Banking Royal Commission

Commissioner Kenneth Hayne

The Royal Commission Report into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services in this country was handed down today.

The terms of reference commenced by telling interested parties that Australia has a systemically strong and stable banking system, superannuation and financial services industry, with the world’s best prudential regulation and oversight.

At this point you might be asking why we had to have a Royal Commission into the banking industry if the above paragraph was correct. 

After years of complaints from customers about extortionate bank fees and charges, whistle-blowers, consumer groups and opposition political parties, the time arrived when it was no longer possible to ignore the situation.  The current government adopted a stalling process for a long time, claiming an enquiry was not needed. Eventually they were forced to capitulate.

During the hearing proceedings, Kenneth Hayne, a former High Court judge, together with his assistants, closely questioned the various representatives of the banking and finance industries.  The people questioned were from the top of the hierarchy tree in their organisations.

There were nervous people, some red faces, some set jaws and from time to time, following embarrassing revelations of financial misconduct, immediate board resignations took place. One banking CEO stood apart from the others; his belligerent and dismissive attitude, punctuated by scornful replies and much muttering under his breath, indicated a man who considered himself above all this petty questioning. Or maybe a man caught with his hand in the till, so to speak.

In the final wash up of the Royal Commission, a number of malpractices came to light.

Mortgages, when examined, showed considerable lack of ability on the part of bank officers to follow procedures. Maybe there weren’t any procedures to follow? People were lent money without their living expenses being verified and, in some cases, only a one-line summary of expenses were required. One lending institution, seeing which way the wind might blow, changed their loan requirements before the Commission and loan applicants now have twelve expenses categories to complete; this new approach found some loan applicants wanting and loans were refused.

The other big money spinner for financial advisers was the practice of charging fees for financial advice, which was never given.  When the customers realised what was happening and asked for reimbursement, they waited years for their money to be reimbursed.

This financial chicanery also extended to dead people. In one jaw-dropping revelation it was found a dead client was charged for financial advice for over a decade. You might wonder how this came about; it’s possible when large sums of money are sitting about accumulating more wealth, that no one pays much attention to the detail. In fact, you could say, as happened in one case, that a matter of less than $70 per month over two years is hardly a matter of concern. Handy extra pocket money (money pocketed at the expense of another) for the advisor. However, when the cost to the ‘big four’ banks is set at well over $1 billion in remediation it is no small matter after all.

Board members and heads of financial institutions were called out on the behaviour of their companies; APRA the regulator, came in for its share of criticism and finally the whole sorry mess drew to a close.

When the final report was issued, the nearly 1000-page report made 76 recommendations and 24 referrals for further action.  Organisations within the industry made their appraisals and commented on the implications of the report. Culture within the banking organisations, governance, the regulators, executive remuneration, professional advice, employee misconduct, insurance, banking and superannuation were commented on and actions which might be taken were considered.

The burning question is, if and when any of these recommendations will be actioned.  Very conveniently a Federal election is in the offing within the next few months; the government will go into caretaker mode and all political action will centre around who will govern in the next parliament.

As for the report, it may well be sitting gathering dust on a shelf while the relevant parties in the next government decide whether to take any action or whether it is all just too hard and given enough time it will all simply fade away.

Hotter'n'hotter

The real summer weather – with higher temperatures – has arrived at last. Here in Marvellous Melbourne we are in for a week of temperatures of 30+C.

This is the summer climate we live in and there will people who will relish the idea of really hot weather.  I am just not one of them. People living along the coast and around the Bay will feel the benefit of cool breezes off the water. Those living to the north of the city will not benefit from any cooling breezes. No relief on those flat northern plains, now packed with shoulder to shoulder housing and very little greenery to relieve the heat.

Move out of the city and cross The Great Dividing Range and the true meaning of hotter weather kicks in. Northern Victorian temperatures mean business in the summer time, they’re not for the faint-hearted.  In the far north-west corner of the state, across the Murray River from New South Wales and an hour or so by car from the SA border, Mildura has punishing summer days.

As I write this, I recall years ago, when Marble Bar in Western Australia grabbed attention in a small space in a column in the east coast papers for a recorded a temperature of 50C. I was absolutely disbelieving and could not imagine anywhere in Australia could be as hot as Marble Bar. 

The accuracy of that report might be disputed today, what with the overload of information on the internet. 

However, Marble Bar does have official claim to 160 consecutive days of 37.8C (100F) and above, from 31 October 1923 to 7 April 1924, setting a world record.

And how hot was it in Marble Bar yesterday?  A fairly standard 45.3C…

It makes our weather here seem positively mild and balmy by comparison.  

Marble Bar township                                       courtesy unknown photographer

Vagrant Birds September 2016

Vagrant

Noun

a person without a settled home or regular work who wanders from place to place and lives by begging.

Vagrant bird is a new term to me and the word vagrant is not one I would have applied to a bird. 

However, if you replace the word person with bird, delete the words or regular work and lives by begging, the words do come close to describing migratory birds and other birds that, for whatever reason, sometimes land in countries where they are seldom seen.

The synonyms for vagrant also contain a number of words which can be applied to birds: wanderer, nomad, wayfarer, traveller, migrant, beachcomber and last but not least, bird of passage.

The past summer saw the arrival of large numbers of vagrant birds in Western Australia.  Some birds arrived, looked about and decided they might stay on for a time; others took one look, had a breather then immediately flew off to another place.   The arrival of any of these birds leads to great excitement among bird watchers and those hard-core devotees known as twitchers.

There is much speculation about why these birds appear and either stay or leave.  Climate change and altered habitat are at the top of the list and altered habitat can come about by the destruction of forests and the spread of human habitation.  Unusual weather patterns can lead to birds being blown off course but as there was very little in the way of really bad weather prior to the appearance of these birds, other causes are being investigated by researchers.

The Kamchatka Leaf Warbler (below) put in its first recorded appearance at the Broome Bird Observatory last summer.  This is a small bird which breeds in eastern Russia and then migrates as far south as Indonesia; no mean feat for a small bird to travel such a distance.

Not all arrivals have a happy ending.  Russell, the House Crow, is thought to have arrived by ship at Fremantle in WA and took a shine to his new home.  Unfortunately for Russell, House Crows are considered an invasive pest and introduced populations have caused immense problems around the world.  All went well for Russell for a while, he joined up with a gang of Australian Ravens, scavenged for food in the neighbourhood and then the long arm of the Department of Agriculture reached out and captured Russell.  His new home is in a drawer in the Western Australia Museum.

A cautionary tale for would-be boat arrivals of the House Raven variety.

Welcome back!

Vegemite.  You either love it or hate it.  It is very salty, has been described as having a meaty taste and you will find it in many Australian pantries.  In the Trash Palace we don’t run to the luxury of a pantry, but a jar of Vegemite sits on the top of the fridge.  For ease of access you understand; anything in immediate sight has a better chance of being consumed on a regular basis.

Vegemite has returned to the fold after some years on the globalized financial and commercial merry-go-round. Sucked up by the vacuum cleaner of international company buying and selling, Vegemite has now returned to our shores. Starting out in Melbourne in 1922, it attracted American interest and part ownership, early in the piece. This was the beginning of a joint venture with Kraft Foods and in 1952 Kraft Foods took over sole ownership of the company.

After that the plot thickens and Vegemite was swept into the ongoing and convoluted world of takeovers, mergers and other commercial flim-flam.  Recently the merry-go-round momentum slowed and Vegemite jumped off into the arms of Bega Cheese.

A marriage made in commercial heaven.  After all what is better than a sandwich of white bread slathered with butter,  thick chunks of sliced cheese laid on same and Vegemite generously applied the top piece of bread.   Press together, slice and eat.

Good to see you home again Vegemite.

Visiting ACCA

Today is Australia Day, with differing viewpoints about whether this is a day to be celebrated in its current form by all Australians.

Having said that, I’ll now say this:  today I went to the ACCA where there is an exhibition looking at contemporary art of the indigenous people of south-eastern Australia.  I see this exhibition as a fitting place to visit on Australia Day and one where opinions of the artists may not always be aligned with those opinions of non-indigenous Australians.

It was also a visit that deleted one of the items on my ‘bucket list’.  I had only limited time to look about the ACCA building, as I wanted to concentrate on the Sovereignty exhibition.

Walking into the building I headed to an entrance where this banner was hanging.  If you look closely you will find words on this banner.

In the next room were a series of artworks reflecting indigenous views of  white settlement.

As you can see, the idea of Australia Day as the non-indigenous population views it, does not always accord with the view of the present day indigenous population.  

 Walking through to the next area I found more than one display of interest.  Above is a possum skin cloak, these were worn for warmth on a regular basis, particularly in southern regions, and were sometimes use as burial cloaks.

On the wall behind me hangs a beautifully woven example of an eel trap. The indigenous people had two forms of eel traps here in the south of the country.  One form was creating  a trap within a watercourse by using rocks to divert the eels and the other was the portable variety shown above. It  was lowered into the water, to trap any unsuspecting eel who swam into it. One swift manoeuvre and the basket was lifted out of the water and the eel was captured.

On a wall near the possum skin cloak was a collection of black and white photographs of scar trees.  This collections showed the scars left on trees after the bark was removed to make shields, canoes or coolamons, shallow containers used to carry water or food. 

My interpretation of the above poster was that of the original indigenous  hunting grounds being taken over by the sheep belonging to European settlers and the large orange dollar sign  representing the wealth the sheep brought to their owners.

My last stop was to admire  examples of cloaks ..........

Glenda Nicholls used jute as the basis for the cloaks and added possum skin, seeds, shells, feathers and other symbolic materials.

.......................  and beads.

The beads are the work of Maree Clarke and are long, up to over 40 metres in length, seeds, nut and feathers are used to make the finished necklace.

For anyone interested in a closer look, they can take an online walk around the exhibition; it's as easy as clicking on this link.

Enjoy.

   

Recent Investigation

The Moat Café below the Wheeler Centre has been on my ‘to-be-checked-out’ list for quite some time and today it was crossed it off that list.  I was on my way to do a spot of hospital visiting and had some time to spare, so I stopped off to investigate.

It was a rather horrid, windy, dusty, hot day and some time in an underground haven out of the heat, dirt and filth seemed like a good idea.  It seemed an even better idea when I sat down, looked through the menu and found The Moat version of an Eton Mess.  Perfect antidote to the day outside.

Almost perfect – it’s not your standard Eton Mess, when it has tapioca as an ingredient but this minor variation on the theme didn’t stop me from ordering it. The ingredients are:  vanilla tapioca pudding,  rhubarb, strawberry, mint & lemon curd.  A tarted up and distant relative to the original Eton Mess.

A slightly messy photo of The Moat version of Eton Mess

I ate it all, tarted up or not, like a good little girl. And then I ordered coffee, helped myself to a book from the shelves and in Cameron Forbes’ Australia on Horseback I read an account of the Warrigal Creek massacre in 1843.

A glass of wine or a book? Difficult decision.

Warrigal Creek was not far from my childhood stamping ground and at that time also the name of a large pastoral property, situated in the area of the creek of the same name.  This killing of aboriginal people was a black mark on the history of the district, and was very rarely mentioned.

According to Cameron Forbes' version of the story, it happened along these lines:

Brataulong Aborigines had killed a nephew of Lachlan Macalister, one of the more powerful of the Scottish settler’s.  In reprisal, the so-called Highland Brigade, formed by Angus McMillan the leader of the Scottish clan, set to and cornered the Brataulung at Warrigal Creek and killed what has been estimated at between 60 and 120 aborigines.  

According to local legend, and unsurprisingly, the creek ran red with blood.

Forbes’ account is in total contrast to The Valley of the Sky, a small novel which we read in the first year of my secondary education, some 60 years ago.  In the school version, Angus McMillan was a benevolent ruler of the lands he took in Gippsland, on good terms with the local aboriginal people and butter wouldn’t have melted in his mouth.

I close Australia on Horseback and this reflection on a dark part of Australia’s past, drain my coffee cup, pay the cashier and reluctantly return to the blast furnace outside. 

Kangaroo Paws

I found this lovely example of kangaroo paws when I led the group of Sunday readers to the University Gardens.  I decided to hold the photo over until the letter K post.

Kangaroo paws (of the family Haemodoraceae) are endemic to the south-west of Western Australia, the place where I first saw them many years ago, in all their native splendour. Mangle’s Kangaroo Paw was proclaimed the floral emblem of Western Australia in 1960.  It flowers in spring and has a red flowering stem, sometimes a metre high.  This species is protected and should not be picked in the wild. 

Kangaroo paws have become popular in domestic gardens, particularly among those gardeners who favour Australian native plants in their gardens. Around my locality I have seen smaller varieties in a garden at the front entrance to a law firm and the local council has used them in the gardens surrounding a recently completed public open space.

I like them best of all in their native setting, even though that might be on the far side of the continent.