NSW Labor must accept reform

Eddie Obeid

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has found that Eddie Obeid and Ian Macdonald engaged in corrupt conduct and their findings have been referred to the DPP who will decide if there is enough evidence to lay criminal charges.  Both men are still claiming they have done nothing wrong.

Ian Macdonald

Today, ex NSW Premier Nathan Rees wrote an article in The Drum, telling Labor Party members who continue to resist reform to get out.  He said party members who have been pushing for reform have had to "argue, push and cajole every inch of the way" and there are people within the party who are arguing strongly against any changes.

ex Premier, Nathan Rees

Nathan Rees writes:

I have a message for these people, you don't get it and you never will.  If you are not prepared to help modernize our great party, then at least be decent enough to resign.  Get out. Do not be the handbrake on our efforts to modernize the party so that we can deliver in the future for the millions of working Australians. Those Australians depend on a healthy Labor Party to represent their interests.  Our party is not a plaything, it is not your fiefdom and it is not your social worker.

Soon after Kevin Rudd was resurrected as Prime Minister, he organized a meeting with the NSW ALP national executive and this week, they unanimously endorsed a package of reforms. Faction-controlled tribunals will be replaced with an independent judicial body and any NSW ALP member found guilty of corruption or who brings the party into disrepute will be expelled.

But Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said that Mr Rudd was only Prime Minister because the NSW Labor Party put him there.  "And if he ever seriously tackles the rottenness at the heart of NSW Labor, he will be dealt with by the warlords of Sussex Street again as he was back in June 2010."

Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott

The Opposition Leader said federal ALP could not escape the stench of its NSW branch and Kevin Rudd's acceptance of  NSW General Secretary Sam Dastyari into the Senate and former assistant secretary Matt Thistlethwaite, running for the seat of Kingsford Smith, was a sure sign that the "NSW disease was moving to Canberra."

The Federal Election is now just weeks away.

Roger Dean, age-care nurse gets life

Roger Dean, is an age-care nurse who set fire to his place of employment - a nursing home in Sydney - that killed 11 residents in 2011.  Yesterday he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. He pleaded guilty to 11 counts of murder and 8 of recklessly causing grievous bodily harm.

Dean was addicted to pain killers and stole over 200 prescription pills. As night manager, he had the authority and the key to enter the room where the drugs were kept, so he was able to help himself. But when the theft was discovered, he panicked and hatched a plan he thought would eliminate any evidence of his guilt - he would burn the nursing home down.

He lit two fires, one in a room where two helpless, elderly women were sleeping, knowing they were bed-ridden and would be burnt alive.

We saw him on the news that night, playing the distraught nurse, helping firemen and police move elderly patients to the ambulances. Three residents died at the scene while eight others suffered for days in hospital before dying from smoke inhalation.

Dean had the audacity to tell police that he "loved" his patients.  He was "corrupted with evil thoughts" and Satan told him to do it, he said, but the judge wasn't buying it and sentenced him to life without parole.

Watch the video of his confession

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2013/s3770435.htm

Kevin Rudd's two sons join election team

Kevin and Nicholas Rudd

The definition of Nepotism is favouritism  granted in politics or business to relatives, regardless of merit.

Kevin Rudd must have known he would be howled down for bringing his two sons on board Labor's election team, but he did it anyway.  He would probably argue that nepotism doesn't apply in this case because both his sons do indeed have merit, and are more than qualified for the jobs he's given them.

His eldest son Nicholas 24, a lawyer, was involved in drafting the reforms of the Labor Party that the PM announced earlier this month and he will travel with his father during the campaign.  Mr Rudd said he has just finished three years with Clayton Utz, a leading Australian law firm, in commercial arbitration and would play a major role in the campaign.  Marcus 20, has joined the ALP's digital campaign team as an unpaid volunteer.

Marcus with his father

"People are pretty pissed off that both of Rudd's sons are going to be there" a senior government adviser said.

But wait, there's more.  The PM will import several members of Barack Obama's campaign team to tell him how to win the election.

Tom McMahon, former executive director of the Democratic National Committee, Joon Kim of the consulting firm New Partners and British social media expert Matthew McGregor, will become part of Rudd's election team.  They all worked on Barack Obama's re-election last year and played a vital role in driving his social media campaign.

We sometimes forget just how important social media has become - it can make or break Presidents and Kings and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott should be very worried.

Rupert Murdoch's divorce from Wendi Deng

Wendi Deng has hired top attorney William Zabel to handle her divorce after interviewing eight other candidates.  But naturally, her husband Rupert has some big guns behind him too - he's chosen lawyer and personal friend Pamela Sloan but Ira Garr and Gerson Zweifach, his legal advisers to News Corp and Fox, will also be in his corner.

Divorce is a very expensive step to take as Mr Murdoch already knows - it cost him $1.7 billion to divorce his second wife Anna, one of the most expensive divorces ever.

Murdoch was smart enough to get Miss Deng to sign a pre-nuptial and two post-nuptial agreements, but it seems she wants their $44 million Manhattan apartment and one of their yachts.  Custody and child support agreements will also have to be sorted out.

Deng has a reputation of being a gold digger who used an American businessman Jake Cherry, to get her "green card."  He brought her out from China under the condition that she would study English in his home with his wife and children but Cherry divorced his wife and married her.

Divorce records show that the Cherry-Deng marriage lasted two years and seven months which was seven months longer than required for Deng to obtain a "green card", allowing her to live and work in the US as a resident alien.

There were also serious concerns about Deng's future motives - many believed she would make a power grab for News Corp. Murdoch's announcement in 2006 - that their two daughters Chloe and Grace will never have the same voting rights as his other children - sent his wife into a rage, and she's still fuming.

If Rupert Murdoch can't tie his clever wife up with one pre-nup and two post-nups, there's not much hope for the rest of us.

Nathan Tinkler, gambler

Nathan Tinkler is a gambler who took risks and made a fortune. He started out as an electrician and worked in the Hunter Valley mines and made some clever investments that paid off big time. 

In 2006 he bought Middlemount coal mine for $11.5 million and in 2007 he sold 70 per cent to Macarthur Coal for $57 million in cash plus a parcel of Macarthur shares valued at $184 million.  In 2008 he sold them for $422 million.  Nuff said.

Newcastle Knight supporters

Things went well for a while but then he started running up bills everywhere.  His stable of horses at Patinack Farm had to leave their Hawkesbury private training facility because he didn't pay the rent. Then the tax office filed documents to wind up his Hunter Sports Group which owns the Newcastle Jets and Newcastle Knights.  Two weeks before, two of his companies were placed in liquidation.

Tinkler with wife Rebecca and John Singleton

Tinkler committed a terrible sin and because he was from a working-class background, it's unforgivable - he took the little Aussie battler for a ride.  Tim Curry, an electrician, who installed power lines on a horse stud owned by Patinack said "He's a grub, and doesn't pay his bills."

Trades people and others, who hocked their homes to start a small business, spent thousands on labour and supplies in good faith, before the word got around that the name Tinkler was on the nose.

He lost his own home in 2004 after defaulting on mortgage payments and Singleton Council sent the sheriff in to repossess the contents of his home for a $1,400 unpaid debt for rates. Five years later he was on the BRW Rich List worth $400 million.

But not paying his bills isn't his only character flaw, he's a ruthless boss.  He employed good people and had them frog-marched out the door by elite SAS soldiers he hired for security, if they did or said something he didn't like. 

You can get the measure of a man by his texts and one of his ex employees kept one.  It reads:  :.  "No thanks. Ur just another c*** that I give an opportunity to, wasn't up to it and dogged me everywhere so f*** off. I check the paper for your funeral notice you f**** deadbeat."

A former business associate once told him "Nathan, you're like someone who goes to the casino and puts everything on 34 Red." He took it as a compliment and started signing his emails "34 Red."

When Tinkler's luck finally ran out, he had no choice but to sacrifice his 19 per cent share in Whitehaven Coal.  Although he is now clear of a possible freeze of his Australian assets, and has settled his income tax issues, he's still in debt to his main lender, hedge fund Farallon Capital.  They will recover about $565 million, but it's not enough to repay the principal, let alone the accumulated interest.

Yearling sales

Tinkler told the NSW Supreme Court that his wife was the sole owner of the Tinkler Group Family Trust and he gets an allowance from her every quarter.

Some people are saying not to write him off, that he'll be back because he's only 37.  Only time will tell.

He lives with his family in Singapore.

Privileged thug too good for prison

There's an old saying "It's not what you know, but who you know" and here's proof that it's true.

On April 7 this year, a young man from a privileged background, studying to be a lawyer, bashed and smashed a wine glass into the face of Richard Huiswaard, a man he met earlier that night at a friend's drinks party at Crown Casino in Melbourne.  This week he was before the court and magistrate Jack Vandersteen let him off because he said a prison term would hurt his career.

Liam Danial Sweeney 27, got himself a good lawyer, a silk no less, Barrister Ian Hill QC - something you and I couldn't afford.  And it was money well spent, because he told magistrate Vandersteen that his client would not be allowed to practice law if he were sent to prison and his life would be ruined.  The magistrate readily agreed and said "I don't think he'd last very long in jail - there are not many people in jail who went to Haileybury (very posh school), or who had your client's privileged background."  Mr Hill added "Or who look like him."

So with all this goodwill swirling around the courtroom, it's not surprising to learn that Magistrate Vandersteen suspended his entire 18 month sentence for two years.  But he did fine him $5,000 for "unprovoked and gratuitous assault."

Prosecutor Luke Exell said Sweeney "got his nose out of joint" about 9.30pm when his attempt to shake hands with a drunk Mr Huiswaard was ignored, and he acted on that anger hours later, around midnight. He said Sweeney fled the scene like a coward, not stopping to render assistance to the bleeding man or talk to police.  The victim needed stitches to his head, had to take three weeks off work and still has the scar on his forehead.

And here's the bottom line - the accused's father is prominent family law barrister Dan Sweeney.

Military solution needed says Abbott

Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott said yesterday that the asylum seeker problem is now "a national emergency" and needs a military solution to fix it.  As more people drown at sea after their unsafe fishing boats founder and sink, he has chosen an almost war-like solution.

People smugglers are rumoured to be making $1 million per boat and they must be having a last-minute sale, as boats continue to leave Indonesia in a continuous stream.  But they are not telling their customers that the rules have changed - they will never be settled in Australia, but resettled in Papua New Guinea (PNG) instead.

Tony Abbott's solution is called Operation Sovereign Borders.  The head of Defence would be asked to appoint a commander to put the people smugglers out of business.  How that would be achieved is unclear.

Meanwhile, both Indonesia and PNG are upset. 

Indonesia is angry with Kevin Rudd for not consulting them first. But why would he?   They have allowed people smugglers to carry on their lucrative business in their country for years, and offered no help whatsoever.  It's Australia's problem, they said.

Tony Abbott upset PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill when he said it was wrong to hand over $500 million aid to PNG as a "simple cash grant with no accountability."  It sounds like he's worried about corruption, so it's no wonder Mr O'Neill is unhappy.

Opposition Deputy Julie Bishop said that Mr O'Neill told the coalition he had "total control over the entire Australian aid budget" so someone is not telling the truth. "I don't particularly appreciate being misrepresented by others for their own political interests" Mr O'Neill said.

Tony Abbott said he would salvage parts of Rudd's plan and work with Mr O'Neill if elected, to implement the Coalition's revised policy.

Manus Island is still a tent city and unsuitable for women and children. The government is rushing to get ready for the arrival of the first unlucky refugees who landed after the new plan was put in place.

On Wednesday, nine people, including an 18 months old baby, four children and a pregnant woman drowned and 189 were rescued when their boat sank off the Indonesian fishing town of Cidaun in western Java.  So far, hundreds have died trying to get to Australia and some say they don't care about going to PNG, anywhere would be better than going back to their own country.

Kevin Rudd is not worried about the continued arrivals, he expected them to keep coming, the people smugglers are testing the government's resolve, he said.  The crisis in Syria will likely result in 1.8 million refugees and Australia had to take drastic action now.

It's one week today since he announced the PNG plan.