NSW probe reveals council corruption

Nine people could face criminal charges after a major investigation uncovered a culture of corruption among NSW's local councils.

The state government will also examine legislative changes after the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) published the findings of its four-year probe into bribery and kickbacks by officials.
ICAC made adverse findings against 21 council staff and one NSW Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) employee after they accepted gifts in return for handing out public contracts.

Those gifts included vouchers, holidays and electronic goods such as iPads and mobile phones.

There were also adverse findings against 15 staff at private supply firms who offered the gifts.

Five council staff were named in the report for filing fake invoices in return for cash payments totalling hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"It appeared that these benefits were provided as a secret reward to public officials for ordering goods, ordering greater quantities of goods or continuing to order goods from these suppliers," ICAC said.
Nine of the 41 people named in the report will now have their cases referred to the public prosecutor, with a view to criminal charges being laid.

They are being referred to the prosecutor either as a direct result of the corruption, or for giving false evidence to ICAC's public hearings.

ICAC's investigation began in 2008 after a single tip-off from Bathurst Regional Council.

It rapidly expanded to take in staff at 88 local councils, 22 government agencies and the three private supply firms.

That number was whittled down to what was essentially a specimen caseload of 14 councils and the RTA (since renamed Roads and Maritime Services).

The 14 local authorities included City of Sydney, City of Botany Bay and Liverpool City Council, all of which employed staff guilty of taking bribes, according to ICAC.

It singled out two former storemen, Geoffrey Hadley of Bathurst Regional Council and Kerry Smith of Yass Valley Council, who are said to have issued false invoices to their employers in return for cash kickbacks.
"Under this scheme, Mr Hadley and Mr Smith received combined corrupt payments in excess of $323,000," ICAC said.

ICAC put the cost to Bathurst and Yass councils as a result of the rorts at about $1.5 million.
Responding to the findings, acting Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner foreshadowed changes to the law.
"The government will respond in terms of closing any loopholes in our local government legislation that has enabled this to occur in the past," he told AAP.

ICAC also made 15 recommendations to the local councils to reduce the likelihood of corruption in future.

thewest.com.au 29 Oct 2012

This so called 'find' is only the tip of the iceberg, literally.

Corruption of this sort in city councils has been going on for decades, and bribes do not stop with 'iPads'.

The so called 'loopholes' are created there for a purpose, but obviously the wrong people took advantage of them.

Australia in general is over governed, and local city councils should be removed.

Corrupt higher governance also allows for this type of fraud to continue.

Lets see if other local city councils will fall, probably not.

Greek journalist in court over bank data

A GREEK investigative journalist has appeared in court after publishing names from an alleged list of Swiss bank accounts that the Athens government has been accused of trying to cover up.

Costas Vaxevanis, a veteran television journalist who is editor of the Hot Doc magazine, published the list in its inaugural issue on Saturday.

It included more than 2000 names, allegedly from a controversial list of HSBC account holders that was originally leaked by a bank employee and passed to Greece in 2010 by France's then finance minister Christine Lagarde.

Vaxevanis says he received the information in an anonymous letter whose sender claimed to have received it from a politician.

He has been charged with breach of privacy and faces a maximum three-year jail sentence if convicted.
"Instead of arresting thieves and ministers breaking the law they want to arrest the truth," Vaxevanis commented on his Twitter account on Saturday.

heraldsun.com.au 29 Oct 2012

Not quite wikileaks, but none the less in the same category.

It's all about keeping the corruption hidden.

Julia Gillard reveals plan to 'Asianise' Australia

JULIA Gillard has outlined an ambitious plan to "Asianise" the Australian economy and education system to tap into the vast middle-class markets that will emerge in China, India and Indonesia in the next two decades. 
 
The vision, much of which is already underway, includes plans to free up tourist and business travel within the region, to lift Australia's tax-free threshold "to at least $21,000", to scrap inefficient state taxes such as stamp duty and to have Australian schools engage with at least one Asian school to promote language learning.
It would also provide Australian students with continuous training in Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian or Japanese throughout their schooling.

As part of the cultural refocusing, the ABC and SBS would be asked to provide more extensive coverage of the region "in all aspects of their content and programming, with special attention to news and information coverage".

Unveiling her long-awaited Asian Century white paper in Sydney, the Prime Minister declared "history asks great nations great questions - Australia is no exception".

She said the world was moving eastward to Australia's advantage and our location and high living standards would provide a valuable edge.

"For the first time in our history, Asia is not a threat to our high-skill high-wage road. It is a reason to stay on it, " she said.

Accordingly, the paper lays down long-term targets designed to boost national income, dramatically lift productivity, propel the education system into the global top five and "deeply integrate" economic links with Asia driving Australia's intra-regional trade to constitute "at least one-third of GDP, up from one-quarter today".

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said the Opposition "broadly welcomed" the paper, which constituted mainly "predictable common sense".

He said it appeared, however, that the Government was playing catch-up with the Opposition, which had always argued for a policy emphasis of "more Jakarta and less Geneva".

Among the few immediate initiatives is a commitment to provide 12,000 Australia Awards (Asian Century) Scholarships for studies here and in the region in the next five years.

There also is a goal of elevating 10 Australian universities into the world's top 100 universities by 2025.
The Government wants the white paper to lead a transformation of Australia's mostly commodity-based export approach, toward a high-wage, high-skills service-based economy.

Ms Gillard said this was needed to meet growing Asian demands for education and technical expertise driven by the region's exploding middle classes.

Employers groups including the National Farmers' Federation welcomed the white paper.
"Today, the important role for farmers in providing food, fibre, knowledge and expertise to the Asian region and, the challenges we must overcome to succeed in doing so, have been recognised," said the NFF's Jock Laurie.

But the Opposition's Julie Bishop dismissed it as disappointing and merely ''a grab-bag'' of existing government policies put together by Labor spin-doctors.

She said it appeared that the rigorous work of former Treasury head Ken Henry had been rewritten by Labor insiders to reflect government policy.

BY 2025 ...

EDUCATION: Children will graduate from high school with a working knowledge of Asia and every Australian university will be encouraged to send students to universities in Asia, to ensure the next generation's leaders are Asia-literate.

BUSINESS: Australia will be in the world's top five when it comes to ease of doing business after a National Productivity Compact with the states and territories, focused on regulatory and competition reform.

INFRASTRUCTURE: Infrastructure needs will be planned at least 20 years ahead and the National Broadband Network will reach across Australia, giving access to all corners of the Asian region.

AGRICULTURE: Producers and processors will be globally renowned as competitive, innovative and sustainable suppliers of high-quality food and agricultural products to Asia.

TRADE: Trade with Asia will increase from one-quarter to one-third of Australia's gross domestic product.

ENVIRONMENT: Australia will be a world leader in sustainable food production, energy, water use and biodiversity conservation.

TOURISM: Work and holiday agreements will be expanded and tourists will find it easier to get a visa, with a focus on attracting Chinese travellers.

DEFENCE: Trust and co-operation will be built in the region, supporting Asia's role in global order, and Australia's strong alliance with the US will be maintained for regional stability.

PUBLIC SECTOR: One third of the board members of Commonwealth bodies and one-third of senior leaders in the Australian Public Service will have deep experience in Asia
.
REGIONAL AUSTRALIA: State and local governments will be diversifying their economic bases and making their own trade links with Asian counterparts.

news.com.au  29 Oct 2012

Approximately 6 months ago the corporate media mentioned that Melbourne is a part of Asia, which is incorrect.

The corporate media prepares the herd masses for a subtle invasion of salve a labour force into Australia.

The current politics regarding the importation of unskilled, shady characters under the 'refugee' banner has already brought in criminals into the country, from Asia, the Middle East, Africa just to name a few.

The corporate media has a blanket ban or reporting crimes committed by the recently imported migrant population.

Melbourne, Victoria is the dumping ground for the new generation of criminals, where currently the crime level has reached concerning figures, which is an assault on the good citizens of Victoria.

The politics regarding the importation of 'slave labour' is to degrade the cost of the worker to the advantage of business and governments.

This is an economic assault on the general populous, which the masses are yet to awake to.

Asia expert Andrew MacIntyre saya the Asian Century white paper is a good start - but the government must follow through.

What is really meant by the above statement is that Australia will be entering a new dawn of slavery.

This is not a matter of racism, but rather economic slavery.

iMessage not working this morning?

iPhone users the world over were affected by some downtime today which resulted in them being unable to send their text messages via iMessage, Apple's instant messenger service which sends text messages for free.

Messages were, however, able to be sent via SMS — but some were unhappy with this and complained that even though they turned off sending their messages as an SMS their text was sent as one, costing them money.

Contacted for comment, an Australian Apple spokeswoman said that their iMessage had not encountered any issues this morning, despite numerous blogs saying that their users had reported issues.

Apple's own website also had users reporting issues, but now most of those users say the problem appears to have been fixed.

smh.com.au 26 Oct 2012

Technology companies work together with telecommunications companies, which is no secret  within the industry nor to the general public.

Fraud and theft can occur in many formats, from petty crime of stealing from a (retail) business, to high end banking crimes of stealing monies from customers.

If Mr. Joe Average walks into a retail premises and steals a paperclip, the proprietor has the right to charge the individual with the crime of theft.

In this case Apple 'stole' monies from their users passing on the profits to the telecommunications companies fraudulently.

An agreement was made between the customer and Apple, that a service of SMS via the GSM netowrk was not to be used, which Apple broke.

This deed can warrant a class action lawsuit against Apple.

Charity wins in NBN wrangle

IN AN extraordinary and rare display of straight talking, the NBN Co chief executive, Mike Quigley, says he donated his entire first-year pay cheque of almost $2 million to charity to wriggle out of a tight political corner.

Mr Quigley recently discussed donating his taxpayer-funded salary in 2010 to research into brain diseases and stroke rehabilitation.

The communications boss, who survived a life-threatening battle with leukaemia in the 1990s, said of the donation at the time: ''I'm in the fortunate position where I can afford to give away my first year's salary. When you have a life-threatening disease, it has an impact on how you view things and you find out what is really important in life, and it's made me realise that we are all lucky or unlucky.''

But the warm glow of charitable giving was absent when Mr Quigley took part in a ''meet the CEO'' forum hosted by the BRW and University of New South Wales.

In response to a question about the sizeable gift, Mr Quigley admitted that rather than an act of benevolence, ''that was to solve a problem with Senate estimates''.

The comment drew laughter from the crowd but the facts bear out Mr Quigley's candid statement with the opposition doggedly persistent to uncover what it claims are blowouts in costs of the NBN, which is now running a year behind schedule.

smh.com.au 28 Oct 2012

In Australia, charity donations are tax deductible, therefore any donation given by a large corporation can be recouped via tax and the so called noble gesture is thrown out the window.

The government has procured the NBN in a 'Money for Mates' deal that has ballooned out to nearly $45 billion dollars on a fraudulent scale that the corporate media will never report on.

The government's touted (propaganda) advertisements of the NBN's promised 100Mbps speeds are already offered to customers via cable.

The NBN is of of the largest smoke screens to implement hardware and technology for not only internet censorship but also gathering and storage facilities to collect data on every single Australian citizen, whether on the internet or not.

There is a reason for the secrecy and lack of disclosure of details of the NBN project.

 

In American terms it is called a "Black Budget".

Carbon tax to blame for a third of the biggest rise in inflation in 18 months

PRICES across the nation have soared, with the Labor Government's controversial carbon tax the driving force behind about one-third of the biggest rise in inflation in 18 months. 

 
The surge has cast doubt on the prospect of another interest rate cut on Melbourne Cup day.
Analysts yesterday said the carbon tax and changes to the healthcare rebate were responsible for only 30-40 per cent of the rise.

Instead, the recent run of interest rate cuts had boosted spending and seen families pay with costs on the rise across the board.

Fruit and vegetable prices jumped almost double-digits in the past three months as a result of poor weather.
The biggest price increases were electricity, gas, healthcare, travel and childcare costs.

The official data shows Australian consumer goods and services overall jumped by 2 per cent in the year to September.

But in the last quarter the consumer price index, the key measure of inflation, rose at almost three times the pace of the previous quarter.

Sydney was the hardest hit with prices jumping 2.3 per cent closely followed by Darwin at 2.1 per cent, while Melbourne was up 1.8 per cent and Adelaide and Brisbane registered 1.7 per cent jumps.

Economists said the RBA would ignore much of the rise as this is the first set of inflation data released since the introduction of the Federal Government's carbon tax on July 1.

But the central bank will be concerned that underlying inflation - the key marker for the RBA - came in at 2.5 per cent on an annual basis, sparking a sharp rise in the Australian dollar as investors scaled back their betting on a rate cut on Melbourne Cup day.

Treasurer Wayne Swan maintains inflation is still contained, despite the temporary one-off price increases.
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry director of Economics Greg Evans said households and businesses are wearing the cost of the carbon tax.

Despite the sharp lift in inflation, most economists still expect another 25 point cut next month from the RBA.
But a growing band of analysts is tipping the RBA will postpone any cut until December.

heraldsun.com.au 25 Oct 2012

Another great fraud perpetuated by the Australian government, in an apparent effort 'save the planet' which Australia's effect to the total Carbon Dioxide production is negligible.

Australia is one of the highest taxed countries in the world. Products are taxed two times and even three before the consumer buys them.

Similarly the 'Carbon Tax' the consumer pay for twice over.

Amongst all the price rises that the populous is all too aware of, the government has the audacity to provide false inflation figures.

Secret deals rife in AFL

GENTLEMEN'S agreements, side deals, "understandings" and secret extra to contracts are rife within the AFL, senior figures told the Sunday Mail. 

  The key is to keep it vague and not put anything in writing.

The administrators, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said it was common for clubs to agree that they would endeavour to help a player move back to his home state at the end of his contract - should he so desire.

Clubs also made assertions they would help out with the players' leadership training, work outside of the game and other similar incentives that could sway them to remain with the club.

The main thing was not to put it in writing.

A senior figure at one club said another key was to promise to try, and mean it, but that it was fraught with danger to guarantee an outcome that could ultimately be out of the club's control.

 

The greatest fear was the "please explain" letters from Ken Wood, the AFL's chief investigator, which often ended with the phrase: "Please respond in writing by (a certain date)."

"When that happens, you've got nowhere to hide," the official said.

It was this scenario, well known to clubs, that had clubs baffled over the Kurt Tippett scandal.

Had the league acted sooner on the widespread speculation of an "exit clause" for Tippett with one of the "please explain" letters, the affair could have been closed before the Crows' confession brought it to a head - when there were only days left in the trade period.

heraldsun.com.au 27 Oct 2012

The AFL 'religion' is quickly approaching  a billion dollar industry, currently sitting at approximately $750 million annually.

AFL formerly known as VFL (Victorian Football League) was created to keep to low educated masses, a fair percentage of the populous, entertained on the weekends. This fact is well documented in Australian history.

This 'bogan' sport has become an Australian institution, and any diss-assembly of it will not be allowed by the ruling elite.

Not only corporate fraud is an issue, but also drug consumption is rife, and ignored by authorities.

Drug dealers 'slip' past the system as authorities turn a blind eye into the narcotics trade in sport.

The general populous when apprehended with a quantity of drugs are dealt with accordingly by the law, whereas sports 'stars' not only flaunt drug use, but have no legal consequences against them.

Another corrupt arm of politics at play. 

ASIC examines trading spike

The market regulator is examining an sudden spike in the share price of a number of ASX 200 companies.

Most noticeable was a large, brief spike in ANZ shares, which jumped from Wednesday's close of $25.96 to $27.63 at the opening of Thursday's trade.

ANZ shares later stabilised to be trading up 0.5 per cent at $26.08 by Thursday afternoon.

Commonwealth Bank shares also traded in a wide range from $57.50 at the open to as low as $56.81 within 10 minutes of trade commencing.

The sharp movements in several major companies were enough to drive the ASX 200 index up almost 40 points at the open to 4,568 before it immediately plunged back to 4,547.

The market later stabilised to be 0.9 per cent higher at 4,571 after some positive Chinese economic data.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) says it is looking into the volatile early trading but has not launched a formal investigation.

"ASIC is aware of a surge in the share price of a number of major ASX 200 stocks this morning and, in line with its normal practice, is looking into the matter and has commenced enquires with the market participants involved in trading in these stocks and related derivatives," it said in a statement.

"More broadly, market integrity is fundamental to what we do and if we detect any potential breaches of the law or market integrity rules we will take timely and appropriate action."

The major companies affected by unusually large opening share spikes were those at the beginning of the alphabet, which begin trading first on the share market as it progressively opens from 10am.

"The prices of a number of securities opened substantially higher than their previous close due to strong, early buying orders. Prices generally retreated shortly after the market opened," the ASX noted in a statement.

"Most impact was experienced by certain stocks in the AB group, including AMP, ANZ, AGL and Brambles."

Volatility

Some brokers have suggested the spike may have been related to options contracts connected to the ASX 200 index, known as XJO options, that are expiring today.

The price of those options is related to the opening value of the ASX 200, and there are concerns that this morning's spike may have been an attempt to manipulate the value of those options.

The ASX says volatility is usually higher on days when major options are expiring.

"Today was the expiry day for the October ASX 200 Index futures contracts, which often generates heightened trading activity as investors seek to unwind their positions," the exchange added in its statement.
Some traders say the unusually large spikes may have simply been the result of some human or computer generated error.

CMC's chief market strategist Michael McCarthy also says the price spike may have represented a market imbalance generated by traders legitimately closing off positions relating to the expiring options.
"The way some traders close out their positions, and investors as well, is to execute share trades on the opening this morning," he told ABC News 24.

"So it's quite possible that some of those moves we saw simply represented a temporary imbalance in those share prices rather than anything untoward."

abc.bet.au 18 Oct 2012

The Big 4 (referring to ANZ, Commonwealth, NAB, Westpac) banks ARE in collusion with each other as reported many times.

Fraud and insider trading is rampant at the Stock Exchange level.

The so called watchdog will be spineless and do nothing, as this is a global policy.

The interests of the brotherhood outweigh the interests of the general populous.

Premier Ted Baillieu stands solid in support of embattled MP Geoff Shaw

IMAGES revealing besieged MP Geoff Shaw making obscene hand gestures is at the heart of the latest fiasco embroiling the Baillieu Government. 

The footage - finally released to the public late today after a day of farce at State Parliament - contradicts statements issued from the Premier's office attributed to Mr Shaw yesterday.

Maintaining his view that the footage was inconclusive, Mr Baillieu stood by Mr Shaw while also trying to combat mounting anxiety among Coalition colleagues that plunging public opinion could see them dumped from office.

A Newspoll survey shows Labor has surged to a commanding 55 per cent to 45 per lead over the Coalition, with those dissatisfied with Mr Baillieu's leadership jumping to 53 per cent - up 24 points in just a year.

Footage captured on the Parliament House cameras yesterday morning shows Mr Shaw simulating masturbation in an apparent insult directed at Labor MPs.

Audio from the brief recording is less clear and, while Mr Shaw can be heard shouting across the chamber at Opposition MPs, it is difficult to determine if he said ''wanker'' or ''whacker'' - though the accompanying hand gesture suggests the former.

Under attack over his handling of the controversy, Mr Baillieu told parliament he had watched the vision, but could not draw the same conclusions as others.

''I've looked at that footage on three occasions and that footage is very, very brief ... I do not believe I could reach a conclusion,'' Mr Baillieu said.

As debate moved to the public's right to see the footage for themselves, Liberal Speaker Ken Smith told parliament he would release the footage.

The emergence of the vision calls into serious doubt a formal statement attributed to Mr Shaw that was issued from the Coalition Government's official media distribution email yesterday.

The statement denied Mr Shaw had made ''any offensive gesture'' and instead claimed he had ''pointed'' at Opposition members.

Mr Shaw also claimed he had used the word ''whacker'', and not the more offensive term.
Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews said protecting Mr Shaw during yet another controversy showed Mr Baillieu was a failed leader.

''Premier Ted Baillieu has absolutely no choice today but to sack the routing and lying member Geoff Shaw from the parliamentary Liberal Party,'' Mr Andrews said.

''The camera does not lie, Geoff Shaw, however, has been lying about these matters. His conduct was obscene, his conduct was wrong, the only thing more obscene was his attempts to try and cover it up.''
The Parliament's Privileges Committee will begin investigating allegations that Mr Shaw rorted his taxpayer-funded car and fuel card in the coming weeks in line.

Holding power by a single seat, Premier Baillieu cannot afford to loose Mr Shaw from his party or the parliament.

Mr Andrews said he would not welcome the Frankston MPs vote on supply issues if he was forced onto the cross benches.

This week's controversy is not the first time the similarity of the words whacker and wanker have become an issue in State Parliament.

In 2007 Ken Smith himself was ordered to withdraw his labelling of Rob Hulls as a whacker, only to inform the parliament of his true meaning.

''I withdraw saying the minister is a whacker,'' Mr Smith said
.
''I really meant to call him a wanker. I withdraw.''

heraldsun.com.au 25 Oct 2012

The actions of Geoff Shaw are that of a low class uneducated slum dweller, and not that of an alleged statesman.

If such a gesture was directed at a woman, then the feminist lobby would ensure his resignation.

Since politics is a 'Money for Mates' deal Shaw will have the support and full backing of the government.

It just goes to show what sort of thugs are in politics.

$660 million crash to hit investors

UPDATE: QUESTIONS are being asked of government regulator the Australian Security and Investment Commission over what actions it took prior to the $660 million collapse of the Banksia Financial Group. 

Thousands of investors are facing hundreds of millions of dollars in losses after the shock collapse.
ASIC was allegedly informed about the precarious position of Banksia, and a subsidiary Statewide Secured Investments 18 months ago, according to NSW property developer David Hawkins who was involved in litigation with the firm.
"The regulator has been on to them for about 18 months ... (but) ASIC have sat on their hands," Mr Hawkins claimed.
"Ive been waging war against them (Banksia), as have about four other people in relation to their lending practices," he said.

Mr Hawkins was involved in court action with Banksia over a $2.2 million property deal after Banksia withdrew their support for the project.

But he said Statewide had been lending money in NSW "like a drunken sailor" when Banksia amalgamated with it in 2009.
He claimed Statewide had contested liabilities of $28-$30 million at the time but Banksia had insisted it would not inherit the firm's debt, even though it provided security for costs in a number of court cases.
Mr Hawkins said major residential, hotel and commercial developments in Sydney had faced multi-million dollar valuation and financing problems, helping to bring the collapse on.
ASIC said it was "aware" of yesterday's developments with Banksia but did not disclose when it was first notified about the financial group's problems.
ASIC spokesman Andre Khoury said the commission was "actively engaged" with Banksia's trustee and receiver.
Mr Khoury said ASIC was not a prudential regulator.
"ASIC’s historical work in this sector reflects the fact that a disclosure regime is in place for debentures, coupled with the requirement that a trustee is in place to monitor the issuer and seek to protect the interests of debenture holders," Mr Khoury said.
Banksia appointed receivers yesterday owing investors $660 million.
Banksia fell into receivership after a recent review of its non-performing loans.
About 3000 investors in eight towns and cities in regional Victoria have had their investments frozen while receivers McGrathNicol work their way through the non-bank lender's accounts.
About 100 workers also are set to lose their jobs.
The collapse has shocked communities across the state.
Kyabram resident Jason Dunn said the town was reeling.
"People are in tears," he said.
He said many locals feared they would lose their retirement fund.
"People who worked hard all their life have just lost the lot. It's really going to affect the town. It's a black day here," he said.
Kyabram local Lynne, 50, opened up an account two weeks ago with about $8000 for a holiday.
"I'm devastated, but I got off lightly," said Lynne, who asked that her surname not be used.
"One retired lady lost the lot - $400,000. Now it has probably just gone, disappeared like that," she said.
She said Banksia was an institution that locals had trusted.
The pastor of Kyabram Baptist Church, Robert Arnold, said it was likely the church would lose money.
He said there had been no warning signs that the firm was in trouble.
"Our banking goes through them," Mr Arnold, 70, said.

"It has come as a shock. I would have thought it would have been pretty well managed."
Victorian Farmers Federation vice president Peter Tuohey said farmers had been hit by the collapse.
“Farmers are just trying to recoup after going through a lot of pretty tough years," he told 3AW today.
"A few farmers that have got a few savings and put away carefully in a local investment company  - it’s going to hurt them pretty dearly so (it will) really set the whole area back."
Victorian Shadow Minister for Finance Robin Scott said the collapse was a terrible blow for families, particularly in regional Victoria.

“The Opposition fears that the collapse will have a negative impact on local economic activity and employment,” he said.

“The Victorian Government needs to step in and assist those communities most impacted by the collapse."
Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey said the Federal Opposition was "desperately trying to find out much more on how Banksia was structured".

"I think it's important to recognise that if an institution is not supervised by APRA, if it's not an authorised deposit-taking institution then there is a certain amount of risk," he told 3AW.

"When someone advertises themselves as a non-bank lender or as a non-bank financial institution then the money is at risk."
Banksia, which was founded in Kyabram, offered investment products including fixed-term, superannuation and pensioner deeming accounts and mortgage schemes.
Banksia has a network of 14 branches across Victoria, NSW and SA with headquarters in Melbourne.
Its other Victorian branches are in Echuca, Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong, Shepparton, Tatura and Warrnambool.
Campaspe Shire chief exeuctive officer Keith Baillie said there were a lot of nervous people in northern Victoria after the shock announcement.
"News of the challenges being faced by Banksia Securities has resulted in many Shire of Campaspe residents, along with thousands of Victorians, facing an anxious wait as receivers are appointed and future plans are determined," Mr Baillie told The Weekly Times.
"Our concern is the impact on not only the investors but the staff employed at the Kyabram and Echuca offices, with Kyabram supporting Banksia's administration office.
"The impact will be felt across our urban and rural communities and we now await details as the receivers work through the required processes and to what assistance may be available."
McGrathNicol receiver Tony McGrath said it was too early to know what caused the collapse.
He said an urgent review of Banksia's financial position, loan book and properties was under way.
"Our primary concern is to ensure the interests of debenture holders are being protected," Mr McGrath said.
Staff will work on during the review.
The group, which bills itself as a "non-bank alternative", was founded as Kyabram Housing Investments by Patrick Godfrey in 1968. In 1999, it merged with other small investment companies to form The Banksia Financial Group.
Mr Godfrey stepped down as chief executive in August and was replaced by Warren Shaw, a former National Australia Bank general manager in charge of overseeing its retail branches.
Mr Godfrey continues to serve as a board member.

heraldsun.com.au 26 Oct 2012

Another corporate fraud where the masses suffer financial losses, under the ever so watchful government institution, ASIC.

Australia, truly the lucky country (Disclaimer: If you are a part of the fraudulent corporate elite).

Now it's time to sit back and watch the courtroom frace.