Ric Flair recently signed a deal to be a spokesperson for the lottery in the Carolinas... The Shelby, NC Star ran a story noting that Ric, David, and Reid Flair are scheduled to appear on Saturday at the Rec Center for a charity show to raise for the Shelby City Parks and Police Department. If he attends this would be Reid's first public appearance since his arrest last weekend.
"This is of course totally the opposite direction to Jesse Ventura's stance on gambling, at least publicly," notes Media Man, Greg Tingle.
Tingle made reference to Ventura's support of an online gambling enterprise, BetUS.com, where he was a paid spokesperson for more than two years. Interestingly enough, the state of Minnesota for which Ventura served as Governor, announced last week it will try to block access to online gambling websites from citizens of that state.
Then there is California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, a one time friend of both men, who reportedly would support an initiative in his state to legalize online poker.
In November 2004, an advertisement began airing in California featuring Ventura. In it, Ventura voices his opposition to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's policies regarding Native American casinos, the very casinos that stand in the way of the proposed poker legislation. Schwarzenegger and Ventura have not spoken in years, according to reports.
In September 2005, Ventura announced on The Mike Malloy Show that he was leaving the U.S. and planned to "have an adventure". In late October 2005, he went on the The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch and reiterated that he was leaving the U.S. due to, among other things, censorship. He has since moved to Baja California, Mexico. (Credit: Gambling911).
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Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Saturday, April 04, 2009
Australia’s Communication Minister Senator Stephen Conroy Worst Ever - Gambling911 - 3rd April 2009
Australian Communications Minister and Senator Stephen Conroy has continued to make waves as his crusade to filter out the Internet from the evils of porn, online poker, religion, YouTube links and political incorrectness continues.
Now there is a war of words between Conroy and Internet Service Provider, iiNet, that has made headlines.
From iTWire:
"The public slanging between the Communications Minister and iiNet is hard to find a precedent for in the ICT industry. The CEO of iiNet, Michael Malone, has told iTWire and a number of other media sources quite openly that he believes Senator Conroy is the worst Communications Minister ever and described him as incompetent.
"Malone also told iTWire last year that iiNet would participate in the then upcoming filter trial just to show the world how easy it would be to break. "A 16 year old could crack it in five minutes," he said.
This week, the Communication Minister made some unusual - and some say slanderous - remarks against iiNet while speaking at a public telecoms conference.
From iTWire:
"He described iiNet's claim that it didn't know what material its customers were downloading as "stunning" and he likened iiNet's defence strategy to a "Yes Minister episode".
"Both remarks made by a Federal Government Minister about an ongoing court case have raised the ire of not only iiNet but members of the legal community as well as the opposition.
"It has been suggested that iiNet could have a case for pursuing Senator Conroy for defamation but even worse for the Minister there is a possibility his remarks could be deemed as contempt of court."
Conroy has faced severe criticism for his Internet censorship policies from ISPs, network administrators, some children's welfare groups, the Liberal party and the Greens. While initially promoted as a way to protect children from child pornography, the censorship policy has been extended to include a much broader range of material, including sites depicting drug use, crime, sex, cruelty, violence or "revolting and abhorrent phenomena" that "offend against the standards of morality". In addition, surveys have revealed strong public opposition to the policy. A survey conducted by Netspace showed only 13.6% agreed that the government should make filtering mandatory, and 78.9% disagreed. Conroy proposes the ACMA control the filtering.
On 19 March 2009 it was reported that ACMA's blacklist of banned sites had been leaked online, and had been published by Wikileaks (link). Conroy described the leak and publication of the blacklist as "grossly irresponsible" and that it undermined efforts to improve "cyber safety". He said that ACMA was investigating the incident and considering a range of possible actions including referral to the Australian Federal Police, and that Australians involved in making the content available would be at "serious risk of criminal prosecution". Wikileaks replied that they will refer any matter to discover their sources to the Swedish Constitutional Police (under whose jurisdiction Wikileaks is published) and pursue extradition charges if it is found such persons have breached their sources' fundamental rights to anonymity.
Stephen Conroy had not faced an interview about the issue for at least six months prior to him appearing on the ABC show 'Q&A' on March 26 2009, and the SBS show 'Insight' on March 31 2009, where he defended the policy in front of critics and supporters of the policy. (Credit: Gambling911).
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Now there is a war of words between Conroy and Internet Service Provider, iiNet, that has made headlines.
From iTWire:
"The public slanging between the Communications Minister and iiNet is hard to find a precedent for in the ICT industry. The CEO of iiNet, Michael Malone, has told iTWire and a number of other media sources quite openly that he believes Senator Conroy is the worst Communications Minister ever and described him as incompetent.
"Malone also told iTWire last year that iiNet would participate in the then upcoming filter trial just to show the world how easy it would be to break. "A 16 year old could crack it in five minutes," he said.
This week, the Communication Minister made some unusual - and some say slanderous - remarks against iiNet while speaking at a public telecoms conference.
From iTWire:
"He described iiNet's claim that it didn't know what material its customers were downloading as "stunning" and he likened iiNet's defence strategy to a "Yes Minister episode".
"Both remarks made by a Federal Government Minister about an ongoing court case have raised the ire of not only iiNet but members of the legal community as well as the opposition.
"It has been suggested that iiNet could have a case for pursuing Senator Conroy for defamation but even worse for the Minister there is a possibility his remarks could be deemed as contempt of court."
Conroy has faced severe criticism for his Internet censorship policies from ISPs, network administrators, some children's welfare groups, the Liberal party and the Greens. While initially promoted as a way to protect children from child pornography, the censorship policy has been extended to include a much broader range of material, including sites depicting drug use, crime, sex, cruelty, violence or "revolting and abhorrent phenomena" that "offend against the standards of morality". In addition, surveys have revealed strong public opposition to the policy. A survey conducted by Netspace showed only 13.6% agreed that the government should make filtering mandatory, and 78.9% disagreed. Conroy proposes the ACMA control the filtering.
On 19 March 2009 it was reported that ACMA's blacklist of banned sites had been leaked online, and had been published by Wikileaks (link). Conroy described the leak and publication of the blacklist as "grossly irresponsible" and that it undermined efforts to improve "cyber safety". He said that ACMA was investigating the incident and considering a range of possible actions including referral to the Australian Federal Police, and that Australians involved in making the content available would be at "serious risk of criminal prosecution". Wikileaks replied that they will refer any matter to discover their sources to the Swedish Constitutional Police (under whose jurisdiction Wikileaks is published) and pursue extradition charges if it is found such persons have breached their sources' fundamental rights to anonymity.
Stephen Conroy had not faced an interview about the issue for at least six months prior to him appearing on the ABC show 'Q&A' on March 26 2009, and the SBS show 'Insight' on March 31 2009, where he defended the policy in front of critics and supporters of the policy. (Credit: Gambling911).
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Friday, April 03, 2009
Conroy Backtracks on Internet Censorship Policy - Gambling911 - 2nd April 2009
The Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy has been clarifying more details on his Internet censorship policy.
The Australian community has spoken loud and clear and the vast majority do not want it.
On SBS TV Insight many parents were interviewed and agreed that the ultimate protection for a child in relation to the Internet is a good parent.
It's also widely understood that criminals who would use the Internet for illegal acts such as child pornography would use peer to peer or other ways for distribution, not methods which would be picked up by the ACMA blacklist.
Yesterday another industry insider advised that Betfair is still on the blacklist. Again, I don't have the list so I don't know this to be 100 percent. I can however confirm that the following link was posited on the CAP Forum (but I haven't clicked on it in case the spooks are watching. I don't want the link showing up in my browsing history... the spooks have me paranoid now).
Check out the new leaks here
Greg Tingle, www.mediaman.com.au
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The Australian community has spoken loud and clear and the vast majority do not want it.
On SBS TV Insight many parents were interviewed and agreed that the ultimate protection for a child in relation to the Internet is a good parent.
It's also widely understood that criminals who would use the Internet for illegal acts such as child pornography would use peer to peer or other ways for distribution, not methods which would be picked up by the ACMA blacklist.
Yesterday another industry insider advised that Betfair is still on the blacklist. Again, I don't have the list so I don't know this to be 100 percent. I can however confirm that the following link was posited on the CAP Forum (but I haven't clicked on it in case the spooks are watching. I don't want the link showing up in my browsing history... the spooks have me paranoid now).
Check out the new leaks here
Greg Tingle, www.mediaman.com.au
Media Man Australia Profiles
Politics
Internet Filtering Continues to be Hot Topic in Australia - Gambling911 - 31st March 2009
The coverage related to Internet filtering in Australia continues to be a hot topic. A report aired just the other night with some 377 plus people commenting on what was transpiring. As Gambling911.com has been reporting, the Australian government, led by Communications Director Stephen Conroy, has been working to filter some 2000 plus websites they claim were "indecent" but as it turns out, a number of those sites were related to online poker, religion and politics.
One individual wrote:
"The fact that the black list already contains politically controversial sites -of religions with which the government does not agree- should be taken as a sign of things to come. That information on euthanasia has been blocked is fairly hypocritical. It was legal in the Northern Territory under 15 years ago. The filter only covers http traffic - not peer to peer traffic. Anyone hosting illegal content over http is advertising their location. Surely distributors of illegal content would use P2P."
Another had this to say:
"Both during his appearance on Insight and Q&A last week, Conroy described it as a "Genuine conundrum" that blacklists have to be secret in order to work - therefore disenabling legitimate sites from knowing and protesting their blacklisting. I don't really see how it is a "Conundrum". If the sites are blocked, then supposedly people won't be able to access them ANYWAY. So what's wrong with transparency? And those who really want to view illegal sites will already know of them and can bypass."
Our man on the street, Greg Tingle, had this to say:
"I'm an adult and if I wish to watch adult porno that should be my business only. If I want to visit a poker or online casino website to place a bet, so be it. If I want to link to Betfair, I should have every right to. Here's a movie to watch, John Carpenter's 'They Live'. Part science fiction thriller and part black comedy, the film echoed contemporary fears of a declining economy, within a culture of greed and conspicuous consumption common among Americans in the 1980s. In They Live, the ruling class within the monied elite are in fact aliens managing human social affairs through the use of subliminal media advertising and the control of economic opportunity. Rudd, any bells ringing here. Liberal, you have found your next election winner I believe. The way this is going Australia is heading for a riot which will make Cronulla, Maroubra, Thailand, China and France look like child's play. Rudd and Conroy, it's happening on your watch. Is the Australian government happy with themselves now. I would suggest that some Australian politicians are going to do well to get bodyguards, if they don't have them already, such is the dislike of some of their jackass policy, and some of them are the clowns that signed off some of this garbage."
This is a hot topic that won't be going away any time soon. (Credit: Gambling911)
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One individual wrote:
"The fact that the black list already contains politically controversial sites -of religions with which the government does not agree- should be taken as a sign of things to come. That information on euthanasia has been blocked is fairly hypocritical. It was legal in the Northern Territory under 15 years ago. The filter only covers http traffic - not peer to peer traffic. Anyone hosting illegal content over http is advertising their location. Surely distributors of illegal content would use P2P."
Another had this to say:
"Both during his appearance on Insight and Q&A last week, Conroy described it as a "Genuine conundrum" that blacklists have to be secret in order to work - therefore disenabling legitimate sites from knowing and protesting their blacklisting. I don't really see how it is a "Conundrum". If the sites are blocked, then supposedly people won't be able to access them ANYWAY. So what's wrong with transparency? And those who really want to view illegal sites will already know of them and can bypass."
Our man on the street, Greg Tingle, had this to say:
"I'm an adult and if I wish to watch adult porno that should be my business only. If I want to visit a poker or online casino website to place a bet, so be it. If I want to link to Betfair, I should have every right to. Here's a movie to watch, John Carpenter's 'They Live'. Part science fiction thriller and part black comedy, the film echoed contemporary fears of a declining economy, within a culture of greed and conspicuous consumption common among Americans in the 1980s. In They Live, the ruling class within the monied elite are in fact aliens managing human social affairs through the use of subliminal media advertising and the control of economic opportunity. Rudd, any bells ringing here. Liberal, you have found your next election winner I believe. The way this is going Australia is heading for a riot which will make Cronulla, Maroubra, Thailand, China and France look like child's play. Rudd and Conroy, it's happening on your watch. Is the Australian government happy with themselves now. I would suggest that some Australian politicians are going to do well to get bodyguards, if they don't have them already, such is the dislike of some of their jackass policy, and some of them are the clowns that signed off some of this garbage."
This is a hot topic that won't be going away any time soon. (Credit: Gambling911)
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Aussie Senator Admits Error in Internet Censorship Policy, by Brett Collson - Poker News Daily - 2nd April 2009
A blacklist authored by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) aiming to censor various “indecent” websites, including online poker sites, leaked last month with the help of anonymous sources. Now, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy is beginning to own up to errors within his controversial internet censorship policy following an uproar from the Australian community.
Among the more than 2,000 blacklisted sites were numerous online poker sites, including PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, as well as sites with hyperlinks to such banned sites. These websites were scheduled to be secretly blocked by Australia’s Internet service providers (ISPs). The list was leaked by wikileaks.com, a leading online antagonist of government censorship and a supporter of freedom of information made up of anonymous submissions.
ABC TV’s “Q&A” program that aired on March 26 was Senator Conroy’s first major media appearance to discuss the government's internet censorship plans. The response from viewers was substantial as more than 2,000 people sent in web and video questions regarding the government’s censorship proposals.
“We’ve never seen anything like the avalanche Stephen Conroy has generated,” said the show’s host, Tony Jones, when introducing Conroy.
Conroy’s admissions during the broadcast created even more of a stir and left considerable doubt regarding the government’s ability to filter the internet without unintentionally blocking legitimate websites. He acknowledged that images taken by artist/photographer Bill Henson were added to the prohibited websites list in error, and cast blame on the “Russian Mob” for the addition of a dentist’s site to the list, saying that the Mob hacked into the dentist’s site. Several other sites were on the blacklist even though they changed hosting providers and cleaned up their sites several years ago.
“The classification board looked at (Bill Henson’s) website and actually said it’s PG,” Conroy said. “A technical error inside ACMA I’m advised included it, but it was actually cleared by the Classification Board, so it shouldn’t be on the list.”
“I’ve asked ACMA in the last few hours to go through their entire list again to see if there are any other examples of this.”
Conroy’s comments raised concerns from Australians about freedom of speech issues. Because the community doesn’t have access to the blacklist they’re unaware of the criteria used in the banning process.
Such a ban on poker websites would have a huge effect in Australia, where the industry has been thriving even despite recent restrictions enforced by ACMA. The Internet Gambling Act 2001, which has been around for years, makes it unlawful to provide an interactive gambling service to a customer physically present in Australia. Only recently has ACMA become more determined in restricting such illegal material.
Some of the biggest poker tournaments in the world take place in Australia, including the multi-million dollar Aussie Millions as well as the Asia Pacific Poker Tour, Asian Poker Tour, and Australia-New Zealand Poker Tour. (Credit: Poker News Daily)
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Among the more than 2,000 blacklisted sites were numerous online poker sites, including PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, as well as sites with hyperlinks to such banned sites. These websites were scheduled to be secretly blocked by Australia’s Internet service providers (ISPs). The list was leaked by wikileaks.com, a leading online antagonist of government censorship and a supporter of freedom of information made up of anonymous submissions.
ABC TV’s “Q&A” program that aired on March 26 was Senator Conroy’s first major media appearance to discuss the government's internet censorship plans. The response from viewers was substantial as more than 2,000 people sent in web and video questions regarding the government’s censorship proposals.
“We’ve never seen anything like the avalanche Stephen Conroy has generated,” said the show’s host, Tony Jones, when introducing Conroy.
Conroy’s admissions during the broadcast created even more of a stir and left considerable doubt regarding the government’s ability to filter the internet without unintentionally blocking legitimate websites. He acknowledged that images taken by artist/photographer Bill Henson were added to the prohibited websites list in error, and cast blame on the “Russian Mob” for the addition of a dentist’s site to the list, saying that the Mob hacked into the dentist’s site. Several other sites were on the blacklist even though they changed hosting providers and cleaned up their sites several years ago.
“The classification board looked at (Bill Henson’s) website and actually said it’s PG,” Conroy said. “A technical error inside ACMA I’m advised included it, but it was actually cleared by the Classification Board, so it shouldn’t be on the list.”
“I’ve asked ACMA in the last few hours to go through their entire list again to see if there are any other examples of this.”
Conroy’s comments raised concerns from Australians about freedom of speech issues. Because the community doesn’t have access to the blacklist they’re unaware of the criteria used in the banning process.
Such a ban on poker websites would have a huge effect in Australia, where the industry has been thriving even despite recent restrictions enforced by ACMA. The Internet Gambling Act 2001, which has been around for years, makes it unlawful to provide an interactive gambling service to a customer physically present in Australia. Only recently has ACMA become more determined in restricting such illegal material.
Some of the biggest poker tournaments in the world take place in Australia, including the multi-million dollar Aussie Millions as well as the Asia Pacific Poker Tour, Asian Poker Tour, and Australia-New Zealand Poker Tour. (Credit: Poker News Daily)
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Thursday, March 26, 2009
Australia Blacklist May Cost Election - Gambling911 - 25th March 2009
The controversy continues regarding Australia's leaked list of blacklisted websites which included, among others, the legal gambling enterprise, Betfair, as well as some online poker portals.
"We didn't know [about the ban]," said Betfair CEO Andrew Twaits. "We've been licensed to operate in Australia for three years and have never received a complaint or any allegation that Betfair locally or globally is not allowed usage by Australians. The global Betfair site is used by Australians every day."
Some 2500 websites were reportedly brandished as "unacceptable for viewing by Aussies". Besides numerous porn websites, there were YouTube links and poker room sites listed as well.
Poker sites on ACMA's blacklist include big names like partypoker.com, fulltiltpoker.com, 888.com, pokerroom.com, pokerstars.com, and mansion.com.
"As many as 400,000 Aussies are playing poker on the Web," an industry spokesperson told Network World, adding the amount gambled could be $US1000 per person every year.
But portal news websites like PokerNews.com were also on the blacklist. It was not immediately known if Gambling911.com was on the list as well.
Even more shocking, a Queensland dental surgery website was also among those blacklisted.
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, who is pushing for the Web filtering, claimed that porn had been implanted into the dental surgery website by hackers.
"Australians have proven themselves to be very pro active, passionate and rather effective protesters and activists over the decades," said Australia Media Man, Greg Tingle. "Australia is also home many Internet entrepreneurs and self styled publishers."
Tingle added: "Australia is also known for its fearless whistle blowers, likely the most notable being "The Human Headline" Derryn Hinch. Hinch and others have risked (and done) jail to stand up for justice! The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance, of which I'm a member, have enjoyed some strong successes in protecting the rights of journalists.
"To state the obvious the matter of censorship is of significant relevance and interest to journos and their editors. There's an old expression by a wise man in New York... "News is something, someone, somewhere, doesn't want someone else to know, everything else is PR! Nathan, the Australian government "blacklist" is huge news. It appears that by making websites or whatever "illegal" and "banned" it boosts interest and makes them every more sought after.
"Many industries have thrived in an underground and underworld type environment in the past including some of Australia's (unadvertised) land based casinos, as showcased on Network Nine's 'Underbelly'. Bottom line... Australians do care a rats ass about censorship."
Thus far, Conroy shows no sign of backing down.
Speaking at a Sydney press conference Thursday morning, Conroy said the leaked list would serve only to publicise Web sites that promote terrorism, hate and child porn.
"Does the [leaked blacklist] mean we are going to stop blocking access to the sites? No. People can continue to put up the lists if they are proud to do that," Conroy said.
"It is completely untrue that the leaked blacklist contains political content. This is a list which contains sites that promote incest, rape, child pornography and child abuse.
"If people think [leaking the list] is a victory for free speech, to make available that sort of information, they have a perverse sense of free speech. You can oppose the filter and not be a supporter of child pornography, but equally you can support the filters and still be supporter of free speech. (Credit: Gambling911)
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"We didn't know [about the ban]," said Betfair CEO Andrew Twaits. "We've been licensed to operate in Australia for three years and have never received a complaint or any allegation that Betfair locally or globally is not allowed usage by Australians. The global Betfair site is used by Australians every day."
Some 2500 websites were reportedly brandished as "unacceptable for viewing by Aussies". Besides numerous porn websites, there were YouTube links and poker room sites listed as well.
Poker sites on ACMA's blacklist include big names like partypoker.com, fulltiltpoker.com, 888.com, pokerroom.com, pokerstars.com, and mansion.com.
"As many as 400,000 Aussies are playing poker on the Web," an industry spokesperson told Network World, adding the amount gambled could be $US1000 per person every year.
But portal news websites like PokerNews.com were also on the blacklist. It was not immediately known if Gambling911.com was on the list as well.
Even more shocking, a Queensland dental surgery website was also among those blacklisted.
Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, who is pushing for the Web filtering, claimed that porn had been implanted into the dental surgery website by hackers.
"Australians have proven themselves to be very pro active, passionate and rather effective protesters and activists over the decades," said Australia Media Man, Greg Tingle. "Australia is also home many Internet entrepreneurs and self styled publishers."
Tingle added: "Australia is also known for its fearless whistle blowers, likely the most notable being "The Human Headline" Derryn Hinch. Hinch and others have risked (and done) jail to stand up for justice! The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance, of which I'm a member, have enjoyed some strong successes in protecting the rights of journalists.
"To state the obvious the matter of censorship is of significant relevance and interest to journos and their editors. There's an old expression by a wise man in New York... "News is something, someone, somewhere, doesn't want someone else to know, everything else is PR! Nathan, the Australian government "blacklist" is huge news. It appears that by making websites or whatever "illegal" and "banned" it boosts interest and makes them every more sought after.
"Many industries have thrived in an underground and underworld type environment in the past including some of Australia's (unadvertised) land based casinos, as showcased on Network Nine's 'Underbelly'. Bottom line... Australians do care a rats ass about censorship."
Thus far, Conroy shows no sign of backing down.
Speaking at a Sydney press conference Thursday morning, Conroy said the leaked list would serve only to publicise Web sites that promote terrorism, hate and child porn.
"Does the [leaked blacklist] mean we are going to stop blocking access to the sites? No. People can continue to put up the lists if they are proud to do that," Conroy said.
"It is completely untrue that the leaked blacklist contains political content. This is a list which contains sites that promote incest, rape, child pornography and child abuse.
"If people think [leaking the list] is a victory for free speech, to make available that sort of information, they have a perverse sense of free speech. You can oppose the filter and not be a supporter of child pornography, but equally you can support the filters and still be supporter of free speech. (Credit: Gambling911)
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Saturday, February 07, 2009
Ho, ho, ho: a closer look at political largesse, by Rowan Callick - The Australian - 7th February 2009
How Australia's political parties should be funded - and how that information should be divulged - have been hotly debated for years. But we are at last approaching the end-game, as the amounts of cash pumping through the political arteries rise rapidly.
The Australian Electoral Commission revealed this week that the parties raised and spent a record $215million in the past financial year. Submissions to a green paper for discussion on the issue close on February 23, and a bill is before federal parliament.
Asia's controversial casino king Stanley Ho, aged 87, has emerged as the unlikely catalyst in ensuring the key issues are resolved, as he pressed more than $1.6million on federal and NSW Labor branches, although much of it was returned.
Ho, rated by Forbes magazine as the 113th richest man in the world, with about $12billion, lives in Hong Kong. But he has made almost all of his money to the west across the Pearl River delta, in Macau, where he owns 17 casinos, besides the jetfoil company that transports most people to the gambling haven, operated by Shun Tak, Ho's holding company.
He has been married four times and has 17 children. He was a cousin of kung fu star Bruce Lee. He has a high social profile, having been a ballroom dancer and a tennis player well into his 80s, and remains prominent at the biggest Hong Kong charity balls.
He has four honorary doctorates, and endowed through a $5.6million donation to Pembroke College, Oxford, England, a chair for the Stanley Ho University Lecturer in Chinese History.
His son Lawrence is the chief executive of Melco Crown Entertainment, another Macau casino operator, of which James Packer is co-chairman. His daughter Pansy is a director of STDM, his core casino operating business, and is half-owner of MGM Grand Macau.
His businesses account for about one-third of Macau's gross domestic product.
Ho owns property in Australia and, like many other Asian billionaires, enjoys visiting here, where he can relax with less likelihood of being recognised or bothered.
But his preoccupation in Australia has for decades been to gain a slice of the rewarding gambling action; now soaring with the succession of government-funded stimulus packages.
In this, he has been constantly thwarted -- but he has persisted, nevertheless, in seeking to charm Australian politicians through extravagant political donations, which he appears to view as investments.
Ho has been welcomed as an investor in gaming in North Korea's capital, Pyongyang, which is visited by streams of Chinese tourists who gaze nostalgically at old-style communist sites by day and carouse in the casino -- banned in mainland China -- by night.
But he has otherwise largely been frustrated in his attempts to grow his business internationally, although he has been a part-owner of casinos in Hobart, Launceston and Darwin.
Singapore and Canada, as well as Australia, have blocked casino investment proposals, chiefly because of allegations that he has links with Asian organised crime, even being associated with triads in a Royal Canadian Mounted Police report. Veteran regional analyst Bertil Lintner wrote in the Far Eastern Economic Review: "It would be almost impossible to run a gambling enterprise in a place like Macau without some kind of understanding with the triads".
Apparently because of such concerns, he was left out of consideration for a role in the first casino in Sydney, Tabcorp's Star City, which opened in temporary facilities in 1995 and in its permanent home two years later.
As discussion began about issuing a second casino licence -- in the end, the NSW government cemented Tabcorp's monopoly -- Ho sent fresh bursts of good wishes to the Labor party.
During the 2007-2008 financial year a Gold Coast-based company Ho controls, Hungtat Worldwide, donated $600,000 via the NSW branch, with which he appears to have been most familiar. His fourth wife, Angela Leong, sent $499,980 to the federal party.
He personally declared a $200,000 donation to the NSW party, although the branch reported it received $400,000. Anthony Chan, a director of Ho's Shun Tak, gave $100,000 to the NSW branch in two instalments.
What might have been Ho's motivation?
Almost certainly, it was not ideological, since Ho has not often indicated any political commitment, beyond a general leaning towards the Chinese Communist Party, and support for its insistence on a slow pace for any democratisation in Hong Kong or Macau.
He appeared to have lost his former local political clout when in 2001 the Macau gaming industry, which he had monopolised for 40 years, was thrown open to the big names from Las Vegas. But the market soared, and he retained more than half. Last year the government suddenly shut the door on newcomers, and Ho's stakes soared further.
And he can provide material assistance for the communist party and its senior officials without any requirement for disclosure; more likely the opposite, an expectation that he will be discreet.
Unusually, the NSW party returned the Hungtat donation within days because, said general secretary Matt Thistlethwaite, it was not needed. But the branch retained the rest of the money that came from Ho sources.
The federal party, however, sent back the money given by Ho's wife. Assistant secretary Nick Martin said such decisions were made "on a case by case basis. We look at them, and if there's a donation we don't believe we should accept, then we return it".
National secretary Nick Bitar said the rejection followed "a due diligence assessment". The state and federal branches operate under separate constitutions. They operate their own budgets, although Victoria operates under the federal scheme.
But especially as national elections approach, funding tends to flow upwards from the states to the centre. So at least some Ho-derived money may have found its way to Canberra despite its due diligence.
Martin said the federal branch backed the reform proposals led by Special Minister of State Senator John Faulkner, both those before parliament -- currently blocked in the Senate by the opposition -- and in the new green paper, including restricting donations to Australian citizens only.
Such a limit would occasionally hit the Liberals. In September 2004, shortly before that year's federal election, Briton Lord Michael Ashcroft gave the Liberal Party $1million. Although donors are not required to provide explanations, his donation was more likely than Ho's to have been ideologically based. He is deputy chairman of Britain's Conservative Party.
But the US already bans all donations from foreigners, and such a ban in Australia would bar the money from Hos and Ashcrofts alike.
The options being canvassed in the green paper include: enhancing disclosure, including tighter time-frames and broadening the definition of the types of donations that should be disclosed; banning or capping political donations; placing limits on campaign expenditure by political parties and other participants in the political process; examining public funding rates for participants in the political process; and further regulating the involvement of third parties -- such as the ACTU, which spent $15.8million on advertisements and the Business Council of Australia, $2.3million -- in the political process.
Faulkner wants to require disclosure of donations above $1000, not $10,900 as at present, and to remove tax deductibility. The Senate -- led by the minority parties -- has voted within the present bill to keep tax deductibility. How such elements finally emerge, are likely to be hammered out as the green paper is concluded.
The controversy over the Ho donations makes it more likely a ban on foreign donations will remain in legislation.
It would be understandable if Labor was fed up with the fallout from its relations with Ho. In 2006 he paid $48,000 to party funds in return for a lunch with then NSW premier Morris Iemma. He also launched a plan to re-develop for about 4billion yuan ($905million), with Ian Tang, a mysterious Australian-Chinese business figure, Beijing's famous Friendship Store.
Tang was a generous donor to Australian politicians, paying for visits to China including by Kevin Rudd, who spoke at the launch of the Friendship Store development. But almost three years later, no work has begun on site and it appears the deal has collapsed.
A leading expert on party funding, Brian Costar from Melbourne's Swinburne University, said: "We haven't had a big enough scandal to force through wholesale change yet" -- although the Ho affair helps.
The most practical and acceptable answer, he says, is to follow the example of the New York City Campaign Finance Board. It has a website on which it is required to post all donations over a basic threshold, at set times in the electoral cycle.
"Everyone agrees transparency is essential, and that's the easiest thing, technically, to achieve. Today, we have the least regulated system of any of the advanced democracies. It's virtually open slather." (Credit: The Australian)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Politics
The Australian Electoral Commission revealed this week that the parties raised and spent a record $215million in the past financial year. Submissions to a green paper for discussion on the issue close on February 23, and a bill is before federal parliament.
Asia's controversial casino king Stanley Ho, aged 87, has emerged as the unlikely catalyst in ensuring the key issues are resolved, as he pressed more than $1.6million on federal and NSW Labor branches, although much of it was returned.
Ho, rated by Forbes magazine as the 113th richest man in the world, with about $12billion, lives in Hong Kong. But he has made almost all of his money to the west across the Pearl River delta, in Macau, where he owns 17 casinos, besides the jetfoil company that transports most people to the gambling haven, operated by Shun Tak, Ho's holding company.
He has been married four times and has 17 children. He was a cousin of kung fu star Bruce Lee. He has a high social profile, having been a ballroom dancer and a tennis player well into his 80s, and remains prominent at the biggest Hong Kong charity balls.
He has four honorary doctorates, and endowed through a $5.6million donation to Pembroke College, Oxford, England, a chair for the Stanley Ho University Lecturer in Chinese History.
His son Lawrence is the chief executive of Melco Crown Entertainment, another Macau casino operator, of which James Packer is co-chairman. His daughter Pansy is a director of STDM, his core casino operating business, and is half-owner of MGM Grand Macau.
His businesses account for about one-third of Macau's gross domestic product.
Ho owns property in Australia and, like many other Asian billionaires, enjoys visiting here, where he can relax with less likelihood of being recognised or bothered.
But his preoccupation in Australia has for decades been to gain a slice of the rewarding gambling action; now soaring with the succession of government-funded stimulus packages.
In this, he has been constantly thwarted -- but he has persisted, nevertheless, in seeking to charm Australian politicians through extravagant political donations, which he appears to view as investments.
Ho has been welcomed as an investor in gaming in North Korea's capital, Pyongyang, which is visited by streams of Chinese tourists who gaze nostalgically at old-style communist sites by day and carouse in the casino -- banned in mainland China -- by night.
But he has otherwise largely been frustrated in his attempts to grow his business internationally, although he has been a part-owner of casinos in Hobart, Launceston and Darwin.
Singapore and Canada, as well as Australia, have blocked casino investment proposals, chiefly because of allegations that he has links with Asian organised crime, even being associated with triads in a Royal Canadian Mounted Police report. Veteran regional analyst Bertil Lintner wrote in the Far Eastern Economic Review: "It would be almost impossible to run a gambling enterprise in a place like Macau without some kind of understanding with the triads".
Apparently because of such concerns, he was left out of consideration for a role in the first casino in Sydney, Tabcorp's Star City, which opened in temporary facilities in 1995 and in its permanent home two years later.
As discussion began about issuing a second casino licence -- in the end, the NSW government cemented Tabcorp's monopoly -- Ho sent fresh bursts of good wishes to the Labor party.
During the 2007-2008 financial year a Gold Coast-based company Ho controls, Hungtat Worldwide, donated $600,000 via the NSW branch, with which he appears to have been most familiar. His fourth wife, Angela Leong, sent $499,980 to the federal party.
He personally declared a $200,000 donation to the NSW party, although the branch reported it received $400,000. Anthony Chan, a director of Ho's Shun Tak, gave $100,000 to the NSW branch in two instalments.
What might have been Ho's motivation?
Almost certainly, it was not ideological, since Ho has not often indicated any political commitment, beyond a general leaning towards the Chinese Communist Party, and support for its insistence on a slow pace for any democratisation in Hong Kong or Macau.
He appeared to have lost his former local political clout when in 2001 the Macau gaming industry, which he had monopolised for 40 years, was thrown open to the big names from Las Vegas. But the market soared, and he retained more than half. Last year the government suddenly shut the door on newcomers, and Ho's stakes soared further.
And he can provide material assistance for the communist party and its senior officials without any requirement for disclosure; more likely the opposite, an expectation that he will be discreet.
Unusually, the NSW party returned the Hungtat donation within days because, said general secretary Matt Thistlethwaite, it was not needed. But the branch retained the rest of the money that came from Ho sources.
The federal party, however, sent back the money given by Ho's wife. Assistant secretary Nick Martin said such decisions were made "on a case by case basis. We look at them, and if there's a donation we don't believe we should accept, then we return it".
National secretary Nick Bitar said the rejection followed "a due diligence assessment". The state and federal branches operate under separate constitutions. They operate their own budgets, although Victoria operates under the federal scheme.
But especially as national elections approach, funding tends to flow upwards from the states to the centre. So at least some Ho-derived money may have found its way to Canberra despite its due diligence.
Martin said the federal branch backed the reform proposals led by Special Minister of State Senator John Faulkner, both those before parliament -- currently blocked in the Senate by the opposition -- and in the new green paper, including restricting donations to Australian citizens only.
Such a limit would occasionally hit the Liberals. In September 2004, shortly before that year's federal election, Briton Lord Michael Ashcroft gave the Liberal Party $1million. Although donors are not required to provide explanations, his donation was more likely than Ho's to have been ideologically based. He is deputy chairman of Britain's Conservative Party.
But the US already bans all donations from foreigners, and such a ban in Australia would bar the money from Hos and Ashcrofts alike.
The options being canvassed in the green paper include: enhancing disclosure, including tighter time-frames and broadening the definition of the types of donations that should be disclosed; banning or capping political donations; placing limits on campaign expenditure by political parties and other participants in the political process; examining public funding rates for participants in the political process; and further regulating the involvement of third parties -- such as the ACTU, which spent $15.8million on advertisements and the Business Council of Australia, $2.3million -- in the political process.
Faulkner wants to require disclosure of donations above $1000, not $10,900 as at present, and to remove tax deductibility. The Senate -- led by the minority parties -- has voted within the present bill to keep tax deductibility. How such elements finally emerge, are likely to be hammered out as the green paper is concluded.
The controversy over the Ho donations makes it more likely a ban on foreign donations will remain in legislation.
It would be understandable if Labor was fed up with the fallout from its relations with Ho. In 2006 he paid $48,000 to party funds in return for a lunch with then NSW premier Morris Iemma. He also launched a plan to re-develop for about 4billion yuan ($905million), with Ian Tang, a mysterious Australian-Chinese business figure, Beijing's famous Friendship Store.
Tang was a generous donor to Australian politicians, paying for visits to China including by Kevin Rudd, who spoke at the launch of the Friendship Store development. But almost three years later, no work has begun on site and it appears the deal has collapsed.
A leading expert on party funding, Brian Costar from Melbourne's Swinburne University, said: "We haven't had a big enough scandal to force through wholesale change yet" -- although the Ho affair helps.
The most practical and acceptable answer, he says, is to follow the example of the New York City Campaign Finance Board. It has a website on which it is required to post all donations over a basic threshold, at set times in the electoral cycle.
"Everyone agrees transparency is essential, and that's the easiest thing, technically, to achieve. Today, we have the least regulated system of any of the advanced democracies. It's virtually open slather." (Credit: The Australian)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Politics
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Labor at odds over billionaire's advances, by Siobhain Ryan and Imre Salusinszky - The Australian - 3rd February 2009
NSW Labor has washed its hands of one of the country's most generous political donations, from a company linked to Hong Kong gambling billionaire Stanley Ho, while accepting another $400,000 directly from the man himself.
The branch's general secretary, Matt Thistlethwaite, last night told The Australian the party had sent back a $600,000 donation - the equal largest received in 2007-08 by any political party - from Gold Coast-based company Hungtat Worldwide, which lists Dr Ho as a director.
But its decision to accept a $400,000 cheque from Dr Ho puts it at odds with federal Labor, which turned down a $500,000 donation from Dr Ho's wife, Angela Leong, in the same financial year.
Explaining why the party returned Hungtat's money within days of receiving it in September 2007, Mr Thistlethwaite said: "At the time, the party's finances were sufficient to cover our expenditure. The donation was not required, so it was returned."
It is understood senior party officials at the time were concerned about negative publicity surrounding large donations from developers and other business interests.
Details of Dr Ho's generosity were contained in the Australian Electoral Commission's annual disclosure of political financing, which reveals the extent of corporate influence on the major parties.
Dr Ho declared a $200,000 donation to NSW Labor, but the branch's official disclosure put it at double that amount.
Both sides of politics have drawn heavily on major business figures, including billionaire Melbourne cardboard tycoon Richard Pratt, who donated $200,000 to the federal Liberal Party and $100,000 to federal Labor.
In other big donations, the founder of the collapsed ABC Learning centres, Eddy Groves, donated $50,000 to the Liberal Party.
Pulp mill proponent Gunns also donated $56,000 to the Liberal Party in the weeks after the Howard government gave conditional approval for the company's $2.2 billion Tasmanian pulp mill.
Dr Ho and Hungtat's donations flowed into Labor's coffers in NSW while the government of former premier Morris Iemma was considering whether to grant a second casino licence in NSW.
Eventually, the government decided to extend its exclusivity agreement with the Tabcorp-owned Star City, in a $100 million deal.
In 1986, Dr Ho was deemed a person "unsuitable" to hold a casino licence when he was part of a consortium that launched a bid for a stake in the NSW gambling market. In 2007-08, federal Labor refused a gift of nearly $500,000 from Ms Leong, Dr Ho's fourth wife.
The Australian yesterday visited a Surfers Paradise home, listed as Ms Leong's residence. The cream, double-storey home on the Gold Coast's exclusive waterfront island address of Cronin Island was shut up with blinds drawn.
ALP national secretary Karl Bitar said that, given the size of the donation, "the ALP conducted a due diligence assessment of this donation and decided that it should be returned".
Special Minister of State John Faulkner is currently championing changes to political disclosure laws that would ban foreign and anonymous donations for all political parties, whether state or federal.
The bill, now before the Senate, also brings the disclosure threshold for donations down from more than $10,000 to $1000, and shifts from annual to twice-year reporting obligations.
The Opposition has accused the ALP national secretariat of circumventing the Government's political disclosure standards by accepting NSW Labor money in the same year the branch received Dr Ho's donation.
Opposition spokesman on matters of state Michael Ronaldson said it was gross hypocrisy of federal Labor to take a public stand against foreign donations while accepting $925,000 from a state branch that drew on offshore contributors.
"It's almost a backdoor way of getting donations into the federal campaign," he said.
Dr Ho, who has featured in the Forbes list of the 100 richest people in the world, has high-placed contacts after four decades in the Macau gambling business.
His son Lawrence is a co-owner with James Packer of the giant Crown Macau casino.
At a Labor Party fundraiser in 2006, Dr Ho successfully bid $48,000 for lunch with Mr Iemma -- but did not bother to collect hisprize.
In 2006, Kevin Rudd spoke at a ceremony in Beijing to mark a $1.3billion retail redevelopment by Dr Ho and business partner Ian Tang or Tang Yui. Mr Tang, who has helped finance some of Mr Rudd's past China trips, is a director in Sydney-based Aust-China Information Technology.
The company boasts the same address as a Sydney-based donor called Aust-China Pty Ltd (Beijing), which declared a $50,000 gift to the ALP's NSW branch in 2007-08.
Dr Ho is a company director of Hungtat Worldwide, a Queensland-based company that manages the Palm Meadows Golf Course on the Gold Coast and owns a massive parcel of neighbouring land.
It has been the target of lobbying in recent weeks by senior Queensland racing officials who met Dr Ho in Hong Kong to present the businessman with a joint-venture proposal to develop a new supertrack on the Palm Meadows land.
Anthony Chan, who lists the same Hong Kong address as Dr Ho, added a further $100,000 to NSW Labor's coffers last financial year, his donor declaration shows.
The state branch has also attracted a $261,000 windfall from prolific donor Hong Kong Kingson Investment, which lists a Kowloon address.
The amount was the biggest of its 2007-08 donations to Australian political parties, which totalled $761,000. (Credit: The Australian)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Politics
The branch's general secretary, Matt Thistlethwaite, last night told The Australian the party had sent back a $600,000 donation - the equal largest received in 2007-08 by any political party - from Gold Coast-based company Hungtat Worldwide, which lists Dr Ho as a director.
But its decision to accept a $400,000 cheque from Dr Ho puts it at odds with federal Labor, which turned down a $500,000 donation from Dr Ho's wife, Angela Leong, in the same financial year.
Explaining why the party returned Hungtat's money within days of receiving it in September 2007, Mr Thistlethwaite said: "At the time, the party's finances were sufficient to cover our expenditure. The donation was not required, so it was returned."
It is understood senior party officials at the time were concerned about negative publicity surrounding large donations from developers and other business interests.
Details of Dr Ho's generosity were contained in the Australian Electoral Commission's annual disclosure of political financing, which reveals the extent of corporate influence on the major parties.
Dr Ho declared a $200,000 donation to NSW Labor, but the branch's official disclosure put it at double that amount.
Both sides of politics have drawn heavily on major business figures, including billionaire Melbourne cardboard tycoon Richard Pratt, who donated $200,000 to the federal Liberal Party and $100,000 to federal Labor.
In other big donations, the founder of the collapsed ABC Learning centres, Eddy Groves, donated $50,000 to the Liberal Party.
Pulp mill proponent Gunns also donated $56,000 to the Liberal Party in the weeks after the Howard government gave conditional approval for the company's $2.2 billion Tasmanian pulp mill.
Dr Ho and Hungtat's donations flowed into Labor's coffers in NSW while the government of former premier Morris Iemma was considering whether to grant a second casino licence in NSW.
Eventually, the government decided to extend its exclusivity agreement with the Tabcorp-owned Star City, in a $100 million deal.
In 1986, Dr Ho was deemed a person "unsuitable" to hold a casino licence when he was part of a consortium that launched a bid for a stake in the NSW gambling market. In 2007-08, federal Labor refused a gift of nearly $500,000 from Ms Leong, Dr Ho's fourth wife.
The Australian yesterday visited a Surfers Paradise home, listed as Ms Leong's residence. The cream, double-storey home on the Gold Coast's exclusive waterfront island address of Cronin Island was shut up with blinds drawn.
ALP national secretary Karl Bitar said that, given the size of the donation, "the ALP conducted a due diligence assessment of this donation and decided that it should be returned".
Special Minister of State John Faulkner is currently championing changes to political disclosure laws that would ban foreign and anonymous donations for all political parties, whether state or federal.
The bill, now before the Senate, also brings the disclosure threshold for donations down from more than $10,000 to $1000, and shifts from annual to twice-year reporting obligations.
The Opposition has accused the ALP national secretariat of circumventing the Government's political disclosure standards by accepting NSW Labor money in the same year the branch received Dr Ho's donation.
Opposition spokesman on matters of state Michael Ronaldson said it was gross hypocrisy of federal Labor to take a public stand against foreign donations while accepting $925,000 from a state branch that drew on offshore contributors.
"It's almost a backdoor way of getting donations into the federal campaign," he said.
Dr Ho, who has featured in the Forbes list of the 100 richest people in the world, has high-placed contacts after four decades in the Macau gambling business.
His son Lawrence is a co-owner with James Packer of the giant Crown Macau casino.
At a Labor Party fundraiser in 2006, Dr Ho successfully bid $48,000 for lunch with Mr Iemma -- but did not bother to collect hisprize.
In 2006, Kevin Rudd spoke at a ceremony in Beijing to mark a $1.3billion retail redevelopment by Dr Ho and business partner Ian Tang or Tang Yui. Mr Tang, who has helped finance some of Mr Rudd's past China trips, is a director in Sydney-based Aust-China Information Technology.
The company boasts the same address as a Sydney-based donor called Aust-China Pty Ltd (Beijing), which declared a $50,000 gift to the ALP's NSW branch in 2007-08.
Dr Ho is a company director of Hungtat Worldwide, a Queensland-based company that manages the Palm Meadows Golf Course on the Gold Coast and owns a massive parcel of neighbouring land.
It has been the target of lobbying in recent weeks by senior Queensland racing officials who met Dr Ho in Hong Kong to present the businessman with a joint-venture proposal to develop a new supertrack on the Palm Meadows land.
Anthony Chan, who lists the same Hong Kong address as Dr Ho, added a further $100,000 to NSW Labor's coffers last financial year, his donor declaration shows.
The state branch has also attracted a $261,000 windfall from prolific donor Hong Kong Kingson Investment, which lists a Kowloon address.
The amount was the biggest of its 2007-08 donations to Australian political parties, which totalled $761,000. (Credit: The Australian)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Politics
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Hey, big spender: the gambling tycoon who's betting on Labor, by Alexandra Smith, Stephanie Peatling and Hamish McDonald - The Sydney Morning Herald
3rd February 2009
The Macau casino tycoon Stanley Ho and his business partners donated more than $900,000 to the Labor Party in the lead-up to the last federal election, even though Kevin Rudd went to the poll with a policy to ban overseas donations.
Dr Ho made a personal donation of $200,000 to NSW Labor while Hungtat Worldwide on the Gold Coast, of which he is a director, gave $600,000. But the party returned $499,980 that Dr Ho's wife, Angela Leong, had donated.
Anthony Chan, who lists the same Hong Kong address as Dr Ho, tipped another $100,000 into NSW Labor coffers, and Hong Kong Kingson Investment gave more than $760,000 to the Labor, Liberal and National parties.
The Australian Electoral Commission's annual returns, published yesterday, show Hungtat Worldwide was the equal largest donor in 2007-08, sharing the top spot with Josephine Armstrong, of Perth, who gave $600,000 to the WA Liberals.
Between 2000 and 2006, Dr Ho donated $109,000 to NSW Labor, but as gambling revenue fell in Macau the billionaire diversified his interests. He now has extensive tourism and real estate interests in Australia as well as an indirect link to the budget airline Viva Macau, which began flying from Sydney in 2007.
Dr Ho is involved in a $1.3 billion redevelopment of Beijing's prime Friendship Store site in partnership with the Prime Minister's Chinese-Australian friend Ian Tang.
The Rudd Government is trying to ban overseas donations and lower the disclosure threshold from $10,900 to $1000, but the changes have been delayed by the Opposition, which argues there is no need for them.
The Labor Party's national secretary, Karl Bitar, said the party supported a "more transparent system of electoral funding and disclosure", but he did not comment on accepting overseas donations, instead pointing out that the party returned the donation from Dr Ho's wife.
"Given the size of the donation, the ALP conducted a due diligence assessment of this donation and decided that it should be returned," Mr Bitar said in a statement.
Mr Rudd refused to answer questions about the return of Ms Leong's donation. "All such questions should be directed to the national secretary of the Australian Labor Party," he said.
The funding disclosures also reveal that in the second half of 2007, unions spent $36 million trying to get rid of the Howard government. Unions donated $9.2 million to Labor and spent an additional $26.8 million on political campaigns.
Citigroup, ANZ and Deutsche banks donated more than $200,000 to the major parties and the property developers Leighton Holdings, Westfield and Walker Corporation gave generously. (Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Politics
The Macau casino tycoon Stanley Ho and his business partners donated more than $900,000 to the Labor Party in the lead-up to the last federal election, even though Kevin Rudd went to the poll with a policy to ban overseas donations.
Dr Ho made a personal donation of $200,000 to NSW Labor while Hungtat Worldwide on the Gold Coast, of which he is a director, gave $600,000. But the party returned $499,980 that Dr Ho's wife, Angela Leong, had donated.
Anthony Chan, who lists the same Hong Kong address as Dr Ho, tipped another $100,000 into NSW Labor coffers, and Hong Kong Kingson Investment gave more than $760,000 to the Labor, Liberal and National parties.
The Australian Electoral Commission's annual returns, published yesterday, show Hungtat Worldwide was the equal largest donor in 2007-08, sharing the top spot with Josephine Armstrong, of Perth, who gave $600,000 to the WA Liberals.
Between 2000 and 2006, Dr Ho donated $109,000 to NSW Labor, but as gambling revenue fell in Macau the billionaire diversified his interests. He now has extensive tourism and real estate interests in Australia as well as an indirect link to the budget airline Viva Macau, which began flying from Sydney in 2007.
Dr Ho is involved in a $1.3 billion redevelopment of Beijing's prime Friendship Store site in partnership with the Prime Minister's Chinese-Australian friend Ian Tang.
The Rudd Government is trying to ban overseas donations and lower the disclosure threshold from $10,900 to $1000, but the changes have been delayed by the Opposition, which argues there is no need for them.
The Labor Party's national secretary, Karl Bitar, said the party supported a "more transparent system of electoral funding and disclosure", but he did not comment on accepting overseas donations, instead pointing out that the party returned the donation from Dr Ho's wife.
"Given the size of the donation, the ALP conducted a due diligence assessment of this donation and decided that it should be returned," Mr Bitar said in a statement.
Mr Rudd refused to answer questions about the return of Ms Leong's donation. "All such questions should be directed to the national secretary of the Australian Labor Party," he said.
The funding disclosures also reveal that in the second half of 2007, unions spent $36 million trying to get rid of the Howard government. Unions donated $9.2 million to Labor and spent an additional $26.8 million on political campaigns.
Citigroup, ANZ and Deutsche banks donated more than $200,000 to the major parties and the property developers Leighton Holdings, Westfield and Walker Corporation gave generously. (Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Politics
U.S. States Consider Gambling for More Revenues
With the economy worsening, gambling taxes might help plug the gaps
February 2, 2009 (InfoPowa News) -- The Associated Press recently ran an interesting story reportoing that as many as 14 U.S. states may be considering an expansion in gambling licenses to help plug widening gaps in state budgets.
It's a possibly easier out for state administrations faced with the choice of raising taxes at the worse possible time or cutting services and risk antagonizing hard-pressed voters.
"Who wouldn't be interested if you're a politician who needs to fund programs?" Bo Bernhard, director of research at the International Gaming Institute at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas -- a government-funded program told AP.
"While gambling has not been immune from the recession, it has held up relatively well compared with states' other revenue streams, such as income and sales taxes. This helps explain why past industry growth spurts have been preceded by economic downturns," the news agency noted, giving as an example Rhode Island, which opened America's first racetrack casino in 1992, and four states soon followed.
More recently, states faced with sagging revenues during the 2001 recession joined multi-state lotteries such as Powerball and gave more leeway to Native American tribes seeking to expand their casinos.
Analysts told Associated Press that the latest round of gambling initiatives are noteworthy in volume and ambition -- a sign that the industry aims to capitalize on states' badly bruised economies.
"From the gambling industry's point of view, this is their big chance," said Earl Grinols, an economics professor at Baylor University who specializes in gambling.
Ohio's casino advocates, including lobbyists working for Penn National Gambling Inc., are pushing a variety of large-scale development projects. In Georgia, a developer working with Dover Downs Inc. wants to transform a blighted section of downtown Atlanta with a 29-story hotel that would attract tourists with more than 5,500 video lottery terminals.
The developer pitching the $450 million Atlanta project, Dan O'Leary, estimates $300 million a year in revenues would be funneled to the state, helping to pay for a popular lottery-funded scholarship that provides in-state college tuition for students with "B" averages.
Even Hawaii, which along with Utah is one of two states without a lottery or other form of legalized gambling, may consider a change. Aides to Governor Linda Lingle, long an opponent of gambling, say she is open to discussing it as a way to close the state's growing budget gap.
Gambling in the U.S.A. is a $54 billion annual industry that employs more than 350,000 people, with most state gambling revenues coming from lotteries, racetracks and betting devices such as slot and video poker machines. Twelve states reap tax money from full-fledged casinos, and 23 others have casinos on Native American reservations, which generally do not pay taxes to states.
Opponents of gambling point to its dangers. "We've got gambling in 48 states, and you'd think if it worked, you wouldn't have budget problems or education problems," said Tom Gray, a field director for StopPredatoryGambling.org.
Many of the new gambling proposals seek to expand footholds in states that already allow limited gambling, the AP reports, pointing to the state of Kentucky, where the House speaker had proposed allowing video gambling terminals at the state's racetracks, and to New Hampshire, New York and Texas, where legislators are considering proposals this year to allow similar gambling terminals at their tracks. Casino advocates plan to push for casino-style gambling in hurricane-ravaged Galveston, Texas, as well.
Lawmakers in other states are talking about reversing hard-fought crusades to tighten restrictions on gambling. Nine years after South Carolina lawmakers outlawed video poker, state Senator Robert Ford is fighting to make it legal again. Since July, lawmakers have cut roughly $1 billion from the state's budget to address revenue shortfalls.
And in Ohio, where voters repeatedly have rejected ballot proposals to expand gambling, Governor Ted Strickland said he is willing to listen to proposals to help close a $7 billion shortfall in the next two-year budget.
The moves come despite indications that gambling, long considered to be almost recession-proof, has taken hits from the global economic slowdown. This has resulted in layoffs, declining revenues and falling stock prices impacting casino firms. State-run lotteries are faring better, though: More than half of the states with lotteries have reported rising sales over the past six months.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Gambling News
Politics
February 2, 2009 (InfoPowa News) -- The Associated Press recently ran an interesting story reportoing that as many as 14 U.S. states may be considering an expansion in gambling licenses to help plug widening gaps in state budgets.
It's a possibly easier out for state administrations faced with the choice of raising taxes at the worse possible time or cutting services and risk antagonizing hard-pressed voters.
"Who wouldn't be interested if you're a politician who needs to fund programs?" Bo Bernhard, director of research at the International Gaming Institute at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas -- a government-funded program told AP.
"While gambling has not been immune from the recession, it has held up relatively well compared with states' other revenue streams, such as income and sales taxes. This helps explain why past industry growth spurts have been preceded by economic downturns," the news agency noted, giving as an example Rhode Island, which opened America's first racetrack casino in 1992, and four states soon followed.
More recently, states faced with sagging revenues during the 2001 recession joined multi-state lotteries such as Powerball and gave more leeway to Native American tribes seeking to expand their casinos.
Analysts told Associated Press that the latest round of gambling initiatives are noteworthy in volume and ambition -- a sign that the industry aims to capitalize on states' badly bruised economies.
"From the gambling industry's point of view, this is their big chance," said Earl Grinols, an economics professor at Baylor University who specializes in gambling.
Ohio's casino advocates, including lobbyists working for Penn National Gambling Inc., are pushing a variety of large-scale development projects. In Georgia, a developer working with Dover Downs Inc. wants to transform a blighted section of downtown Atlanta with a 29-story hotel that would attract tourists with more than 5,500 video lottery terminals.
The developer pitching the $450 million Atlanta project, Dan O'Leary, estimates $300 million a year in revenues would be funneled to the state, helping to pay for a popular lottery-funded scholarship that provides in-state college tuition for students with "B" averages.
Even Hawaii, which along with Utah is one of two states without a lottery or other form of legalized gambling, may consider a change. Aides to Governor Linda Lingle, long an opponent of gambling, say she is open to discussing it as a way to close the state's growing budget gap.
Gambling in the U.S.A. is a $54 billion annual industry that employs more than 350,000 people, with most state gambling revenues coming from lotteries, racetracks and betting devices such as slot and video poker machines. Twelve states reap tax money from full-fledged casinos, and 23 others have casinos on Native American reservations, which generally do not pay taxes to states.
Opponents of gambling point to its dangers. "We've got gambling in 48 states, and you'd think if it worked, you wouldn't have budget problems or education problems," said Tom Gray, a field director for StopPredatoryGambling.org.
Many of the new gambling proposals seek to expand footholds in states that already allow limited gambling, the AP reports, pointing to the state of Kentucky, where the House speaker had proposed allowing video gambling terminals at the state's racetracks, and to New Hampshire, New York and Texas, where legislators are considering proposals this year to allow similar gambling terminals at their tracks. Casino advocates plan to push for casino-style gambling in hurricane-ravaged Galveston, Texas, as well.
Lawmakers in other states are talking about reversing hard-fought crusades to tighten restrictions on gambling. Nine years after South Carolina lawmakers outlawed video poker, state Senator Robert Ford is fighting to make it legal again. Since July, lawmakers have cut roughly $1 billion from the state's budget to address revenue shortfalls.
And in Ohio, where voters repeatedly have rejected ballot proposals to expand gambling, Governor Ted Strickland said he is willing to listen to proposals to help close a $7 billion shortfall in the next two-year budget.
The moves come despite indications that gambling, long considered to be almost recession-proof, has taken hits from the global economic slowdown. This has resulted in layoffs, declining revenues and falling stock prices impacting casino firms. State-run lotteries are faring better, though: More than half of the states with lotteries have reported rising sales over the past six months.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Gambling News
Politics
Casino billionaire bankrolls Labor, by Brendan Nicholson - The Age - 2nd February 2009
Figures linked to Macau-based casino magnate Stanley Ho have donated well over $1 million to the Labor Party.
One donation of nearly $500,000 was rejected by the Federal ALP after an internal investigation indicated "it was not a donation we should accept", the party's assistant national secretary, Nick Martin, told The Age.
The $499,980 was sent back to Mr Ho's wife, Angela Leong, who has also been identified in media reports as a friend of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
But donations totalling more than $1.4 million were accepted by the ALP's NSW branch from Mr Ho and his associates.
One donation of $400,000 to NSW Labor came directly from Mr Ho on October 31, 2007, and was followed by another $200,000 from him on May 29, 2008.
Then there were two more donations of $50,000 each from Mr Anthony Chan, who is an executive director of Mr Ho's company Shun Tak Holdings.
One of the biggest donations in the returns produced yesterday by the Australian Electoral Commission was $600,000 given to the NSW ALP on September 11, 2007, by a Gold Coast-based company called Hungtat Worldwide Pty Ltd, which again has been linked to Ho.
In 2006 another donation of $109,000 was made by Joyce Chan on behalf of Mr Ho.
The Opposition's shadow minister of state, Michael Ronaldson, said the donations made through NSW appeared to be a way of getting the money indirectly to federal Labor.
Senator Ronaldson said Mr Rudd must explain why some of the money was rejected and other donations were accepted.
"What did Mr Ho want in return and what knowledge did Mr Rudd have of this donation?" Senator Ronaldson said.
"It beggars belief that Mr Rudd didn't know about a donation of this size and clearly it was a back-door way of getting money into the federal campaign after they'd had to knock back the donation made directly," Senator Ronaldson said.
"The whole deal simply doesn't pass the sniff test."
Mr Rudd's spokeswoman referred inquiries to Labor's national secretariat.
Officials from the NSW branch could not be contacted for comment.
ALP national secretary Karl Bitar said in a statement the party supported a more transparent system of electoral funding and disclosure.
"We support the reforms announced by the Rudd Labor Government, which are now being blocked by the Liberal Party in the Senate," Mr Bitar said.
"In the return released by the AEC today there is a returned donation from one source. Given the size of the donation, the ALP conducted a due diligence assessment of this donation and decided that it should be returned.
"We conducted due diligence and made a decision this was not a donation we could accept."
Mr Bitar did not explain why the NSW branch decided to accept Mr Ho's money.
Driven by opposition to the Howard government, unions provided the ALP with $9.2 million.
The biggest union donation was $1.5 million from the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association. (Credit: The Age)
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One donation of nearly $500,000 was rejected by the Federal ALP after an internal investigation indicated "it was not a donation we should accept", the party's assistant national secretary, Nick Martin, told The Age.
The $499,980 was sent back to Mr Ho's wife, Angela Leong, who has also been identified in media reports as a friend of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
But donations totalling more than $1.4 million were accepted by the ALP's NSW branch from Mr Ho and his associates.
One donation of $400,000 to NSW Labor came directly from Mr Ho on October 31, 2007, and was followed by another $200,000 from him on May 29, 2008.
Then there were two more donations of $50,000 each from Mr Anthony Chan, who is an executive director of Mr Ho's company Shun Tak Holdings.
One of the biggest donations in the returns produced yesterday by the Australian Electoral Commission was $600,000 given to the NSW ALP on September 11, 2007, by a Gold Coast-based company called Hungtat Worldwide Pty Ltd, which again has been linked to Ho.
In 2006 another donation of $109,000 was made by Joyce Chan on behalf of Mr Ho.
The Opposition's shadow minister of state, Michael Ronaldson, said the donations made through NSW appeared to be a way of getting the money indirectly to federal Labor.
Senator Ronaldson said Mr Rudd must explain why some of the money was rejected and other donations were accepted.
"What did Mr Ho want in return and what knowledge did Mr Rudd have of this donation?" Senator Ronaldson said.
"It beggars belief that Mr Rudd didn't know about a donation of this size and clearly it was a back-door way of getting money into the federal campaign after they'd had to knock back the donation made directly," Senator Ronaldson said.
"The whole deal simply doesn't pass the sniff test."
Mr Rudd's spokeswoman referred inquiries to Labor's national secretariat.
Officials from the NSW branch could not be contacted for comment.
ALP national secretary Karl Bitar said in a statement the party supported a more transparent system of electoral funding and disclosure.
"We support the reforms announced by the Rudd Labor Government, which are now being blocked by the Liberal Party in the Senate," Mr Bitar said.
"In the return released by the AEC today there is a returned donation from one source. Given the size of the donation, the ALP conducted a due diligence assessment of this donation and decided that it should be returned.
"We conducted due diligence and made a decision this was not a donation we could accept."
Mr Bitar did not explain why the NSW branch decided to accept Mr Ho's money.
Driven by opposition to the Howard government, unions provided the ALP with $9.2 million.
The biggest union donation was $1.5 million from the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association. (Credit: The Age)
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Chinese casino's big gift to NSW Labor, by Rhett Watson and Alison Rehn - The Daily Telegraph - 3rd February 2009
A casino king from Macau has emerged as a major donor to the NSW ALP, donating $900,000 to the party.
ALP chiefs returned $600,000 back to billionaire Stanley Ho, but still received about $4 million in donations, Australian Electoral Commission figures released yesterday reveal.
Mr Ho donated the money through his Queensland-based property company Hungtat Worldwide on September 11, 2007.
NSW Labor Party general secretary Matt Thistlethwaite said last night the money was returned because "at the time the party's finances were sufficient to fund our expenditure".
Meanwhile, the party accepted Mr Ho's personal donation of $200,000 on May 29 last year and two lots of $50,000 from Anthony Chan - on September 6, 2007 and October 31, 2007 - who lists his address as being the same as Mr Ho's in Hong Kong.
His donations to the Labor Party came as the state's only casino licence came up for renewal and the Government was said to be considering a second licence.
Eventually, Star City Casino, owned by Tabcorp, won the right to a monopoly in a $100 million deal with the Government.
A spokesman for Premier Nathan Rees said the political donation system was "transparent" and in no way linked to policy decisions. He also said Mr Rees remained committed to reforming the system through federal channels after abandoning his push to reform NSW policy.
Meanwhile, the Federal Labor Party returned an almost $500,000 donation to Mr Ho's wife Angela Leong on the eve of the 2007 federal election.
AEC figures reveal Labor received nearly $111 million funding, compared to $89 million for the Liberal-National Party Coalition.
On October 31, 2007 - three weeks out from the election - Ms Leong boosted Labor Party coffers by $499,980.
But the national branch of the Australian Labor Party returned her donation.
ALP national secretary Karl Bitar said yesterday that given the size of the donation, the ALP conducted a "due diligence assessment", and decided "it should be returned".
Other big donations to the ALP included more than $9 million from the unions - including $1.3 million from the CFMEU, $50,000 from the Australian Hotels Association and $63,000 from Coca-Cola Amatil. (Credit: The Daily Telegraph)
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ALP chiefs returned $600,000 back to billionaire Stanley Ho, but still received about $4 million in donations, Australian Electoral Commission figures released yesterday reveal.
Mr Ho donated the money through his Queensland-based property company Hungtat Worldwide on September 11, 2007.
NSW Labor Party general secretary Matt Thistlethwaite said last night the money was returned because "at the time the party's finances were sufficient to fund our expenditure".
Meanwhile, the party accepted Mr Ho's personal donation of $200,000 on May 29 last year and two lots of $50,000 from Anthony Chan - on September 6, 2007 and October 31, 2007 - who lists his address as being the same as Mr Ho's in Hong Kong.
His donations to the Labor Party came as the state's only casino licence came up for renewal and the Government was said to be considering a second licence.
Eventually, Star City Casino, owned by Tabcorp, won the right to a monopoly in a $100 million deal with the Government.
A spokesman for Premier Nathan Rees said the political donation system was "transparent" and in no way linked to policy decisions. He also said Mr Rees remained committed to reforming the system through federal channels after abandoning his push to reform NSW policy.
Meanwhile, the Federal Labor Party returned an almost $500,000 donation to Mr Ho's wife Angela Leong on the eve of the 2007 federal election.
AEC figures reveal Labor received nearly $111 million funding, compared to $89 million for the Liberal-National Party Coalition.
On October 31, 2007 - three weeks out from the election - Ms Leong boosted Labor Party coffers by $499,980.
But the national branch of the Australian Labor Party returned her donation.
ALP national secretary Karl Bitar said yesterday that given the size of the donation, the ALP conducted a "due diligence assessment", and decided "it should be returned".
Other big donations to the ALP included more than $9 million from the unions - including $1.3 million from the CFMEU, $50,000 from the Australian Hotels Association and $63,000 from Coca-Cola Amatil. (Credit: The Daily Telegraph)
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Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Labour peers: Lord Moonie profile, by Gordon Rayner - The Telegraph - 27th January 2009
Lord Moonie, 61, wasted no time in lining up well-paid jobs in the lobbying industry when he was elevated to the peerage in 2005.
Within weeks of leaving parliament the former Labour MP became an associate director of Sovereign Strategy, a lobbying firm which has made substantial donations to the Labour Party.
He claimed at the time that his role would not be to lobby the Government in person, but "to teach clients how to lobby government".
It is a distinction which he seems to have since abandoned, as on the current register of Lords' interests, he lists a £35,000-a-year consultancy with the property firm Americum Developments in Edinburgh under "parliamentary lobbying".
He is now said to have offered to help an undercover journalist to help amend laws in return for an annual fee of £30,000, allegedly boasting that if he was rumbled, the House of Lords authorities could do little but "jump up and down".
As a junior minister during his 18 years in the Commons, Lord Moonie spent time as a spokesman on industry and on technology, and was a junior defence minister.
Although he was largely anonymous in the roles, they have stood him in good stead since he became Lord Moonie of Bennochy in Fife; he now acts a non-parliamentary consultant to the specialist information technology firm Northrop Grumman, the security consultancy Perseus Global and to PharmAthene, which makes antidotes to chemical and biological weapons.
He is also a paid director of the climate change consultancy AEA Technology and of the online gambling site PartyGaming.
Lord Moonie gave up his parliamentary seat as a favour to his personal friend Gordon Brown, to make sure the then Chancellor retained a safe majority after constituency boundaries had been redrawn.
Married with two children, Lord Moonie is a qualified psychiatrist who studied at St Andrews and Edinburgh Universities and worked in Switzerland and the Netherlands before returning to Fife as a senior registrar. He was elected to the local council in 1982 and became an MP in 1987.
The former Lewis Moonie sits on the economic affairs and finance committees in the House of Lords and divides his time between homes in Fife and Pimlico, west London.
Questions on defence asked by Lord Moonie since September 2008: 40
Questions on defence asked by Lord Moonie before September 2008: 6
Parliamentary pass obtained by Lord Moonie for defence lobbyist: Autumn 2008
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Within weeks of leaving parliament the former Labour MP became an associate director of Sovereign Strategy, a lobbying firm which has made substantial donations to the Labour Party.
He claimed at the time that his role would not be to lobby the Government in person, but "to teach clients how to lobby government".
It is a distinction which he seems to have since abandoned, as on the current register of Lords' interests, he lists a £35,000-a-year consultancy with the property firm Americum Developments in Edinburgh under "parliamentary lobbying".
He is now said to have offered to help an undercover journalist to help amend laws in return for an annual fee of £30,000, allegedly boasting that if he was rumbled, the House of Lords authorities could do little but "jump up and down".
As a junior minister during his 18 years in the Commons, Lord Moonie spent time as a spokesman on industry and on technology, and was a junior defence minister.
Although he was largely anonymous in the roles, they have stood him in good stead since he became Lord Moonie of Bennochy in Fife; he now acts a non-parliamentary consultant to the specialist information technology firm Northrop Grumman, the security consultancy Perseus Global and to PharmAthene, which makes antidotes to chemical and biological weapons.
He is also a paid director of the climate change consultancy AEA Technology and of the online gambling site PartyGaming.
Lord Moonie gave up his parliamentary seat as a favour to his personal friend Gordon Brown, to make sure the then Chancellor retained a safe majority after constituency boundaries had been redrawn.
Married with two children, Lord Moonie is a qualified psychiatrist who studied at St Andrews and Edinburgh Universities and worked in Switzerland and the Netherlands before returning to Fife as a senior registrar. He was elected to the local council in 1982 and became an MP in 1987.
The former Lewis Moonie sits on the economic affairs and finance committees in the House of Lords and divides his time between homes in Fife and Pimlico, west London.
Questions on defence asked by Lord Moonie since September 2008: 40
Questions on defence asked by Lord Moonie before September 2008: 6
Parliamentary pass obtained by Lord Moonie for defence lobbyist: Autumn 2008
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Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Bookie offers odds on Obama speech - The Sydney Morning Herald - 20th January 2009
An Irish bookie is offering odds on phrases that may be used by US president-elect Barack Obama in his inauguration speech tomorrow.
In a range of inauguration-themed bets, punters can place bets on the duration of Obama's speech, the TV ratings and what "cliche" he will first mention during his address on Tuesday.
- Irish bookie offers odds on Obama speech
- Bet on phrases used, duration, TV ratings
- Best odds offered for phrase "Change has come"
The best odds on offer for the content of his speech are 8-1 for "Change has come", 10-1 for "Yes we can" and 12-1 for "Fundamental belief", "As I stand here today", "Defining moment" and "God Bless America".
At the other end of the spectrum, long shots include 500-1 for "Always bet on black!" and 250-1 for "Let's get ready to rumble" and "Life is like a box of chocolates," said bookmakers Paddy Power.
Punters can also lay bets on the colour of his tie and who will be the designer of the ball gown worn by Obama's wife Michelle and what colour it will be.
The breed of puppy promised for Obama's daughters when they move into the White House can also be bet on - the favourite being a Portuguese water hound.
Last year Paddy Power paid out over 1 million euros ($A1.97 million) on the former Illinois senator winning the 2008 presidential race, about three weeks before the vote.
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In a range of inauguration-themed bets, punters can place bets on the duration of Obama's speech, the TV ratings and what "cliche" he will first mention during his address on Tuesday.
- Irish bookie offers odds on Obama speech
- Bet on phrases used, duration, TV ratings
- Best odds offered for phrase "Change has come"
The best odds on offer for the content of his speech are 8-1 for "Change has come", 10-1 for "Yes we can" and 12-1 for "Fundamental belief", "As I stand here today", "Defining moment" and "God Bless America".
At the other end of the spectrum, long shots include 500-1 for "Always bet on black!" and 250-1 for "Let's get ready to rumble" and "Life is like a box of chocolates," said bookmakers Paddy Power.
Punters can also lay bets on the colour of his tie and who will be the designer of the ball gown worn by Obama's wife Michelle and what colour it will be.
The breed of puppy promised for Obama's daughters when they move into the White House can also be bet on - the favourite being a Portuguese water hound.
Last year Paddy Power paid out over 1 million euros ($A1.97 million) on the former Illinois senator winning the 2008 presidential race, about three weeks before the vote.
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Sunday, January 11, 2009
Obama, Spider-Man team up for Marvel comic - The Australian - 9th January 2009
Barack Obama - a longtime fan of Spider-Man - will meet his webby hero in a commemorative comic book adventure to be published by Marvel next week.
"To celebrate the upcoming inauguration of Barack Obama, Marvel is proud to present an all-new story teaming up one of the world's most recognisable political figures with the world's greatest super hero," Marvel said on its website.
Marvel decided to publish the Obama meets Spidey comic, after learning the soon-to-be president of the US is a fan of the web-spinning superhero.
"When we heard that president-elect Obama is a collector of Spider-Man comics, we knew that these two historic figures had to meet in our comics' Marvel Universe," said Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada.
"A Spider-Man fan moving into the Oval Office is an event that must be commemorated in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man," he said.
The story takes place in Washington on January 20, the day of Obama's inauguration, and involves one of Spider-Man's oldest foes trying to prevent Obama taking the oath of office, according to Marvel.
The comic - number 583 in the Amazing Spider-Man series - will go on sale on January 14. (Credit: The Australian)
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"To celebrate the upcoming inauguration of Barack Obama, Marvel is proud to present an all-new story teaming up one of the world's most recognisable political figures with the world's greatest super hero," Marvel said on its website.
Marvel decided to publish the Obama meets Spidey comic, after learning the soon-to-be president of the US is a fan of the web-spinning superhero.
"When we heard that president-elect Obama is a collector of Spider-Man comics, we knew that these two historic figures had to meet in our comics' Marvel Universe," said Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada.
"A Spider-Man fan moving into the Oval Office is an event that must be commemorated in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man," he said.
The story takes place in Washington on January 20, the day of Obama's inauguration, and involves one of Spider-Man's oldest foes trying to prevent Obama taking the oath of office, according to Marvel.
The comic - number 583 in the Amazing Spider-Man series - will go on sale on January 14. (Credit: The Australian)
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Saturday, January 10, 2009
Ringside at a price, by Mike Steketee, National affairs editor - The Australian - 10th January 2009
Business people who needed to see a politician used to ask for an appointment and hope for the best. These days, they have an alternative: they can shell out $5000 or $10,000 to guarantee a spot near the front of the queue.
Political parties hit on the idea of selling access to ministers years ago and it has grown like topsy, driven by the arms race that election spending has become. There is the mass fundraising approach, where mere hundreds of dollars can buy you a seat with others at a table with a minister. At the other end of the spectrum is the selective approach, where an intimate dinner for a few with a heavy political hitter starts at $5000. In the Howard years, the Liberal Party took their fundraising on to the open market, auctioning off opportunities such as a jog with Tony Abbott or a harbourside walk with Philip Ruddock.
All good harmless fun? Gary Crooke, the Queensland Integrity Commissioner, doesn't think so. In his latest annual report, he raises some uncomfortable questions for politicians, such as what is being sold and whose is it to sell.
"Is what is on offer being offered on equal terms to all members of the community?" he asks. "If there is a government decision to be made, is a perception likely to arise that those interested and not attending the function, whether competitors for a tender or opponents to a proposal, are at a disadvantage?"
Unless there are satisfactory answers to such questions, Crooke says, these fundraisers should be banned. Of course, the answers and the conclusion to which they lead are obvious, particularly given Crooke's observation to Premier Anna Bligh: "I note that you have made several public statements confirming your commitment to high ethical standards."
Not that Bligh is willing to be led there. The Labor Party would continue to organise such functions and she would continue to attend, she said in November. "These events are clearly political donations and subject to disclosure provisions of the Electoral Act and I am satisfied that this is the appropriate way to deal with such events."
Actually, it is not as clear-cut as that. As the federal law stands now, only political donations over $10,900 need to be disclosed. The Rudd Government wants to bring the threshold down to $1000 but the bill to do so is stuck in the Senate. The Bligh Government has reduced the threshold to $1000 in Queensland, meaning political parties have to disclose any payments they receive above this. While businesses or individuals also have to disclose donations they make over the threshold, fundraising events are a grey area.
As the Australian Electoral Commission put it in response to questions from Inquirer: "Payments made to political parties for fundraising events may not involve any donation. Attendees may simply be paying appropriate value for the entertainment or service provided. ... A company that chooses to pay $10,000 for a table at a function might consider that payment a good commercial investment if a number of the company's senior executives have the ear of a couple of senior party policymakers for several hours."
In other words, if company executives manage to swing deals that more than recoup the payments they made to get privileged access, they do not need to declare the donations. The law is an ass, indeed.
The AEC recommended in 2000, and not for the first time, that this area be cleaned up by requiring that all payments made at fundraisers be deemed under the Electoral Act to be donations. Neither side of politics has taken it up. Politicians like to say they keep fundraising and decision-making separate. It is just that sometimes they happen to coincide.
In May, 18 business guests paid $5500 each for a Brisbane dinner at which the star attractions were Kevin Rudd and Bligh. One of the guests was Jim Raptis, whose proposal for a high-rise development on the Gold Coast happened to be before the Queensland Government. Two weeks later it was approved, complete with floor space additional to that allowed by the normal planning rules.
Bligh's chief-of-staff Mike Kaiser told The Courier-Mail that Raptis had raised problems with the development with him at the dinner but he did not pass on the comments to the Premier or Planning Minister Paul Lucas. But, as federal Special Minister of State John Faulkner put it recently: "The perception of undue influence can be as damaging to democracy as undue influence itself."
An example of where fundraising can lead emerged last year with the finding of the Independent Commission Against Corruption in NSW that three Labor councillors in Wollongong sought donations of $20,000 from a developer in return for supporting his project. The fall-out from that scandal prompted then premier Morris Iemma and his successor Nathan Rees to advocate a complete ban on private donations. That lasted just long enough for the political temperature to come down, with Rees dropping the idea in November, citing constitutional difficulties.
A total ban is canvassed as one of many options in the green paper on electoral reform Faulkner released last month. It certainly would help to restore faith in democracy. But it will never happen. Quite apart from the constitutional hurdle of infringing freedom of political communication, it is a step too far for the political parties. The green paper says that public funding covers only 20 per cent of the budgets of the Labor and Liberal parties. It still is a tidy sum: $49 million went from taxpayers to the two main parties for the 2007 election. But politicians would have a hard time convincing voters that, in the absence of private funding, they should kick in substantially more, particularly since public funding grew by 162 per cent in real terms between 1984 and 2007.
Faulkner's legislation before parliament bans foreign and anonymous donations, which is in line with the practice in the US. The US and Canada go further, to ban contributions from corporations and unions. That this is not a complete solution is plain enough from the obscene amounts of money spent on elections in the US where politicians complain that they have to devote several days a week to raising money.
Certainly, something needs to be done to curb the election arms race. The green paper calculates that spending by the parties in the 20 years to 2004 increased by 116 per cent in real terms for the ALP and 136 per cent for the Liberals. Voters can judge for themselves whether they enjoyed a commensurate increase in the quality of the information they received during elections.
Labor national secretary Tim Gartrell warned just before he left the job last year that "if this continues, we'll end up with a corrosive big money political system like they have in the US". He advocated caps on campaign spending, covering outside groups as well as the political parties and enforced by a watchdog such as the AEC with real teeth and resources.
Faulkner says he wants to see a new system in place by the next election and that limits need to apply not only to the parties but to trade unions and other outside groups as well. If it is to be serious reform, it also needs to improve disclosure requirements: at present, voters find out only after the election where the parties' money came from, and even then 60 per cent of the funding from private sources requires only a single-line accounting in the parties' returns. (Credit: The Australian)
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Political parties hit on the idea of selling access to ministers years ago and it has grown like topsy, driven by the arms race that election spending has become. There is the mass fundraising approach, where mere hundreds of dollars can buy you a seat with others at a table with a minister. At the other end of the spectrum is the selective approach, where an intimate dinner for a few with a heavy political hitter starts at $5000. In the Howard years, the Liberal Party took their fundraising on to the open market, auctioning off opportunities such as a jog with Tony Abbott or a harbourside walk with Philip Ruddock.
All good harmless fun? Gary Crooke, the Queensland Integrity Commissioner, doesn't think so. In his latest annual report, he raises some uncomfortable questions for politicians, such as what is being sold and whose is it to sell.
"Is what is on offer being offered on equal terms to all members of the community?" he asks. "If there is a government decision to be made, is a perception likely to arise that those interested and not attending the function, whether competitors for a tender or opponents to a proposal, are at a disadvantage?"
Unless there are satisfactory answers to such questions, Crooke says, these fundraisers should be banned. Of course, the answers and the conclusion to which they lead are obvious, particularly given Crooke's observation to Premier Anna Bligh: "I note that you have made several public statements confirming your commitment to high ethical standards."
Not that Bligh is willing to be led there. The Labor Party would continue to organise such functions and she would continue to attend, she said in November. "These events are clearly political donations and subject to disclosure provisions of the Electoral Act and I am satisfied that this is the appropriate way to deal with such events."
Actually, it is not as clear-cut as that. As the federal law stands now, only political donations over $10,900 need to be disclosed. The Rudd Government wants to bring the threshold down to $1000 but the bill to do so is stuck in the Senate. The Bligh Government has reduced the threshold to $1000 in Queensland, meaning political parties have to disclose any payments they receive above this. While businesses or individuals also have to disclose donations they make over the threshold, fundraising events are a grey area.
As the Australian Electoral Commission put it in response to questions from Inquirer: "Payments made to political parties for fundraising events may not involve any donation. Attendees may simply be paying appropriate value for the entertainment or service provided. ... A company that chooses to pay $10,000 for a table at a function might consider that payment a good commercial investment if a number of the company's senior executives have the ear of a couple of senior party policymakers for several hours."
In other words, if company executives manage to swing deals that more than recoup the payments they made to get privileged access, they do not need to declare the donations. The law is an ass, indeed.
The AEC recommended in 2000, and not for the first time, that this area be cleaned up by requiring that all payments made at fundraisers be deemed under the Electoral Act to be donations. Neither side of politics has taken it up. Politicians like to say they keep fundraising and decision-making separate. It is just that sometimes they happen to coincide.
In May, 18 business guests paid $5500 each for a Brisbane dinner at which the star attractions were Kevin Rudd and Bligh. One of the guests was Jim Raptis, whose proposal for a high-rise development on the Gold Coast happened to be before the Queensland Government. Two weeks later it was approved, complete with floor space additional to that allowed by the normal planning rules.
Bligh's chief-of-staff Mike Kaiser told The Courier-Mail that Raptis had raised problems with the development with him at the dinner but he did not pass on the comments to the Premier or Planning Minister Paul Lucas. But, as federal Special Minister of State John Faulkner put it recently: "The perception of undue influence can be as damaging to democracy as undue influence itself."
An example of where fundraising can lead emerged last year with the finding of the Independent Commission Against Corruption in NSW that three Labor councillors in Wollongong sought donations of $20,000 from a developer in return for supporting his project. The fall-out from that scandal prompted then premier Morris Iemma and his successor Nathan Rees to advocate a complete ban on private donations. That lasted just long enough for the political temperature to come down, with Rees dropping the idea in November, citing constitutional difficulties.
A total ban is canvassed as one of many options in the green paper on electoral reform Faulkner released last month. It certainly would help to restore faith in democracy. But it will never happen. Quite apart from the constitutional hurdle of infringing freedom of political communication, it is a step too far for the political parties. The green paper says that public funding covers only 20 per cent of the budgets of the Labor and Liberal parties. It still is a tidy sum: $49 million went from taxpayers to the two main parties for the 2007 election. But politicians would have a hard time convincing voters that, in the absence of private funding, they should kick in substantially more, particularly since public funding grew by 162 per cent in real terms between 1984 and 2007.
Faulkner's legislation before parliament bans foreign and anonymous donations, which is in line with the practice in the US. The US and Canada go further, to ban contributions from corporations and unions. That this is not a complete solution is plain enough from the obscene amounts of money spent on elections in the US where politicians complain that they have to devote several days a week to raising money.
Certainly, something needs to be done to curb the election arms race. The green paper calculates that spending by the parties in the 20 years to 2004 increased by 116 per cent in real terms for the ALP and 136 per cent for the Liberals. Voters can judge for themselves whether they enjoyed a commensurate increase in the quality of the information they received during elections.
Labor national secretary Tim Gartrell warned just before he left the job last year that "if this continues, we'll end up with a corrosive big money political system like they have in the US". He advocated caps on campaign spending, covering outside groups as well as the political parties and enforced by a watchdog such as the AEC with real teeth and resources.
Faulkner says he wants to see a new system in place by the next election and that limits need to apply not only to the parties but to trade unions and other outside groups as well. If it is to be serious reform, it also needs to improve disclosure requirements: at present, voters find out only after the election where the parties' money came from, and even then 60 per cent of the funding from private sources requires only a single-line accounting in the parties' returns. (Credit: The Australian)
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Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Topless bathing not an issue: Bondi mayor, by Georgina Robinson - The Sydney Morning Herald - 30th December 2008
Waverley Council Mayor Sally Betts says she is aghast at moves by state politicians to outlaw women from sunbathing topless on NSW beaches.
"We've got alcohol-related violence, we've got under-age drinking and anti-social behaviour in the public domain - those are really important issues," Ms Betts told Fairfax Radio Network.
"If the Reverend Nile really wants to help people he should focus on those issues."
Ms Betts said she was at the beach on Christmas Day and Boxing Day and did not notice any topless women.
But if it was a problem, she would have heard about it, she said.
"In Waverley, we have a very involved community. They complain about everything," she said.
"But nobody has complained to me about topless [women]."
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"We've got alcohol-related violence, we've got under-age drinking and anti-social behaviour in the public domain - those are really important issues," Ms Betts told Fairfax Radio Network.
"If the Reverend Nile really wants to help people he should focus on those issues."
Ms Betts said she was at the beach on Christmas Day and Boxing Day and did not notice any topless women.
But if it was a problem, she would have heard about it, she said.
"In Waverley, we have a very involved community. They complain about everything," she said.
"But nobody has complained to me about topless [women]."
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Saturday, November 08, 2008
Bet his life on it: bookies hold Obama payout, by Nick O'Malley - The Sydney Morning Herald - 8th November 2008
At least two of Australia's largest corporate bookmakers are refusing to pay out on tens of thousands of bets laid on Barack Obama's victory - on the grounds that he may be killed before he is inaugurated.
An angry punter contacted the Herald saying he was told by a senior Sportsbet bookie that the company would not pay out until the inauguration in January in case the president-elect was shot before he took office.
The Sportsbet chief executive, Matt Tripp, denied assassination was the company's main concern.
"It might have been a figure of speech among five or six other things," he said of the conversation between his company and the gambler.
"God forbid he has a stroke or gets hit by a bus," said Mr Tripp, who said Sportsbet had taken 30,000 bets on Senator Obama. "I love the bloke. I want to pay out on him. I think he is good for America and good for the world."
Mr Tripp said that payment at the time of inauguration was clearly stated in the company's terms and conditions for the bet.
The punter, who placed a $2000 bet to win $200, confirmed stroke had also been mentioned when he rang to complain, along with the possibility that the senator could be hit by a bus.
A spokesman for Centrebet said it also would not pay out until the inauguration as a matter of policy.
"[Assassination] is a horrible thought but it could happen," said Neil Evans.
He said such precautions were unnecessary in Australia because bets were taken on parties rather than candidates.
Some overseas agencies were accepting bets at up to 400-1 for Senator Obama's running mate, Joe Biden, up until election day, suggesting people were punting directly on the possibility of an assassination, said Mr Evans.
Other Australian bookmakers, such as Betfair and Sportingbet, have made good their books.
The Irish bookie Paddy Power was so sure of the election outcome that it paid out Obama-backers $2 million last month.
Sportsbet courted controversy earlier this year when it was revealed the company had been cold-calling people with a recorded spiel offering $60 in free bets if they opened an account.
(Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Betfair
Sportingbet
Centrebet
Sports Betting
Australian Casinos
Casino News
An angry punter contacted the Herald saying he was told by a senior Sportsbet bookie that the company would not pay out until the inauguration in January in case the president-elect was shot before he took office.
The Sportsbet chief executive, Matt Tripp, denied assassination was the company's main concern.
"It might have been a figure of speech among five or six other things," he said of the conversation between his company and the gambler.
"God forbid he has a stroke or gets hit by a bus," said Mr Tripp, who said Sportsbet had taken 30,000 bets on Senator Obama. "I love the bloke. I want to pay out on him. I think he is good for America and good for the world."
Mr Tripp said that payment at the time of inauguration was clearly stated in the company's terms and conditions for the bet.
The punter, who placed a $2000 bet to win $200, confirmed stroke had also been mentioned when he rang to complain, along with the possibility that the senator could be hit by a bus.
A spokesman for Centrebet said it also would not pay out until the inauguration as a matter of policy.
"[Assassination] is a horrible thought but it could happen," said Neil Evans.
He said such precautions were unnecessary in Australia because bets were taken on parties rather than candidates.
Some overseas agencies were accepting bets at up to 400-1 for Senator Obama's running mate, Joe Biden, up until election day, suggesting people were punting directly on the possibility of an assassination, said Mr Evans.
Other Australian bookmakers, such as Betfair and Sportingbet, have made good their books.
The Irish bookie Paddy Power was so sure of the election outcome that it paid out Obama-backers $2 million last month.
Sportsbet courted controversy earlier this year when it was revealed the company had been cold-calling people with a recorded spiel offering $60 in free bets if they opened an account.
(Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Betfair
Sportingbet
Centrebet
Sports Betting
Australian Casinos
Casino News
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
'Change has come': Barack Obama wins US presidency
'Change has come': Barack Obama wins US presidency
(Credit: LiveNews.com.au)
Greg Tingle comment...
Barack Obama has fresh ideas, positive energy, people power and had the numbers. The colour of skin is there, but is only one part of the equation. Both men are heroes, however the feeling and polls went to Obama. Arnie gave thumbs up to McCain, but that didn't get McCain over the line. The world needs peace, not war, and peace and hope, not an administration that put America and much of the world into a financial crisis. America voted for a change and hope, and Obama was ready for victory.
(Credit: LiveNews.com.au)
Greg Tingle comment...
Barack Obama has fresh ideas, positive energy, people power and had the numbers. The colour of skin is there, but is only one part of the equation. Both men are heroes, however the feeling and polls went to Obama. Arnie gave thumbs up to McCain, but that didn't get McCain over the line. The world needs peace, not war, and peace and hope, not an administration that put America and much of the world into a financial crisis. America voted for a change and hope, and Obama was ready for victory.
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