■ The James Hird for Higgins bushfire, started here by the OC playing with matches here and here, has now officially grown out of control. The Sunday Herald Sun today reported on the blaze, simultaneously reporting that "Former AFL great James Hird has not ruled out a move into politics" and "James Hird denies interest in MP role". The paper says that "Rumours abounded in political circles during the week that the former Bombers captain planned to enter parliament in Canberra or Melbourne." Oops, my bad.
■ The nation's most popular newspaper also intriguingly reports that high copper and nickel prices mean that the metal value of 5c, 10c and 20c coins will soon overtake their nominal value. Before you fire up the furnace, Tim Lisle-Williams (always in search of a quid they say), beware that strict penalties apply for melting the Queen's face for cashing in purposes.
■ And the S-Hun hits keep coming today with the feisty Liam Houlihan revealing that a solution to our crime problem might lie in deporting everyone born here and leaving the place for relatively more law abiding immigrants. If we understood the stats presented correctly, he revealed that while some 26% of Victorians were born overseas that they commit only 14% of the crime. Not only that, he accompanied a beautiful black labrador VicPol sniffer dog that was brought in to check the incidence of drug use at Bornoia station. In the space of just four hours, four travellers actually had illegal drugs on them and thirty nine had a "narcotic odour". Either that or they'd kept a dog choc in the pocket.
■ In fine form he also took a much-needed slap at the creepy "Landmark Education" who apparently tend to sue on-line critics of the pop psychology training business run by a former Scientologist, Wayne Erhard. Might be worth a further look that one. Anyone with any muck on them, please share.
■ Rarely does one edition of a newspaper offer so much, former Victorian Premier Joan Kirner complains she didn't get her parliamentary superannuation. My understanding is that she did get a large super payment after her retirement but it seems it wasn't enough for the Premier who presided over the biggest financial meltdown Victoria had seen since the Great Depression.
■ In the other journal, they don't have much on offer except for the Koutsoukis who set to go to Israel as the Fairfax correspondent soon, replacing the quite possibly Satanic Ed O'Loughlin. They report rather hopefully that "Green is the new god", that Rudd is a workaholic and is driving all the slovenly Canberra bureaucracy mad (hardly news with the greatest respect), that NSW Chief Justice Jim Spigelman who boasts in public that Sydney is the domicile of every half way good jurist is in the running to become the new HC CJ and somehow extreme leftist and Obama cheer-leader Guy "Gee" Rundle managed to report on the week in Presidential politics without mentioning that Obama was forced to sack his Israel-lashing senior foreign policy adviser after accusing rival Hillary of being a monster. Has he written all of his rants in advance to give him time to do exotic things to hamsters in his motel rooms (also known as doing a Brendan Mac)? An offensive thought, I'll agree but keep in mind Gee's reference to Republican candidate Mitt Romney who he claimed looked like the sort of person who would take the opportunity to urinate in a sex worker's mouth for kicks.
■ We'll also be chasing Stephen Mayne this week to explain whether his apparent commercial relationship with the gazillionaire WA Bendat family in the Mayne Report represents a potential conflict of interests of the kind he's always condemning in others. The Bendats are shareholders apparently in the Mayne Report, if you can believe this blog. And as we know, blogs are always correct. In this case, it certainly seems to be, with a quick Google search confirming some ties between a young member of the Bendat clan and Stevie.
Perhaps we've not been paying sufficient attention to his online bleatings but I certainly don't recall Stevie fessing up to some well-monied persons active in the markets being on the ownership register of his independent financial commentary and abuse service.
It appears old man Bendat is or at least was both a very large shareholder in West Australian Newspapers and a mate of other big shareholder and television proprietor Kerry Stokes.
Both Perth spivs (even the ancient relic Bendat) would probably do a much better job at running WAN than the stiffs on the board right now but that's not really the point. Mayne's whole shtick for years has been how independent he is, now he seems to be lobbying people to run against the board incumbents while Stokes (Bendat's former business partner and mate) is trying to unseat them too. And Mayne is a candidate too, ostensibly as an independent director. But we wonder how independent he can be from someone who's invested in this business?
Check out his obsequious description of old Jack on his rich list, which is otherwise full of criticism and poking at those unfortunate enough to be on it:
Jack Bendat: Migrating to Australia over 40 years ago, he arrived with ambitions of being a farmer. He soon moved away from that direction and moved into shopping centres, television, radio and wine. Each time, skilfully knowing when to sell out and move on to the next challenge. The charitable owner of the Perth Wildcats basketball team and a large portfolio of listed stocks continue to drive his wealth.
Compare that grovelling description with the more typical offering:
Tony Berg: Did 19 years with Macquarie Bank, the last nine as managing director before he took the top job at Boral, but failed to deliver. However, with an estimated $80 million with Grange Securities, the lad clearly made plenty from his Macquarie days and is still in the money with a portfolio of board interests, including a five-year stint with venture capital firm Gresham Partners.
Also worth noting is Mayne's exclusion of his chum Labor MP Evan Thornley and his partner in crime Tracey "Toad of Toad Hall" Ellery from the list. Thornley understandably hates being on those lists, figuring it doesn't do his ailing political career much good, so he personally asked Mayne to pull his entry even though his cut-off point is a measly $20M. Thornley is well over that even after splashing cash on some dodgy investments in d-store and uneconomic farms and ego book publishers and as yet not fully disclosed property holdings in "Queensland". Mayne complied with his bud's dud request despite knowing full well Thornley was above the $20M cut and not currently on the BRW's list (his normal criteria). Also excluded from the list on the same dubious basis is the multi-millionaire ASIC investigated boss of Nameless. Beecher made much more than $20M from his Text Media sweet-heart deal with Fairfax. So much so he even gave Stevie a lazy mil for the keys to the barely solvent email newsletter.
Shareholders beware of dweebs bearing independence.
Game on.
Sunday, 9 March 2008
SUNDAY PRESSED: The World Continues To Be Crazy
Wednesday, 19 September 2007
ROTFL: The Left's Darling Evan Thornley Betrays Them All To Kneel Before Zod
Evan Thornley, who inspired millions with his plans to teach chess to school children (some of whom are socially promoted through our glorious education system without being able to read or do the basic maths) and to award the parents of kids with proxy votes in a puzzling proposal that cost him his chance of ministerial promotion, has followed the sage advice of the OC and upper house Leader John Lenders and has joined the Labor Unity faction.
Yes, you have read correctly.
We joke about many things on the web channel of the free, Thornley's waist-line, his tendency to smash telephones in hotel rooms in the style recently made famous by Russell Crowe, his failure to make the Ministry despite repeated public promises by his former patron Stevie Bracks, his panic when said patron departed without so much as a word of consultation with his protégé, his hideous hound spouse, his philandering, his idiot brother-in-law and so many other things but we wouldn't jest about this.
HOW IT WENT DOWN // THE INSIDE STORY
It all went down last week and yesterday in an amusing deal brokered by the wily Greens-bashing upper house leader and his faithful amigo Fiona Richardson. How amusing. Whether they were persuaded by his "Chess 4 All" plan, his "Proxy Votes 4 Parents" manifesto or his inspiring record of corporate governance that saw billions of dollars in mums and dads' shareholder value incinerated has not yet come to light.
The movement to recruit him followed speculation that the NUW group planned to do so and Lenders' discussions with Thornley about shoe-horning the upper-house MP into the seat of Albert Park, which ended up being taken by Martin Foley, described laughably this week by Paul Austin as "ministerial material". His type of material is more a cheap hessian (or perhaps hemp given his illustrious past) than a plush velvet but that's another story.
AN OFFER YOU CAN'T REFUSE: YOU SHALL KNEEL BEFORE ZOD
Lenders is believed to have recruited using the time-honoured technique of carrot and stick. You join, we'll give you a winnable or safe seat currently held by the likes of Craig Langdon who will be contemplating retirement next time and you'll be seriously considered for the Ministry. Don't join, you'll get nada, no seat, probably even lose preselection you've got and if not chances are you'll lose the seat if there's any kind of anti-government swing.
It was clearly a persuasive pitch. Because he kneeled before Zod soon after.
You too can kneel before Zod, should you wish. Click here to join in on the fun.
SINNER ACCEPTED
Patriots reveal that Treasurer Lenders sponsored (not quite in the AA sense) Mr Thornley's application to join the Labor Unity caucus and that he attended his first meeting of patriots yesterday morning.
We understand that Thornley will not be asked to wash his mouth out with soap to atone for his frequent attacks on "factions" (particularly Labor Unity) and "branch-stackers" in his website "LaborFirst" and in his web nom de plume Rex Ringschott.
Because everyone in the ALP should renounce the ways of the Leftard, we will refrain from documenting these statements today which we have previously noted. But those keen to refresh their memories should do a search within the blog search bar to see just how much venom he's spewed out at his new factional colleagues. Many are far from impressed but the Labor moderate group has always operated on principles of love, forgiveness, honour and decency.
BROAD CHURCH INDEED
Labor Unity is a "broad church" meaning it welcomes sinners of all faiths in one Holy Communion of patriotism. Just how the corpulent chunkster Senor Thornley squeezes into the crowded pews of preselection aspirants and protectors will be the source of ongoing amusement and endless copy.
So we can only express our thanks and praise to all concerned with this dubious coup. Although we wonder whether the Member for Ivanhoe, a patriot with a strong local base and a fine record of achievement will feel the same way.
A CONSPIRACY THEORY TO CONCLUDE
Some have speculated that this factional move is an attempt to provoke his strident leftard profiterole munching spouse Tracey Ellery into attempting to kill him in a cynical attempt to have her dragged off to women's prison where she would quickly emerge as "Top Dog" in the manner reminiscent of the similarly red-headed and fiery Bea Smith of blessed memory.
Either way, it's a big laugh, with many patriots (including those who negotiated with him and promised him a seat) denying all knowledge of the matter and offering the Sergeant Shultz defence.
That's all very well, I'd rather be on Colonel Hogan's side anyway, they might have taken his freedom but he always kept his so very cool leather jacket.
That is all.
Game on.
Monday, 13 August 2007
QUEEN'S GAMBIT: Thornley Leaks Ignored Proposal on Adding Chess To School Curriculum To The Age Then "Declines to Comment"
Apparently unconcerned by either the realisations that he is not Education Minister and that there is no "I" in "Team", one-time billionaire now somewhat financially embarrassed investor in the US sub-prime credit market Evan Thornley has leaked an ignored paper he wrote about how chess ought be incorporated in the Victorian curriculum, cruelly denying the legitimate aspirations of poker, backgammon and Twister.
The OC loves a spot of online chess for the unique thrill of being humbled by a Bulgarian eight year old and thinks all parents should be teaching its black arts. Or at least send their offspring to chess club where they be guaranteed a chance to bully someone geekier than themselves and a chance to match wits with chess players who might not play like Albert Einstein but at least look like him.
The politicial point of all of this is that it's yet another DOA (Dead on Arrival) from Thornley after the international embarrassment of his proxy votes for parents proposal. He even arranged with the comrade journaliste Tomazin for the line "Mr Thornley declined to comment yesterday" to be in the story. He is truly the political graffiti artist who declines to tag.
His colleagues in caucus of course won't be so easily fooled. They know they aren't permitted to float crazy ass ideas in public and if they do they risk the Wrath of Sharon McCrohan or Designation As Non-Team-Player. Why is there one law for the rich and another for the loyal?
Game on.
Friday, 3 August 2007
DEBT MAN WALKING: Labor's Evan Thornley Burned By High Risk Speculative Investment
Evan Thornley - and Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier - is involved in a grave financial crisis this morning as revealed by Craig Binnie, in the newspaper of freedom, the Herald Sun on page two no less. One of his high-risk high-yield investments in the debt market has crashed through the floor.
The OC understands from a source close to Thornley that he and his wife Tracey Ellery personally direct his multi-million dollar investment portfolio and discuss the subject at least once a week. Thornley generally executes their decisions via a broker at Macquarie Equities. He has been noticed by caucus observers very frequently checking his Blackberry for the latest prices, usually a characteristic of a day-trader.
The Labor MP's multi-million dollar investment in the high-yield Macquarie Fortress Fund has collapsed as the fund has been forced to sell assets to cover withdrawals from panicked investors. The fund stands to lose around $300 million of note-holders' money.
The notes in the fund collapsed 25% yesterday amid concerns that the sub-prime credit market in the US was looking very dodgy.
Bloomberg explains:
The company aims to pay investors a 10.1 percent annual yield by investing in loans to companies with good records of repaying debt, according to a prospectus dated Feb. 3, 2006, for a third series of notes.
Sounds good in theory except similar companies in the US are in freefall:
``People are nervous because Macquarie looks and smells a lot like the companies that have been affected by this (the mini-crisis in the debt market) in the U.S.,'' said Hans Kunnen, who helps manage $117 billion at Colonial First State Global Asset Management in Sydney.
Evan Thornley is a train-wreck and was politically created by the last Premier and their need to balance out the preselection of then government insider Tim Pallas with an apparently well-credentialed outsider. His credentials were highly questionable indeed as it turns out, with him credited with internet "success story" Looksmart, a company on the brink of collapse, with its CEO suddenly resigning ahead of today's announcement of a multi-million dollar loss.
There is every reason for him to wonder what his use is now, other than bringing embarrassment on the government with his colourful business past and dodgy, risky investments. We have John Brumby acting like a fiscal conservative and Kevin Rudd saying on the 7.30 Report last night that he's an "economic conservative" while Evan Thornley is playing fast and loose with millions of dollars in a high-stake crap-shoot in the world's capital markets. Is he really the sort of person who should be allowed anywhere near 1 Treasury Place and the state's finances?
Evan Thornley's risky, fast-money investments not only undermine Labor's presentation as a prudent fiscal manager in Victoria but give rise to questions about whether he's treating his job as Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier for the national reform agenda and Member of the Legislative Council as a full-time, serious pursuit or whether he's just hanging around Spring Street in between yakking to his broker and lonely rounds of golf.
Game on.
Thursday, 2 August 2007
COMPANY IN CRISIS: Thornley's Looksmart Rocked By CEO Resignation
The problem with bulldust is that eventually it clears and - in time - the truth becomes all too apparent. The company founded by Labor MP Evan Thornley, the supposed "success story" which formed the basis of his claim to run for public office, is sliding into the abyss.
The most recent catastrophe is today's sudden resignation of its CEO David Hills.
We've been calling Looksmart's demise for a very long time. Seems like this was also a factor in Thornley being passed over for a Ministry once again. Some speculation that some of the local leftards about to be smited in the Albert Park preselection are eyeing off the Socialist Left vacancy currently occupied by Thornley's lard-ass. For the first time ever, we'll be cheering any of the nose-ringed, the Marxoid, the wankers and spankers contemplating taking on Labor's lowest of the low. All those contemplating such a move, should feel free to call for a briefing on 0415 99 33 26.
Some speculation also around that Thornley (whose patron saint must surely be St Jude) be moved away from the Premier's office in the looming Parl Secretary shuffle. Perhaps Parliamentary Secretary for Impending Disaster, Foot in Mouth Syndrome and Megalomania. He'd be well suited.
Game on.
Friday, 27 July 2007
PRIVATE PUTRESCENCE: Pompous Plutocrat Evan Thornley Proposes Preposterous Potty Parental Proxy Poll
The man Premier Steve Bracks rightly declined to appoint to his Ministry, Evan Thornley appears to be suffering from a raging and delusion-inducing case of what Gareth Evans once called relevance deprivation syndrome.
His plan - trumpeted by the incredulity suspending Paul Austin in the left-wing press - is to give one proxy vote per child to parents.
I promise I'm not making it up.
The Age alleges that he told a meeting of the Australian Republican Movement:
The goal of moving from "one vote, one value" to "one person, one vote" would be to break down short-term thinking and encourage thinking about cross-generational issues such as global warming, education funding and job creation.
He would implement this through a system where:
parents should have the right to vote on behalf of their children under 18 — the more children, the more votes
He said:
So, we could consider parents being given the responsibility to cast additional votes on behalf of their kids until the kids turn 18 when they cast their own vote.
This idea is indeed an Evan Thornley special. Superficially attractive to pitch for family votes with a fiendish partisan agenda underneath it to promote left-wing causes. Fuelled by his nightly couple of bottles of red, he would have furiously scribbled this idea down in his notebook before stumbling off to bed after he was certain he could hear wife Tracey snoring in the distance.
A FISTFUL OF PROXIES
But does the idea survive any analysis or scrutiny for those of us not inclined to drink alone? Of course not. Proxy voting for those we judge unable to vote would be a radical and dangerous shift in our democracy and one with unprecedented opportunities for electoral corruption. Why stop at kids? What about the senile elderly who can't vote? Or those in comas? Seriously intellectually disabled people? Anyone with capacity issues. And what about those young people under the age of eighteen with very strong views, if they're worth a vote in the system, they'd be legitimately entitled to ask why their parent is allowed to exercise it without any reference to their wishes or beliefs.
And with kids with two parents, what if they disagreed? We see from party polling on both sides that there is a widening gender gap in voter behaviour with lots of women voting Liberal and Green and many men voting Labor (especially in this coming federal election). How would parents resolve this difference over which way to cast their children's votes? Perhaps in court. That'd be fun.
This idea is of course dead on arrival. It is such a looney left proposal that I cannot imagine anyone actually within the SL caucus who'd dare propose it in a public forum. They wouldn't want to know. Paul Austin's absence of sources in Spring Street is the only reason it even got a run in today's Age. It is a joke without a punchline.
Old friends of Evan, still in contact with the OC, tell us that he is frustrated and bored with his very limited role in government. One volunteered "He wanted federal and knows that's never going to happen. He's looking at the polls and just shaking his head wondering what went so wrong. He feels he's not been given enough to do and was robbed of a Ministry 'by the factions.' He's also looking for a new state seat and is worried he won't get looked after at all in the next round of preselections."
This preposterous proxy proposal encapsulates the problem Labor has with this random, rich egomaniac whose only smart (albeit illegal and immoral) idea was to sell shares in a company he was running at a time when he was loudly telling everyone in sight - including in recorded company conference calls - that the stock was very cheap. The shares later collaped while he'd sold many tens of millions of dollars worth of stock. The difference between his company Looksmart and Enron is only that they all went to prison while he went to parliament.
He has a coterie of well-paid advisers, all of whom are too dumb to realise how they taint their CVs by working for him, all of whom are too cowardly to ever actually say these much needed words:
"Evan, you really are full of sh*t."
Presumably not one of them protested about promoting an idea so kooky, so corrosive of our democracy, so impractical and stupid that it could only attract mirth and shock. (Except from Paul Austin, who's being fed so little up in Spring Steet that he might qualify for a United Nations grant)
Not one of Evan's entourage has told him it's probably not a good look to mock the Parliamentary pecuniary interest disclosure process by answering questions about where he owns property by reference to reasonably unspecific locations such as "Queensland" while almost all his colleagues put down the actual street addresses of any real estate investments and a full list of equity investments. Thornley does neither and has rightly attracted condemnation for this.
So we say to the new staff of the Thornley funded Per Capita as they do the rounds, please take Evan's coin and spend it wisely but the quicker you get out of there the better. Being associated with schemes like proxy voting that could normally only be fully comprehended by reference to Evan's enthusiasm for what he calls the "wacky weed" is going to be a career limiting move.
Game on.
UPDATE: A patriot advises correctly that this idea was stolen from the West Wing. That's sad.
Monday, 2 July 2007
TOO SMART BY HALF: Evan Thornley Shamed Over Failure To Disclose Financial Interests To Victorian Parliament
It was only a matter of time before Almighty Evan Thornley started to get into serious bother in the Victorian Parliament.
In yesterday's Sunday Herald Sun, revered Victorian Parliamentary veteran reporter and role model to the OC, Brendan Donohue (aka "The Iron Chef") has taken his frying pan to Thornley's shameful abuse of the Parliamentary disclosure laws to hide his pecuniary interests from prying eyes.
Time for Thornley to come clean on this outrageous situation. Perhaps, it's time for a full investigation of his holdings.
Game on.
Friday, 22 June 2007
THORNLEY'S VICTIMS: The Savings of Thousands Paved Labor MP's Path To Power
Looksmart Ltd corporate documents reveal some gruesome statistics of just how many Australian investor victims have been caught up in the scandalous company founded and mismanaged by Labor MP Evan Thornley.
Documents obtained by the OC, filed with Australian authorities, confirm that there are over 8000 investors in Looksmart in Australia with nearly 7000 of them with an "unmarketable parcel" of stock.
This means that the shares they own are worth so little that it is not possible to sell the stock without most if not all of the small sum being consumed by transaction costs, such as brokerage (around $50).
So most mums and dads would have paid a minimum of two grand to buy some stock in the first place, many would have put in much more. And what are they left with? Barely enough to buy one of Thornley's Pluto Press books on the latte left lifestyle.
It is a remarkable situation for any Member of Parliament to have caused. Compounded by the fact that Thornley sold many tens of millions of dollars worth of stock, in many cases to these individual investors who believed his confident pronouncements about the future of the company.
Not long after the company listed in 2000, things started to go horribly wrong, as Thornley had sold out while reassuring investors that the company had strong prospects and was, indeed, under-valued.
Everyone in business has made a few enemies along the way. But making them in the thousands is a unique achievement. If he's Labor's version of a "successful businessman", I hate to see their unsuccessful one.
Click here to see Thornley's company's recent announcements on their de-listing from the Australian market.
Game on.
Friday, 8 June 2007
FLUSHED: Evan Thornley's Company in Crisis
Labor Legislative Councillor Evan Thornley's company Looksmart continues to reel from crisis to crisis. Just last night, its Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer resigned to "spend more time with his family". More time with his lawyers more like it.
Those familiar with the company believe its collapse is inevitable, with a quitting CFO considered a very strong indicator of a very serious problem.
Those currently running the company are apparently very clear about who is at fault for the problems they've inherited. Unless Thornley is willing to bail out the situation he created, there could be some ugly bad press coming his way, insiders told the OC this afternoon.
Game on.
Tuesday, 5 June 2007
SHAMED: Labor MP Condemned For "Dickensian" Workplace By Respected Writer
Legislative Council back-bencher Evan Thornley has been embarrassed over recent condemnation of the employment conditions at Thornley company Looksmart by a former employee who described the company as a "post-modern vision of Dickensian England."
Highly respected journalist Joshua Jaffe briefly worked for Looksmart before leaving, unsatisfied with the cold and drafty office facilities provided by the Labor MP. He left to go The Deal, a famed publication on Silicon Valley business deals. He is now the senior writer for The Deal magazine and the organizer of the Technology Summit for VCs, acquirers, and other investors.
He describes the "Dickensian" scene:
I was seated in the middle of an enormous open room with nothing in it but hundreds of tables, computers and "editors". It looked like a post-modern vision of Dickensian England. The draft was persistent and the work was inane. I was trained on a computer to search for a specific topic on the web and assign it the appropriate classification in the company's index. I did that for a few hours until training ceased. The next morning, I got an offer from The Deal, which I gladly accepted. I didn't show up for "training" the next day or the day after that.
He went on to mock the poor performance of Thornley's company:
That company, LookSmart, went on to a successful IPO but quickly ran into trouble. Its human edited search results didn't catch on against stronger algorithmic based results (Google).
These recent comments on a highly regarded VC Ratings website support the statements in the House of Representatives two years ago[pdf] made by the then Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews who was gravely concerned about the plight of workers in Thornley's company.
Andrews' parliamentary attack played a significant role in Thornley being deprived of any chance at federal preselection and was given state preselection as window dressing to distract media attention from the rather contentious selection of Premier's Chief of Staff Tim Pallas.
Mr ANTHONY SMITH (2.35 p.m.)—My question is addressed to the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. Would the minister inform the House how the government is upholding the right of workers to join or not join unions and is the minister aware of any alternative views?
Answer
Mr ANDREWS—I thank the member for Casey for his question and his support for the government’s Work Choices legislation. The Work Choices bill maintains and strengthens the prohibitions against discrimination and dismissal of employees on the grounds of whether or not they are a member of a union. In fact, it also remains unlawful for employers to victimise employees who are not union members. That is clearly set out in the legislation. I was asked about some alternative views and I came across a firm that does not seem to support the engagement and employment of union members.
Indeed, in its original prospectus, when it was floated, it boasted:
‘None of our employees is represented by a labour union.’
Its annual return for 1999 boasted:
‘We have never had a work stoppage and none of our employees is represented by a Labor union.’
Indeed I understand the practice of this firm is that it only employs people on individual contracts. The 2000 annual report of this firm is interesting because it says, in part:
We had approximately 690 employees as of December 31, 2000. However, in January 2001, we implemented a restructuring plan that resulted in staff reductions of 172 employees.
They are boasting of having slashed the work force between 31 December 2000 and the beginning of January 2001. The very interesting thing is that this 2000 annual report goes on to state:
Our future success depends, in part, on the continued service of our key management personnel, particularly Evan Thornley, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Tracey Ellery, our President. Mr. Thornley and Ms. Ellery are husband and wife.
These are the people who boast about not employing union members that the Leader of the Opposition appointed to his Knowledge Nation task force back in the year 2000. This is what the Federal Secretary of the ALP, Mr Tim Gartrell, said about Mr Thornley:
He is a great supporter of the Labor Party.
He said:
The Labor Party has an obligation to weed out any existing duds and replace them with the next generation of leadership, the thinkers, the reformers, the persuaders.
He says that Mr Thornley is:
... an energetic highly intelligent guy who understands industry policy and economics and can argue his case at any forum. They are the sort of people that we need.
I wonder what the member for Scullin thinks about that. This bloke will not employ a unionist in his business. So here we have the modern face of the Labor Party in Australia. One of its up-and-coming stars will not deal with unions, will not employ union members, engages in a mass sacking of staff and prefers individual contracts. This is a man who is practising the very thing that the Labor Party says is exploitative. I assure members of the Labor Party and the other members of the House that we, at least on this side of politics, will stand up for the Australian worker.
Game on.
Monday, 4 June 2007
THE POWER AND THE PASSION: News Big And Small To Warm You On This Non Globally Warmed Chilly Monday
So much is going on this chilly Melbourne day.■ Evan Thornley, whose company Looksmart made Therese Rein's employment practices look downright generous and who one-upped her by boasting in annual reports that "he had no members of a labor union" on staff, has been described by the Herald-Sun as Spring Street's richest MP. He is also its reddest-faced, not only literally, but also figuratively having been apprehended with his pants down by a Parliamentary worker in the last couple of weeks. No one else was with him, sources close to the staffer are saying. We can only speculate about whether he had hidden his companion well or whether he provides his own entertainment. Suggestions that the shocked staff member "jokingly" took a happy snap of the stumbling, depanted MP with his mobile phone could surely give rise to a big bidding war;
■ No doubt talk of Pull Out My Thornley Pantsdown will please the Socialist Left, who seem to tap their feet impatiently every time the subject of Thornley comes up as they contemplate the bandit who stole one of their seats. Less pleasing will be their CFMEU comrades who despite running around with hard-hat screaming about the sky falling because of the ABCC and Workchoices etc., seem to be emerging as John Howard's most effective advocates;
■ On Saturday morning, we decreed that greenhouse gas targets were going to be John Howard's springboard back to a historic fifth term. And because - as you know in your heart we're always right - by Monday we have been vindicated in our little four day forecast. Liberal polling shows that Garrett is popular in the inner city and quite thoroughly loathed elsewhere, so he'll cop some very big blasting between now and election day. He's already complaining about it. ;
■ We see that with Galaxy at 53:47, equally accurate in his forecasting has been patriot Hun scribe G-Mac Gerard McManus, who uncovered the problem at Therese Rein's business and has been since pointing out that the conflict of issue is a furphy, the issue is hypocrisy in relation to the treatment of workers. And hypocrisy in what Labor and the ACTU is willing to criticise. The OC's union brethren tell us in every canteen, staff room and around every water cooler the issue of Therese the exploiter has been front and centre in conversation. It shouldn't make that big a difference, it's not Kevin Rudd's business after all but it does seem that he's going to be blamed for it anyway. We are a society in transition, where women are expected to make their way and pay their way (except at dinner of course) but somehow it's presumed that their husbands must know what they're doing in business and must somehow be involved or responsible. An outrageously unfair notion, but life can be that way at times. Whatever the fairness of it, G-Mac should be invited around for a fireside scotch at the Lodge because he's done more to lift the Coalition out of the poo than any of Little Johnny's Ministers.
■ Good news about Israel[pdf] you won't be seeing in The Age.
■ The Melbourne Cup of Republican Presidential nominees looks like attracting a strong contender Fred Thompson. It's not always the most exciting view but if you're interested in their race, Meet the Press yesterday was a must-see.
■ Interesting column in The Australian on the baby boomer big government mindset and how their tax and spend solutions are looking, well, old.
More to follow and don't forgot it's Monday Madness. Who is the evil cleric spreading jihad in the ALP? We will soon name names in a chilling exposé (note correct spelling).
Monday, 28 May 2007
GREENSLEAZE: Terrible Trio Tarnish Greens Trademark
The Victorian Greens Legislative Councillors continue to struggle to find the way in the Red Morgue.
While cab sav socialist Evan Thornley's red face has practically merged with the lush red bordello-style velvet that adorns the chamber, the Greens continue to appear out of place, constantly acting awkwardly and clumsily.
Behind closed doors lies in an inner urban world of intense internal competition, petty jealousy and pathetic posing as their Supreme and yet unelected leader Greg Barber continues to put noses out of joint by insisting on being their sole media spokesman.
The conflict between the more pragmatic day-trader Greg Barber and the big eatin' ultra-leftist Colleen Hartland seems to grow by the day. We doubt she will survive another preselection on his watch.
BOB BROWN INTERVENES
Despite their internal crises, the Greens have been desperate to seek opportunities to vote with the Government in recent weeks. Bob Brown's office personally intervened after the nuclear plebiscite debacle, telling Barber he had to be smarter on his feet and not use his votes like he was on a local council. Brown's office retains faith in Barber, blaming his mistakes on his inexperience with politics beyond local government. One federal Greens insider who requested a copy of the Greg Barber "Darth Barber" graphic for his desktop told the OC that Barber was a "quick study" who was very unlikely to "give Labor any more free kicks like that."
They are now voting with the Liberals around 68% of the time and with the Government 32%, about the same as the Democratic Labor Party (who they denounced as ultra-right extremists) and the National Party (who were in Coalition with the Liberals in the last conservative state government). It is a voting record that threatens to destroy the Greens left "cred" when they next face election.
LABOR'S VIEW
One well-placed observer in the upper house told colleagues:
"Whilst some of the suggestions from the last Sitting Week on how this could be recorded on a (Greens) school report card were entertaining, they were generally unprintable. The consensus view was an "E", however."
OFTEN LICKED NEVER BEATEN
One splendid occasion though highlighted the default oppositionalist approach taken by Barber and his cronies. The source tells the story that a procedural motion was proposed by the government which would permit the Green to actually move their amendments to the Equal Opportunity Bill, their instinctive response was to sit with the Liberals until helpful Labor MLCs pointed-out that if they did not vote with Labor, they would actually be gagging themselves! And while many Greens may enjoy tying themselves up in the privacy of their own homes, this did seem a bit much.
BUG-EYED
Clearly the Greens enjoy the exotic erotica, as they expressed their support for erotic poet and porn potentate Bruce Atkinson, Liberal MLC who emerged successful in his quest to become Chair of the Legislation Committee. Their Sue "Woodchuck" Pennicuik found him a more acceptable candidate than failed, disgraced, dumped, shamed and bug-eyed former Local Government Minister Candy Broad whose two-bit inquiry into Geelong Council has finished her political career before it never get off the ground.
Barber, who is more bean-counter than self-flagellator, told one source that Broad had it coming because she "had ratted and votes with the Right" showing a degree of obsession/fascination with internal ALP processes that really does prove that he joined the wrong party.
And for that may we be truly thankful. Amen.
Game on.
Friday, 4 May 2007
CRASH: Labor MP's Looming Corporate Collapse
Evan Thornley's Looksmart has today announced a blow-out in losses, some fifty per cent worse than market expectations as it continues to struggle with his legacy. They are burning through the uncommitted cash of the company at an alarming rate, they notionally have $30M+ in the bank but much of that would be spent on discharging lease and employee obligations in the event of a liquidation which now appears just a matter of time.
The Bracks government is bracing itself for the corporate collapse and the political consequences.
Meanwhile class action lawsuits dealing with frauds on Looksmart shareholders by those promoting the stock continue.
If you want to listen to yawningly bad spin of really bad results (50% worse than expected) click here to listen to the "conference call". It's a sad feast of blind optimism, disclaimers, attempts to "me-too" with Google despite having none of Google's advantages and a general continuation of the lies Thornley's been issuing to Looksmart's screwed investors for many years.
One feisty state Liberal in particular has a bulging shame file on Thornley's corporate career if he ever gets promoted off the backbench. Looksmart's looming collapse must be adding to his bulge. Take that as you will.
Game on.
Monday, 30 April 2007
CRUNCHED: ALP National Executive Rules on Deakin
Patriots will be pleased hear that factional turncoat and the sorest loser Dr Evil Peter Lynch has failed in his bid to overturn his defeat in the Deakin preselection by appealing to the National Executive on a dubious technicality.
Dr Evil is clearly unsatisfied with the practice of medicine as he has demonstrated a deep fondness for the art of bush lawyering. His razor whining cut no ice with the stony faced men and women of the National Executive who regarded his demand for another ballot he was destined to lose by an even more substantial margin as ridiculous.
Now the question is will he accept the umpire's ruling or rush off to court disaster?
Similar questions arise in New South Wales where four MP's, three from the Right and one from the Independents/Centre Left/Jurassic Park Extinction faction will be replaced by the National Executive.
PLO fan Julia Irwin, Mike Hatton, Roger Price and Kelly "The Dumb" Hoare are in the frame and some suspect that one of them will attempt to subvert the dominant paradigm and rush to court. With the National Conference itself ruling on it, it makes it very tricky to do this but anything's possible.
The Left have been so successful at discrediting the ALP preselection process that it is interesting that there is almost no resistance from branch members and little objection from the press about the unusual move to hand the power to scalp four MPs to the National Executive. The Left won't be complaining about it because they pick up Greg Combet in a seat they wouldn't otherwise have.
Many in the Victorian Left and Right were very concerned about the precedent set but our NSW friends pointed out that the entire Legislative Council ticket in the Victorian election was chosen - or at least ratified - by the National Executive which facilitated the annointment of Syrian agent Khalil Eideh and red-faced Evan Thornley who had been preaching about the need for rank and file democracy in the ALP until then. We don't hear him preaching now.
Game on.
Thursday, 26 April 2007
BACKLASH: Looksmart's Fraud Taints Thornley
Disgraced businessman and now state MP Evan Thornley's company Looksmart continues to face a backlash from investors following the loss of billions of dollars of shareholder's equity under his administration.
Stockbrokers Merrill Lynch - aided by Thornley - produced fraudulent reports on the company that encouraged investors to buy into the over-priced, over-hyped stock during 2000 and 2001.
Merrill Lynch is set to settle a class action for exaggerating about Looksmart with more lawsuits possible from larger investors.
Thornley's Looksmart was one big scam. Check out this reference in the UK Guardian newspaper recently:
Type "hype search engine" into Hakia or Clusty and near the top of the results comes a 1999 story "Getting smart, the stupid Web way" from the online magazine Salon. In the article the reporter rails at the over-the-top promotional parties search engine companies thought they had to throw. He was less than impressed with the excesses of AltaVista, About and Looksmart.
Of course none of those companies is more than a blip on today's search universe.
Fraudulent stock reports, over-the top promotional parties to bribe journalists and other decision-makers, that's was Looksmart's modus operandi. Only in the ALP could such a person be seen as a business success worth being in Parliament. The Libs wouldn't have gone near the bloke.
Game on.
Thursday, 12 April 2007
EXCLUSIVE: Why Is Per Capita Denying Thornley's Financial Role? We Reveal All
A diligent member of the OC Investigations Unit has obtained from the website of the Evan Thornley financed thinktank Per Capita an internal document that reveals the spin strategy used to manipulate the press.
Click here to download the sinister document.
Staggeringly, at time of publication it appeared to still be downloadable from the Per Capita website. Although this may not be the case for much longer.
The document appears to be a briefing note or talking points for dealing with media inquiries and in part reads:
THIS IS EVAN THORNLEY’S THINK TANK?
Evan is chair of our board and one of the people who’ve played a key role in establishing PerC.
[IF PRESSED – MONEY] Evan is not a major donor.
Contrary to the quasi-denial in that document, obediently lapped up by George Megalogenis in the Canberra Press Gallery, the OC is informed that Evan Thornley, his family, companies and trusts controlled by him have so far been the sole source of funds for the organisation which will cost several hundred thousand dollars a year to run. Documents filed with ASIC show that Thornley himself personally funded the incorporation fees of Capita Australia Limited, recently renamed Per Capita Australia Limited.
The looming scandal over the potential collapse of the source of Thornley's millions, Looksmart, may well be prompting the organisation's shyness about disclosing where the money's coming from.
Another possible motivation is the increasingly hostile reception Thornley faces from Labor figures in both Left and Right factions who believe the pedestrian, red-wine swilling interloper has contributed nothing to the Party and the government. Caucus members who often struggle to agree on anything often find common ground muttering about the body odour, arrogance and indolence of the grating new member of the upper house.
Thornley wasn't always so coy about his involvement with Per Capita boasting of his crew in his inaugural speech:
Finally, the team at Per Capita, some of whom are here today -- and all of whom will recognise the shared ideas we have developed together -- have been a source of inspiration, friendship and support throughout.
The OC understand that this is a coded acknowledgement for Thornley's occasional speech-writer Dennis "Sam" Glover who is employed through Per Capita.
THORNLEY TAX SCAM EXPOSED
The most likely explanation though comes from doing what Evan Thornley so likes doing "following the money". Just this evening, a source close to the Thornley camp has told the OC that Thornley intends that Per Capita would be a warehouse for his cadre of political advisers and hangers-on. His aspiration is to retain a tight control of the not for profit entity while obtaining tax deductible status (deductible gift recipient in the jargon) for the organisation which will basically serve his own political purposes through promoting Thornley, conducting research for him and writing speeches.
Without an entity of this kind, there would be no way of Thornley deducting the cost of these advisers from any other income other than his Parliamentary salary, according to a Thornley source familiar with the details of the arrangements.
It is an audacious scam, even by Thornley's standards.
THE COONEY CHRONICLES
The involvement of Michael Cooney in the Thornley tax dodge has certainly caused raised eyebrows in Melbourne where those in the Labor moderate faction generally regard Thornley as an entity on par with a dung-beetle.
Cooney is believed to be uncertain of the length of his stay at Thornley's thinktank, declining to sell his property (initially funded by parents) in Warramanga in Canberra and instead looking to rent temporary premises in Melbourne's west, possibly in Footscray. This property management strategy is particularly wise given Thornley's history of mass sackings, worker intimidation and industrial thuggery for which he became infamous at Looksmart.
The one-time numbers-man (known to his friends as "The Coon") is hoping to keep up connections in Canberra to take up any Club Fed vacancies that may arise although some claim that he will struggle to do this.
Others believe that while he has certain talents that association with Latham and the equally repugnant leftist Thornley will probably permanently taint him.
Game on.
Wednesday, 11 April 2007
TANK-THINK: Evan Thornley's Lies Begin To Catch Up
Regular readers will recall that morally bankrupt state MP Evan Thornley is a lying liar who lies. So it should come as no surprise that the chaps at his tank-think Per Capita would also engage in terminological inexactitudes.
In a puff piece arranged by former Latham staffer Michael Cooney in today's Australian to describe the organisation, the naive but debonair Gallery scribe George Megalogenis wrote:
The organisation will be chaired by Evan Thornley, the millionaire founder of tech company Looksmart and now a frontbencher with the Victorian Labor Government. Mr Thornley helped set up the think tank, but it is understood he is not a major donor.
It is true that he is not a "major donor", the OC's understanding from sources close to Senor Thornley is in fact that he is the only donor. Perhaps if you are the sole source of funds, it is true to say you are not the "major" source. True if you're Bill Clinton perhaps, distinguishing what "is" really is and denying having "sexual relations with that woman".
It is fondly remembered that the pants-men Evan Thornley and Bill Clinton both donned very bold check pants for a round of golf while Bill was still POTUS. Thornley boasts at dinner parties that the game cost him $100,000 USD, considerably more than officially disclosed as his donations to the US Democratic Party during the time.
Thornley of course famously didn't lie when he pledged in Looksmart annual reports that he did not employ "any members of a labor union" establishing his worker-bashing credentials. He offers two defences:
■ It was just lawyer's boiler plate. Not true, the vast majority of US company annual reports have no such statement in their annual reports, just the ones that feel the need to boast about worker bashing; and
■ There was no union for Silicon Valley types to join. Again not true as the AFL-CIO could tell you, and of course Looksmart employed many dozens of Australian slaves as well. How many of them joined the ASU or other relevant unions here? It's a round number. As round as Evan's fat head.
Game on.
Monday, 2 April 2007
CRUNCHED: Evan Thornley's Basket-Case Company To Delist Permanently from ASX
Labor MLC Evan Thornley who turned a safe upper house spot into the most marginal seat going is facing an ongoing crisis with the company he founded Looksmart.
They have announced their intention to delist from the Australian Stock Exchange, the final insult for Aussie mums and dads many of whom invested tens of thousands of dollars and have lost all but a few hundred dollars worth of stock.
Click here to read more about the Looksmart delisting.
It's not only on the stock market that Thornley's company (he's still the biggest shareholder despite denying all involvement these days) remains in crisis. A respected industry website Search Engine Watch reports that the Looksmart site was offline for a considerable period of time recently which boosted speculation that the business is not far off tanking very soon.
Game on.
Sunday, 11 March 2007
PER CAPITA: A Heads Up On The Biggest Head in Spring Street
The OC Investigations Unit reports that former one-time high-flying Latham bird Michael Cooney and Beazley pick-up turfed out by new leader Kevin Rudd is flying south ahead of winter to work in crooked multi-millionaire giganto-head Evan Thornley's thinkwank Per Capita in Melbourne.
We look forward to this group considering issues like corporate governance, shareholders' rights, custodial penalties for blatant Corporations Law breaches, insider trading, nepotism, rank and file democratic ALP preselections and other areas of shame for the thinkwank's funder.
The name is Per Capita in Latin means "by heads". Some crude people might see the organisation as being designed to give its funder pleasure in return for his money.
Future board appointments will draw on Thornley's sad entourage of desperates who wait for the crumbs to fall from Tracey's plate of profiteroles. Candidates will be drawn from the following categories:
Thickheads
Dickheads
Bigheads
Talking Heads
Head Hunters
Fatheads
Hot heads
Hammer heads
Logger heads
Air heads
Acid heads
Blockheads
Blackheads
Boneheads
Pinheads
Bullkheads (Tracey)
Copperheads
Deadheads
Dunderheads
Eggheads
Figureheads
Expanding Foreheads (Evan)
Fu*khead
Hang Your Heads
Smack Heads
Head givers
Head in the Clouders
Off one's headers
Knuckleheads
Muttonheads
Pillheads
Potatoheads
Overheads
Pis*heads
Potheads
Redheads (Tracey again)
Roundheads
Sh*theads
Skinheads
Sleepyheads
Softheads
Swelled Heads
Commentariat suggestions:
Co*kheads
Cokeheads
Coqheads
Boofheads
TweedHeads
HeadsUp
HeadsDown
HeddyLamar (?)
Headturner
Heads you lose
Good Head (for blogging)
Headmaster
Game on.