Brickbats fly, Tabart leaves Docklands, Singapore Power, Geoff Lord, kinder committee

22. Aunty, Piers and Cossie – the brickbats fly at Crikey



By Crikey founder Stephen Mayne

Since Crikey was launched on February 14, 2000, the accuracy and quality of the content has steadily improved in line with resources and experience. The sale of Crikey in March this year marked a major step-up in quality as professionals took over and more resources were injected.

But we still cop of plenty of wild and sweeping slaps, such as the jibe from Peter Costello as his Canberra press conference yesterday. Check out the transcript here.

TREASURER: Oh yes, oh yes, yes. There is a clip apparently in the Adelaide Advertiser after the appointment. But on the basis of that clip I was supposed to know before the appointment. Okay - first proposition. Second, and we can all put up our hands here, we all of course were aware of that story in the Adelaide Advertiser. Every person in this press conference who was aware of it can now put their hand up. Of course the Opposition was absolutely aware of it, they were on notice of it because they raised it in March of 2003. Or Kim Beazley said they were too busy with the Iraq war in March of 2003 so I assume they raised it in April, May, June, July, August – this is three years ago. No press outlet to my knowledge before the Australian Financial Review last week was apprised of this or reported this. No television, no Cabinet Minister, you know the…

PAUL BONGIORNO: It was in Crikey.

TREASURER: Oh Crikey, well now we are in to reliable sources, Mr Bongiorno, I would back the Ten Network against Crikey.

There's usually a strong correlation between the people we criticise and the slaps that come back. For instance, Piers Akerman let fly last week when he alleged that Crikey's proprietors are not journalists, despite many years in the game, including stints in the most senior positions at News Ltd and Fairfax.

The Daily Telegraph still hasn't run the following letter I sent in, which is typical, even though Akerman gets a run in Crikey whenever he fires off a letter:

Sir, Piers Akerman blithely opines ("Nothing comes free in this world" - Dec 1) that "almost anyone can call themselves a journalist these days" and then describes me as someone "claiming to be journalist".

Err, during a 16-year career in journalism I spent 7 years with News Ltd, including stints as business editor and chief of staff (briefly) of The DailyTelegraph. I even won The Telegraph a rare Walkley in 1999 for the 16-part series "AGM Season 1998".

Piers is welcome to attack my work as a journalist, but such a patently absurd sledge does your paper no credit.

Stephen Mayne
Founder, www.crikey.com.au

Maybe it would be an interesting experience to run this through the Press Council, where Akerman was cleaned up by Tim Palmer earlier this year.

The 7.30 Report's Michael Brissenden also had a gratuitous dig on Tuesday when he said: "Even the Internet gossip sheet, Crikey, was reporting Mr Gerard's tax problems in the week after his appointment to the RBA board. It's not considered a reliable journal of record but here in Parliament it is widely and closely read."

If Crikey really is full of unreliable gossip put together by non-journalists, why do the 32,711 email addresses on our data base include 267 from the ABC, 221 in Federal Parliament (aph.gov.au) and more than 400 from News Corporation, including 64 from The Australian and 26 from The Daily Telegraph?

Truth be known, Crikey has the best email list in the country because the news and commentary is unique, incisive and largely accurate. We haven't folded our tent like so many others, and it is time we were recognised as a credible, important and genuinely independent fixture on the Australian media scene.




25. Skase's man bails from troubled Docklands Authority



By Stephen Mayne

John Tabart is one of the great property survivors. The man who was CEO of Christopher Skase's Mirage Resorts from 1987 until the collapse in 1991 has spent the last decade running Victoria's multi-billion dollar Docklands Authority.

However, this morning the controversial can-do man has bailed and will take up a new position with the Dubai Property Group. Did he jump before being pushed? Who knows, but he certainly has been a great survivor, putting up with all sorts of abuse from Jeff Kennett and then surviving numerous stoushes with developers in more recent years.

Kennett looks back on Tabart and laments that he should have called his bluff earlier about all the talk of theme parks and technology precincts which never materialised into actual developments.

However, the apartment towers have certainly sprouted like mushrooms in recent years but the majority of investors are now underwater and there is ongoing litigation involving developers like Mirvac and some of their buyers. While residential is suffering a downturn, Tabart's team has recently been talking up things like ING's retail development.

Tabart is a former managing director of Lend Lease Residential, which is ironic given that Lend Lease has been pathetically slow to develop its giant 30ha Victoria Harbour precinct at Docklands. Check out this big-talking press release from 2002.

There was also the controversial merger of the Docklands Authority with the Urban and Regional Land Corporation (URLC) in 2003 to create VicUrban, which didn't make a lot of sense given that one was focused on a loss-making inner-city precinct and the other was a highly profitable developer of new estates on the urban fringes.

The merger gave the Bracks Government an excuse to sack the well-credentialled URLC board which some cynics believe was payback for the Jim Reeves job-for-a-mate affair back in November 2001, which remains the most damaging blot on his squeaky clean image. Reeves was Bracks's best mate and he was slotted to run the URLC but pulled out when a public scandal emerged about the selection process.

The 2003 merger saw numerous respected URLC executives bail in the immediate aftermath, but what happens now that guru Tabart has walked? And what will all those developers who have been pushed around for years by Tabart do now?




26. Has Singapore Power suffered an investor boycott?



By Stephen Mayne

Has there been a protest against the Singapore government's barbaric execution of Van Nguyen by Australian investors in the float of Victorian and South Australian energy company SP Ausnet?

What was mooted as a $1.6 billion raising has shrunk to $1.4 billion after the book build was priced at just $1.38 a share, which is in the bottom half of the range between $1.29 and $1.57.

The AFR's Chanticleer columnist yesterday predicted a price of $1.45-$1.50 but the float promoters are still talking up the result as you can see in The Age today. All this talk of it being twice over-subscribed ignores the lower than expected pricing and the fact that Singaporean investors have taken up 40% of the new shares, suggesting relatively tepid interest from Australia.

That said, we're still in a boom market for infrastructure assets and the Singapore government is more than $1 billion in front on the $7.2 billion its has invested in Australian energy assets.

Singapore Power was disciplined in staying on the sidelines during the original $30 billion Kennett Government privatisation program between August 1995 and May 1999. However, it entered the fray in June 2000 when American utility GPU booked a $450 million loss on the sale of its electricity transmission business, PowerNet Victoria, for $2.1 billion.

As you can see from Crikey's world famous power privatisation list, in April 2004 TXU sold its Australian business to Singapore Power for $5.1 billion, booking a $513 million profit although the business repatriated no dividends back to Texas during its eight year operation.

There isn't much scope for a consumer protest against Singapore Power because they own the Victorian electricity transmission network, the electricity distribution network in eastern Victoria, the gas distribution network in western Victoria, an underground gas storage facility in Victoria, a one-third interest in a gas pipeline linking Victoria and South Australia and a 99-year lease on the 1200-megawatt Torrens Island gas-fired power station in South Australia.

Unfortunately, they sold the old TXU retail business to China Light & Power (CLP), so they don't have anything you can switch from without moving house. That said, Singapore Power retains 51% of SP Ausnet, so the AGM will provide a forum for attacking Singapore Inc., as will the Australand AGM next May.

Of course, you can always follow Lex Lasry's lead and dump your Optus account. And why not fly to Singapore for next year's Singtel AGM, given that the CEO is the PM's brother and Lee Kwan Yew's second son. The possibilities are endless.





29. Time for Geoff Lord to pay up or get out



By Stephen Mayne

Qualifying for the World Cup is thought to be worth about $40 million in revenue for the Football Federation of Australia, but the deft execution of the next seven months will be absolutely vital to really put Australian soccer on the map.

While joining the Asian League is vital, the eight teams in the Hyundai A League need to get their finances and structures completely sorted out so there is a stable base going forward.

For instance, John Elliott's old Foster's mate Geoff Lord, who BRW reckons is worth $120 million, needs to either write out a big cheque or surrender control of the Melbourne Victory, which continues to pull great crowds despite a recent form slump.

Lord has still only contributed $250,000 to the Victory and the $1 million licence fee is only half paid. The FFA board apparently agreed to kick in $500,000 yesterday, bringing Victory's total capital to about $2.5 million when it is meant to have $5 million.

The value of A League licences all leapt after the Socceroos qualified, so surely Lord can afford to pay up and justify his control, which has been achieved by installing various supporters in key positions.

Promoter Glenn Wheatley wants to be involved but the poisonous relationship with Lord and his syndicate has made him reluctant to dive right in until the current situation is sorted out.

Finally, Victory had a highly successful fundraiser at Crown Casino last night where a wealthy soccer nut paid $28,000 for two tickets in the FIFA box at the World Cup final. Someone should point this out to Melbourne 2006 chairman Ron Walker, who still thinks the Commonwealth Games will be bigger than the World Cup.



32. Issues aplenty at first kinder committee meeting



By Stephen Mayne, kinder president

After 15 years sledging other office holders through journalism and shareholder activism, the boot was on the other foot last night when I chaired the first committee meeting as President of the local kindergarten. Jeepers, this responsibility stuff isn't easy although the eight of us did manage to get through three bottles of red wine between 7.30pm and 11pm.

Luckily, we had the outgoing President holding our hand for the evening and this fellow is a conservative pharmacist who was right across his brief and did a terrific job, culminating in a $25,000 profit last year.

Given that only two incumbents have stuck around for 2006, I made everyone wear Crikey stickers as name tags and give an introductory spiel on their background, children and motivations for joining the committee. Most wanted to give something back to the community as well as have some input into what was going on.

Issues canvassed last night included everything from working bees, enrolments, staffing, cleaning and security contracts, capital works, procurement, government funding and courses on how to run a pre-school committee by the invaluable Kindergarten Parents of Victoria.

Victorian kinders certainly get a better deal than their NSW counterparts where fees have rocketed in recent years. The Bracks government provides $1,500 a year for each 4-year-old and this helps subsidise the shorter 3-year-old program which has no funding.

We've suffered a drop in 4-year-old numbers for 2006 and had to reorganise the program such that we are currently budgeting to make a small loss in 2006 but that will be eliminated with a few more enrolments.

One suggestion was to set to up an alumni program complete with kinder website and email newsletter to help with the marketing to get our numbers back up, but as a complete IT luddite I wouldn't have a clue about do-it-yourself websites given we've always paid professionals at Crikey. If anyone knows the best option for running a low-cost community website and email newsletter, please email smayne@crikey.com.au.

The same goes with story ideas for the next two weeks of Jon Faine's ABC 774 Morning program. We're having a meeting with the producers this afternoon to map out some talent and stories. ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel is already locked in for The Conversation Hour on Monday, so with half an hour to chat we're in the market for interesting questions and themes.

I'm already having trouble sleeping ahead of the Faine stint, but last night's patchy shut-eye was partly due to all these kinder responsibilities.

Copyright © 2022 The Mayne Report. All rights reserved

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