The OC's coverage of the AMWU election scandal was some of the OC Investigation Unit's finest work, causing one of our commentators to ask why our journalist comrades in the mainstream press hadn't picked it up. It seems they did while we weren't looking late last week.
Fairfaxista Mark Skulley is clearly one of an average of eighty souls (sold) at the media company who visit the OC to quench their thirst for patriotic knowledge as he has ponied up and reported on the ballot rorting scandal as we exclusively reported.
By the way, under the edicts of the Fairfax Media group, everyone reading this article should send $8.40 to the company and promise not to email it to anyone. Cheques payable to Chairman Ron Walker at his Toorak abode. We'll put up his address shortly in time for today's mail.
Ronald Walker
55 Albany Road
Toorak VIC 3142
From Australian Financial Review Friday 8 June:
IRREGULARIITES MAR AMWU ELECTION
Mark Sinbad Skulley
A hotly contested election within the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union that threatens to reshape the power balance within the left of the Labor Party could be referred to the Federal Police.
The election closed on Tuesday, but the Australian Eletoral Commission will not declare the outcome of key positions until a fresh vote is conducted within a Victorian division of the union, after the alleged discovery of ballot boxes at several Melbourne workplaces in what was supposed to be a postal ballot.
The AMWU is a key player within the ALP and the union movement and a lengthy dispute would be a severe distraction in an election year, while also giving ammunition for attacks by the Howard government.
The power struggle follows the departure of long-time AMWU national secretary Doug Cameron, who will run as a Labor Senate candidate at the election.
Mr Cameron's grouping had endorsed Dave Oliver to be his successor as national secretary. But they faced a series of challenge from the New Directions group led by the secretary of the union's vehicle building division, Ian Jones.
Union sources said yesterday that scrutineeers had Mr Oliver well ahead in the race for national secretary against Jim Reid of the New Directions group.
The candidate backed by the Cameron group for the position of Victorian AMWU secretary Steve Dargavel, was narrowly ahead against a Jones-backed challenger David Nunns.
An AEC spokesman confirmed that a fresh ballot would be held for the Victorian division of the AMWU's food and confectionery division.
He said fresh ballots would be posted on June 12 and that voting would close on June 28. Results for key positions would not be declared until after the fresh ballot was completed.
Mr Jones said yesterday that his group would "examine all of our options" including referring evidence to Director of Public Prosecutions and the Federal police which "may end up with criminal prosecutions" of individuals.
"Once we put the blowtorch to these people, we will track this through every area of our union," Mr Jones said. "We're not just going to simply isolate an inquiry to one or two people that have been stupid."
"We will... seek to find out who gave the orders. We want to know who the leaders are who devised the strategy."
But Mr Oliver said the AEC had only called for a re-ballot of the Victorian food division, after "technical breaches in the election process were discovered at three workplaces out of the 15,000 nationwide that are voting in the AMWU elections."
"Counting of votes from all other divisions and states will proceed as normal and the AMWU will continue to assist the AEC as far as possible to ensure all members can participate in a fair, democratic process," he said.
Mr Cameron and Mr Oliver have sought to rebuild the AMWU's biggest branch, in Victoria, after internal ruction from the jailing of former state secretary Craig Johnston for leading violent "run-throughs" at two Melbourne businesses in 2001.
Mr Johnston led a far-left splinter group, Workers First, which has been officially disbanded. But some of his former supporters remain in official union positions, including Mr Dargavel, under a peace deal with the Cameron grouping.
Game on.
Tuesday, 12 June 2007
RORTED: AMWU's Corrupt Election Exposed in Friday's Fin Review
Tuesday, 29 May 2007
MONDAY TUESDAY MADNESS: Revolting Hippy Scum Seek Hand-Out For Winter Queensland Junket
Monash University's taxpayer funded student organisation is considering a scandalous proposal today which would corruptly award many thousands of dollars to pay for the travel costs of twenty hippies to disrupt military training and joint exercises between our own armed forces and those of our friend and ally, the United States.
However, sources within the University are concerned that this move is probably illegal in that it ignores the statutory obligation to spend their money for the direct benefit of students and at least breaches the "funding agreement" between the Monash Student Association and the University which lavishes hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on the leftist dominated student union.
The gathering of taxpayer subsidised smellies is called a "Peace convergence", in fact its full name is the "Shoalwater Bay Peace Convergence aimed at stopping the Talisman Sabre US-Australian war games."
The extreme leftists are demanding as much as $5000 to fully subsidise the winter in Queensland travel demands of the unwashed protester.
Sources within the Monash Student Association office say that their Environmental Officers Mark Tyler or the fantastically named Tessa Toumbourou is responsible for the outrage, encouraging a Kirsty Henderson of Kalista to make a demand complete with claims that the hippy handouts will do the recipients the world of good.
Comrade Kirsty has told fellow leftards that the hand-out would:
provide them with the opportunity to engage in political struggles that they would otherwise merely read about in text books.
The unwashed have also approached the Maritime Union of Australia and the ETU for their members' loot too.
Some fear that the University may intervene to suspend the operations of the extreme-left dominated student union should these funds be awarded today.
We can only hope.
UPDATE: The Monash Student Council voted down the hippy freebie trip, without any money allocated and no "in principle" vote of support. Boo hoo.
Game on.
Saturday, 19 May 2007
NO KIDDING: Queensland Corruption Buster Probes Rigging of Online Web Polls // Great Public Service Paperclip Theft Scandal Next on Agenda
Some behind the Latte Curtain say that Victoria needs a government agency like the Indepedent Commission Against Corruption or the Crime and Misconduct Commission as exists in lesser states.
They should consider this story, from Queensland, where it appears that the august Crime and Misconduct Commission investigated the high crime and misdemeanour of political staffers multiple voting in an online poll about whether a dam should be constructed. That's the sort of mindless trivia that a Victorian "corruption buster" would end up probing.
It would be used by both sides of politics to besmirch the other over such trivia, achieve little to genuinely attack the rarely occurring problem of public service or political corruption and provide the scum at Spencer Street with easy copy that would further undermine faith and confidence in our democratic institutions and elected representatives. Politics needs no further assistance in becoming a blood sport.
Although we could perhaps demand an ICAC inquiry into Alan Ramsey's corruption of the Queen's English which seems to get worse each passing week or each passing case of Johnnie Black, as Ramsey now measures time. This week's poison column (more a toxic pillar of salt) for which he is paid at least four thousand dollars a week to write contains this pleasant turn of phrase:
John Howard remained his usual disingenuous self.
He told the ABC's Kerry O'Brien on Tuesday night: "I don't pretend to understand all the movements in polls." Pigs, he doesn't.
Charming.
Game on.
Friday, 9 March 2007
HYPOCRISY: Nameless Shameless Over Source Revelations
A member of the OC Investigations Unit makes a compelling argument about Nameless faux-journalist Stephen Mayne's deception and betrayal of an anonymous source.
Mayne's outing of former Liberal Senator Noel Crichton-Browne as a former anonymous source has shocked media observers and represents a shock breach of journalist's ethical obligations.
One has pointed us to this recent story which piously demands laws that excuse journalists from jail for honouring their ethical obligations to protect the identity of sources.
They make the interesting point:
Surely the logic of this argument is that someone who has just done what Mayne has just done should be punished by the law … go to jail?
Not a bad idea. Mayne certainly didn't belong in power, and for this blatant betrayal of his confidential source a prison term might be appropriate.
Of course Mayne isn't much of a journalist these days, he can burn old sources or even falsely claim ones he didn't have because he doesn't really have any credibility at all in his business. No whistleblower or scam revealer could possibly trust Stephen Mayne not to give them up at the first opportunity, because of this he'ls not only proven his lack of respect for the standards of journalism but revealed himself to be a particularly low form of life.
And of course it's not just him in the frame. Nameless owners Eric Beecher, Guy Dribble and Editor Jonathan Green, three leftistes who would piously windbag at dinner parties about ethics and the need to protect journalists and such are responsible for this disgrace. They can wash their hands all they like but the stain of betrayal remains on their hands.
From a recent edition of Nameless:
Where are the laws to protect journalists?
Date: Wednesday, 7 March 2007
Margaret Simons writes:
Laws to protect journalists who refuse to reveal their sources are on the way, Commonwealth Solicitor-General David Bennett QC, reportedly told the Victorian Supreme Court last month.
In the meantime public servants suspected of leaking are being prosecuted, and journalists are drawn into the net, as yesterday’s dust up between Federal Police and journalists at The Australian reveals.
Game on.
Wednesday, 28 February 2007
NEWSMAKER: New Chairman Sophie Mirabella Captivates Nation
Demonstrating her national popularity and breadth of support across the nation, The West Australian is now reporting the news of Sophie Mirabella's fightback against money laundering and corruption charges over the so-called secret election donations from cigarette makers.
The nation's Queen Mother Bronwyn Bishop rose to defend Australia's Princess Sophie from the barrage of snide attacks on her by Labor MPs desperately worried that she might one day emerge as Liberal leader, as has been prophesied.
Mrs Bishop defended Mrs Mirabella passionately, rightly demanding apologies for the tainting of her reputation by those quite to describe a failure to fill out a few forms as a major case of corrupt fundraising.
According to AAP reports, Mrs Bishop said Mrs Mirabella was "perfectly and properly correcting the record" before being turfed out by the House Speaker David Hawker. Many believe Mrs Bishop should have been elevated to the Speakership where her knowledge of Parliamentary procedure, unquestioned bias and respect for the views of others would have much better suited the role.
The former Minister and matriach declared that "It is a shame and it should be condemned in this place and the Member for Indi deserves an apology from that side of the house for itse attempt to besmirch what is a fine reputation of a hard working member for her own constituents".
And that's the point isn't it? If Sophie wasn't a threat she would not be criticised for money laundering offences in the first place.
Mrs Bishop's stylish defence of Mrs Mirabella was not enough to silence Labor critics of the nation's most astute campaign fundraiser:
"Shouting at the speaker and getting thrown out of parliament for disorderly behaviour is not good enough," he said.
Mr Danby said Mrs Mirabella had let down tobacco growers in her electorate by taking the donation from the tobacco company.
"While British American Tobacco have made a decision to shaft hundreds of local tobacco growers by importing cheap tobacco from China, the member for Indi hasn't been telling them that she's taken a massive donation," he said.
"No wonder they are angry, no wonder they feel betrayed - some people would argue that this is not cash for comment, this is cash for no comment."
Game on.
Monday, 26 February 2007
MONDAY LEFTOVERS: The Fine Feasting Continues As We Examine The Life and Slimes of Labor Socialist Multi-Millionaire Hypocrite Land Baron Mike Hill
Mike Hill has used power in the left of the Labor Party to make himself filthy rich.
According to yesterday's Sunday Herald Sun the Hill-ionaire will gross $15 million in a sleazy property deal, where he opportunistically swooped on a former primary school site cheap after directing his Moreland council to sabotage the auction of the publicly owned site. Council officers - on his orders - refused to talk to rival developers about the site and Hill forced through the Council many thousands of dollars of funding to local protest groups that loudly opposed the sale, any private development on the site and conducted a noisy demonstration at the auction itself, making it a disaster for taxpayers. Click here for more on this shameful and corrupt abuse of power.
The local rabble-rouser who seized control of the Brunswick and then Moreland City Council and painted the town red with its radical leftist policies and Socialist sympathies has milked that position of power ruthlessly for his own personal profit and advancement. He has been a crucial power-broker behind neo-Marxoids like ex MP Glenyys Romanes, Carlo Carli and Health Minister Bronwyn Pike getting into Parliament.
His taste for the expensive imported beer Becks is seen by angered locals as a powerful symbol of his wallowing affluent lifestyle of effluence.
The above map taken from Moreland council documents relating to Mike Hill-ionaire's high density housing development shows that the one-time local councillor and activist is now - to use the ipolite language of one disgusted local - "shi*ting in his own nest."
Mike Hill's name is first on the list of those demanding government appointments, especially anything related to the environment and that pays. The OC believes he makes many tens of thousands of dollars a year from government appointments.
THE PITS
Even his de facto wife former Melbourne and Moreland councillor Lorna Pitt has cashed in.
Dubbed "Alice in Wonderland" by Council bureaucrats because the space cadet would start every sentence with the words "I wonder if...", Pitt "worked" at the Environmental Protection Authority for years and set new records in absenteeism, sloth and tardiness.
Her absences became a mini-scandal within the government agency with Pitt refusing to supply medical certificates until she was eventually left as her "Westwyck" property development grew into a multi-million dollar enterprise.
It wasn't always that way.
NUDITY MARS CAMPAIGN CELEBRATION
In Westwyck's early days, it was very rough and ready indeed according to one very well placed source. He told the OC Investigations Unit yesterday that nudity or naturism was once a particularly odd aspect of life at the Westwyck compound.
One night - following Moreland's elections - local MPs Carlo Carli and Kelvin Thomson were invited to share in the celebration of continued Socialist Left control of the red municipality. Neither lefty Carlo or Labor Unity Kelvin knew where to look when it became obvious that several of the guests were expressing their joy at winning the poll by fully disrobing.
This was no convention of male and female supermodels so no doubt the night of dangling bits and floppiness left a searing impression on the minds of the socially conservative MPs.
JUDAS OF WESTWYCK // SOLD OUT LOCALS // SOLD OUT POKIES GROUPS
The sad truth is that for all of Mike Hill's Ben and Jerry socialism, he's a cynical sell-out of the lowest kind. Once a very active denouncer of poker machines and all things gaming, Hill was active in his group Community Action on Pokie Problems (CAPP).
But a source within the anti-polies wing of the former political party People Power has told the OC that Hill's group had a sudden change of approach after Hill was appointed to a couple of paid state government boards. Check out Hill's response to the Liberal plan to cut five thousand poker machines:
"It would be a bit simplistic just to turn off the machines," said Mike Hill, convener of key lobby group Community Action on Pokie Problems.
Indeed he's been quite the trooper since getting paid appointments from John Thwaites, the lamentably bad Environment Minister. Once bought, he stayed bought it seemed.
According to a website run by fellow millionaire hypocrite socialist Evan Thornley, Mike Hill is available to speak to ALP branch meetings throughout Melbourne.
According to the Ego First website Hill is available as a speaker on
Local governments and leadership in ecological sustainable development
Name: Mike Hill
Phone Work: 03 9380 145*
Mobile Phone: 0419 877 70*
Email Address: mike@westwyck.com
Locations: Melbourne
Topic Description: At a time when our national government shows nil or negative leadership on the pressing issue of climate change is it accident that there is a flourishing of activity at the local level? What is happening and who is driving this?
And wait there's more. He's also demanding that the ALP get more involved in local government (presumably fearful Independents might knock back his next planning application). He asks:
Why don't we see a higher level of involvement of political parties in Victoria's local governments? Why don't the party powerbrokers encourage this? What are those myths about 'independence'? This presentation will argue the 'unpopular' case that the ALP needs to play a more direct and overt role at the local and community level if our party is to revive and survive.
While he's talking piously about how the ALP needs to be more in touch with the environment, Mike Hill is building high density apartments. When he's lecturing others about the ALP needs to be more active "at the local and community level" he's shafting local residents who object to him making millions at their expense.
IS THERE A HAND THAT'S FED MIKE HILL HE WON'T BITE?
Although of course his commitment to the ALP didn't survive his interactions with Chris TInkler of the Sunday Herald Sun. He dumped on the party's election campaign, questioning its ad campaign that opposed Ted Baillieu's involvement in selling off old school sites. Few in government circles will forget these bon mots:
Mr Hill added there were a lot of things he did not condone during the campaign. ``I'm a Labor member but it doesn't mean I support everything the party does,'' he said.
The leftist dominated CIty of Moreland has clearly favoured this man in their decisions, while he wallows in sanctimony like the stinkiest, best oiled and fattest of oinking capitalist pigs. We'll be closely reviewing their decisions and the corrupt politics around them in future editions of the OC.
Game on.
Sunday, 25 February 2007
SUNDAY ROAST: Let's Carve Up An Envirosocialist Community Crusader Busted in Sleazy Multi-Million Dollar High Density Housing Con
Socialist Left big-knob local government guru Mike Hill has been exposed as a rorter and scoundrel who abused his position of public trust as a local councillor to screw his own community and turn himself into a multi-millionaire.
The nation's most popular newspaper the Sunday Herald Sun (click here to see in its glory)has reported on this atrocity this morning and the OC can report its own findings on an extensive and protracted investigation into the prominent inner urban Left-wing ALP powerbroker.
Chris "Scoop" Tinkler's key points in his excellent takedown of the comrade include the following facts of shame:
■ Mike Hill stands to make $15 million in sales from apartments and townhouses on a former primary school site; (OC: This is a conservative estimate, our experts say $16M is a minimum and it could be much higher if the Council continues to let him get away with blue murder)
■ The Hill-ionaire publicly led opposition to the sale of the land which occurred during his reign as Councillor, Mayor and numbers-man on the Brunswick and Moreland Council; (OC: Nothing got past Hill on that Council for many years)
■ Hill is a key member of the Labor Party and has been given rare paid Government board appointments due to his powerful friends within the Labor Left and fellow travellers like State Environment Minister John Thwaites; and
■ In the ultimate act of betrayal and chutzpah, Hill appears to criticise his own Party's actions in the last state election when they roughed up Ted Baillieu for his involvement in the sale of school assets saying "there were a lot of thing he did not condone during the campaign" and "I'm a Labor member but it doesn't mean I support everything the party does." He supports them though when John Thwaites appoints him to cushy paid Government board appointments. Otherwise he's quite ambivalent, especially when they bolshie up and insult property millionaires like himself and Red Ted.
THE OC INVESTIGATIONS UNIT REVEALS EVEN MORE SCANDAL
The OC's own findings reveal that Millionaire Mike Hill stands to profit by at least $4-5 million from the development, but apparently refuses to discuss his likely windfall with the press or disgusted members of the local community. Local informants understand that he chooses to celebrate windfalls such as these by quaffing imported beer, and is known for particularly savouring the Becks brand.
It's an astonishing turn of events given Hill's dominant role in turning the Council into a sanctuary hotbed of rabble-rousing Marxist anti-development loons. One nose-ringed activist told the OC on the condition of anonymity and on the solemn promise that we'd never her ring again "Mike Hill is persona non grata in Brunswick progressive circles, he's a complete political fraud and lightweight. The arrogant way he handled local objections to his development scam showed his true colours. There's a very big local stink about all this."
The OC Investigations Unit has also made a number of other disturbing discoveries about Hill which establish a degree of banditry from the public sector unsurpassed outside of kleptocracies such as Saudi Arabia and Cuba.
Local sources in the Brunswick community have confirmed to the OC that former Mayor Mike Hill played an active role in subverting the sale of the taxpayer owned Brunswick West Primary School site which had been closed by his friend Joan Kirner when Education Minister. It was later sold by the Liberal government after a brief experiment as a Greek based private school run by now Liberal MP Nick Kotsiris.
HOW MIKE HILL BECAME STINKING RICH // GREEN BACKS NOT GREEN BACKED
Despite Hill's denials today, the OC has been told that Hill opposed the closure and most certainly appeared to vigorously oppose the sale of the site while secretly planning his own coup d'avidité (greed).
Press reports at the time confirm that the Hill controlled Moreland council voted to give a local anti-school-sales community group $10,000.
That same group, co-ordinated through the Council's own offices, led a frenzied public protest against the sale. This campaign included Council officers being directed not to assist any interested parties proposing to develop the primary school site. This was a crucial aspect of Hill's corrupt campaign to subverting the sale process of a publicly owned asset as the combination of loud public protest, strong opposition from the local council and a large degree of uncertainty about what could be developed on the site all served to drive away interest in purchasing the taxpayer owned land.
PERFECT STORM OF PROTEST SCARED AWAY RIVAL BIDS
Having created a perfect storm of chaos and hostility against any development on the site, Hill swooped. With a number of partners he purchased the site for $1 million, an incredibly small amount for the size of land involved. Locals familiar with the process and appalled by subsequent events told the OC that based on prevailing land prices in the area at the time that the site was worth at least $2 to $3 million.
Given that the site was to be used for communal living among its partners and for community use, few in the community at that stage objected to the sale. Many - the OC has been told - welcomed it as Hill promised all and sundry that it was his wish to retain its principal community use.
The con didn't last long.
SLEAZY DEAL
According to Hill's own website, he and his partners quickly tired of maintaining the heritage buildings for little economic return. So Hill and his de facto and fellow Moreland councillor Lorna Pitt offered to buy them out at cost, a deal few were happy with but all felt compelled to accept. Hill again assured his partners and the community that he would protect the site from rapacious developers.
The OC has learned that Hill and his de facto Lorna Pitt proceeded with a planning application to build apartments on the site shortly after they bought out their comrades. One local told the OC "Hill barely waited for the ink to dry, the bastard." Indeed, someone on the Council knew something was up as it disclosed in one document that:
The school ceased operations in the 1990's and was purchased for residential development. Click here to see [PDF]
A different story from what the Hill-ionaire had told the comrades.
SHAFTED LOCAL RESIDENTS
Millionaire MIke Hill's proposals for high density housing on the site faced strong objection from neighbours. It was an amazing transformation for Hill, a firebrand crusading opponent of pretty much every development proposal he ever laid eyes on was now championing a property development that sought to screw every last dollar of value out of the joint.
Council documents obtained by the OC reveal that the one-time local hero has now turned into the hated face of hyprocritcal "eco" developer greed.
Among the objections, filed by practically every residential neighbour to Hill's development include [PDF] according to the Council included serious concerns about :
■ Impact upon neighbourhood character of such a high-density development
■ Building bulk, height and setbacks of Millionaire Mike's plans
■ Impact upon the Heritage significance of the site including very old buildings which Hill continues to boast he's protecting while locals complain he's defaced them
■ Inadequate car parking provision which he justifies on enviro-grounds but in fact cause neighbourhood chaos by forcing his apartment residents to attempt to find parking in the street
■ Increased traffic and subsequent safety issues
■ Overdevelopment from the avowed opponent of most development in the area
■ Reduced amenity, shafting residents who once trusted Mayor Hill to defend their interests
■ Construction noise, again shafting residents who've had to put up with major works on the site for several years with years remaining
■ Inadequacy of street infrastructure to cope with a project on the scale envisaged by the HIll-ionaire and his council mates
■ Conversion of pergolas into balconies and
■ Location of water tanks
ONE LAW FOR THE HILL-IONAIRES
Complaints from annoyed local residents such as these typically trigger a fire-storm of decisive opposition from the notoriously anti-development Moreland council. There are many developers known to the OC who avoid the area like the plague because of the bolshevik approach of local councillors and council officers.
And yet curiously, the Moreland council consistently and repeatedly supported Hill's proposals which according to Council documents have been amended at least half a dozen times. Unlike practically every developer in the area Hill's scheme has been given an easy ride all the while riding roughshod over the concerns of neighbouring owners.
MIKEY'S MATES IN MORELAND
Not only has the council waved through Millionaire Mike's property project, they even promote Hill's scheme on the Council website as a "eco-friendly village" in one what sounds suspiciously like an advertisement. An unpaid one at that.
The Council conveniently provides a link through to Millionaire MIke Hill's website which all but admits - in sugar coated form - the essential facts of MIke Hill's sinister conduct including his involvement in disrupting the sale process, his move to completely buy the property and his multi-million dollar up-market residential property development plan.
No amount of our patented OC editorialising can do this website justice. Read this venal man's own words and weep:
You might wish to be part of a tour of the project. When the current building activity is completed Lorna and Mike intend to run regular tours and you could contact them to see if they are able to accommodate you. It is intended to charge a fee for these visits.
Does it get any greedier than this?
The OC intends to produce a series of reports on the disgraceful life and slimes of Mike Hill over the next week, ahead of our demands for the appointment of a Municipal Inspector to investigate these corrupt dealings.
Game on.
Friday, 23 February 2007
GOOD NEWS FROM WANG: Australia's Princess Meets and Greets At The University With No Functioning Email
Mrs Sophie Mirabella MP received the members and Executive of the Melbourne University Liberal Club this afternoon where the young campus lads shared tea and crumpet on the University's South Lawn in celebration of a most honoured guest.
The festivities commenced at midday and culminated in many grateful passers-by thanking the MP for liberating them from the shackles of compulsory student union fascism of the kind practised by spiky-haired alternate lifestyler Comrade Bree Ahrens, President of the notoriously corrupt University of Melbourne Student Union.
The tireless federal MP and likely future Liberal leader talked with the young blokes about the challenges of Parliamentary life, including her commendable efforts to combat organised criminal farmers growing sly tobacco, public servants, other bludgers and those opposed to her personal efforts to increase the moral fibre of members of the Canberra press gallery.
The seasoned campaigner talked the young bucks through the finer points of electoral fundraising, unifying communities and probity in public office. Her message of faith and moral cleanliness was gratefully accepted by all who listened.
Game on.
DOUBLE STANDARD: Slimy Stephen's Slithering Share Sanctimony
Abusive husband Stephen Mayne lectures yesterday in the slimy pages of Nameless that Kevin Rudd's wife ought not own shares in listed bluelood plasma company CSL.
While he doesn't actually make an argument in support of it, he asserts it is "inappropriate", presumably because if he's elected Prime Minister he might have to make decisions about matters relating to the company.
And yet curiously Mayne feels free to comment on the affairs of dozens of public companies in which he is a small shareholder. He discloses as much.
THE MONEY TRAIL THAT ENDS IN STEPHEN'S POCKET
But he routinely fails to dislose his wife's interests in these companies. His wife Paula Piccinini is paid many tens of thousands of dollars a year to serve as a director of the insurer RACV Ltd., which in turn owns substantial holdings in a large number of Australian listed companies, including CSL, News Corporation, Fairfax and many others that are routinely commented upon by Mayne and the Nameless publication. No disclosure has been made about this. Mayne indirectly trousers money from these companies which pay dividends to the RACV which pay director's fees to his wife. We understand from sources within People Power that the Mayne family finances are fully co-mingled, this issue arose during the last state election when she protested about the extent of his campaign spending, according to one campaign insider who regarded her as an "angry shrew".
The full co-mingling of their finances means that Mayne himself is able to draw on his wife's funds and vice versa. So Mayne is clearly making money from companies on which he freely comments without disclosure in the Nameless email newsletter. This is an issue of serious public concern, is a very clear example of his corrupt conduct and most probably his failure to disclose constitutes a breach of the Corporations Law punishable by a lengthy prison sentence.
MAYNE'S GAMBLING STOCKS
The OC Investigations Unit is able to reveal that the RACV owns shares in a number of companies with interests in gaming, including Tattersalls and other poker machine operators, a fact which will be of particular interest to the pokie addicts in recovery who populate People Power's official Board of Losers.
And yet despite this outrageous situation. Mayne's demands not just disclosure of a potential conflict of interests involving a spouse of a potential Prime Minister but he demands that Mrs Rudd sell the stock. Perhaps she should, to avoid criticism of this kind. I suspect she'd trade all the tea in China for a chance to choose new drapes at The Lodge.
But it is a rather disgraceful situation for Templestowe's Tallest Hypocrite to be bleating on about Kevin Rudd's wife when his own long suffering spouse provides him with more conflicts of interest than even big-gutted Russ Hinze could stomach.
Shameless Stephen can see the speck of dust in another man's eye but ignores the almighty plank coming from his own. Amen. If Nameless Editor Jonathan "The Man" Green had any moral fibre (we know he does) he would crack the whip on Stevie's lily white butt and make him come clean on the whole crooked business. Disclosure of every RACV owned stock on which Mayne comments should be mandatory.
Game on.
EXCLUSIVE: Lew Company Losing Millions Due To Lew Wrongdoing
A whistleblower within Solomon Lew's corrupt empire has told the OC Investigations Unit that one of his companies Housewares is in deep crisis. Housewares is 29 per cent controlled by former Coles director Solomon Lew, with the bulk of the stake held by his majority-owned listed vehicle Premier Investments, according to the Australian.
COMPANY IN CRISIS
The company that imports homewares like pots and pans and other household essentials has suffered from protracted internal management crisis directly caused by Lew son, Stevie, repeatedly poaching senior executives from Housewares to the Lew's private company dodgy Chinese toy importer Playcorp.
Playcorp is believed to have entered into manufacturing agreements with factories known to be owned by the People's Liberation Army and generals within it.
BOTCHED SALE
This instability at the top of the homewares division has undermined the performance of the listed company Housewares and led the Board to attempt a firesale to competitor McPhersons.
That sale at $25 million fell over in the last couple of days according to company announcements. The OC understands that ex-Housewares executives working for Playcorp may be assembling a deal that could see Lew practically steal the troubled company for as little as $10 million.
Horrendous ordering decisions by Housewares new managers have seen the company's warehouses be filled to the rafters with dud stock that will never sell, company insiders have revealed. One alleged that that the company had been forced to literally throw out tonnes of stock that "was never going to sell."
BIG SALARIES FOR BIG DOPES
The geniuses responsible have continued to be paid enormous salaries despite massive bungling according to the Housewares International annual report available here [pdf].
The troubled situation has attracted vulture capitalist private equity firms who have approached Housewares about buying them out. Retail insiders tell the OC this will not suit Lew's buy-bits-of-the-company-for-nix agenda at all, with Housewares execs given instructions to fob off such inquiries.
That surely gives Coles Group lawyers a reference point for any discussion in the Supreme Court of their response to private equity bids for their company. Lew has criticised Coles for not responding enthusiastically to unsolicited offers from investment firms to take the company private.
With Lew in court recently suing to obtain confidential information about how Coles responded to the private equity firm KKR's indication of interest in the company, it appears that Lew the hypocrite's conduct is very much a case of the Kambrook kettle calling the Baccarat pot black.
Lew narrowly escaped prosecution for stealing tens of millions of dollars from Coles in the early 1990s in the notorious Yannon transaction.
Game on.
Monday, 19 February 2007
COSY: Mates Writing About Mates In the Pages of The Aged
Isn't it lovely when navel gazing journalistes get together to independently analyse each other?
Media and communications editor Matthew Ricketson ponders the navels of some old mates in today's edition of The Aged. He disparages the competition the Herald Sun and despite its 200% lead over The Age thinks its not doing too well.
He then has some surprisingly kind words for Bruce Guthrie, the new editor of the Herald Sun who served as Joan Kirner's press secretary Sunday Age editor and then later The Age's editor back in the day.
And then he really lays it on thick in describing Eric Beecher, referring to his Nameless gossip email newsletter as an "independent media website". Normally it's known as a slag sheet, although now a depressingly boring one.
That would be because they're all mates. Ricketson is frequently seen about town with Nameless owner Eric Beecher, whose publication routinely slags Ricketson's boss Jaspan and The Age.
While there's nothing wrong with that the criticism is basically that of better yesterday nostalgia, propaganda that falsely asserts The Age was better back in some ancient time.
It's basically been filth since white supremacist Old Man Syme was writing its pro White Australia rants in the nineteenth century. But Ricketson, Beecher and even Bruce Guthrie (who long ago left the Dark Side) are all chums and it would have made for more honest journalism had Ricketson disclosed it.
Why aren't these conflicts of interests disclosed?
Because of the OC, they are. Call now to dob in an Age scribe for corrupt practices like these. Number is 0415 99 33 26.
Game on.
Saturday, 17 February 2007
THE CANCER: Solomon Lew's Deadly Strain of Dishonesty
Having Solomon Lew as a shareholder is like having cancer, your chances of surviving unscathed are minimal as he mindlessly attacks, slowly spreading if unchecked. He is attempting to obtain secret documents relating to commercially sensitive negotiations between American investment firm KKR and the retail giant of which he is a shareholder the Coles Group.
Lew was once Chairman, then appropriately Vice-Chairman and a director of the company, positions which he ruthlessly exploited to obtain corrupt benefit for himself and his crime family.
These benefits varied widely, from pinching corporate opportunities that should have gone to Coles, to positioning his Chinese made clothing importing companies to become major suppliers to Coles (and then ensuring that his invoices were paid at record speed something Coles never does or did), to billing Coles for the use of his private jet and even - when occasion required - using Coles bank accounts to top up his over-stretched resources.
All these things served to make Sol the most infamous public company director in Australian history who has - so far - managed to avoid criminal charges. He was though finally bumped off the Board of Directors, by institutions and shareholders so horrified by his behaviour they wanted him gone.
But like many forms of cancer, the Lew can be chopped out but all too frequently finds a way of returning.
His strategy is simple, make such a nuisance of yourself that you obtain benefits and privileges that other shareholders cannot obtain.
His method: he slags, using overpaid and leather wearing mouthpiece Michael McLeod, the company at every occasion. Every profit announcement. Every deal. They're all bad. The sky is falling. Yada. Yada. Most companies aren't used to having a Leader of the Opposition and few of them handle it well. Coles seem to ignore it, which is probably the best they can do.
Now he's in the courts, seeking access to board papers that he might well have retained access to had his virulent reign of corruption not led to his well-justified sacking from the Coles board.
Lew's not used to losing and can be like a spoiled child when confronted by opposition.
When such a screaming ranter is given a billion dollars of net assets, he will often end up in court demanding this and that. Like so many of these escapades, it will amount to nothing. His claim will be laughed out of court.
The laughably amusing aspect is that Lew needs to demonstrate "good faith" and his "proper purpose" to obtain these documents, something he has never had from the very first day he bought into the predecessor company in the 1980s.
Tuesday, 13 February 2007
Albury TV News Ready To Play Sophie Music Vid
Friends of Indi acknowledge that Mrs Sophie Mirabella is not just a freedom fighter, she really is Australia's own Grace Kelly.
The nation salutes her and cherishes her rich legacy of niceness and patriotism and the promotion of family values at Canberra nightspots.
So it is only fitting that the world renowned Prime TV news service in wow-town Albury has expressed interest in our award-winning motivational video produced to promote her good works and her fighting the good fight for local tobacco growers against big tobacco (by accepting money from those greedy big tobacco companies to distribute Robin Hood style to the little people), corrupt chop-chop manufacturers who corruptly sell products that are competitive to companies like BAT and political terrorists (that'd be you Petro).
Watch it while you can.
Game on.
A member of the OC Investigations Unit has alerted us to most unkind references to Mrs Mirabella in the local daily newspaper in her electorate.
There were three articles and a letter today smearing the reputation of the federal MP and possible eventual Liberal leader in a concerted campaign of crapulence.
SMEAR 1: ‘Sophie, we’re not crooks ’
By BRAD WORRALL
TOBACCO growers say Sophie Mirabella needs to stop labelling them crooks when defending the campaign contribution she received from British American Tobacco.
They also have labelled her a hypocrite for accepting the money.
The member for Indi claimed again yesterday the industry was wound up because of the chop chop trade and reinforced it had nothing to do with a $15,000 political donation gifted to her by the tobacco manufacturing giant.
Mrytleford grower Carlo Mancuso said farmers were outraged.
“How many more times do I have to hear Mrs Mirabella casting aspersions upon hard-working and honest farmers by associating them with the illegal tobacco trade,” he said. (OC: Get back to your ganja crop comrade)
“In my view, and the view that was officially quoted by the Tobacco Cooperative of Victoria, the industry ceased to exist because BAT no longer wanted to buy Australian tobacco leaf.
“If one looks at the company’s worldwide operations it is clear that it is restructuring.
“We were told that Australian tobacco did not fit into the restructuring program.”
Last week it was revealed Mrs Mirabella had received $15,000 in donations from BAT in April last year, six months before being involved in the decision to end the $90 million a year Ovens Valley industry.
A late submission brought the donations into the public domain, while a paperwork error revealed the full amount.
Had the donations not been lumped together they would have avoided scrutiny.
Donations of less than $10,000 are not required to be reported to the Australian Electoral Commission.
Mr Mancuso also accused Mrs Mirabella of double standards.
“Mrs Mirabella has no trouble in tarnishing the reputation and integrity of former tobacco growers by associating them with the illegal tobacco trade, while taking offence at the suggestion there is an association between her undisclosed funding from BAT and her role in a package that ended the industry,” he said.
“A package that was scheduled for December and to date we are still waiting.” (OC: Might be a very long wait for you comrade)
Mr Mancuso says the member for Indi should donate the money to charities.
“In an age where we are bombarded by anti-smoking commercials it seems hypocritical to be accepting money from tobacco companies for her election campaign,” he said. (OC: This from a tobacco grower. Puh-lease)
SMEAR #2:Labor pressures for some answers
LABOR Party officials have questioned the timing and intent of a $15,000 donation made by a major tobacco company to Sophie Mirabella.
They want to know why the member for Indi received the money from British American Tobacco in a non-election year, why the donation was so large and why local Liberals were kept out of the loop.
Zuvele Leschen, secretary of the Alpine branch of the ALP, said there were several questions that needed to be answered.
“Firstly, there is the timing of the donation from BAT, only a few months before the closure of the tobacco industry,” she said.
“Why make this donation at this time, well over a year before any election campaign?”
“BAT says it wanted to be involved in the political process but, if so, you would have expected them to make a donation closer to the election campaign.”
Mrs Leschen said the donation appeared to be the biggest BAT had made to a political group in recent times.
“There also seems to have been an attempt to hide this sum of money from the electorate of Indi,” she said.
“The local Liberal Party organisation claims not to know about it.
“It was paid to an organisation based in Sydney, none of whose members live in the area.
“Why would its existence be kept hidden from local Liberal Party members?”
Mrs Leschen said as a former candidate the rules on accepting donations were clear.
“You don’t want be left handling a brown paper bag of cash,” she said.
“The major parties stress that candidates and members should be aware of who is raising money on their behalf and where that money comes from, so that they can avoid being accused of conflicts of interest.”
SMEAR #3: Parties reject tobacco claim
POLITICIANS in the North East have rejected Sophie Mirabella’s claim that they received money from tobacco companies.
Defending a $15,000 donation she had received from British American Tobacco, Mrs Mirabella said National and Labor parties were also beneficiaries.
But member for Benalla Bill Sykes said he knew of no donations.
Former Labor party candidate for Indi and branch secretary Zuvele Leschen said the alpine branch had not received any money from tobacco companies in 10 years.
SMEAR #4 No donations to other parties
IN Saturday’s The Border Mail, Sophie Mirabella is quoted as saying that “British American Tobacco has also made donations to the National Party and the Labor Party”.
This is untrue. Of the $47,600 British American Tobacco donated to Australian political parties in the 2005-2006 reporting period, not one cent went to Labor or any other non-coalition party.
British American tobacco did make $24,250 of donations to the NSW Labor party in the 2003-2004 reporting period.
Since 1998 the Liberal and National parties have received a total of $791,565 in donations from British American Tobacco and Labor has received $191,500.
Neither the Greens nor Democrats have ever accepted a cent from British American Tobacco.
The statistics on which corporations donate what to which political parties are all available online at democracyforsale.org
— KIERAN BENNETT,
Wodonga
Editor’s note: Mrs Mirabella did not indicate in which years Labor received donations from tobacco companies.
Saturday, 10 February 2007
STRANGE: Cleared Councillor Still Being Investigated // Please Explain
The smaller the stakes, the more vicious the play goes an old saying about office politics and local government. This certainly seems to be the case out in Whitehorse council where one popular local former Mayor has been the persistent target of Liberal critics determined to destroy his political career.
The Herald Sun reports today (offline) about the strange case of a popular suburban councillor George Droutsas cleared by the Municipal Electoral Tribunal of accusations by Liberal opponents that he had acted improperly in an election still being investigated by the Police over the same accusations.
RAYLENE CARR
Mrs Raylene Carr who appears to be involved in the asset and equipment finance industry initially made the accusations after losing to Cr Droutsas in a hotly contested council election. Carr is believed to have repeatedly lobbied authorities to investigate her successful opponent in a move that drags local politics in the Vermont area into an unprecedented degree level of the politics of personal destruction. She would do well to remember that the "one who rides the tiger often ends up inside."
The cleared Councillor told the Herald Sun's Ellen Whinnett that he was the victim of political game-playing and something certainly seems strange about this matter, where apparently there have been multiple leaks in relation to the investigation - directly or indirectly - to a local journalist. This alone raises serious ethical and procedural issues about which all Victorians should be concerned. Is Mrs Carr attempting to use an investigative and judicial process for corrupt personal and political gain? If so, the OC believes her conduct should be carefully probed also.
Labor man payback claim
Ellen Whinnett
A SENIOR Labor strategist under police investigation over allegedly stacking an election has accused Victoria Police of political bias.
George Droutsas, a marginal seat campaigner with ALP headquarters in Melbourne, is under investigation by Nunawading CIU after he nominated a block of candidates in the November 2005 municipal elections. (OC: A common practice in municipal elections, not greatly different to political parties running as a group in a state poll)
Cr Droutsas, who was mayor of Whitehorse City Council at the time, paid the $250 registration fees of four Labor-aligned candidates. (OC: Which of course is not unlawful)
One candidate later told the Municipal Electoral Tribunal - which cleared Cr Droutsas - that she did not know she was a candidate until she read it in the newspaper. (OC: Despite signing nomination forms. If stupidity was a crime, she'd be doing time)
Detectives interviewed Cr Droutsas this week over allegations he falsified documents relating to the nominations.
However, Cr Droutsas said he was the victim of political payback and accused the Liberal party of pushing the issue. And he accused police of being part of the payback.
"The Nunawading police need to decide whether they wear the blue ribbon of the Victoria Police or the blue ribbon of the Victorian Liberal party," he said.
"This is just political payback for holding all of my eastern subruban marginal seats (in the November 25 state election."
"I look forward to continuing my work make Whitehorse a great place to live, work and raise a family."
"If I am charged I take confidence in the knowledge that I have helped lock (Ted) Baillieu out of office for the next eight years."
Cr Droutsas who remains on the Whitehorse council, was an adviser to former consumer affairs minister Marsha Thomson before moving to Labor headquarters.
He would not directly answer questions on whether he stacked the council election. "I deny any wrong-doing or breaking the law," he said.
Friday, 9 February 2007
Wednesday, 17 January 2007
INNOCENT: George Seitz Humiliates The Age Over Their Smear Campaign // Leftist Daily Newspaper Proven To Be Sheet of Deceit
Remember when The Age newspaper accused much respected Labor moderate MP George Seitz of being a "fraudster" in relation to some beat-up over a community group?
Remember when we denounced them and the author of the joke front-page smear job Michael Bachelard for being filthy socialist liars?
Well today we finally see the truth of the matter.
Victoria Police investigated the veteran MP over the claims, assuming that anything run that prominently and emphatically by a daily newspaper must have some legs and responding to a letter from a Liberal MP who referred to Bachelard's articles.
Police investigators found there was nothing in it. Not even enough to keep investigating.
BACHELARD UNDER FIRE
No further investigation. Nothing. Despite the most outrageous claims of scamming, fraud and all sorts. Bachelard once called the OC to protest our repeated claims that he had engaged in teen shop-lifting. He most unconvincingly denied it, only saying "there was no conviction". Well that same ethical approach has led the so-called journalist into the biggest crisis of his career. When I said to him the allegations had come from someone in his past and his complaints were a bit rich given Bachelard's claims about Seitz, he said his claims were "documented". Yeah, sure they were Mikey. What a despicable toad. The local newspaper said it all:
Star understands that these people either did not come forward, or could not provide police with any hard evidence that could support the allegations.
Of course, a lack of "hard evidence" was no problem for grubs like Michael Bachelard, Andrew Jaspan and the sleazy cabal of Socialist Left stooges, ex-Marxists, latte sippers and freaks in the Spencer Street Soviet. So what happened? Very simple. Some factional foes of Seitz lied, Michael Bachelard had just arrived at The Age and was desperate to impress. What better way to impress colleagues than to slap around a Labor Unity stalwart? So never mind about hard evidence, just bring out the tar and feathers. A perversion of journalism that makes Lawrence Money look like a serious scribe. It's a disgrace that cannot be allowed to continue.
BACHELARD'S FRAUD
That Michael Bachelard continues to accept payment for being a journalist is the real fraud here. He is a lying liar who lies. Even by the low standards that prevail in the Spencer Street Soviet, this final proof of his deceit should necessitate an immediate suspension and resignation. If he won't resign and take up a more natural calling - such as writing more black arm-band lefty history books - he should be packed and sacked.
His credibility was in the gutter after these Seitz stories. Now it's in the darkest sewer right next to his corrupt little mate Stephen Mayne.
Game on.
The Star local newspaper reports:
Police ready to close Seitz case
By Michael Newhouse
17th January 2007 02:08:49 PM
VICTORIA Police is winding down its fraud investigation into the long-serving Labor MP George Seitz. Police are expected to close the file in the next month after the three-month investigation failed to turn up any new evidence against the MP.
The Victorian Fraud Desk has been carrying out a preliminary investigation into the Keilor MP since October last year over allegations that he misused community bingo funds obtained during the 1990s.
Star understands the investigation has produced no new evidence against Mr Seitz, with at least one former Seitz associate who was assisting police saying, as of last week, he no longer believed he had any evidence that could be used against the Keilor MP.
A spokesperson for Victoria Police Media confirmed the investigation was still open, but would close soon.
“The case is still open, but it is about to be closed,” the spokesperson told Star last week.
“But if any new evidence comes to light it will be re-opened.”
Mr Seitz has strenuously denied allegations that he misused an estimated hundreds of thousands of dollars obtained from running community bingo nights in the 1990s.
He described the claims against him as “purely political publicity” in the lead-up to last year’s state election.
“I appreciate that the police has fulfilled its duty by looking at the position and found that there is no case to answer by me,” Mr Seitz told Star last week.
This latest investigation came after police launched a similar investigation into Mr Seitz’s bingo activities back in the late 1990s, but the file was lost and no charges were laid.
Late last year the Opposition spokesman for scrutiny of government, Richard Dalla-Riva wrote to the Victoria Police chief commissioner, Christine Nixon requesting that a new investigation be launched after new allegations against Mr Seitz had came to light.
“I understand that there are individuals who are now prepared to provide evidence to the Victoria Police which will assist in any investigation,” he wrote in his letter to Ms Nixon, dated 22 May 2006.
Star understands that these people either did not come forward, or could not provide police with any hard evidence that could support the allegations. (OC: Makes you wonder how The Age felt so able to run its tall tales)
But Mr Dalla-Riva has not given up. Last week, when Star contacted him to tell him the investigation was winding down, he said he would continue to pursue Mr Seitz over the bingo money during the current parliamentary term.
“I’m disappointed, but I respect the process of the Victoria Police,” he said last week.
“My understanding was that there were a number of additional witnesses who were prepared to provide statements, and clearly those statements, whatever they may have been, may not have been of sufficient weight to consider further investigation,” Mr Dalla-Riva said.
The investigation was launched in the lead-up to last year’s state election, and caused the Premier, Steve Bracks, some concern in the first week of the campaign, although attention died off as the campaign continued.
Despite the allegations, Mr Seitz was re-elected as the member for Keilor at the 25 November election with an increased margin.
Tuesday, 16 January 2007
PROSECUTED: The Case Against Jeremy Sear // Is the Criminal Barrister A Criminal?
Criminal barrister and chinless wonder Jeremy Sear (last known in the heart of middle class suburbia at 1 Sussex Street, Ringwood) faces some serious albeit fictional criminal charges in the new and exciting jurisdiction of the OC People's Court, where you are judge, jury and executioner in the first virtual and interactive trial of its kind in the Free World.
And while some might not unreasonably question the legal authority of the People's Court and even make allegations that there might be some tongue in the Other Cheek, there can be no dispute that Jeremy Sear has a gravely serious set of issues to deal with as this catalogue of crime indicates:
CHARGE: Theft
Barrister and Melbourne Grammar boy Jeremy Sear admits to theft in one blog posting. And in his words, he admits stealing here.
Incites theft from the highly honourable Kirby family who own Village cinemas by encouraging BitTorrent downloads of films.
CHARGE: Contemplates Offer of Supply of Prohibited Drugs
In one post on his once anonymous blog, Sear gleefully considers the offer being supplied illegal drugs of addiction by a blogger. While the blogger thought he was joking, Sear took the offer seriously and may well have accepted it but for his Melbourne Grammar education, where of course no one there ever does drugs. At all.
CHARGE: Inciting Assault
Despite being married to a secondary school music teacher, Sear believes that computer software encouraging schoolyard violence is to be commended. It all relates to him being pulverised by school bullies at Camberwell Grammar, apparently. Pathetic. And this bloke decries violence and war when the Americans do it, but when it affected him he wanted to bash the crap out of bullies and put them in their place. Violence is no good at all we think, but sometimes it is necessary in combating evils like Hitler and Saddam. If Sear get this as a victim of schoolyard bullies why does he suspend the same logic when it comes to foreign policy? Simple. See the Racism charge, he blindly hates Americans.
CHARGE: False Reports of Crimes
MrLefty2 proposes that Sear is guilty of the serious offence of making a false report of a crime.
Certainly the evidence is compelling. Sear claimed that he was hacked but there remain serious unanswered questions about whether he was and yet he has been repeatedly talking up the alleged incidents as a criminal attack on his manhood.
CHARGE: Sexual Assault
One anonymous contributor has alleged that at a Grogblogging geek gathering that Jeremy Sear "put his hand up my skirt." The woman - presumably - complained that the incident occurred at the conclusion of the evening and that he brazenly committed the offence while his wife Melanie Sear was in close proximty. Surely not!
CHARGE: Racial Vilification and Iraqi Defeatism
In the same post, pompous ass Jeremy Sear appears to allege that Iraqis are racially incapable of knowing the "names of many of the candidates" in their national election which had a very high turn-out despite terrorists threatening to kill voters.
He separately vilifies Americans, alleging they have no sense of humour