Is it something about their name that gives these Costello fellows a predisposition toward dangerous money moves? With our snide bridesmaid treasurer, it was losses from dodgy currency deals and the sale of Asstralian gold reserves right before the resource boom. The value of our gold pile would be triple by now if he hadn’t frittered it away to fund his beleaguered party’s electoral bribes and advertising amongst other reckless extravagances.
Now his namesake appears to be a stubby short of a sixpack as well when it comes to protecting Asstralians’ financial future.
“Federal Labor says the American financial institution hired by the Future Fund is linked to the Enron pension fund collapse in the US.
Earlier this month the Chicago-based Northern Trust Corporation won a competitive tender process bidding alongside Australian banks to manage the Future Fund’s banking requirements.
The decision has caused concern among the Federal Government backbench and unions.
Labor Senator Nick Sherry has told a Senate Committee that Northern Trust was the Enron superannuation fund’s trustee and was alleged to have breached a duty of care.
The Enron collapse cost employees more than $1 billion.
Senator Sherry says the Future Fund managers should further investigate the company’s credentials.
“I’m just surprised … that the fact that Northern Trust had to settle to the tune of $37.5 million didn’t leave you to further question what the behaviour – alleged or otherwise – of Northern Trust was in respect to the Enron Pension Fund collapse,” he said to the general manager of the Future Fund agency, Paul Costello.
Mr Costello says he has no concerns about Northern Trust.
“They were caught at a difficult time responding to an instruction from the sponsor of the plan and to prepare a book of records for transfer,” he said.
“The timing was unfortunate so we were not concerned that this represented a risk to us in the terms of the arrangements we were seeking to put in place with Northern Trust.”
The current balance in the Fund is $51 billion but that figure is projected to rise to $140 billion by 2020.
The Fund was established last year for the sole purpose of meeting the cost of public sector superannuation liabilities.”
What is the rodent doing shipping control of Australians’ money and futures out of the country in the first place? What guarantee can this septic bank give that the money will be used to fund Australian development via Australian companies and not line the pockets of septic banks and their parasites?
I’m guessing a terror attack at APEC would be their wildest dream. The least I’d expect would be a timely rounding up of some ‘terror suspects’. Still, the problem is that as soon as they talk ‘terror’ everyone starts talking about Iraq.
Labor needs to challenge the widely held assumption that HowardCo are good economic managers using examples such as the choice of Future Fund manager. Peter Martin has been doing a good job cutting through the crap – showing how work-place productivity has consistently declined under HowardCo.
Hiya Slim
Good to see you’re still kicking along, albeit experiencing the ennui of campaigns gone stale before they’ve started. I’ve been feeling the same, along with being overwhelmed with work. There’s still time for the rodent to pull a stunning wedgie out of the hat. It’s early days yet. Another terrorist fear campaign? a criminal scandal? something will turn up, nicely timed to throw the swinging sheep into a frenzy before the election.
Otherwise, it will be more than a landslide for the ALP – it’ll be an avalanche. Then we’ll have a lovely series of Royal Commissions to look forward to as the rat droppings are cleaned up, hole by hole. Or maybe we need a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to cure Australia of the rodent-spread plague.
Unbelievable and yet so predictable! More coupon clipping being passed off as superior and sound economic management. HowardCo have ridden the wave of economic growth born of the Hawke-Keating era, but basically couldn’t organise a piss-up in a brewery when it comes to stimulating productive growth. They only know how to take a percentage of the action on behalf of the big players.
The Mad Monk is on Lateline warning us not to sleepwalk into the election otherwise we might elect Rudd and we’ll all be condemned to living in a land of zombies, or mummies, or something. It just gets worse by the day. There’s is nothing quite so unedifying as the spectacle of a government collapsing and self-destructing. The more they dig, the worse it gets. They’ll be eating their own soon.
Meanwhile, we’re condemned to another 4-6 months of ineffectual and incompetent governance while HowardCo scramble for the lifeboats.
Can we have the election soon please? I’m bored and it’s getting embarrassing.