It's Turnbull

I'm sure getting a decent hairstyle will improve the woman's ability to do her job no end.

eowyn wrote:I'm sure getting a decent hairstyle will improve the woman's ability to do her job no end.

yep, look at Maggie Thatcher

eowyn wrote:I'm sure getting a decent hairstyle will improve the woman's ability to do her job no end.

Phurt, don't you start.

This woman gets her head on the box nearly as much as the scraggy Deputy PM, and every time she does she looks like she hasn't washed her hair in 3 weeks.

It's not that hard to look the part, your Shieldness.

eowyn wrote:I'm sure getting a decent hairstyle will improve the woman's ability to do her job no end.

I always found that having a good haircut, and the self-confidence that came with looking well-presented, helped me do my job much better . . . .

She's got senile dementia.

eowyn wrote:She's got senile dementia.

Is that like penile/puerile Demelza?

I'd better go get the heated rollers out, it'll make me so better at chopping bollocks off if I have bouncy curls....

tac wrote:

eowyn wrote:She's got senile dementia.

Is that like penile/puerile Demelza?

You don't know?

eowyn wrote:

tac wrote:

eowyn wrote:She's got senile dementia.

Is that like penile/puerile Demelza?

You don't know?

No . . . she knocked me back. She likes boys who were raised at high altitudes . . . reminds her of her boyfriend in grade 5, she said . . .

Oh, right.

Turnbull is the most substanial Libeal leade ince Fraser prior to Kerr's intervention.

FFS it had to happen for the good of the country. Nelson is unelectable & is therefore incapable of leading the Opposition we deserve.

Julie Bishop doesn't blink. It's actually quite disturbing when she is interviewed.

Turnbull will get smashed before the next election on a number of fronts - not the least that his involvement with the HIH collapse will undermine his economic credentials.

Also, it's hard to see how people in regional Qld and Victoria will bring themselves to vote for a blue blood multimillionaire Sydney spiv who is advocating a 30% flat tax rate.

I still think Cossie will be there to rescue them in about 18 months time.

I used to work for someone called Turnbull - total prat

JGK wrote:.

Turnbull will get smashed before the next election on a number of fronts - not the least that his involvement with the HIH collapse will undermine his economic credentials.
.

Didn't take long...


Investment banking past will return in time for next election

Elisabeth Sexton
September 17, 2008


THE timing of Malcolm Turnbull's ascent to the Liberal leadership was not of his own choosing, but it gives him 17 months to establish himself before he encounters the distraction of another public role, as the Ninth Defendant.

On February 8, 2010, the NSW Supreme Court will begin hearing a civil damages suit brought by the HIH Insurance liquidator, Tony McGrath. The case will run for at least six months, just as the next federal election campaign is gathering pace.

It will revisit the events of 1998, when Mr Turnbull, as chairman at the investment bank Goldman Sachs Australia, advised the board of FAI Insurances on a takeover bid from HIH.

Mr McGrath, from the insolvency firm McGrathNicol, intends to prove that FAI was worthless when HIH paid $295 million for it.

He wants nine defendants - Goldman Sachs, Mr Turnbull, his colleague Russel Pillemer, three former executives of FAI, two reinsurance companies and a reinsurance broker - to reimburse that sum, plus interest, for distribution to HIH's creditors.

In an ironic twist, the largest creditor is the federal government, which Mr Turnbull hopes to lead after the next election. The government bailed out individuals and small businesses stranded by Australia's largest corporate collapse and is now eligible for their share of whatever Mr McGrath is able to recoup from the wreckage.

Mr Turnbull told the HIH royal commission in 2002 that it all began when Mr Pillemer made a suggestion to him in 1997.

"My recollection is that Mr Pillemer said to me he thought there could be some business opportunities in and around FAI and did I know Mr Adler, and I said I did, and he said: 'Well, why don't we go and have a chat to him?' " Mr Turnbull said. "So we did. That's what investment bankers do."

Mr Turnbull recalled that he had probably first met the FAI chief executive Rodney Adler through business in the late 1980s.

Social links were forged in 1995 when Mr Turnbull's wife, Lucy, and Mr Adler's wife, Lyndi, were involved in the Sydney Children's Hospital Foundation. "I saw a little bit more of Mr Adler as a consequence, but we were not close friends," Mr Turnbull told the royal commission. "I think to the best of my recollection, prior to these events of 1997-98, Lucy and I had only been guests in Mr Adler's house once."

HIH launched a takeover bid for FAI in September 1998, and the FAI board retained Goldman Sachs for financial advice on it.

Mr McGrath alleges that during the takeover, the bank and its two executives considered that the true financial position and true net worth of FAI were substantially less than they appeared in FAI's published accounts.

Mr McGrath says that Goldman Sachs, Mr Turnbull and Mr Pillemer misled FAI's non-executive directors by failing to disclose this view. He says this led to FAI issuing misleading documents during the takeover, upon which HIH relied.

Goldman Sachs will dispute that it thought FAI had overstated its financial position and argue that the HIH chief executive Ray Williams was so set upon taking over FAI that nothing published by FAI would have deterred HIH.

When the suit was served, Goldman Sachs issued a statement saying it, Mr Turnbull and Mr Pillemer would vigorously defend the case. "This is a baseless claim, which seeks to revisit matters rejected by the HIH royal commission," the statement said.

That might turn out to be so, but it remains to be seen whether Mr McGrath's barristers tackle the Goldman Sachs matters in the same way that the counsel assisting the royal commission did.

At the beginning of his report, the royal commissioner, Justice Neville Owen, noted that a royal commission is not a trial between parties, and a royal commissioner is not a judge resolving disputes between litigants.

The central controversy involving Goldman Sachs relates to an assignment from Mr Adler given the code-name Project Firelight.

For nine months before HIH launched its bid, Goldman Sachs investigated privatising FAI in a joint venture with Mr Adler. The bank decided not to proceed.

HIH launched its bid three weeks later, when the FAI board retained Goldman Sachs.

Mr McGrath will argue that Goldman Sachs abandoned Project Firelight because it took a gloomy view of the value of FAI's assets. He claims the bank should have told the FAI board about Project Firelight and its conclusions.

Goldman Sachs will argue that was Mr Adler's responsibility.

In his report, Justice Owen said he was satisfied that none of FAI's non-executive directors had any knowledge before the royal commission that Project Firelight had occurred. This was "regrettable", he said.

But presentations by Goldman Sachs to the FAI board included a proposal "practically identical" to Project Firelight, he said.

Goldman Sachs had suggested to the FAI board that, as an alternative to accepting the HIH offer, FAI could break up its assets and sell them to various buyers.

In a statement issued to greet the royal commission report, Mr Turnbull said this finding showed that there was no inconsistency between internal working papers developed within Goldman Sachs before the takeover and what Goldman Sachs told the FAI board.

Justice Owen said it would have helped the FAI directors to have known that Goldman Sachs had decided against investing its own money in such a proposal.

He did not pursue, as Mr McGrath will, what the FAI directors would have done differently if they had known.

"On the evidence it is too speculative to say what would have happened had disclosure been made," Justice Owen said.

The case could settle before it gets to a long and expensive trial, but only if all parties can agree.

Mr McGrath's claims include that various defendants knew of or contributed to misconduct by other defendants, and all the defendants have issued cross-claims against each other, saying that any liability should be shared around.

This means Mr Turnbull might be spared a forensic examination of his days in the heady world of investment banking, but that decision is out of his hands.

burn libs burn

Just have to say I'm very happy to see Turnbull leading the Libs. The only problem is he might have taken over too early. Being a first term opposition leader is tough work and often ruins your chances of ever becoming PM.

Rudd's been lacklustre so far but with Nelson as the alternative he hasn't been under any pressure. Hopefully that will change now.

Bradman wrote:She is up close and personal, though that was five years ago when she was shadow Aboriginal Affairs Minister. Gets giggly and flirty when she's had a few, it's pretty cute.

Don't know if the Libs would where it but how can you not like Joe and he's Kev's local member when he's in residence in Sydney. Mind yiou as Kev often isn't in residence in the country......

Gillard has big tits! And that's about it.

Well maybe I had the beer goggles on as well as we were at a resort bar at the time.

Hass wrote:Just have to say I'm very happy to see Turnbull leading the Libs. The only problem is he might have taken over too early. Being a first term opposition leader is tough work and often ruins your chances of ever becoming PM.

Rudd's been lacklustre so far but with Nelson as the alternative he hasn't been under any pressure. Hopefully that will change now.

Too early could be right. Doubt the public could stand two years of Turnbulls arrogant 5 second news grabs. He only won by a few votes against a weak opponent.

Like him or not Krudd has the trading contacts and a Democrat win will further his popularity long term.

JGK wrote:Julie Bishop doesn't blink. It's actually quite disturbing when she is interviewed.

Turnbull will get smashed before the next election on a number of fronts - not the least that his involvement with the HIH collapse will undermine his economic credentials.

Also, it's hard to see how people in regional Qld and Victoria will bring themselves to vote for a blue blood multimillionaire Sydney spiv who is advocating a 30% flat tax rate.

He's lost me already.

I'm sure Turnbull will be able to exploit the fact that Labor has been in power for less than a year and already they've managed to destroy the world economy.

Turnbull is well on the way to losing any economic credibility he might have - on top of his ludicrous call a week or so ago for Rudd not to go to New York but to stay in Australia to deal with the credit crisis, he is now saying that Aust banks should pass on all the interest rate cuts to borrowers and that the Treasurer has "hoisted the white flag" when it comes to banks.

He more than anyone in Parliament farking knows better but still peddles this sh1t wit the aim of scoring cheap political points. Pathetic.

Does anyone else think Littorio has a chance in the Turnbull Stakes tomorrow?

I know he is taking on the superstar Weekend Hussler & he also has a reputation for running places without winning but .............

......... he does look suited by the weight conditions of the race & should enjoy the ten furlongs at Flemington. He's showing $11 in Friday's paper & won't mind if it's a wet track.
Go Littorio!