treated. Have a listen to our praise for the ousted Ten executive chairman at the end of last week's AGM:
James Packer got it wrong - congratulations to Nick Falloon for a job well done - Read transcript
Other edited audio highlights from Ten AGM
How independent is Brian Long and has competitor Bruce Gordon been signing off on all these new directors?
Is there board support for Ten's sports channel and how will the conflicted Fox Sports directors be treated?
Your bold moves into an expanded news and current affairs format should be commended.
Could Paul Gleeson comment on any association with our new major shareholders?
Why wasn't Nick Falloon up for election and does David Gordon have any associations with the three billionaire families on the board?
What is Dean Hawkins' historical and ongoing associations with our major shareholders?
What does director Christine Holgate think about how Ten shafted retail shareholders by failing to do an SPP after a placement? - Read transcript
What promises has the new chairman made to get the top job and why isn't their room to have a CEO on the board?- Read transcript
Campaigning for more women on boards
Here come the women. BHP has appointed a British baroness to the board, meaning it now has 2 females out of 14. Carolyn Hewson is the other. Check out our reducing shame file of ASX200 companies without female board representation.
Transurban are the latest company to be deleted with the appointment of Ms Sam Mostyn to the board on December 8, adding to her portfolio of directorships which includes being the first woman commissioner of the Australian Football League and the Virgin Blue board.
It would be great to continue the women on boards campaign in 2011 and we will be giving Incitec Pivot some stick for being a blokes only affair at its AGM in Melbourne on December 21.
Cornwall on WikiLeaks
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Recent email editions and updates
For first time readers, here are links to our recent editions since the state election tilt was first revealed:
Working over conflicted billionaires and departing chair at lively Ten AGM
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Late Green surge means its all over - plus an attempt to reconcile nursing home disputes
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Voting update, Manningham mayoral delay, Fairfax upheaval, DJs AGM, pokies, Cornwall, ASIC jail list, Rich List and former staffers
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
How to track the voting and a media deluge on balance of power possibilities
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Manningham Carols by Candlelight
Speeches Feedback - Geelong branch of the Australian Shareholders' Association
We travelled down to Geelong for a speech at Skilled Stadium to the local members of the Australian Shareholders Association on December 7 and it was nice to get this feedback:
Hi Stephen,
Your presentation on Tuesday was highly praised by all of the attendees that I spoke to, and words such as “best ever” and “amazing” were regularly used.
Stephen, we all realise what a busy person you are, and we greatly appreciated your coming to Geelong and fitting us into your extremely tight schedule.
I sincerely hope that you eventually realise your political ambitions, as we certainly could do with more people like you in politics.
With Sincere Thanks,
Neville Preston
More Cornwall on Julian Assange
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Even RBA governor Glenn Stevens feels the need to downplay public debt
It was very strange to hear Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens make the following statement during the federal election campaign: "There is virtually no net public debt in the country at all in contrast to much of the developed world."
Whilst Rupert Murdoch's flagship newspaper Down Under, The Australian, loves to beat up on Labor governments irrespective of the facts sometimes, this recent splash pointing out that state government debt is projected to top $240 billion was a worthwhile piece of journalism.
I bumped into former Bendigo Bank managing director Rob Hunt in Bendigo six weeks ago and congratulated him on landing the tough job of chairing Treasury Corporation of Victoria, our state debt management authority.
He was told that debt disclosure by TCV is very poor. The Federal Government's own debt management website puts the gross debt figure at $152 billion and the bond issues have flowed as follows since our last update:
Friday, December 3, 2010: $700m tender of 2 year bonds expiring in November 2012 were sold for an average yield of 4.94% and was over-subscribed 5 times.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010: $650m tender of 8 year bonds expiring in January 2018 were sold for an average yield of 5.47% and was over-subscribed 3.6 times.
Incoming Victorian Treasurer Kim Wells is suddenly talking about the evils of debt, so if he wants to get that message out there the first thing he should do is start disclosing bond issue auction results on the TCV website, just like the Feds do.
And if the Liberals really want to cut costs, slashing Labor Party staff budgets is not a good place to start. With the Coalition in control of both houses, we really do need a well resourced opposition to keep them honest.
What are they going to do next? Unwind the new Senate-style committee system agreed before the election where the major Victorian upper house committees were to be chaired by non-government members.
The Mayne Report Rich List
BRW magazine does a great job with its various Australian Rich Lists but we've broadened their efforts to track any Australian who has ever been worth more than $10 million. We began the process of building the list in early 2008 where we had an initial 327 names. Now, after much research, we've got more than 1500 names with those who've fallen back below $10 million italicised. Below are some new entries:
John Leaper: the Chairman of TLC Aged Care since 1995, and along with his wife Jenny, they have become one of the most successful providers of Residential Aged Care in Victoria. Formerly John was President of the Aged Care Association of Victoria and Vice President of the federal body for several years.
Alan and David Oppenheim: Alan is the managing director and his brother David is on the board Ego Pharmaceuticals Their late father, Gerald (the G in Ego) started the business in 1953, by developing a product to cure his son's cradle cap - Ego Pine Tar Bath Solution, later called Pinetarsol, and has now grown into global business with an average turnover of over $68 million.
Rod Menzies: Melbourne's multi-millionaire cleaning magnate and art saleroom supremo he founded Menzies International, which is one of Australia's 500 most profitable private companies. Menzies International incorporates a cleaning business, fine art auction house, vineyard and racehorse stable.
Peace breaks out at Manningham Council
The following statement was sent to the local Manningham media on Wednesday:
Manningham Councillors Stephen Mayne, Charles Pick, Ivan Reid and David Ellis today announced they had reached an understanding to improve councillor relations in 2011.
After a year with too much conflict and discord, the four councillors have agreed to draw a line in the sand and work constructively together in the interests of both the council and the Manningham community.
As part of this understanding, Cr Mayne said he had undertaken to cease public criticisms of Crs Reid and Pick.
“Critically blogging about councillor colleges is not constructive and I recognise that this has contributed unnecessarily to tensions over the past year,” Cr Mayne said.
Cr Reid said he was looking forward to focusing on issues rather than personality disputes in 2011.
“In regards to past disagreement over the On Luck Chinese Nursing Home expansion proposal, I recognise that Cr Ellis was motivated by his desire to protect the green wedge and maximum community involvement in Manningham's planning processes,” Cr Reid said.
Cr Ellis said he was pleased to note the comments by Cr Reid and also acknowledged that the positions adopted by Cr Reid and Cr Pick reflected their genuine commitment to multi-culturalism and the urgent need for more nursing home beds to meet the needs of frail-aged Chinese residents in Manningham and across Victoria.
“Whilst we will as a council have to deal with some ongoing issues related to the On Luck proposal in 2011, I will be focused on the planning issues at hand rather than the roles or positions of any Manningham individuals involved,” Cr Ellis said.
Cr Ellis and Cr Pick also both said they were pleased that past disputes between them would not be escalated any further or dwelt upon needlessly.
Cr Mayne thanked outgoing mayor Charles Pick for showing leadership in enabling this agreement to be reached.
“It has been a difficult year for the mayor and all councillors but Charles has shown real leadership in working through the issues to reach this point of resolution,” Cr Mayne said.
The four councillors involved will not be making any further comments on past disputes and look forward to working constructively together in 2011.
Deputy mayor resigns from Manningham council
Meanwhile, in an unrelated development, our deputy mayor Fred Chuah has resigned for health reasons. This is how the Manningham Leader reported the story online. I've submitted a detailed letter to the Manningham Leader for publication in next week's edition which includes, amongst other comments, the following lines:
I'd like to wish former deputy mayor Fred Chuah JP a speedy recovery from his serious health challenges.
I'd like to place on record that Fred has contributed enormously over many years to the wellbeing of the Chinese community and elderly citizens more generally through positions such as his directorship at Manningham Community Health.
It's a real shame his two years on council didn't work out for the better as he had a lot to offer.
Mayoral position to be determined on December 21
Councillors are gathering next Monday night for a private ballot on the leadership for 2011, the result of which will become apparent at the delayed annual meeting on Tuesday, December 20.
The Manningham Leader has reported that Liberal and two-time former mayor Geoff Gough is the front runner as a "good compromise candidate" in a "peace deal". Our two female councillors, independent Grace La Vella and Labor's Meg Downie have also publically expressed interest in the job.
Audio highlights from December 14 council meeting
Some of the good residents of Donvale will not be happy with us councillors after two controversial planning proposals were comfortable approved at last week's council meeting. Here are the audio highlights:
Seconding the Coptic Church proposal given conditions and shortage of basketball courts
Full debate on revised plans for VCAT hearing on development of Coptic Church site
Supporting another 9ha gain of public open space through Matthews family proposal
Full debate of unanimous support for proposed panel review of Matthews property
Hartman scalp a rare ASIC jailing highlight
The Mayne Report's ASIC jail list highlights what a slack job the corporate plod has done over the years locking up white collar crooks but it was pleasing to see some accountability for an insider trading job earlier this month which we've recorded as follows:
3 December 2010 - Mr John Hartman, of Mosman, New South Wales, was to serve a term of four years and six months imprisonment on 25 insider trading related charges. Mr Hartman pleaded guilty to all charges which were committed while he was employed by Orion Asset Management as an equities dealer. Mr Hartman is to serve a minimum term of three years imprisonment before being eligible for parole on 1 December 2013.
Recent radio interviews
774 ABC Melbourne - back to regular chat with Lindy Burns discussing banks on December 13, 2010.
774 ABC Melbourne - discussing the Ten Network AGM but interview aborted on December 9, 2010.
RRR The Breakfasters - discussing the ongoing election results and WikiLeaks on December 8, 2010.
1233 ABC Newcastle - chatting about the 24 hour news cycle on December 8, 2010.
The Cornwall collection
Former Fairfax and Crikey cartoonist Mark Cornwall has been contributing to The Mayne Report since March 2009. Here is a collection of his best cartoons and check out this latest animation:
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3pm December 15: Went easy on Orica today given good performance post Dulux demerger. CEO and chair both chatty after 1st AGM attended at Melbourne Museum.
10.45am December 15: Missing out on NAB AGM today and their high production webcast, for Orica AGM in Melbourne with only an audio webcast
December 14: Manningham's deputy mayor has resigned: http://manningham-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/manningham-deputy-mayor-fred-chuah-resigns/
8pm December 13: Here come the women - BHP appoints British baroness to the board, meaning it now has 2 females out of 14. Carolyn Hewson is the other.
7pm December 13: Back for regular spot on 774 ABC Melbourne with Lindy Burns discussing banks and WikiLeaks http://urlm.in/giky
3.05pm December 9: Just opened the first corporate Christmas card - from those very nice people in the PR department at the Millionaires Factory, aka McBank.
1.43pm December 9: Check out special email edition on the cut and thrust from Channel Ten AGM: http://www.maynereport.com/articles/2010/12/09-1340-9072.html
1.32pm December 9: Ten AGM was a cracker with billionaires and conflicts everywhere. Got 90 mins at airport to write it up before flight leaves for Melbourne.
11.21am December 9: Landed in Sydney for Network Ten AGM at Star City - have got lots of fun and games planned. Suggest you listen to webcast from about 10.30am
9.10am December 9: See Tim Colebatch's take: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/all-power-to-baillieu-as-upper-house-win-looms-20101208-18prl.html?from=age_sb
6.43pm December 8: Had a chat on 1233 ABC Newcastle about the 24 hour news cycle http://urlm.in/ghic
5.37pm December 8: Just sent this email around conceding defeat: http://www.maynereport.com/articles/2010/12/08-1606-5042.html
3.50pm December 8: All over red rover. Green lead up to 3600 with 90% counted. Was fun whilst it lasted and can now return to being a feather duster. Shucks!
2.25pm December 8: Today's Crikey story on upper house: http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/12/08/how-the-s-x-party-disposed-of-a-junketeering-speaker/#comments
1.03pm December 8: Quite surprised The Age is refusing to publish a letter responding to yesterday's editorial sledging Victrorian upper house voting system.
11.08am December 8: Greens out to lead of 2600 but with 23% of pre-poll & 27.5% of absentees so far, weaker Green areas are to come given will end at 20% & 23%.
10.23am December 8: Antony Green's latest blog on upper house prospects: http://blogs.abc.net.au/antonygreen/
10.13am December 8: Sex Party will get $30,000 in public funding from 20,000 votes or 4.73% polled in Western Metro. Helped by donkey vote they will save Green.
9.47am December 8: Manningham Leader has gone big with splash on Councillor Conduct Panel findings: http://manningham-leader.whereilive.com.au/
8.20am December 8: Had a chat with The Breakfasters on RRR Melbourne radio discussing the ongoing Vic election counting and WikiLeaks http://urlm.in/ghfq
That's all for now.
Do ya best, Stephen Mayne
* The Mayne Report is a multi-media governance website published by shareholder activist, local government councillor, Crikey founder and political candidate Stephen Mayne with regular email editions. To unsubscribe from the free emails click here.
Below is a final bumper email edition of The Mayne Report for 2010, although there may be an update or two on specific issues before the end of the year. The web version is available here if you fancy an on-pass or you can unsubscribe here.
Strategic review of The Mayne Report
After more than three years of operation, the better half has ordered a "strategic review" of The Mayne Report which costs about $100,000 a year to run.
As was joked to Lindy Burns during this week's regular segment on 774 ABC Melbourne, Paula has said it's time to "get a job".
After missing out on the CEO's position at the Australian Shareholders' Association last month, it's hard to imagine too many other full-time jobs that would be appropriate for someone committed to independently promoting good governance and transparency.
Balance of power in the Victorian upper house certainly would have fit the bill, but it might also have been hell as is discussed below.
Anyway, the options to consider during this "strategic review" are as follows:
* Seek an equity injection into The Mayne Report to fund some more contributors and then crank up the subscriber model moving to more regular editions like the old days of Crikey.
* Scale back the costs of The Mayne Report to a more bare bones operation without third party contributors, video or audio and then use it as a platform for an increased focus on the talk circuit and paid contributions to other media outlets such as Crikey, ABC radio, Fairfax's BusinessDay, Sky Business and Aunty's The Drum.
* Close The Mayne Report and seek to sell some of the more interesting content such as the 1500 name Rich List and director rankings as part of a broader content deal with other media outlets or research houses.
* Seek an exclusive contributor arrangement with one particular media outlet.
* Revitalise the idea of writing a book in 2011. News Corp's Harper Collins book division originally commissioned something they wanted to call Memoir of a Ratbag in 2007. Rupert and his minions weren't happy when they heard a contract had been signed to hand over $20,000 to the Sun King's biggest Australian critic but after a manuscript still hadn't been delivered three years later, they gave me $10,000 to terminate the contract in February this year. This money was used to fly to New York and annoy Rupert at the News Corp AGM in October as you can see from this package.
* Spend more time with the kids and focus on bread and butter Manningham Council issues.
* Pursue a mooted offer with a not-for-profit in the shareholder space doing some governance project work.
* Pursue an offer to work professionally on the women on boards project.
It's a diverse range of options and we're open to all suggestions so do drop us a line to Stephen@maynereport.com if you have any comments on what should be pursued in 2011.
Supporting Tibet and our gun multi-media producer Shane Marden
For the past three and a half years, our multi-media producer Shane Marden has been the backbone of The Mayne Report capturing and editing audio and video from AGM webcasts, radio gigs, council meetings and speeches. He's also compiled a tonne of lists, produced endless transcripts and generally managing all production issues around the website and email newsletter.
Shane is also passionate about the Tibetan people and self-published a beautiful photography book after travelling to India and meeting the Dalai Lama in 1999.
Bob Brown gave a cracking speech when he launched the book last year and Shane's passion plus all the relevent links can be accessed through this package.
The book sells for just $69 (including postage) and would make a lovely Christmas gift.
Whilst we're not sure what Shane and The Mayne Report will be doing after March next year, anyone who buys a copy of the book will also receive our subscriber updates over the next few weeks.
Once again, have a read of Shane's explanation of his Tibetan adventure and do consider supporting his cause.
Final thoughts on the Victorian election result
The final results and preference distributions are in for the Victorian election and we ended up missing out in the Northern Metropolitan upper house region by 3098 votes, not 3790 votes as The Age reported on Wednesday.
That's because the final surge in the Green vote to 19.21% meant we ended up being closer to overhauling Family First. The race for the fifth and final spot in Northern Metropolitan started off as follows after the first four 16.67% quotas (65,627 votes each) had been deducted but before the distribution of preferences:
1. Liberal number two Craig Ondarchie: 41,277 votes or 10.48%
2. Labor's number three Nathan Murphy: 34,035 votes or 8.64%
3. Sex Party's Fiona Patten: 14,291 votes or 3.63%
4. DLP's John Kavanagh: 10,665 votes or 2.71%
5. Green number two Alex Bhathal: 10,032 votes or 2.55%
6. Family First's Andrew Conlon: 9136 votes ro 2.32%
7. Independent Stephen Mayne: 3861 votes or 0.98%
8. Christian Democrats: 3539 votes or 0.9%
9. Independent Parents and Carers: 2342 votes or 0.59%
10. Country Alliance: 2074 votes or 0.53%
After you distribute Country Alliance to the Sex Party, the Independent carers to us and the Christian Democrats to the DLP, I bow out out in what Antony Green describes as the ninth count. In reality, you have to distribute all the below the line votes so it is the 138th count according to the Excell spreadsheet of the preference distribution accessible through this link on the VEC website.
At that point, with just seven candidates left in the field, the bottom three candidates were as follows:
Second Green: 10,084
Family First: 9,392
Stephen Mayne: 6,294
In terms of what would would have been a winning scenario, I needed 1550 Family First voters to switch my way. Alternatively, victory would also have come if 1895 extra Green voters had supported our tilt.
Alternatively, we would have won if 3791 Green voters had instead voted Liberal because the Labor vote was weak enough that preference flows from the Greens, DLP, Sex Party and Family First would have been enough to get ahead of Labor's Nathan Murphy and then knock off Liberal Craig Ondarchie for the final spot.
Whilst the preference flows were good, at the end of the day we needed more primary votes. A miserable 0.98% of the primary vote or 3861 votes just didn't cut it. Assuming the Greens and Family First votes remained the same, we just needed to poll about 1.8% of the vote or roughly 7000.
The Liberal victory in the end was reasonably comfortable with 65,854 votes to Labor's 53,240 after everyone else was distributed. This meant my 2042 above the line preferences to the Liberals were not decisive in delivering them control of both houses because the same thing would have happened if I'd preferenced Labor ahead of the Liberals.
This is very different from 2006 when my preferences were decisive in getting Labor's number two Evan Thornley over the line in Southern Metropolitan.
How Green voters backed our tilt
Targeting Green voters was indeed the correct strategy when you consider our primary vote was as follows in the 11 lower house seats excluding postals, pre-poll and absentee votes:
Ivanhoe: 460
Richmond: 425
Brunswick: 416
Northcote: 396
Melbourne: 382
Yan Yean: 338
Mill Park: 140
Preston: 129
Bundoora: 122
Broadmeadows: 99
Thomastown: 84
In other words, we crashed and burned in the safe Labor areas and did best in the strong inner-city Green seats, plus Ivanhoe and Yan Yean which are slightly better Liberal areas that also border Manningham.
One again we had a ridiculously large below the line vote of 47.1% or 1819 votes out of the 3861 total. The best way to assess where your support comes from is to see where these votes finish in the prefererence distribution. It's a similar trend to the Senate and 2006 Victorian election:
Greens: 758
Sex Party: 304
Labor: 241
Liberal: 161
Exhausted: 140
DLP: 91
Family First: 72
Dealing with the let-down of defeat
The public awareness of the upper house situation has been quite incredible since that blitz of media in the days immediately after the election. The chairs of David Jones, Nufarm and Orica have mentioned it at recent AGMs and I must have had 30 conversations about it at the RACV President's dinner on Wednesday night.
Passers by continue to offer commiserations in the street and one bloke at a petrol station just said "good luck mate, use the balance of power wisely".
Whilst it is obviously disappointing to lose, it would have been a hugely stressful life changer to hold the balance of power exclusively for four years.
"Be careful what you wish for," as they say, and at least we'll be able to spend plenty of time with our three kids as they complete their primary school years.
Final batch of media on state election
Finally, here is just some of the recent media related to the state election tilt:
All power to Baillieu as upper house win looms
Tim Colebatch, The Age, December 9
Coalition can count on both houses
The Age, December 14
How the Sex Party disposed of a junketeering speaker
Crikey, December 8, 2010
Stephen Mayne concedes defeat
Melbourne Weekly Eastern
RRR The Breakfasters - discussing the ongoing election results and WikiLeaks on December 8, 2010.
Expenses go on the record
Preston Leader, December 7, 2010
The Mayne Chance
Preston Leader, December 7, 2010
System subverts voter preferences
Editorial, The Age, December 7, 2010
Stephen Mayne man to target council governance
Genevieve Gannon, Melbourne Times Weekly, December 7, 2010
Mayne looks set for upper house
Melbourne Leader, December 6, 2010
Announcement of results of election count
Below are videos of Craig Ondarchie's victory speech at the formal declaration of the poll on Wednesday and one or our favourite videos of Peter Costello announcing victory after the 2007 Federal election and scolding us for not attending.
The Night Life with Rod Quinn - filling in for Tony Delroy
For the past three years we've done a 50-minute end of year review with Rod Quinn, the regular summer fill-in host for Tony Delroy on The Night Life, which goes out nationally on ABC local radio.
If you were listening between 10pm and 11pm last night, you would have heard the big news events of 2010 covered in a lively banter that took in a few callers. The audio files of the last three years are available as follows:
2010: from 10-11pm on ABC local radio across the country on December 16. Territory covered included Kevin Rudd, Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, federal and state elections, and other main events from 2010.
2009: wide-ranging discussion from 10-11pm on ABC local radio across the country on December 21. Territory covered included climate change, various international elections, the GFC, Tiger Woods, Barnaby Joyce and Tony Abbott.
2008 - wide-ranging discussion from 10-11pm on ABC local radio across the country on December 29. Territory covered included the GFC, sport, Georgia, Iraq, Obama, the Beijing Olympics and the performance of Kevin Rudd.
The National Interest on ABC Radio National
This end of year ABC radio wrap has been quite a common occurence over the years as we also found these three in the archive from Radio National:
2008 - half hour discussion with host Peter Mares and other guests including John Roskam on December 19. Territory covered included bailouts and handouts, not-so-tough climate targets and household debt. Download audio
2007 - half hour discussion on December 23 with host Peter Mares and two other panellists on issues such as the defeat of Howard, a Rudd Government, global warming, continuing drought and Australia's ability to cope in tougher economic times.
2004 - on December 19 Andrew West, Karen Middleton and Stephen Mayne joined Terry Lane to review the main issues of the year in politics, business and foreign policy. Read the transcript
Orica AGM at the Melbourne Museum
The Orica AGM was a relatively tame affair yesterday given their good performance and we asked the following six questions:
What is the relationship with Perpetual, your biggest shareholder?
What was the proxy position on the aborted constitutional changes which would have made it harder for external candidates
Are there any rules about tenure limits? What was the process of sourcing the two new directors?
Could you discuss the geographical diversity of the board and how that is managed?
What is the agreed chairman's fee for the current financial year?
Do you think there is a connection between your remuneration policies and the stable management team at Orica? There are too many loans for executives
Sequel to the dramatic Ten Network AGM
We published a special edition on the Ten Network AGM last week and there have been some interesting developments since then.
Firstly, the new board under chairman Brian Long has decided to appoint Grant Blackley as CEO of the whole company.
As we pointed out at the AGM, it was bizarre to have a CEO of the television division and a separate CEO of Eye Corp with no-one running the whole show after the departure of Nick Falloon.
However, unlike virtually every other major public company, Blackley has not been appointed as a voting director because the recent appointments of James Packer, Lachlan Murdoch and Gina Rinehart has left the board at the maximum 11 directors.
Why on earth would you give the last remaining vacancy to a mining heiress with no media experience rather than the CEO?
Largest shareholder Bruce Gordon seemed perplexed by the appointment which can only mean it was backed by James Packer, Lachlan Murdoch and the new independent chair Brian Long.
Supporting more female directors - but not the climate change denying mining heiress
Cash for comment shock jock Alan Jones once said: "People like Stephen Mayne don't deserve a place in society."
Jones remains one of Australia's more odious figures, but he still garners remarkable support from many notable figures on the right of politics.
Despite cash for comment, reckless climate denialism and triggering the Cronulla riots, Jones managed to attract 1100 people to a dinner in Sydney recently where James Packer launched an emotional tribute.
It was reportedly at this dinner where Gina Rinehart decided to get more active against the mining tax by snaffling key stakes in influential media companies such as Ten and Fairfax.
Gina is no ordinary female director. Earlier this year she paid for notorious climate denialist Lord Monckton to visit Perth and give a lecture at her alma mater, St Hildas Anglican Girls School in Mosman Park. Check out this press report.
Media Watch did Lord Monckton over in February and you can see vision of him with Jones in that episode.
Given all of these troubling associations, it was appropriate to give Rinehart a spray at the Ten AGM.
Amusingly, the day before she launched a bizarre attack on "stupid" journalists who refer to her as a "mining heiress".
This only sparked more AGM references to her being a "mining heiress" which ABC radio's PM program then ran in its Ten AGM package direct from the webcast. Gina will not be happy.
Besides, she is a mining heiress. When Lang Hancock died, she was collecting $15 million a year in royalty payments from Rio Tinto. Okay, the office building might have been mortgaged but Blind Freddy could turn that situation around with a guaranteed income flow from Rio which has now hit almost $100 million a year.
Sure, she has maximised her position by going into a 50-50 joint venture to develop the Hope Downs iron ore mine with Rio, but it's not exactly hard to make money when you inherit tenements to the greatest iron ore province in the world a few years before an unprecedented China-driven commodities boom.
Nick Falloon should join the Fairfax board
I sent the following email to Fairfax's head of investor relations, Frank Sufferini, and general counsel Gail Hambly last Friday:
Hi Gail and Frank, could you please flick this to chairman Roger Corbett and anyone else involved in board succession planning at Fairfax.
Nick Falloon told me yesterday that he was looking for a couple of Sydney-based NED positions in 2011. He'd be perfect for Fairfax, especially if a vacancy opens up with Greg Hywood going permanent.
Please confirm that you've passed this suggestion on.
Regards, Stephen Mayne
Roger has got the message and it will be interesting to see if Fairfax acts. Some other commentators have suggested Falloon could be appointed CEO of Fairfax. I would have thought he is looking to slow down a bit and that Hywood is a better option given his direct experience running the key Fairfax newspapers over the years.
If Falloon joined the Fairfax board, he would be a potential successor to Corbett as chairman in a couple of years. It would also annoy James Packer and galvanise Fairfax to compete aggressively against Packer's media interests given the appalling way Falloon has been treated. Have a listen to our praise for the ousted Ten executive chairman at the end of last week's AGM:
James Packer got it wrong - congratulations to Nick Falloon for a job well done - Read transcript
Other edited audio highlights from Ten AGM
How independent is Brian Long and has competitor Bruce Gordon been signing off on all these new directors?
Is there board support for Ten's sports channel and how will the conflicted Fox Sports directors be treated?
Your bold moves into an expanded news and current affairs format should be commended.
Could Paul Gleeson comment on any association with our new major shareholders?
Why wasn't Nick Falloon up for election and does David Gordon have any associations with the three billionaire families on the board?
What is Dean Hawkins' historical and ongoing associations with our major shareholders?
What does director Christine Holgate think about how Ten shafted retail shareholders by failing to do an SPP after a placement? - Read transcript
What promises has the new chairman made to get the top job and why isn't their room to have a CEO on the board?- Read transcript
Campaigning for more women on boards
Here come the women. BHP has appointed a British baroness to the board, meaning it now has 2 females out of 14. Carolyn Hewson is the other. Check out our reducing shame file of ASX200 companies without female board representation.
Transurban are the latest company to be deleted with the appointment of Ms Sam Mostyn to the board on December 8, adding to her portfolio of directorships which includes being the first woman commissioner of the Australian Football League and the Virgin Blue board.
It would be great to continue the women on boards campaign in 2011 and we will be giving Incitec Pivot some stick for being a blokes only affair at its AGM in Melbourne on December 21.
Cornwall on WikiLeaks
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Recent email editions and updates
For first time readers, here are links to our recent editions since the state election tilt was first revealed:
Working over conflicted billionaires and departing chair at lively Ten AGM
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Late Green surge means its all over - plus an attempt to reconcile nursing home disputes
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Voting update, Manningham mayoral delay, Fairfax upheaval, DJs AGM, pokies, Cornwall, ASIC jail list, Rich List and former staffers
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
How to track the voting and a media deluge on balance of power possibilities
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Manningham Carols by Candlelight
Speeches Feedback - Geelong branch of the Australian Shareholders' Association
We travelled down to Geelong for a speech at Skilled Stadium to the local members of the Australian Shareholders Association on December 7 and it was nice to get this feedback:
Hi Stephen,
Your presentation on Tuesday was highly praised by all of the attendees that I spoke to, and words such as “best ever” and “amazing” were regularly used.
Stephen, we all realise what a busy person you are, and we greatly appreciated your coming to Geelong and fitting us into your extremely tight schedule.
I sincerely hope that you eventually realise your political ambitions, as we certainly could do with more people like you in politics.
With Sincere Thanks,
Neville Preston
More Cornwall on Julian Assange
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Even RBA governor Glenn Stevens feels the need to downplay public debt
It was very strange to hear Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens make the following statement during the federal election campaign: "There is virtually no net public debt in the country at all in contrast to much of the developed world."
Whilst Rupert Murdoch's flagship newspaper Down Under, The Australian, loves to beat up on Labor governments irrespective of the facts sometimes, this recent splash pointing out that state government debt is projected to top $240 billion was a worthwhile piece of journalism.
I bumped into former Bendigo Bank managing director Rob Hunt in Bendigo six weeks ago and congratulated him on landing the tough job of chairing Treasury Corporation of Victoria, our state debt management authority.
He was told that debt disclosure by TCV is very poor. The Federal Government's own debt management website puts the gross debt figure at $152 billion and the bond issues have flowed as follows since our last update:
Friday, December 3, 2010: $700m tender of 2 year bonds expiring in November 2012 were sold for an average yield of 4.94% and was over-subscribed 5 times.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010: $650m tender of 8 year bonds expiring in January 2018 were sold for an average yield of 5.47% and was over-subscribed 3.6 times.
Incoming Victorian Treasurer Kim Wells is suddenly talking about the evils of debt, so if he wants to get that message out there the first thing he should do is start disclosing bond issue auction results on the TCV website, just like the Feds do.
And if the Liberals really want to cut costs, slashing Labor Party staff budgets is not a good place to start. With the Coalition in control of both houses, we really do need a well resourced opposition to keep them honest.
What are they going to do next? Unwind the new Senate-style committee system agreed before the election where the major Victorian upper house committees were to be chaired by non-government members.
The Mayne Report Rich List
BRW magazine does a great job with its various Australian Rich Lists but we've broadened their efforts to track any Australian who has ever been worth more than $10 million. We began the process of building the list in early 2008 where we had an initial 327 names. Now, after much research, we've got more than 1500 names with those who've fallen back below $10 million italicised. Below are some new entries:
John Leaper: the Chairman of TLC Aged Care since 1995, and along with his wife Jenny, they have become one of the most successful providers of Residential Aged Care in Victoria. Formerly John was President of the Aged Care Association of Victoria and Vice President of the federal body for several years.
Alan and David Oppenheim: Alan is the managing director and his brother David is on the board Ego Pharmaceuticals Their late father, Gerald (the G in Ego) started the business in 1953, by developing a product to cure his son's cradle cap - Ego Pine Tar Bath Solution, later called Pinetarsol, and has now grown into global business with an average turnover of over $68 million.
Rod Menzies: Melbourne's multi-millionaire cleaning magnate and art saleroom supremo he founded Menzies International, which is one of Australia's 500 most profitable private companies. Menzies International incorporates a cleaning business, fine art auction house, vineyard and racehorse stable.
Peace breaks out at Manningham Council
The following statement was sent to the local Manningham media on Wednesday:
Manningham Councillors Stephen Mayne, Charles Pick, Ivan Reid and David Ellis today announced they had reached an understanding to improve councillor relations in 2011.
After a year with too much conflict and discord, the four councillors have agreed to draw a line in the sand and work constructively together in the interests of both the council and the Manningham community.
As part of this understanding, Cr Mayne said he had undertaken to cease public criticisms of Crs Reid and Pick.
“Critically blogging about councillor colleges is not constructive and I recognise that this has contributed unnecessarily to tensions over the past year,” Cr Mayne said.
Cr Reid said he was looking forward to focusing on issues rather than personality disputes in 2011.
“In regards to past disagreement over the On Luck Chinese Nursing Home expansion proposal, I recognise that Cr Ellis was motivated by his desire to protect the green wedge and maximum community involvement in Manningham's planning processes,” Cr Reid said.
Cr Ellis said he was pleased to note the comments by Cr Reid and also acknowledged that the positions adopted by Cr Reid and Cr Pick reflected their genuine commitment to multi-culturalism and the urgent need for more nursing home beds to meet the needs of frail-aged Chinese residents in Manningham and across Victoria.
“Whilst we will as a council have to deal with some ongoing issues related to the On Luck proposal in 2011, I will be focused on the planning issues at hand rather than the roles or positions of any Manningham individuals involved,” Cr Ellis said.
Cr Ellis and Cr Pick also both said they were pleased that past disputes between them would not be escalated any further or dwelt upon needlessly.
Cr Mayne thanked outgoing mayor Charles Pick for showing leadership in enabling this agreement to be reached.
“It has been a difficult year for the mayor and all councillors but Charles has shown real leadership in working through the issues to reach this point of resolution,” Cr Mayne said.
The four councillors involved will not be making any further comments on past disputes and look forward to working constructively together in 2011.
Deputy mayor resigns from Manningham council
Meanwhile, in an unrelated development, our deputy mayor Fred Chuah has resigned for health reasons. This is how the Manningham Leader reported the story online. I've submitted a detailed letter to the Manningham Leader for publication in next week's edition which includes, amongst other comments, the following lines:
I'd like to wish former deputy mayor Fred Chuah JP a speedy recovery from his serious health challenges.
I'd like to place on record that Fred has contributed enormously over many years to the wellbeing of the Chinese community and elderly citizens more generally through positions such as his directorship at Manningham Community Health.
It's a real shame his two years on council didn't work out for the better as he had a lot to offer.
Mayoral position to be determined on December 21
Councillors are gathering next Monday night for a private ballot on the leadership for 2011, the result of which will become apparent at the delayed annual meeting on Tuesday, December 20.
The Manningham Leader has reported that Liberal and two-time former mayor Geoff Gough is the front runner as a "good compromise candidate" in a "peace deal". Our two female councillors, independent Grace La Vella and Labor's Meg Downie have also publically expressed interest in the job.
Audio highlights from December 14 council meeting
Some of the good residents of Donvale will not be happy with us councillors after two controversial planning proposals were comfortable approved at last week's council meeting. Here are the audio highlights:
Seconding the Coptic Church proposal given conditions and shortage of basketball courts
Full debate on revised plans for VCAT hearing on development of Coptic Church site
Supporting another 9ha gain of public open space through Matthews family proposal
Full debate of unanimous support for proposed panel review of Matthews property
Hartman scalp a rare ASIC jailing highlight
The Mayne Report's ASIC jail list highlights what a slack job the corporate plod has done over the years locking up white collar crooks but it was pleasing to see some accountability for an insider trading job earlier this month which we've recorded as follows:
3 December 2010 - Mr John Hartman, of Mosman, New South Wales, was to serve a term of four years and six months imprisonment on 25 insider trading related charges. Mr Hartman pleaded guilty to all charges which were committed while he was employed by Orion Asset Management as an equities dealer. Mr Hartman is to serve a minimum term of three years imprisonment before being eligible for parole on 1 December 2013.
Recent radio interviews
774 ABC Melbourne - back to regular chat with Lindy Burns discussing banks on December 13, 2010.
774 ABC Melbourne - discussing the Ten Network AGM but interview aborted on December 9, 2010.
RRR The Breakfasters - discussing the ongoing election results and WikiLeaks on December 8, 2010.
1233 ABC Newcastle - chatting about the 24 hour news cycle on December 8, 2010.
The Cornwall collection
Former Fairfax and Crikey cartoonist Mark Cornwall has been contributing to The Mayne Report since March 2009. Here is a collection of his best cartoons and check out this latest animation:
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Click on the image above to join more than 3000 followers on Twitter. Here are some recent tweets:
3pm December 15: Went easy on Orica today given good performance post Dulux demerger. CEO and chair both chatty after 1st AGM attended at Melbourne Museum.
10.45am December 15: Missing out on NAB AGM today and their high production webcast, for Orica AGM in Melbourne with only an audio webcast
December 14: Manningham's deputy mayor has resigned: http://manningham-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/manningham-deputy-mayor-fred-chuah-resigns/
8pm December 13: Here come the women - BHP appoints British baroness to the board, meaning it now has 2 females out of 14. Carolyn Hewson is the other.
7pm December 13: Back for regular spot on 774 ABC Melbourne with Lindy Burns discussing banks and WikiLeaks http://urlm.in/giky
3.05pm December 9: Just opened the first corporate Christmas card - from those very nice people in the PR department at the Millionaires Factory, aka McBank.
1.43pm December 9: Check out special email edition on the cut and thrust from Channel Ten AGM: http://www.maynereport.com/articles/2010/12/09-1340-9072.html
1.32pm December 9: Ten AGM was a cracker with billionaires and conflicts everywhere. Got 90 mins at airport to write it up before flight leaves for Melbourne.
11.21am December 9: Landed in Sydney for Network Ten AGM at Star City - have got lots of fun and games planned. Suggest you listen to webcast from about 10.30am
9.10am December 9: See Tim Colebatch's take: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/all-power-to-baillieu-as-upper-house-win-looms-20101208-18prl.html?from=age_sb
6.43pm December 8: Had a chat on 1233 ABC Newcastle about the 24 hour news cycle http://urlm.in/ghic
5.37pm December 8: Just sent this email around conceding defeat: http://www.maynereport.com/articles/2010/12/08-1606-5042.html
3.50pm December 8: All over red rover. Green lead up to 3600 with 90% counted. Was fun whilst it lasted and can now return to being a feather duster. Shucks!
2.25pm December 8: Today's Crikey story on upper house: http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/12/08/how-the-s-x-party-disposed-of-a-junketeering-speaker/#comments
1.03pm December 8: Quite surprised The Age is refusing to publish a letter responding to yesterday's editorial sledging Victrorian upper house voting system.
11.08am December 8: Greens out to lead of 2600 but with 23% of pre-poll & 27.5% of absentees so far, weaker Green areas are to come given will end at 20% & 23%.
10.23am December 8: Antony Green's latest blog on upper house prospects: http://blogs.abc.net.au/antonygreen/
10.13am December 8: Sex Party will get $30,000 in public funding from 20,000 votes or 4.73% polled in Western Metro. Helped by donkey vote they will save Green.
9.47am December 8: Manningham Leader has gone big with splash on Councillor Conduct Panel findings: http://manningham-leader.whereilive.com.au/
8.20am December 8: Had a chat with The Breakfasters on RRR Melbourne radio discussing the ongoing Vic election counting and WikiLeaks http://urlm.in/ghfq
Do ya best, Stephen Mayne
* The Mayne Report is a multi-media governance website published by shareholder activist, local government councillor, Crikey founder and political candidate Stephen Mayne with regular email editions. To unsubscribe from the free emails click here.