WA Inc Royal Commission
WA Inc was a political scandal in Western Australia. In the 1980s, the state government, which was led for much of the period by premier Brian Burke, engaged in business dealings with several prominent businessmen, including Alan Bond, Laurie Connell, Dallas Dempster, John Roberts, and Warren Anderson. These dealings resulted in a loss of public money, estimated at a minimum of $600 million and the insolvency of several large corporations. Bond and Connell were major contributors to the party in government, the Labor Party and its remarkable fundraising structure, the John Curtin Foundation. A royal commission (the ''Royal Commission into Commercial Activities of Government and Other Matters'') was established in 1990 by Labor premier Carmen Lawrence to examine the dealings. Connell alleged n evidence to the Commissionthat Hawke dropped a proposed gold tax after Connell and various Perth high-flyers donated $250,000 each to Labor during an infamous lunch in Brian Burke' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Curtin Foundation
Curtin may refer to: Places *Curtin, Australian Capital Territory *Curtin, Oregon, U.S. *Curtin Township, Centre County, Pennsylvania, U.S. *Curtin, Nicholas County, West Virginia, U.S. *Curtin, Webster County, West Virginia, U.S. *RAAF Base Curtin, Derby, Western Australia *Division of Curtin, an Australian electoral division in Western Australia Other uses *Curtin (surname), a surname common in Ireland *Curtin (2007 film), ''Curtin ''(2007 film), about Australian Prime Minister John Curtin *Curtin FM, a radio station based in Perth, Western Australia *Curtin University, in Western Australia **Curtin College See also *Curtain (other) {{Disambiguation ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Peter Dowding
Peter McCallum Dowding SC (born 6 October 1943) is an Australian lawyer and former politician who served as the 24th Premier of Western Australia, from 25 February 1988 until his forced resignation on 12 February 1990. He was a member of parliament from 1980 to 1990. Dowding graduated from the University of Western Australia with a Bachelor of Laws, and he subsequently worked as a solicitor and barrister. In 1980, he was elected to the North Province of the Western Australian Legislative Council, representing the Labor Party. He entered cabinet when Labor won the 1983 state election, and changed ministries several times over the ensuing years due to cabinet reshuffles. At the 1986 state election, Dowding transferred to the Legislative Assembly, winning the safe seat of Maylands. In December 1987, Premier Brian Burke announced that he would resign on 25 February 1988. Burke picked Dowding as his preferred replacement, with a secret opinion poll showing that he was the b ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
City Of Kwinana
The City of Kwinana is a local government area of Western Australia. It covers an area of approximately 118 square kilometres in metropolitan Perth, and lies about 38 km south of Perth central business district, via the Kwinana Freeway. Kwinana maintains 287 km of roads and had a population of almost 39,000 as at the 2016 Census. History Kwinana is a Kimberley Aboriginal word meaning either "young woman" or "pretty maiden". The ship was wrecked on Cockburn Sound in 1922 and blown onto Kwinana Beach. The nearby area acquired the name and it was officially adopted for a township in 1937. Some of its suburbs take their names from the sailing ships that first brought immigrants to Western Australia, for example, Medina, Calista and Parmelia. The Kwinana Road District was formed out of part of Rockingham on 15 February 1954 as a result of the passage of the ''Kwinana Road District Act 1953''. Section 4 of the Act stated that "there shall not be a duly elected ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Chemical Plant
A chemical plant is an industrial process plant that manufactures (or otherwise processes) chemicals, usually on a large scale. The general objective of a chemical plant is to create new material wealth via the chemical or biological transformation and or separation of materials. Chemical plants use specialized equipment, units, and technology in the manufacturing process. Other kinds of plants, such as polymer, pharmaceutical, food, and some beverage production facilities, power plants, oil refineries or other refineries, natural gas processing and biochemical plants, water and wastewater treatment, and pollution control equipment use many technologies that have similarities to chemical plant technology such as fluid systems and chemical reactor systems. Some would consider an oil refinery or a pharmaceutical or polymer manufacturer to be effectively a chemical plant. Petrochemical plants (plants using chemicals from petroleum as a raw material or '' feedstock'') are usual ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Petrochemical
Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable sources such as maize, palm fruit or sugar cane. The two most common petrochemical classes are olefins (including ethylene and propylene) and aromatics (including benzene, toluene and xylene isomers). Oil refineries produce olefins and aromatics by fluid catalytic cracking of petroleum fractions. Chemical plants produce olefins by steam cracking of natural gas liquids like ethane and propane. Aromatics are produced by catalytic reforming of naphtha. Olefins and aromatics are the building-blocks for a wide range of materials such as solvents, detergents, and adhesives. Olefins are the basis for polymers and oligomers used in plastics, resins, fibers, elastomers, lubricants, and gels. Global ethylene production was 190 million tonnes an ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Kevin Parry
Kevin John Parry (1933 – 26 November 2010) was a businessman from Western Australia, most noted for his backing of the Taskforce '87 syndicate which unsuccessfully defended the 1987 America's Cup in Fremantle, Western Australia. The defence cost over $20 million and built and raced three 12-metre class boats: ''Kookaburra I'', ''Kookaburra II'', and '' Kookaburra III''. In his younger years, Parry had been a noted Australian baseball player. He later established the Perth Heat baseball team as well as funding the first purpose-built baseball stadium in Perth, Parry Field at Belmont. Parry headed the diversified Parry Corporation group (formerly Parry's Esplanade Limited and before that Parry's Department Stores), which included the Perth-based Parry's department stores which he developed from his father's backyard furniture workshop. In 1986, Parry Corporation was ranked 96 in a listing of the top 100 Australian non-financial firms. The West Perth Scitech centre was suppor ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Alan Bond
Alan Bond (22 April 1938 – 5 June 2015) was an English-born Australian businessman noted for his high-profile and often corrupt business dealings. These included his central role in the WA Inc scandals of the 1980s, and what was at the time the biggest corporate collapse in Australian history and also for his criminal conviction that saw him serve four years in prison. He is also remembered for bankrolling the successful challenge for the 1983 America's Cup, the first time the New York Yacht Club had lost it in its 132-year history. He is also the founder of Bond University, Gold Coast, Australia. Early life Alan Bond was born on 22 April 1938, the son of Frank and Kathleen Bond in the Hammersmith district of London, England. In 1950, aged 12, he emigrated to Australia with his parents and his elder sister Geraldine, living in Fremantle, near Perth. At the age of 14, he was charged with stealing and being unlawfully on premises. Aged 18, he was arrested for being unlawfully ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
SGIO (Western Australia)
SGIO is an insurance company in Western Australia. Established in 1926 as the State Government Insurance Office by the Government of Western Australia, it provides personal and commercial insurance. It is a subsidiary of Insurance Australia Group. History On 15 June 1926, the Government of Western Australia established the State Government Insurance Office (SGIO) to provide workers' compensation insurance to miners in the Kalgoorlie goldfields. In August 1992, the Lawrence Ministry, Lawrence Government announced the SGIO was to be sold. This was completed in March 1994 with the SGIO listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). In 1998 the NRMA and Wesfarmers both made takeover offers with the NRMA ultimately successful and the SGIO delisted from the ASX in January 1999. In August 2000, it became part of the Insurance Australia Group when this was Corporate spin-off, spun off from the NRMA. SGIO held a monopoly in its early days in workers compensation insurance which ma ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Robert Holmes à Court
Michael Robert Hamilton Holmes à Court (27 July 1937 – 2 September 1990) was a South African-born Australian businessman who became Australia's first billionaire, before dying suddenly of a heart attack in 1990 at the age of 53. A great-great-grandson of William Holmes à Court, 2nd Baron Heytesbury, and a grand-nephew of William Frederick Holmes à Court, 3rd Baron Heytesbury, Holmes à Court was one of the world's most feared corporate raiders through the 1980s, having built his empire single-handedly from virtually nothing to a diversified resources and media group with an estimated value immediately before the 1987 stock market crash of about A$2 billion. Shareholders in the company enjoyed enormous investment growth. 1984 saw Robert Holmes à Court's horse Black Knight win the Melbourne Cup with a time of 3 minutes 18.19 seconds. Holmes à Court died intestate, and his estate was to be divided one-third for his widow Janet (née Ranford), and the remainder equ ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Bond Corporation
Alan Bond (22 April 1938 – 5 June 2015) was an English-born Australian businessman noted for his high-profile and often corrupt business dealings. These included his central role in the WA Inc scandals of the 1980s, and what was at the time the biggest corporate collapse in Australian history and also for his criminal conviction that saw him serve four years in prison. He is also remembered for bankrolling the successful challenge for the 1983 America's Cup, the first time the New York Yacht Club had lost it in its 132-year history. He is also the founder of Bond University, Gold Coast, Australia. Early life Alan Bond was born on 22 April 1938, the son of Frank and Kathleen Bond in the Hammersmith district of London, England. In 1950, aged 12, he emigrated to Australia with his parents and his elder sister Geraldine, living in Fremantle, near Perth. At the age of 14, he was charged with stealing and being unlawfully on premises. Aged 18, he was arrested for being unlawfully ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Lender Of Last Resort
A lender of last resort (LOLR) is the institution in a financial system that acts as the provider of liquidity to a financial institution which finds itself unable to obtain sufficient liquidity in the interbank lending market when other facilities or such sources have been exhausted. It is, in effect, a government guarantee to provide liquidity to financial institutions. Since the beginning of the 20th century, most central banks have been providers of lender of last resort facilities, and their functions usually also include ensuring liquidity in the financial market in general. The objective is to prevent economic disruption as a result of financial panics and bank runs spreading from one bank to the others due to a lack of liquidity in the first one. There are varying definitions of a lender of last resort, but a comprehensive one is that it is "the discretionary provision of liquidity to a financial institution (or the market as a whole) by the central bank in reaction ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
1987 Stock Market Crash
Black Monday is the name commonly given to the global, sudden, severe, and largely unexpected stock market crash on Monday, October 19, 1987. In Australia and New Zealand, the day is also referred to as ''Black Tuesday'' because of the time zone difference from other English-speaking countries. All of the twenty-three major world markets experienced a sharp decline in October 1987. When measured in United States dollars, eight markets declined by 20 to 29%, three by 30 to 39% (Malaysia, Mexico and New Zealand), and three by more than 40% (Hong Kong, Australia and Singapore). The least affected was Austria (a fall of 11.4%) while the most affected was Hong Kong with a drop of 45.8%. Out of twenty-three major industrial countries, nineteen had a decline greater than 20%. Worldwide losses were estimated at US$1.71 trillion. The severity of the crash sparked fears of extended economic instability or even a reprise of the Great Depression. The degree to which the stock market cras ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |