Jenny Hill’s attack chihuahua goes all weird and rabid in a sledge against Clr Fran O’Callaghan, a slur she later tried to scramble away from. Just the weirdest moment during the latest disgraceful council meeting in the Walker Street Hermit Kingdom …
… which a Bulletin headline gets it totally wrong.
Our mayor’s BFF turns out to be her …well, her different sort of BFF … Big Financial Fibber. Magnis boss and Lansdown fantasist Frank Poullas forced into dramatic retraction of financial claims after he was tapped on the shoulder by ASX authorities. But Jenny Hill still happy to be doing business with this oilster.
TEL ignores its own charter to give a gig to a favourite son.
…and we round up the best quotes of the week from around the place, from the lowest of low blows by Anna Palaszczuk to Trump’s unbelievable killer endorsement.
Your one and only ad break: Sincere thanks to those who have already supported The Nest with a few bucks towards the never-ending costs, but calls for financial assistance can only stop when they stop sending bills. If you’re of a mind to hit the middle with a bit of backing for this round-the-clock missive, the donate button is at the bottom of the blog.
Now onwards …
December 17: Will It Become Known As Karen’s Day?
As we near S Day – Segregation Day, you can just feel it, can’t you, the simmering resentment starting to bubble and simmer in the otherwise unengaged cavities below the bouffants of the Karen’s of Queensland, And while we know anti-vax folks like Peter Newey and his dozen die hard followers don’t have much going on up there, what little action there is can get noisy. So there will be a lot of wind and whining bluster on Karen’s Day from these folks who accept – or we hope they do – that they can’t piss and poo in the middle of the street, or drive on the wrong side of the road, but want equal ‘rights’ despite putting others at risk through their anti-vax imbecility.
Mark you, it won’t be all virus-free beer and skittles for those of who will willingly abide by the necessary new two-tier social system. Not only will we have to wade through a lawyers’ picnic of regulations and then avoid any coppers on a quota deadline, but we will also have to constantly follow last minute updates and government re-thinks. Even the current list was revised a couple times in the past week as the S Day approaches.
While there are fair and sensible rules regarding medical treatment for the unvaccinated, things go slightly bonkers when it comes to the disparity between weddings and funerals – wedding guests are limited to 20 if just one of their number is unvaccinated, while no restrictions beyond density rules apply to funerals. Our man Bentley was quite taken with a state-side story where a large family group decided to side step similar rules in the US and hold a funeral for a Thanksgiving turkey. That way, there were no restrictions for their annual celebration. The ‘Pie suspects that was gobbledygook about turkeys, but Benters reckons the idea could work here at the wedding breakfast.
Magnis Energy Boss Frank Poullas In More Poo
Jenny Hill’s bosom buddy in business, battery plant bullshitter and Magnis Energy CEO Frank Poullas is in further strife with the ASX … it’s sort of what happens what happens when you tell lies to potential investors, Frank.
With his company already under investigation for ‘pump and dump’ share trading, you’d think Poullas would be somewhat cautious at the Magnis AGM … and you can bet he wishes he had been now. This is an edited summary of the story in the Australian.
The Magpie
November 26, 2021 at 7:44 pm (Edit)
Magnis Energy has been forced to retract its claim that the EV battery player could be worth $10bn – four days after it disclosed the figure at its annual general meeting.
Magnis, which owns a controlling stake in New York-based batteries manufacturer Imperium3, has been under intense regulatory scrutiny after the Australian Securities and Investments Commission began making inquiries about the possible artificial inflation of the company’s share price.
Magnis, with a market value of $523m, told investors on Monday that its Imperium3 business had a “potential value” of $4bn. Charge CCCV, which owns the patents on which the batteries are based and in which Magnis has a 9.7 percent holding, was worth $2bn, and the company’s anode materials business, including a graphite project in Tanzania, had a potential value of $4bn, it said. Magnis claimed this made it worth $10billion.
But in a statement released on Thursday, Magnis said it would retract the figures “and inform investors that they should not rely on that information as the basis for any investment decision”. That view was formed “following consultations with the ASX”.
But our Wolf of Walker Street stayed serene in the face of this core tenant of her Lansdown wet dream edging closer to Long Bay. Jenny Hill pursed her lips primly and told the Astonisher that goodness gracious, she couldn’t comment while an investigation is going on. But then, in an ill-advised attempt to distance herself from Poullas and Magnis, she unwisely added ‘The council is continuing to negotiate (the Lansown battery project) in good faith with Imperium3 in New York.’
Err, Jen, darl, hate to break it to you, but Magnis Energy has a controlling 63% holding in Imperium3, so you are actually still in cahoots with Frank Poullas. One fears this pretty little love story will, as these things often do, end in tears. Trouble there is the tears will be those of Townsville ratepayers and Australian tax payers, who’ve been swindled out of considerable seed money. And face the further loss of highly secret amount of ratepayer funds the TCC has pledged for the project behind closed doors.
But Jenny Hill Scoffs At Any Idea Of A Safety Net
The ‘Hub In The Scrub’ project has wheezed along through controversy after controversy, to the extent that Mayor Mullet and her team of grovel … sorry, councillors are now very touchy about it.
That is reflected in the almost hysterical response to a simple motion put by independent councillor Fran O’Callaghan “that Council investigate the options available to it to divest itself of, by sale or other method acceptable to Council, the Lansdown landholding”. She made it clear she is proposing an investigation only – not proposing any change in current decisions. Everyone knows Fran’s personal interest in the area, she has never denied it, however, her explanation of the motion was that she was concerned that with an existing $347M borrowing, and a further publicly announced $79M blowout in the pipeline business that a contingency plan was needed for any potential future blowout in the Lansdown Development.
The response was a predictable as it was insulting. Led by Jenny elbow hanger Mark Molochino, all we got was a the rose-coloured glasses view of the project and its best case scenario. Such is the cavalier irresponsibility of this council, there was no considered debate in rebuttal, just a ‘don’t you worry your pretty little head about that’ response. This included the supremely absurd comparison that Lansdown would bring the same city benefits as Lavarack Barracks and JCU. They expect us to believe this self-puffed twaddle. And not even a denial of any financial risk.
Anyway, motion denied – 2 for, everyone else against.
But the fun was just starting, time for the main event.
Stoush Of The Week – Potty Mouth V The Pastoralist
They ortta sell tickets. Mayor Mullet was the corner second at the latest match-up, sending in her surrogate, the foul-mouthed blow-in councillor from Julia Creek, Margie Ryder to try and rough up Fighting Fran O’Callaghan, the Woodstock Warrior.
Round one was earlier in the piece, when Clr Ryder presented the standing committee report lumping all the items together, Fran, who is consistently on record in opposing any council grants over $5000, asked that she separate the item on grants over $5K. That set off the abrasive and rude Ryder (at least she didn’t swear on this occasion) who crisply told Fran she should have asked for it before the meeting. Staying cool and polite, Fran said Clr Ryder knew she wouldn’t support any grant over 5K, and given the items was separate last month without her having asked for it, she assumed it would be separated again this time. Clearly, Ryder had not seen this swinging door.coming back at her The reasonableness was too much for Ryder, who shrewishly restates that the request needs to ask for it each time, ‘I’m not a mind reader’. But Fran isn’t some bully’s victim, and pointed out that last time she did, she was told it was too late, so can she please get a clarification of the deadline for requesting separated items. Like tag team wrestlers, the Mayor and CEO then both have a go, stating that it is protocol and the agenda items are listed at least 4 days prior to meeting. So Fran gets lectured on protocol … and no-one answers her simple and reasonable question as to when the deadline is.
But that was a mere opening skirmish, Ryder was so put out that Fran didn’t buckle like a naughty schoolgirl, she decided to continue to carry on like a pork chop after general business was finished. Here how The Magpie reported in comments on Friday.
The Magpie
November 26, 2021 at 9:25 am (Edit)
The final incident from the streamed council meeting featured Clr Margie ‘SewerMouth’ Ryder trying to sink the slipper yet again. And it was an unscripted moment when Mayor Jenny Hill probably soiled her small clothes, as they used to say. Here’s how it went down.
There had been earlier testy exchanges between Ryder and Fran, and Ryder unwisely decided to turn the stoush spiteful at the end of general business. Acting as Jenny’s attack Chihuahua, Ryder wanteds to know, if Clr O’Callaghan won’t support any grants over $5K, why she is going to launch events – (apparently, she went to the Seniors lunch and the Elite rodeo launch).
Clr O’Callaghan replied “I don’t think it’s any of the councillor’s business”. (She had stated earlier during Business Standing Committee report where MR first bought it up that she paid $250 each ticket and attended the rodeo as she always has. Fran had ended that exchange with the pointed barb that in fact she used to sponsor the Black River rodeo through her private business in years gone past (emphasis on private business, not ratepayer funds).
This last retort clearly got under the attack dog’s collar, and Ryder decided to revisit the matter when O’Callaghan wanted to know whether the Seniors lunch was a grant or a TCC organised event. Ryder obscurely stated it was an organised event but it was listed in the budget that Fran voted against, so Ryder said her constituents are confused about why Fran would attend events that she doesn’t support. (Let’s put aside that her constituents were no doubt surprised to learn that they had even considered the issue, let alone be confused by it, but yeah, OK, sounded tough and responsible (ha!). Fran then patiently, like talking to a child, said that on that rationale, she wouldn’t do anything or go anywhere as she voted against the whole budget and most everything the Council is doing. That’s when Ryder showed her style of roughshod but clumsy ruling-by-fiat. She demanded to know why Fran is even sitting on the council if she is going to vote against everything? Fran refused to respond as she felt the comment was out of order.
And The ‘Pie has no doubt an honest reply would also have been ruled out of order, but let The ‘Pie enlighten you, Clr Ryder – the reason Fran O’Callaghan is on the council is because she was elected, she thinks you are all crooks and she is utilising her right to say so and do something about it!
And learn your history, you gabby mouthed, abrasive ninny … one guesses but can’t tell from the video that Mayor Mullet kept a straight face but was thinking ‘no, Margie, sweety, no, don’t go there’ about voting against everything. Because we all remember when Jenny Hill was just a mere councillor in the Tyrell council, she – on what she laughingly called principal – voted against every single motion the Townsville First majority put forward.
And The Bulletin Manages To Get It Wrong – Again
FFS get a grip, Bulletin
She said no such thing, for pity’s sake, read your own bloody story!! ‘Note ‘investigate’ and ‘if’.
Quote: She took a motion to the full council meeting, saying the investigation (on possible ways to divest council interests in Lansdown) was to see what could be done if the development went pear-shaped. Unquote
What The Hell, TEL
Seems the Townsville ratepayers are paying coughing up an annual salary for the services of TEL chairman Kevin ‘Rhymes With’ Gill. Which raises an interesting question about TEL’s constitution. This from comments during the week.
Hee Haw
November 22, 2021 at 8:24 pm (Edit)
Two questions about Kevin Gill from the photo below
Firstly how is he still a board director of TEL when in their constitution section 16.15 J I think it clearly states that :
“ The office of a Director immediately becomes vacant if the Director:
Ceases to be a member of the (member) Company.“
So as he no longer works for the Airport he is no longer eligible to be on the board let alone Chairman.
Secondly as you see in the screenshot from the TEL website each photo is captioned with the employer of the director. Kevin Gill’s says “Townsville Enterprise Limited”
That would open up a whole different can of worms according to the constitution.
Anyone care to shed any light?
But TEL Need Gill’s Visionary Management Skills
These skills were clearly demonstrated just before he got the heave ho from Queensland Airports.
Designed with basketballers in mind?
Other Matters In Passing
The Magpie, known to have a modest wager in his time, rang Ladbrokes and the TAB for the latest odds on this, but gave up after getting tired of hanging on the phone listening to helpless laughter.
Speaking of undignified politicians…. Anna Palaszczuk earns the Low Blow Of The Week Award.
Things have got a bit mentally ragged in the political stoush between Qld and the Feds, but this has to rank up there with Mediscare. It doesn’t come much lower … or much more undignified.
One reader suggested that Dutton already talking his lawyers about hurt feelings .. watch out, Anna. And brought us to Tweet of the Week … shared by two.
Johannes Leak in The Australian put in a dainty boot for the Premier, too.
And this from the US left The ‘Pie is speechless … no comment can cover this.
One of the images that will last down the ages is that of Rittenhouse in the dock blubbing like naughty boy who’s been caught out, face distorted by tears of fear and anguish. Some said crocodile tears, but one caricaturist saw it differently.
Many other subjects occupied those who live in the Land That Has Lost Its Mind. Our gallery.
And finally, An Instructive Tweet From The Week
……
Another week down, and plenty to talk about in the coming seven days … dive in and join in the lively comments section, a lot of fun and the occasional profundity to be had there. Want to help the blog out with a donation? The Donate button is below.
Potty Mouth Clr Margie Ryder Chair of Councils Business + Finance Committee should be focusing more on Councils Financial position as her committee no doubt approved Council borrowing $70 mil this year for projects and signing off on the extra $79 mil for Haughton pipeline stage 2 . Based on the $390 mil carry forward debt Townsville Council debt has exceeded half a bil $ . Table 15 of Councils 2019/2020 annual report her committee has not meet their own 3 benchmarks i.e. Operating surplus ratio / Net financial asset / liability / nett sustainability ratio . Perhaps Clr Ryder you should be cutting back on all Councillors and the Mayors booking tickets or corporate boxes . Also noted deputy Mayor Molachino claim Lansdown is a ” once in a generation opportunity ” as well as Clr Anne Maree Greaney claim Councils collaboration on Flinders Lane was a great success ? . What qualifications have either got on valuating projects / investments ? . Has Molachino seen the costings on Lansdown because nobody else has and Greaney run the financial numbers on this great collaboration . Maybe both should be reported to the office of independent assessor on misleading ratepayers . As Lawrence Lancini and other major investors have said openly ” Cant see Townsville progressing with this Council ” .
Flinders lane is a complete waste of money. Nobody has taken up any of the shop fronts yet. I think a coffee shop is in but everything else is empty. Ogden st and Hanran st are ridiculously designed for traffic. It should have been put further up Ogden st where times surf and turf was. But Jenny and memory blank got there way. And Townsville has a spare allotment full of weeds for anyone coming into the city to look at as they pass over the bridge. Looking back towards the sugar shaker should be a drawcard as it was with surf and turf. No wonder she wants Lansdowne built because nobody is going to see the clusterfuck designing that Jenny and her council are now renowned for. The sooner Townsville wakes up and votes her out the better. Wishful thinking
‘Pie,
You mentioned the benefits of Lavarack Barracks and JCU. It reminded me of what my Uncle said many years ago. You may recall that I have previously mentioned him being a Townsville Councillor in the 1960.
Given the sudden arrival, at the time, of cashed up soldiers and impoverished uni students and the subsequent social changes (disruption) that accompanied them the TCC of the day would have happily seen Lavarack Bks and JCU bulldozed against the slopes of Mt Stuart.
When The ‘Pie first came to Townsville in 1989 (almost a local now, eh?) the relationship between civilians and army was one of mutual dislike, with the term AJ (Army Jerk) on everyone’s lips. The ‘Pie isn’t joking when he says one of the things that has changed since then is the entry level requirements for enlistment … can’t have jerks playing around with deadly hi-tech weaponry.
As for JCU back then, allow The ‘Pie to adapt Dorothy Parker’s wonderful line “if all the girls at JCU were laid end to end, The ‘Pie wouldn’t be in the least bit surprised”.
1989 eh, relations were fairly simmering when I arrived in 1974. Main source of tension was the soldiers had more cash to show the local girls a good night out. The local lads and mothers with daughters were not happy!
That situation has a long repeated history. During the second world war, when the yanks arrived here, a contingent of Aussies were heading off overseas, and a platoon of Americans waved them goodbye with jeers, but when one yelled’ Don’t worry boys, we’ll fuck your girls for you’, that started the famous railway station riot.
Pie, I suspect the population got a bit of jolt when the Blackhawk Accident happened. A lot more respect.
Indeed … tragic event but a small positive outcome.
Mal, I’m a born and bred local and the one thing that changed the attitude to the army in Townsville was the roll they played in helping the locals after Althea, they did a terrific job and still do.
understand what you’re saying. The ‘Pie wasn’t here for Althea, but as a reporter for the Bulletin, The ‘Pie covered the aftermath of Larry, flying north to Innisfail in a Blackhawk as the guest of the Brigadier. The then defence minister Brendan Nelson was on board too (he threatened to throw me out of the chopper if I called him ‘sir’ or ‘minister’ again ‘Name’s Brendon, Malcolm.’) The work the diggers did was unmistakably enthusiastic, not a whiff of an attitude problem, the personification of ready and able.
They do make us proud in so many ways.
Mr Magpie, what a statement,’
laid end to end.’ really! Decorum please.
am sure some are good girls.
“Good girls are good but bad girls are good-oh.”
What!!? Decorum? Bit rich coming from someone who by name declares himself (hopefully him) as a person who defiles trees that aren’t able to run away.
Not to sure about the girls from JCU, Pie but it may surprise a few people that the ADF only takes approximately 10% of the enlistment applications it receives.
This theory has proven to be the right one based on the fact that the ADF defiantly don’t want enlistments that don’t really want to be there.
Speaking as a (short lived) Nasho back in the 60’s, The ‘Pie couldn’t agree more. Surprisingly, honorable discharge after 6 months … papers stamped ‘non-disciplinary’ – which is a compliment, depending in your point of view.
Dross like the Mullet and Ryder are in the game for themselves, not their constituents. That is why they lie, deflect, obsfucate and deceive. That is why they team up on somebody like Fran because they don’t want the truth about Councils finances and methods of spending to be laid bare. Fran is the one painting clarity and transparency and asking fellow elected representatives to do the same, of which they are not interested. Keep up the fight Fran, you are the best thing to happen to Council in several years. Jerks like Ryder, Hill, Ralston et all could learn a few things from you.
My understanding in regards to Councils HR department is that Ponce Ralston has weeded out some fools but others have left because life as a lowly servant beneath the esteemed Prince is somewhat difficult. The lazy CEO is a vindictive prat a bully boy. ThT alone makes him a perfect companion to Mayor Mullet, herself being a vindictive nasty piece of work.
Not necessarily. Adele The Impaler Young was of the same mien, and that ended in a screaming match walk-out, only one Queen Bee in Walker Street.
Pie, you are a gentleman for using the term ‘Queen-bee’ to describe our manninsh Mullet. I can think of a few other words to describe her.
Point of difference between the Little Ponce and the Impaler. Is one has boy bits and one has girl bits. The Mullet, tends to prefer to listen to men.
And the Little Ponce likes to be told what to do by Stacey Coburn. Who seems to have her arm up his back like a ventriloquist. Now if you want a nasty, ladder climbing, vindictive piece of work, Ms Coburn, ticks all the boxes. Now… who is running the Council?
People like the part-time TCC CEO need to have a ‘Stacy’ by their side. While the Prince spends his work hours concentrating on his other business interests on Council time, his lapdog Stacy is doing half of his Council work for him. She will be hoping for some sort of future progression, perhaps into his greasey sweaty chair once he and his fat arse move on to other things.
PR, That’s exactly what will happen. In other departments throughout council, new people come in and if they don’t fit the mould, they are made inefficient by the so called support staff. They eventually leave and the staff get their wish. Fleet Services comes to mind.
So now TEL’s shonky arrangement with Kevin Gill has been outed, what can be done about it?
Do any legal eagles on this blog know if an official complaint can be made and, if so, to whom?
Given that Gill hasn’t been able to find a job since he was shown the door by Queensland Airports, what (unknown) skills does he possess that make it imperative he remain TEL Chairman?
Not sure, but it would probably take a complaint from a TEL paid up member to make a complaint, which would presumably be followed up in a traditional ‘slow walk’ manner. Hey wait a sec … TCC is a member. OK, just ask your local councillor rto take it up with the mayor. Problem solved. Simples, as the Russian meerkat says.
Gill’s current tenure goes outside of TEL’s numerous charters and org structure. When he parted ways with Townsville airport his position at TEl became untenable. He should not be on the payroll. But hey, anything that the Mullet is involved in always ends in controversy, or fails the pub test, or is outright non-compliant with policy, good governance or the PGPA so we may as well just ignore this, I mean, the rest of Council and the local media outlets certainly don’t care.
Item in the TBulletin from October:
“Division 10 councillor Fran O’Callaghan and her husband have had their application to appeal a Planning and Environment Court decision in a case involving Townsville City Council dismissed.”
This regarded planning permission for the airstrip adjacent to their property.
Any connection between this and the ruck and maul in the council chambers?
Yes Mayor . Townsville ratepayers have their own ” Yes Minister ” or Utopia with Council paying Nous ( Prins ) to tell them whats wrong with Council . Prins now on Councils payroll cant fix the problems he told us we had in the first place .
Early days but that’s Tweet of the Week contender.
Articles about Magnis in The Australian newspaper last Friday (copied in the ‘Nest) and again today have finally roused the company to advise the ASX it will unleash the lawyers:
29/11/21 “Magnis Energy Technologies Ltd (ASX: MNS) (the Company) refers to The Australian newspaper which has today published an article concerning the company and some of its directors under the Headline: “Magnis Energy hooked up with alleged on the run drug boss Hakan Arif”. The article asserted that Magnis was involved “in some sort of arrangement” with Mr Arif and had “engaged” him.
Each of these assertions in the article and the headline is false.
Magnis has retained Queen’s Counsel and senior lawyers to represent it in proceedings arising from the assertions and imputations in this article and from recent defamatory articles including from the same author and newspaper and will bring proceedings against any republication of these false assertions.
Magins (sic) has never had any engagement with Mr Arif and has never made any payment to him.”
Really is curious that the TBulletin has not touched it given the NewsLtd intel, the Lansdown angle, the TCC/Liberal Party connections and the oblique link to Cr. O’Callaghan’s legal scuffle with TCC over land nearly adjacent to the Lansdown site (cnr Jones Rd and Rowe Rd, Woodstock). The gravy is thickening nicely out in Div10.
Ummm, sorry, what? TCC/Liberal Party connections? Hope Labor doesn’t hear about this.
Care to expand.
Magnis seems to have two sets of boosters. The first, in Townsville, is Jenny Hill and TCC who have the Lansdown site, a CityDeal financial conduit to Canberra for ‘infrastructure’ funding, and a state government seemingly prepared to go along with it despite having comparable land in the SDA (which you regularly refer to) and an ongoing complex disagreement with Canberra about GST allocations.
The second set of boosters seem to come from corporate interests in NSW which involve Liberal Party characters ex-Premier Greiner (now Consul-General to New York who made sure he was photographed in the Imperium ‘megafactory’ there the day the ASX/ACCC story broke about Magnis boss Frank Poullas), ex-Deputy Premier Troy Grant (actually a National but also a director of Magnis) and ex-Howard Liberal minister Warwick Smith, a recent director of Magnis. Liberal local member Phil Thompson also keeps saying the ‘right’ things about Magnis.
Whilst such Labor/Liberal connections might sound unreal you might recall that Tony Mooney and Peter Lindsay seemed to get on just fine when they worked hard for Guildford Coal back in the day. As usual, follow the money.
To quote Prince Peter if Lindsay when he was referring to His Radiance when I questioned him about Mooney. “Tony is a friend of mine”
There is no doubt they had a mutual respect for each other, and the other factor at work was they were both knowledgeable about the actual way both opposing sides can work together on progressive and viable projects. Mooney knew how to do it, Lindsay always had solid advice in his role from Canberra … and Mayor Mullet ‘tough girlie’ arrogance is the exact opposite.
Our mayor’s MO of ‘build it and they will come’ is just plain dopey when it comes to industrial estates, which are really not the sort of development councils’ should be involved in as developer. Too much financial exposure for the ratepayers. If there had have been a quite campaign of approaching suitable corporations with comprehensive plans, visuals and technical details, with enough sweeteners to make it attractive, perhaps two or three anchor tenants might have signed up. That is no given, now that places like Gladstone, Mackay and even Rocky are red hot in thrusting forward.
But no, madam says we’ll ram it through council, announce it, and then go shopping for tenants, hoping that some will be interested despite the competition from elsewhere. Noty only that, having blundered and blustered her way down a dead end track, tries to bully, blame and politically wedge both her own party and the Feds with a guilt trip if they don’t support it.
Trouble for is, they aren’t fools, and she is. Let’s hope the ratepayers aren’t next election, this town is going nowhere while she and her dishonest, timid arse-licking crew are in the driving seat.
Magpie, you wrote about the early Lansdown development landscape:
“If there had have been a quiet campaign of approaching suitable corporations with comprehensive plans, visuals and technical details, with enough sweeteners to make it attractive, perhaps two or three anchor tenants might have signed up”.
When the bigshots from Macquarie Bank, Boston Consulting, Citicorp and Magnis came to town bearing gifts (well, junkets), would they have looked like “suitable corporations” to a mayor with aspirations? Had they already eyeballed the TCC real estate and CityDeal pork barrel and worked up some “comprehensive plans, visuals and technical details” so that JHill didn’t have to worry her pretty little head about that stuff? These would be the actual developers even if the mayor got to wear the hard hat and high vis for the cameras.
‘…had already eyeballed the TCC real
The ‘Pie’s point exactly … because the public had been let in on Jenny’s legacy dream of Lansdown – before core tenants had been signed up. She Now looks like an over-eager schoolgirl wetting her pants when she sees the class dream boat – a dream boat who turns out to be a garbage barge.
Along with The Magpie more than five years ago, even The Simpson’s seemed to predict what was going to happen.
Addled you have an interest memory when it comes to Lansdown
FRIDAY, MARCH 4: MAYOR Jenny Hill has threatened to “cut” the federal member for Herbert, Phillip Thompson, if he does not help secure funding for the Lansdown Eco-Industrial Precinct.
“Never get in the way of a mother who is out to protect her young,” Cr Hill said. “She will cut you apart.”
Herbert MP Phil Thompson speaks to media following the Townsville Bulletin Business Breakfast: Unlock the North event. PICTURE: MATT TAYLOR.
Townsville City Council and the state government have joined forces to try and secure some of the $195m kitty available for projects under the City Deal.
The two levels of government have asked for $50m to fund gas, water and train line connections.
Deputy Premier and State Development Minister Steven Miles spoke on how the Lansdown Eco-Industrial Precinct would benefit the region at the Townsville Bulletin Business Breakfast: Unlock the North at The Ville Resort-Casino.
While Mr Thompson says the federal government would love to consider funding part of the project, they have never received sufficient supporting documents to outline the money needed and work to be done.
He said they need this documentation before any funding discussions can go forward.
But the Mayor says the documents associated with the Lansdown Eco-Industrial Precinct had been given to the Cities Minister, Paul Fletcher.
“The Prime Minister (Scott Morrison) has said he’s prepared to fund infrastructure where it leads to industry investment and job creation – well hello guys, we’ve got this project right here and now,” Cr Hill said.
“I am sick and tired of hearing from the federal member that we haven’t provided the paperwork, the paperwork is there.”
Mr Thompson said the “paperwork” his office and Mr Fletcher had received was nothing but a “glossy flyer”.
“If the state government wants to throw in $50m after reading one page, that is a matter for them,” he said.
“I have more respect for the taxpayer and more respect for where their funds go.”
Nick, yeah well, that was then and this is now. Whatever blah blah blah worked in March 2021 has morphed into a press release from Federal minister Fletcher in September 2021:
“The Morrison Government has today announced funding for three new projects to be funded as part of the Townsville City Deal.
The investment includes:
$12 million for enabling infrastructure to support the Lansdown Eco-Industrial Precinct – Northern Australia’s first environmentally sustainable, advanced manufacturing, processing and technology estate powered by locally generated renewable energy. This is in addition to a $12 million commitment from the Queensland Government and $4 million from the Townsville City Council;
$2 million to fully fund a detailed business case for the proposed a concert hall, which will guide further funding investment for the project under the Deal.
$2 million for a feasibility study into the supply of re-use water for the growing green hydrogen industry in Townsville.
Funding for these projects has been allocated from the Commonwealth’s $195 million commitment to the Haughton Pipeline Stage 2, which is now being delivered by the Queensland Government and Townsville City Council outside the Townsville City Deal.”
There seems to be a confluence of events around 2016-17 which put all these players in a whirl around the Lansdown site. Once the ball was rolling . . . . .
Very interested to know what ‘right’ things the local member Phil Thompson has said in regards to Magnis? Only ever heard of the glossy flyer and not enough documentation to fully fund the project.. but only references to Landsdown as a whole.
The right thing for Phil Thompson to say about Magnis is nothing at all, ever, lest he be tarred with it. Lansdown is another matter entirely but getting messier politically. By the way, Sham, have you found out yet if the Commonwealth’s $100m contribution for the NQ stadium was ‘clawed back’ in the next year’s GST allocation to Queensland? It’s quite an important consideration as the pork barrel electoral process gets underway.
V good question.
You have you answer in Nickster’s earlier comment quoting an Astonisher story:
But the Mayor says the documents associated with the Lansdown Eco-Industrial Precinct had been given to the Cities Minister, Paul Fletcher.
“The Prime Minister (Scott Morrison) has said he’s prepared to fund infrastructure where it leads to industry investment and job creation – well hello guys, we’ve got this project right here and now,” Cr Hill said.
“I am sick and tired of hearing from the federal member that we haven’t provided the paperwork, the paperwork is there.”
Mr Thompson said the “paperwork” his office and Mr Fletcher had received was nothing but a “glossy flyer”.
“If the state government wants to throw in $50m after reading one page, that is a matter for them,” he said.
“I have more respect for the taxpayer and more respect for where their funds go.”
Says it all really this is a mayor of tim pot politics.
Magpie, as I just pointed out, despite Minister Fletcher’s whingeing, a few months later he handed over the money. Millions of it. All on the back of a fucking pamphlet!
So you are privy to insider knowledge that in those intervening ‘few months’, no further details were wrung out of the TCC about the Hub in the Scrub?
You’re really not much good at this, are you? Perhaps a bit more advice from somewhat more literate members in your branch might help.
This article in The Australian is reproduced in full here – something The Magpie rarely does, but the importance of these Magnis developments are of critical importance to this community, and how it’s council has behaved in relation into this company. . And The ‘Pie’s guess about all that legal chest thumping about ‘we’re gunna take you down for saying these things’ is all for show. The lawyers – who’d start thumbing through private jets for sale ads in Forbes if it’s brought on – are unlikely to get the call to wig up. A questionable tin-pot outfit already under the lens of regulators for possible pump and dump share trading is unlikely to take on the might of News Ltd … win or lose, Magnis would be financially shredded before they saw a winning penny. Here’s the article.
Magnis Energy, one of the country’s hottest electric-vehicle batteries players, engaged alleged drug-smuggling kingpin Hakan Arif to act as an agent for the company in Turkey, former senior employees claim.
Despite evading Australian authorities since March 2018 – after being arrested in Dubai alongside Michael and Fadi Ibrahim – Arif has met with Magnis director Peter Tsegas.
The company, with a market value of about $550m, controls subsidiaries planning to manufacture next-generation batteries in New York and Townsville. It also runs the Nachu graphite mining project in southern Tanzania.
Magnis – which has attracted significant investor interest, pushing its share price 179 per cent higher since the start of the year – has had several high-profile figures on its board, including ex-Macquarie executive and Howard-era minister Warwick Smith.
Mr Smith this week confirmed he had left the board after just one year, partly due to concern that Magnis was involved with Arif.
“Frank (Poullas, the chairman of Magnis) said there was nothing in it, nothing in it,” he said.
Then (former Magnis director Ulrich Bez) said he was involved in some arrangement and claimed an introduction fee caught his attention. Once I was made aware of that, that was exit territory,” Mr Smith said.
Separate documents obtained by The Australian show lawyers acting for former Magnis executive Stefan Spruck wrote to company representatives in July 2019 outlining his concerns about the potential involvement of Arif in Turkish business dealings.
The letter claims Mr Spruck advised the board in December 2018 that he had discovered the company’s “contact” was Arif.
“Our client warned the board of this and the fact that the chairman seemed to have some form of arrangement in Australia with Mr Arif through a Sydney-based real estate company which already had investment in Magnis,” the letter, dated July 30 and sent by lawyers at Holman Webb, reads.
“A few hours later, he received an email from the chairman terminating his services to Magnis.
“Since that time, our client has been receiving anonymous calls telling him to ‘forget all about Magnis’, ‘we know where your family are at all times’ and that he should never try to come back to Turkey or Australia.”
Mr Spruck’s consultancy with Magnis was also terminated in December 2018, according to separate legal filings. However, that matter did not proceed.
Magnis did not respond to a request for comment. In a letter sent to Mr Spruck’s lawyers in August 2019, the company’s legal counsel said the allegations were “false” and “defamatory in nature”.
“We will not be responding to these demonstrably false allegations,” David Mullan, of Mulan Law, wrote. “If your client continues to make these allegations publicly we will investigate pursuing legal action.”
Mr Bez, a former executive at Aston Martin, resigned in February 2019. Mr Smith left Magnis in December 2019. “There were other issues as well,” Mr Smith said. “There were issues with the chairman we couldn’t get to the bottom of. I was there as a representative of some Chinese interests. We felt that it wasn’t going to be good so then we left.”
Mr Tsegas, who remains on the Magnis board, this week said he had met Arif only once.
“I don’t know who he is, I met him once … I know a lot of Turkish people, I do a lot of work with the Turkish embassy,” he said.
Arif was named in Dubai court documents as the leader of a drug-smuggling ring allegedly attempting to ship hundreds of millions of dollars in cocaine, ecstasy and methamphetamine to Australia, and is considered a priority target by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission. He has long believed to be in Turkey.
Mr Poullas, the chairman, has declined to respond to repeated requests for comment.
Earlier this month, an unidentified woman at his home described The Australian as the “scum of the Earth” before threatening to call police.
The Australian is not suggesting that Mr Poullas or Mr Tsegas are involved in criminal activity. It is unclear who at Magnis had initially engaged Arif. In 2017, Magnis signed an agreement to sell graphite from the Nachu mine to a Turkish company.
When complete, a manufacturing plant run by Magnis’ subsidiary Imperium3 New York is expected to produce hi-tech EV batteries that will charge faster than its competitors.
The company told the ASX earlier this year that it was expecting revenues from Imperium3 to reach $80m in 2022 before rising to $1.8bn by 2027.
But, as The Australian reported on November 16, the Australian Securities & Investments Commission has opened a file on Mr Poullas. The corporate regulator has not outlined its queries, but requested assistance from the federal police to seize documents.
Magnis was last week forced to retract a claim made during an investor presentation that it could be worth up to $10bn. In a statement, it said investors “should not rely on that information as the basis for any investment decisions”. That view had been formed “following consultations with the ASX”.
Now, it is of little important for us in this neck of the woods what Mr Arif may or may not have been up to in his spare time regarding drug smuggling, but there was one paragraph that caught The Magpie’s eye.
“Our client warned the board of this and the fact that the chairman seemed to have some form of arrangement in Australia with Mr Arif through a Sydney-based real estate company which already had investment in Magnis,” the letter, dated July 30 and sent by lawyers at Holman Webb, reads.”
As far back as two or three years, strong whispers were circulating that the Lansdown/Magnis caper had gone west, and the company would eventually set up its battery operation shop in the Sydney area. Given that the Magnis contact with Mr Arif was ‘through a Sydney-based real estate company’, was there a deal in the offing to decamp from Townsville in favour a mate';s site in NSW?
Since Lansdown is owned by TCC, there is no outside deal that coukd be done here in that manner, and perhaps even free land willk not be enough to get Magnis to Woodstock.
I note that Magnis’ largest shareholder is Sydney firm Citicorp Nominees which was once helmed by the same Nick Greiner – a very good reason for him to show the newly hung Australian Consul-General flag in New York when things are shapeshifting in the Southern Hemisphere. Clearly JHill wasn’t the only junketeer in this grubby saga. Lansdown won’t be coming off the Monopoly board just yet.
Perhaps you could explain to everyone else the significance of Citicorp nominees in the Magnus shareholder structure Addled, since you seem to have such a keen interest and be an absolute gun on corporate structures, shareholding and governance you can enlighten us all, but as you pop off the google to search away so that everyone doesn’t think you’re a right royal dickhead, don’t forget the word nominees.
Cantankerous, I can’t walk into the HQ of Magnis to ask the questions (it’s in Sydney for a start), but I can look up their website in ten seconds. One of the subheadings on the front page is “Top 20 shareholders’. You could find that yourself. That’s about it. Most of the others have issued press releases or had articles published about them in daily newspapers – or not, depending on the likely risk/reward for the publisher. Then there’s social media which occasionally goes off. There’s a lot of government money wildly swirling around Lansdown so of course every capitalist wants to have a crack at it. And there just might be LNP insecurity around the seat of Herbert. Even after a $195m spend. Who knows?
OK, but your point is?
‘Addled’ eh? Is that you Prins. You seem to have a lot of knowledge & info that the ordinary citizens are not privy to.
Well, not sure one would see that as the case, Alla …. the information is not to The Prince’s benefit.
Addled this just proves you are nothing but a little Labor troll throwing out bullshit as fact. There is no connection between the LNP and Magnis, as a nominee, Citicorp or any other entity, acting as a nominee hold the shares on behalf of others, so unless you know who are the shareholders who actually control the shares, this garbage that you keep trotting out linking the LNP and Magnis is a lie. Anytime there is a question about Jenny Hill and her disgraceful decisions she makes as Mayor of this town you trot out your usual shit about all sorts of garbage to try and distract people from the facts, you’re just pathetic.
Alahazbin, “ordinary citizens” can find out a lot of things if they can be bothered. You obviously don’t try. I noted the other day that the ex-Deputy Premier of NSW, Nationals leader Troy Grant, had, in 2020, joined the Board of Magnis – one of a string of Sydney business, banking and LNP political figures who, between them, lent considerable integrity heft to the company in the last few years, some of them right up to the present (Greiner for example). I can’t imagine why Grant chose to skedaddle from Magnis in February 2021 and he hasn’t said – but where is his integrity now? Magnis said:
21/2/21 “Mr Grant immediately had a strong impact on the Board and the Company, taking on the roles of Chairman of the Audit and Risk Committee and Chairman of the Nominations & Remuneration Committee. Mr Grant represented the Chairman as part of the iM3TSV consortium and led planning and engagement with the Queensland Government and significant partners for the Lansdown project in Townsville commencing the mapping out of an investment and delivery plan for the project.”
My guess is that Mr Grant would most likely be dealing with his political peers than the local mayor in Townsville. And that would be why the CityDeal money is still flowing from Canberra.
Amusing.
Cantankerous, can you acknowledge that Nick Greiner, ex-LNP Premier of NSW, ex-Chair of Citicorp Nominees (biggest shareholder in Magnis Energy Technology) and current Morrison-appointed Consul-General to New York, made a point of being photographed at the HQ of Magnis/Imperium3 in New York on the same day as Frank Poullas was being pulled up by the ASX in Sydney. The pic was broadcast on Twitter. Is it just a coincidence? Yeah, right!
Cantankerous, while you and Alahazbin are busy at your keyboards look up Magnis Energy’s website and scroll down to their ‘Latest News’ segment where there is an announcement today (1Dec). Having obtained consent at their recent AGM (from their shareholders like Citicorp Nominees), Magnis is now handing out a few million ‘unlisted options’ to a couple of its directors (maybe everyone on the Board eventually gets a few pieces of silver or a nice bunny rug for their trouble?). Magnis is putting on a show of business-as-usual even as The Australian rants as if they’ve stolen from the poor (no, not the poor mugs of Townsville).
Hmmm, so it’s OK just so long as they haven’t stolen from the poor? And the Australian’s fine journalism in the series about Magnis are just ‘rants’, eh? Two bob each way?
Actually, given the amount of coverage by the Australian in the past week it’s not much short of a rant. Strange too that the Australian hasn’t sought a view from the New York-based Consul-General, ex-Premier Greiner, who would be well known to the newspaper, and probably its proprietor, and clearly has some up to date inside knowledge.
You’re an idiot.
The amount of coverage of a story amounts to a rant? Stories filled with facts from skilled research and digging have some sort of cut-off point where they stop being fine reporting and become ‘a rant’? Why would Greiner have any inside knowledge, he’s not on the board and at this stage, there appears to be no proof of his involvement in anything. Turning up for a pic with the Imperium3 boss in NY? Hang him from the highest tree, the scoundrel.
Mate, that political barrow you’re pushing needs a new wheel retread, it is wobbling all over the place. That’s because of the loose nut behind the handles.
Pie, Hence Frans request for council to investigate an exit strategy from Landsdowne.
A very reasonable matter to investigate, a prudent fiscal policy. That was Fran’s key word, but they and our hopeless paper had to make she wanted to can the whole thing. Whilke that would be a good idea (the SDA is still sitting there, you wombles!) even Fran knew putting that up was a step too far … but the gung-ho gang wanted to score points against someone who dared oppose them (democratically) and just rode roughshod and rudely right over the top.
Don’t they realise the ratepayers are starting to listen?
So the Beetrooter has come out and said that ‘we can’t keep shutting down every time there is a new COVID variant’. Well, if that’s the case, why the fuck have we been basically shut for the past 22 months?? I mean with all the double vaccinated people catching COVID anyway surely we could have saved most of the economy by not shutting down? These fuckwits are making things up on the run. They are totally clueless. Fucking morons and imbeciles.
It’s palpable how Prince Ralston, our part-time toe-cutter CEO at TCC, is a Principal at Nous. Nous provide management consulting and software to different agencies within local, state, and federal government all over Australia. So how is that not a conflict of interest? The Prince works for local government and is on a state owned government board. How is this not a conflict of interest? And the nerve of Jenny Hill to employ this clown as CEO of Council after he led the way in gutting the Councils workforce which has resulted in families being left without a bread winner, families displaced (some having to leave Townsville), and a current workforce that his understaffed and still suffering from the Princes actions a few years ago. Nobody on the payroll has trust in him (except his lapdog, and we know who she is). And the worst bit is that for someone earning a package of over $600k per annum the lazy sod doesn’t even work full time for the local constituents. A good chunk of his time is spent on ‘personal interests’. How can that even be classed as good governance and fall into line with the legislative requirements under the public service Act??? This situation is a joke and the Prince in his role as CEO is untenable.
How can you even be surprised at this? In the magical kingdom of Wanker Street those in the Exec Offices know they are beyond the reach of mere mortals. Stop thinking of yourself as having any importance in their lives. You and I are just afids for their worker ants to milk until we are dried up.
Graphic. Mildly erotic too, until you imagine Ralston and The Mullet.
Yet another story about Magnis in The Oz this morning about dodgy payments claimed by Poulas and others at the top of the corporate structure. At least it was back in the business section today, unlike yesterday’s front page splash.
As a statement of The Nest’s editorial policy (doesn’t that sound grand!?), The Magpie as a rule does not publish whole stories from other media unless it is for the purpose of criticism and/or satitical humour. But in the case of these series by The Oz on Magnis, the whole of The Australian stories are published in the interests of the community being informed of matters they should know about.
As they say, timing is everything in politics, and boy, didn’t the fates have it in for Mayor Mullet today. Just as she’s simpering a lot of nothing words about standing by her Magnis man to Tony Raggatt, The Oz publishes the most damning in their series about apparent financial malfeasance by Magnis board members and Poullas himself.
Today’s article:
Magnis Energy board silenced on company spending
The audit, handed to Magnis chairman Frank Poullas in early 2020, contains significant criticisms of the spending to parties related to the company and to Mr Poullas himself. Picture: James CroucherThe audit, handed to Magnis chairman Frank Poullas in early 2020, contains significant criticisms of the spending to parties related to the company and to Mr Poullas himself.
Picture: James Croucher
EXCLUSIVE
DAVID ROSS The Australian
JOURNALIST
image002.png
8:48PM NOVEMBER 29, 2021
Executives and board members at ASX-listed electric batteries player Magnis Energy had little say over spending on consultants and other expenses – with company money used to pay for personal spending including rent, drinks, cigarettes and even one director’s partner’s gym membership.
That is the conclusion of a confidential audit of payments or agreements created by former Magnis chief financial officer Meghan McPherson and its one-time interim director, Leslie Hosking, obtained by The Australian.
The audit, handed to Magnis chairman Frank Poullas in early 2020, contains significant criticisms of the spending to parties related to the company and to Mr Poullas himself.
One payment, according to the audit, was for $US15,000 a month for a year commencing July 2019 made to Magnis director Peter Tsegas for political liaison with the Tanzanian government.
Commentary included in the document reads: “It is noted that Peter Tsegas has not provided management, or the board as a whole, with any report (either monthly or any period) or updated on any matter pertaining to Tanzania during the period of this consultancy”.
“It is also noted that Tanzanian staff have been instructed to undertake work for Avadale Resources Limited (the new venture of Peter Tsegas and Frank Poullas). MNS has paid the full fee for these staff members.”
READ MORE: ‘Drug boss’ linked to EV market darling| Magnis withdraws $10bn ‘potential value’ claim| Magnis chair re-elected despite share price probe| Another Magnis director jumps ship| Moss’s men charge out of battery maker| This $600m EV company has a problem. Its chairman is under investigation
Magnis, which has seen shares rise 179 per cent this year, owns stakes in EV battery manufacturers and a mining project in Tanzania. Ms McPherson and Mr Hosking left the company shortly after handing in the audit.
The document claims there is an “ongoing issue with the chairman booking travel expenditure for potential investors and consultants”. “No independent oversight of these changes,” it reads.
“Receipts are not provided in a timely manner to allow the finance team to close off monthly accounts … finance can wait 4-5 months to obtain expenditure receipts with appropriate detail as to why the costs (were) incurred.”
In another instance, the audit claimed Mr Poullas’s corporate credit card was being used to pay the expenses of a business associate “related primarily to airfares and accommodation in India”.
“The issue was raised with the chairman who subsequently cancelled his credit card and had $8697.60 charges reversed by (the) NAB fraud team … It is unclear how Ricky had the credit card details in the first place and why it was deemed appropriate to pay expenses of a business associate with whom no consultancy agreement was in place,” it reads.
The same business associate’s business, Bellrock Protective Services, was paid $13,000 for consulting and for expenses.
“Despite numerous requests to Bellrock (and Mr Poullas) no supporting documentation was provided, “ the audit reads. “Payment was withheld pending supporting documentation; however, this was overruled by the chairman.”
On Monday, Magnis told the ASX it “never had any engagement with” Hakan Arif, an alleged drug smuggler, and “had never made any payment to him”.
That statement came after The Australian reported that former employees and directors claimed they were shocked to discover the company had dealings with Mr Arif, who has been wanted by federal police since March 2018.
“Once I was made aware of (Mr Arif’s arrangement), that was exit territory,” former Magnis director Warwick Smith, an ex-Macquarie executive, said.
Magnis did not respond to a request for comment about the findings of the audit. The document also raises concerns about a $1000-per-day consulting fee paid to Mr Poullas, and notes there is “no independent oversight of work undertaken”. Those payments were made to Strong Solutions, listed as a related party in Magnis annual reports, along with $4500 a month for an IT contract, according to the audit report.
Mr Poullas has repeatedly declined requests for comment.
Earlier this month, The Australian reported that the corporate regulator had opened a file on Mr Poullas, although the reason was unclear.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has separately warned traders against artificially inflating the price of Magnis shares, in late October entering discussion groups on the Telegram platform warning so-called “pump-and-dump” activities were criminal conduct.
Other payments listed for Mr Tsegas – $10,000 for political liaison in Tanzania – noted “personal expenses … such as rent, water, electricity, garbage collection, his partner’s gym membership, drinks, cigarettes … were submitted for reimbursement”.
“Whilst the CFO attempted numerous times to refuse these claims and implement the necessary internal controls to ensure Tanzanian staff could not be pressured into paying non-MNS expenses, this was often overruled by the chairman,” it reads. “It is further noted that staff in Tanzania were subjected to hostility from Peter when denied access to cash and complaints have also been received by Peter’s partner when claims for her personal flights and expenditure were denied.”
Did you note this, folks:
“The document claims there is an “ongoing issue with the chairman booking travel expenditure for potential investors and consultants”. “No independent oversight of these changes,” it reads.
“Receipts are not provided in a timely manner to allow the finance team to close off monthly accounts … finance can wait 4-5 months to obtain expenditure receipts with appropriate detail as to why the costs (were) incurred.”
Did Mayor Mullet score a freebie to the USA, and was so duchessed that she was compelled to sign up to this insubstantial bullshit? That is the better choice of two possibilities – the other one is that the ratepayers were stuck with the costs of her and her mates jolly.
Tick tock tick tock,
Goes the CCC’s clock.
Maybe Jenny should be buying ‘The Australian’ and brush up, before she runs off to the astonishes.
Strictly speaking, as The ‘Pie has said elsewhere, timing is everything, and Raggatt, even if he had put on his batsman’s cup for one of the paper’s famous tough interrogation interviews, he would not have been privy to the Australian’s story when he did the interview yesterday. But boy, does she look like a mug.
People really are starting to notice. And if her team of compliant councillors think they are also off the hook, they’d better bone up on LG laws, they will all be found complicit if any wrongdoing is uncovered.
This mayor and her council are looking more and more the epitome of the description American politician gave an opponent: “He is a man of splendid abilities but utterly corrupt. He shines and stinks like rotten mackerel by moonlight.”
Bit short the splendid abilities part, and maybe instead of mackerel, that should be mullet.
Wow, this shit just got real!!! And to think that a lot of the heavy questions and discussions about malfeasance and the subsequent “question marks” about Magnis and its overall stature, and relationship with Hill, were raised by the Magpie many months prior to the scrutiny being raised by ASIC and the lamestream media. Mr Magpie, ye olde bastard, you’ve still got what it takes!!
The Australian article about Magnis is a role call of shonkiness. The Chair is a shyster of extreme proportions. A complete gravy train where he has set up subsidiary consulting companies and paid himself for services with no evidence provided to the auditor that any service was ever provided! And this is a supposedly multi billion dollar company! Makes you wonder why a mob like Nous wasn’t on the consultant payroll??
There can be no doubt that Frau Mullets dealings with Magnis require investigating to the greatest of depths. Her dealings and unwavering support of this battery operated snake oil company raises many many questions about her personal dealings with them, the secretive meetings, the junkets to the USA and so the list goes on. I mean, FFS, if this hasn’t caught the attention of the CCC, what will it take? And what a surprise – all these politicians/lobbyists who are also on the payroll along with purported underworld criminals and any other connected ‘mates rates’ buddies who have lined up with paper bags in hand and bank account details ready.
Indeed, and these latest revelations make it imperative that the bogus, deliberately deceptive Commercial In Confidence shield around ratepayer money committed to Lansdown is challenged. It must be exposed for the illegal manipulative blanket of secrecy it is. On the face of it, it wouldn’t be hard to challenge, because if the council is the developer … and we already know they have gifted land to Magnis …. what intellectual property (oh, fucking spare me!) commercial loss or legally confidential information is at risk?
THERE CANNOT BE ANY RISK IN COMING OUT AND NAMING THE DOLLAR FIGURE WHICH HAS BEEN EARMARKED TO SUPPORT THIS PROJECT, WHICH NEED NOT INVOLVE – AT THIS STAGE – ITS USE OR DISTRIBUTION. IT CANNOT BE COMMERCIAL IN CONFIDENCE, THAT IS A LIE HIDING SOMETHING.
Petition anyone?
And thanks for the endorsement, me old regal pickled herring, but you are in one small error … ‘many months’ should read ‘many years’. Even the type of language used, had snake oil written all over it.
Magpie, the Federal government’s funding announcement under the CityDeal revealed a critical TCC number:
“The investment includes:
$12 million for enabling infrastructure to support the Lansdown Eco-Industrial Precinct – Northern Australia’s first environmentally sustainable, advanced manufacturing, processing and technology estate powered by locally generated renewable energy. This is in addition to a $12 million commitment from the Queensland Government and $4 million from the Townsville City Council”.
There it is: $4m from TCC.
You also wrote:
” . . . and we already know they have gifted land to Magnis”.
Don’t know what evidence you have for this. TCC might have made a promise as part of a proposed deal but I very much doubt that titles have been exchanged.
If it is $4million publicly announced from the TXCC, why is no councillor allowed to mention how much has ben committed, what’s so scret? Tell you what’s so secret, exactly hoiw much the TCC has really committed to make Jenny’s legacy dream of Lansdown come true … and fuck the ratepayers.
This woman is a walking disaster who can’t manage herself (see what I’ve done there?).
And OK, to assist your reading comprehension ‘has promised a gift of land to Magnis’. But The ‘Pie is correct by any normal reading of that sentence, all part of a deal which is yet to come to fruition.
Magpie, “If it is $4million publicly announced from the TCC, why is no councillor allowed to mention how much has been committed, what’s so secret?”
That announcement was made by Minister Fletcher with Phil Thompson standing by. They might have made up the “$4m” number, how the fuck would I know? Maybe Canberra and Brisbane have committed $24m to build a big intersection and railway overpass at Lansdown and TCC’s contribution is $4m. Whatever, there’s shonky written all over Lansdown and not just TCC. What’s Phil Thompson got to say for himself? Is he committed to Lansdown or is it just a plaything? So far, only taxpayer and ratepayer money seems to be invested in this thing.
Crikey, note the time and day … we agree.
Fark me Addled, why don’t you just go back to using your No More Dresging/ Not the ECQ/Elusive Buttocksfly names. Fuck you are a moron. And obviously a scared little gutless c@nt too.
This is pretty funny – a young Smirko receiving a chest rub. That is correct, Smirko was a ‘child actor’ and the Vicks commercial was one of his paid jobs. It appears that all these years later this asshole is still acting.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QjS0ABg0nPk
The smell is somewhat different now, and hardly clears out the nose. Clogs it up, rather.
When TCC handed down their budget earlier in the year 8million was set aside for Landsdown. But since the feds announcing 12 million Jenny Hill declared it is not enough we will fund whatever it takes.. you can only assume it is whatever the amount is remaining from the 50 million she was demanding when she said she was going to cut the federal member. 26-30 million after the state/ feds contribution ??!!
You’re probably right, but that doesn’t answer the central question: why won’t she tell us how much it is?
She off on her flight of fancy with one, but surely has an inkling that she’d be in the electoral shit similar to the Adani airstrip rort if she reveals the Lansdown loot – which is OUR loot BTW.
Tell you what, if any one down there councillor or staff want to let The ‘Pie know the figure, happy to publish it (provided some proof is offered as to the veracity of the figure) … and wait a month or two for the Bulletin to catch up. But The ‘Pie won’t be holding his breath
This is what riles me up about the Mulletin. Why are they not asking these questions on behalf of the community?? They got a lot to answer for.
Said it before very happy to have stumbled across this blog when I’ve tried to look for answers previously you do a great job Pie
Thanks.
I don’t know if Mal will publish this . He was born in Northern Ireland and has a pommy passport. I suspect he is a bit of an Orangeman. But this is a reasonable argument that although the royals are just YUK, its not about them.
And that’s as far as Pat’s small novel about something or other of no interest got. That level of misinformation clearly casts doubt on anything else he had to say.
No one else’s business, but for the record, The ‘Pie was born on a NSW cattle station in 1945 … his father was an Ulsterman who came to Australia in 1920 … in part, in order to get away from all the Orangeman shit.
As a journalist, The ‘Pie did 17 trips to Northern Ireland and three to the Republic in the early 70s as a producer for London based ITN during the violent troubles of that era. Pommy passport, yes, as a matter of convenience and entitled to it because of my father’s origin. And also entitled to an Irish passport for the same reason, if I ever want one. I don’t. All other travelling was proudly done on an Aussie passport.
Pie, you were very generous allowing even that much of Pat’s comment through. You don’t have to justify anything to that fuckwit. If that is just a sample then WTF has he been smoking? Of did one of Chairman Xi’s hypersonic missiles hit him in his tinfoil head?
Seriously, have to disagree with that view of tinfoil hat and that Pat sparks up a doobie too often. Pat is intelligent but slightly parallel, if you get the drift: his problems are lack of discipline and laziness in getting his occasionally interesting message across(if you can stay the course) and thus being boring.
Anyway, he’s a happy little camper now, we’re talking about him. Ever since his fine court win all those years ago, Pat has suffered the ex-politicians’ affliction of RDS … Relevance Deprivation Syndrome.
Coppers can tell you I’m clean.
Pie, I use my Irish passport when travelling through the Middle East. Guarantees a better reception as we are the only bastards who have not bombed the crap out of them.
Good on ya Pat. At least you’re consistant with your shite
The Astonisher’s article on the highest paid Execs in the region misses the mark.
Where are the questions on how many nights Rod Duke has spent in Townsville – answer = fuck all, and what about helicopter flights for JCU = too fucking many.
Come on Astonisher there is a juicy story just waiting for you.
The story of Townsville
“The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common – they don’t change their views to fit the facts. They change the facts to fit their views, which can be uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that needs changing.”
Who said that?
Don’t fall for it, don’t fall for it.
Yet more news on the Magnis front with claims that Mr Poullas was allegedly providing insider information to a potential investor.
Hope the intialas of the investor aren’t JH … JH and hubby are known to be keen stock market players.
Am I the only one who cringes every time the Bulletin gives credibility to the cretins attaching themselves to all things Adani, including close-ups of their stupid smiling faces? Stop it Bulletin. Whether or not they have a point is irrelevant. They are breaking the law!! Stop publishing their propaganda NOW!!
GOING DOWN FOR AIR.
So the not-so-merry-go-round continues, with Astonisher editor Craig Warhurst heading off to Tassie to fill the chair at the Mercury recently vacated by former TB editor Jenna Cairney (she’s joined the Tassie Premier’s media team).
The ‘Pie understands that Warhurst and his partner had just bought a house in Townsville, and had planned on being here for the long haul. But the way these things work in the pecking order of Rupertsworld, it was probably both a financial and career offer too good to turn down. Not that a refusal would have been an option.
And again, Townsville finds itself at the mercy of the next person to graduate from the Murdoch Clown School. Since they will be taking over a severely shrunken paper, God only knows what’s in store for us.
‘
Personally, The ‘Pie will be sorry to see Craig go … while the old bird always stayed on the Bulletin’s case – Christ, someone has to – Craig actually talked with The Magpie by email, , held his ground but was always polite, honest and tried to be constructive. Friendly even.
And he did some good things.
Whether those good moves towards a return to proper journalism are used as a platform to be built on, or we are back to square one as a community seen simply as a cash cow remains to be seen.
Bye bye Craig. Don’t bang the door on the way out. And it doesn’t matter who his replacement is as that person will ultimately be Jenny Hill and Gerry Harvey’s lapdog here in Townsville.
I wonder how much the Editor role gets paid? The TCC part-time CEO is always looking to add extra work to his plate and dollars into his bank account. All he has to do is place Harvey Norman adds on pages 1, 2, and 3 and not print any factual, but negative stories about Team Mullet! Money for jam!!
The TB editor must be on a nice little earner, and Rupert no doubt covers certain one-off costs, as will probably be the case for Mr Warhurst because – info just in – …
Craig Warhurst and partner Ms Nissen purchased 36 Gilbert Cres Yarrawonga for $950,000
In October 2021.
Interestingly, as an indication of the state of the Townsville real estate market, the folks he purchased from
Paid $975,000 in 2008.
A $25,000 drop in value over 14 years (plus $60,000 in agent fees and Stamp Duty) = $85,000 loss!
Good old Jenny…”helping Townsville ratepayers get off the bones of their arse for years”.
Pie, Raggart would be the only local left at the astonisher. News Limited should give him the editors job.
Quite seriously, don’t think he’d want it, managerial is not his style, he just gets down to the job, has a great work ethic for his round, but don’t think he’d enjoy over-viewing the current crew. Thankless task.
Holy smoke, this changes the whole game!! Poullas lied about not having any contact with international drug smuggler. The latest in what must surely be an award winning series for investigative journalism, led by this bloke.
Burning local questions are arising. By association and at best, could Jenny and Townsville have been duped into becoming a focal point for drug importation?
And the share rise of 154% over the past year, with not a single KPI in sight or product produced leads to another question which The Australian seems to be hinting at … drug money propping up the company to be a front for the operation?
From today’s Australian.
MAGNIS ENERGY CHAIRMAN FRANK POULLAS’S ‘DRUG BOSS’ DEALINGS
• DAVID ROSS
JOURNALIST The Australian
• 11:00PM DECEMBER 1, 2021
Magnis Energy executive chairman Frank Poullas had dealings with alleged drug smuggling kingpin Hakan Arif, text message correspondence obtained by The Australian suggests.
The leaked messages, sent on the WhatsApp platform in 2018, contradict assertions from the company that it never had “any engagement” with the alleged criminal – who remains wanted by Australian authorities.
In one message sent in December 2018, Mr Poullas wrote: “Hakan and Erdal have asked for (then Magnis chief executive) Frank Houllis and I to attend.”
In another, discussing a proposed deal with the Turkish government, he writes: “Make sure the agreement talks about 15GWh, funding studies and engineering and the government will provide the land … I’m sure Hakan has it all worked out.”
The Australian on Monday reported that senior employees had raised concerns about Arif’s possible engagement with Magnis, while one director – ex-Macquarie executive Warwick Smith – had quit the board partly due to his worry about Arif’s presence.
Arif was named in Dubai court documents as the leader of a drug-smuggling ring allegedly attempting to ship hundreds of millions of dollars in cocaine, ecstasy and methamphetamine to Australia, and is a priority target for the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission. He is ¬believed to be in Turkey.
Magnis, in an ASX statement released on Monday, said the -assertions in The Australian’s report were false. “Magins (sic) has never had any engagement with Mr Arif and has never made any payment to him,” it reads.
A Magnis spokesman said it was difficult to search old records, but added that the company had “not at any stage made any investments … or paid any persons in Turkey to review or facilitate investment introductions”. “The company never engaged Hakan Arif and thus has no relationship with him nor is it in contact with him today,” he said.
Magnis began considering the possibility of opening an electric batteries plant in Turkey in 2017. Mr Bez joined the company as it considered that proposal.
The Australian is not suggesting Mr Poullas engaged in any criminal activity, only that he was in contact with Arif. The project in Turkey did not proceed.
In another WhatsApp group that included Mr Houllis and other executives, a sender named “Hakan Afri” writes: “I think a draft is a good start … Basically Turkey is giving us what we need but will discuss which partners an (sic) what investment an (sic) know how will be contributed.”
Mr Houllis confirmed to The Australian on Wednesday that he had travelled to Turkey and met someone “but he didn’t go by the name of Hakan”. “The meetings there were meeting things like the equivalent of Telstra, the government people, and university people,” Mr Houllis said.
“I didn’t concern myself with a lot of stuff Frank Poullas done.”
“There was a guy in track pants we met. The guy in track pants was Australian.”
Another former Magnis director, Ulrich Bez, told The Australian he had left after discovering the links with Arif. “I left Magnis … as I did not want to be involved in a company with close contact to drugs,” Mr Bez, the long-time chief executive of Aston Martin until 2013, said.
Magnis director Peter Tsegas has previously confirmed he met Arif, although he says it was on only one occasion.
“I met him once … I know a lot of Turkish people, I do a lot of work with the Turkish embassy,” Mr Tsegas told The Australian late last month.
Magnis has a controlling interest in Imperium3, a company building a battery plant in New York, and a smaller holding in the company that owns the patents underpinning the technology.
It has also advanced plans to build a batteries plant in Townsville with the assistance of former Macquarie executive Bill Moss.
Magnis shares fell 5 per cent on Wednesday to close at 48c – they are now down more than 14 per cent in the last five days.
But the company has enjoyed support from investors, with the stock rising 153 per cent this year.
The company told the ASX earlier this year that it was expecting revenues from Imperium3 to reach $80m in 2022, before rising to $1.8bn by 2027.
Mayor Hill and her Council must be very happy to see the Magnis shenanigans sinking deeper into the shit as every day passes. It appears her Teflon coating might be starting to lose its lustre. After all, the Councillors all approved of her little international ollie jollie didn’t they. Naughty naughty.
What a cesspool with dodgy company valuations, ex politicians, serving Mayors, criminal links to drug runners, oh me oh my what a mess Mr Hart!!! Hill, what a fucking joke.
Lighting at Riverway shaping up to be key federal election issue?!? Is the Mulletin taking the piss! This is what you think the community is concerned about and will get behind. That new editor needs to take the post quickly because whoever is sitting in that chair in the meantime gave me a big belly laugh this morning!
And while it is an issue worth being on the electoral agenda … we can’t just concentrate on the negative and not try to improve the lot of law abiding folks) don’t forget this came back on the radar courtesy of Sam Cox in the last mayoral election.
And a serious thought: has no one had the wit or skill down at TEL … a pause here for you to wipe the tears of helpless merriment from your eyes … to put out a tender for the naming rights to Riverway Stadium a la Total Tools Stadium – which actually was snared by a bank. The attraction would be that the naming rights for 10 years, paid in advance would pay for TV grade lighting for night matches, attracting BBL and Aussie Rules pre-season games. Cooler night temperatures would make the venue all the more attractive and the namer would get great exposure. Harvey Norman Riverway Stadium, anyone?
BTW does anyone know what Country Bank paid for the stadium naming rights? Or is that C in C? (Yes, yes, know that the money went to the state or Stadiums Queensland, but it could be a guide.)
And speaking of the Dudley Do Nothings, more urine spurted up against the supporting structure.
Regarding the lights for Pioneer Park AFL ground, there is a great set of lights 2km away at the old Cowboys stadium. Surely they could be re purposed?
The stated price for lighting at river way is $8 to $10 million ( refer editorial in TB 2/12.
If TCC pull their finger out and put in a request, there is cool $8 million sitting there waiting to used as the solar trees on Ross Creek walkway are not required at the moment. What the quote from Mayor Mullet. “It’s not the fight time to be undertaking a project like this”. Or words th that effect.
The Bulletin love to talk up a project… this morning’s paper included an article on City Lane “breathing new life into the CBD”. This is an arcade that stood empty for months and now has one coffee shop as a tenant. I would say that this particular development is still hooked up to a ventilator.
Addled is most certainly a Councillor, a Liberal lackey or a developer who has the Mullet in his/her back pocket. Addled, the way that you are spruiking the Magnis deal is nauseating. Go and get a bedroom with them and do your fu#king in private so we don’t have to see it. You are starting to bore us to tears with your adoration and love for Magnis.
Liberal lackey and Labor troll. What an identity crisis!
Well, like they say, if you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.
Tony Mooney was dumped as Townsville Mayor because the council debt blew out to $100 million.
Now his Labor mate, Jenny Hill has managed to bump it up to more than $500 million.
The next LG election, although 3 years away, will be very interesting, not just for Hill but also her council puppets who have played a key role in her cash splash on things like her $2 million tin shed on Castle Hill, Magnis battery packing shed, V8 Superpests, rock concerts, Cowboys stadium maintenance, pipeline to nowhere, fly in/fly out CEO etc , etc, etc.
As the Christmas carol says, I’m “making a list, checking it twice”.
Don’t think your reading of the reason for Mooney’s demise is right, he got the heave-ho because people were somewhat alarmed at his ‘looney Mooney’ descent into some weird delusion of omnipotence, prompted by the fact that he’d have to face a real mayoral opponent in ‘nice guy man of the people’ Les Tyrell in the amalgamation election.
Rest of it seems spot on, but with this electorate, who knows ????? …. a head’s up, though. The cry is always but what’s the alternative, who could run against her? Wrong question, wrong strategy … The Magpie will unveil his cunning Baldrick-likke plan in this weekend’s blog.
Hydrogen is neither efficient or effective for transportation nor as an energy source.
People are being misled with H2 stories that it’s the most common element in the universe and has excellent energy density for its mass and the great cure all.
H2 is the most abundant element, which is true, but meaningless because it’s never found in isolation. It’s always found combined with something else like oxygen. So, separating it from the oxygen takes a lot of energy. The most basic understanding of the law of thermodynamics shows you it takes more energy to make H2 than the energy H2 produces.
The other bad thing about H2 is it’s got a giant volume. It’s got a very poor energy density per unit volume. As a consequence, that makes it energy inefficient to move. So, to move a joule of energy, as H2 takes three times as much energy as to move a joule of LNG and that’s irreducible because of thermodynamics, you can’t fix it.
It is hard to see how so-called export market for H2 will work as the Japanese and Koreans are going to be paying nearly five times as much per joule of energy as their main competitor (China) in the economic marketplace. Their industries simply will not be able to compete if they’re paying such giant multipliers on the cost of energy. Its economic suicide.
The question we should be asking is do the people that are talking about H2 have a vested interest in the outcome, and what is their financial interest is it something like harvesting a government grant or subsidy?
We need to be careful also about differentiating between real projects and announcements or ribbon cutting ceremonies or MOU use or offtake agreements or whatever, all these proxies for real projects are.
H2, has it place, but cannot effectively and efficiently displace other energy sources.
Finally, don’t lose sight of how much water H2 production takes. Most agree it is around 9L of water for 1kg of H2, with the whole H2 manufacturing process using up to 14L of water per kg. Is Brownsville happy to be exporting our water to Korea, Japan or wherever else?
I think I will go find my copy Hans Christian Andersen “The Emperor’s New Clothes”
OK so maybe it won’t be the joule in the power crown, but your argument seems somewhat one sided, barely any upside to hydrogen at all, apart from a meaningless ‘it has its place’. The water factor has been raised by The Magpie before, and he was inundated with a tsunami of silence (that was in direct relations the Lansdown hub in the scrub).
So where does China get its cheap joules from?
And what is hydrogen’s place’?
But agree that this whole thing is over-hyped with such preliminary agreements (the one with port is totally meaningless, just a photo op for the undeserving). But that’s the state of play of both our politicians and incurious media.
H2, just following up a bit more, particularly on the water consumption question, and looking for a bit of perspective I note there are some numbers around an MOU with the Port for a Townsville hydrogen production and export facility:
“The MoU facilitates the potential expansion of the port, as well as the development of a liquefaction facility, new berth and associated infrastructure.
Origin is collaborating with Japan’s Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) on a 300MW early export project that would produce 36,500 tonnes per annum of green liquid hydrogen using renewable energy and sustainable water.”
So, based on your numbers, how much water would be required to produce 36,500 tonnes of “green liquid hydrogen” per annum and how would that quantity compare with, say, Townsville’s annual demand, Burdekin sugar irrigation demand or Adani’s Carmichael mine and coal wash demand (which I once heard would be 12 billion litres pa).
If green hydrogen can be produced cheaply enough does it matter how much energy goes into its production?
That would depend on the how much the energy (water) costs the economy, and takes away from the city and the environment. Snake eating tail comes to mind.
The days of water being plentiful and supplied free from above are long gone – we sold most of the rights to the Chinese. And hydrogen is ALL about water.
So yes, it does matter.
Agree Water is everything but nobody is talking about it.
China’s energy will cheaper because they are using coal, and building more coal fired power stations, as well as using nuclear power.
The question that should be asked is “how cheap is renewable power without government grants and subsidies?” Would Korean Zinc have gone solar without grants, subsidies and carbon credits?
Hydrogen does seem strange as the technology has been around for ages and why would create a form of energy by using more energy in the first place, the use more energy to transport, and even more to convert it before you can use if, something is not adding up – except maybe the grants (our taxes)
I was talking about energy not water Pie.
Nickster – China won’t get cheaper energy from coal because renewables will continue to provide the cheapest electricity the human race has ever produced.
Yes China will have cheap energy cost because they won’t have a Labor Federal Government in May that will bring in a carbon tax.
If Renewables are so cheap why do they need government subsidies?
Maybe like Job Keeper big renewable companies can hand back their government grant, including Korea Zinc Inc. who reported in October its third-quarter net profit of 200.3 billion won (US$171.6 million), up 17.5 percent from a year earlier. Nice to know Queensland tax payer funds didn’t go to waste.
Unsubsidised renewables are still cheaper than coal but we do want to roll them out as fast as possible, the planet is heating up.
H2, thanks for the numbers on hydrogen production. It really does present a quandary eh? One of the things you seem to have left out of your calculation is carbon. It looks like the whole world is aiming for a reduction in carbon emissions so no matter how productive, pound for pound, that LNG might be, burning it produces CO2 and we have to stop doing that. Sure, China (and Australia and the US) will continue to use hydrocarbons to make fuel and electricity for many years to come but soon will likely be carbon taxed for the pleasure. In that event, hydrogen will become more and more viable in some circumstances because it burns without carbon pollution.
Mal, only found out today that the dot art paintings by Australian indigenous artists only emerged around 1970 and was introduced by a white school teacher, this solved a problem I’ve been thinking about for ages, why there are no dot art paintings in the traditional aboriginal lands.
Because Rio Tinto got there first?
Ralph,
Can you give me reference to this?
Here ya go (PS ever heard of Google?)
https://www.aboriginal-art-australia.com/aboriginal-art-library/aboriginal-dot-art-behind-the-dots/
Ralph is correct but what he says is a bit ambiguous … ‘emerged’ is the correct word. But yes, a white arts teacher suggested that the traditional symbols draw in the dust and then wiped over be committed to canvas … or painting of one sort or another.
A bit of lighthearted Christmas cheer at work today.
Twelve Days of Townsville Christmas
On the first day of Christmas
The Mullet gave to me
Councillors not earning their fees.
On the second day of Christmas
The Mullet gave to me
Two scams at Landsdown, and
Councillors not earning their fees.
On the third day of Christmas
The Mullet gave to me
Three wanker MPs,
Two scams at Landsdown, and
Councillors not earning their fees.
On the fourth day of Christmas
The Mullet gave to me
Four years of heartache,
Three wanker MPs,
Two scams at Landsdown, and
Councillors not earning their fees.
On the fifth day of Christmas
The Mullet gave to me
A little FIFO Pric,
Four years of heartache,
Three wanker MPs,
Two scams at Landsdown, and
Councillors not earning their fees.
…. Take it away gang
Re: Magnis, there’s another NSW politician in the mix since last year:
“Magnis Energy Technologies Limited (“Magnis” or the “Company”) (ASX:MNS) is very pleased to announce that former Deputy Premier of NSW and leader of the NSW National Party, The Honourable Troy Grant, has been appointed as Non-Executive Director of the Company.”
Probably writing Inspector Barnaby’s press release on further government investment in Lansdown as we smash the avocado for brunch. If she gets around ICAC there’ll probably be a place for Gladys next. Only the best for Magnis.
Steve from BG have you changed your handle?
Addled , Wayne Swan ex Federal Treasurer is Chairman of CBUS , Andrew Fraser ex State Treasurer is Chairman of Sunsuper and as you like googling why dont you look up previous members of State and Federal Parliament and what boards they are on then your conspiracy theory connections . You seem rattled not addled .
Just hands, more likely.
Mike I suggest that Addled teams up with Steve , not Stevie, and both go to the laundromat at Belgian Gardens, watch the dryer go round and round as I’ll be Plucked suggests and then go home put on their boxing gloves and go to bed, and make sure their boxing gloves are still on.
Good one Tradie, especially the advice re keeping the boxing gloves on!
Chuckle
OT and Mike,
Ho, ho, ho, it must be Xmas or something. So what do you guys think should happen with Lansdown? The TCC has secured two potential tenants (or potential purchasers of land) in Edify Energy (“green hydrogen”) and Queensland Pacific Metals, each having some sort of “eco” credentials. TCC has also secured serious infrastructure investment funding from state and federal governments. The mayor, despite or because of all her faults, appears willing to hold her nose and see what happens with Magnis – what else can she do – or what else do you think she should do? On the face of it, a robotised manufacturing plant would be a good fit with a non-polluting battery chemicals ‘refinery’ if that’s what QPM actually is. And a big industrial set up at Lansdown would anchor a pivot and redirection in Townsville’s urban development to the south on the Flinders Highway alongside all those lazy acres that used to be called Rocky Springs. Conveniently, there’s a brand new water supply being piped right into the middle of it, what a surprise!
Magpie, just trying to keep this thread a bit separate from the whole Magnis shitfight elsewhere today (and don’t worry, I’m just as fascinated as you are – and did you notice the Australian story neatly implicated Macquarie Bank’s Bill Moss?). A few days ago the QPM arrangements for Lansdown were outlined for all to see:
“Pure Minerals Ltd (ASX:PM1) (FRA:4EA.F) has entered into a binding reservation deed with Townsville City Council (TCC) for the land allocated for the TECH Project of wholly-owned subsidiary Queensland Pacific Metals Pty Ltd (QPM), which aims to produce critical battery chemicals.
This land was previously conditionally allocated in the Lansdown Eco-Industrial Precinct, which TCC envisions becoming Northern Australia’s first environmentally sustainable advanced manufacturing, processing and technology hub.
The TECH Project is an ideal fit for Lansdown, as QPM aims to produce critical battery chemicals in an environmentally friendly manner, with zero liquids discharge and potentially zero solids discharge.
Through QPM, the rezoning of Lansdown from rural to high-impact industrial use has also been completed, which is timely as work programs associated with environmental approvals begin to step up.
As part of the recent Queensland State election, the Queensland Labor Government announced $12 million in funding for Lansdown to upgrade road and rail infrastructure.
Pure Minerals chief executive officer Stephen Grocott said: “The reservation deed secures the TECH Project’s home at the Lansdown Eco-Industrial Precinct.
“We look forward to the TECH Project becoming a cornerstone of this Townsville City Council initiative.
“QPM can now proceed with confidence with respect to other infrastructure and service agreements required to bring the TECH Project into fruition.”
The key terms of the reservation deed are:
$50,000 reservation fee payable by QPM to TCC, rebated against any future sale and purchase agreement;
Land is reserved for QPM for a period of 24 months; and
QPM and TCC will negotiate a binding sales and purchase agreement for the land within this 24 month period.”
Now I would have thought this was roughly what you had in mind when you set out your views on how Lansdown could be developed earlier this week:
“If there had have been a quiet campaign of approaching suitable corporations with comprehensive plans, visuals and technical details, with enough sweeteners to make it attractive, perhaps two or three anchor tenants might have signed up”.
Well, two or three tenants HAVE signed up and now I see that Edify and QPM are entering into a relationship with each other – around the supply of hydrogen. So regardless of what happens with Magnis, there appears to be some sort of life in Lansdown but way further to go.
Mike, I suppose it’s a matter of opinion what “serious” funds are. But you can see from various announcements that the Queensland and Federal governments have put up $24m between them under the CityDeal for “enabling infrastructure” development at Lansdown. That’s a fait bit of money. In the matter of “costs of Civil works, environmental compliance, water, on Lansdown”, it looks like the QPM proposal is to ultimately buy the land from TCC (“. . . will negotiate a binding sales and purchase agreement for the land within this 24 month period”). In that case, some of those issues would be their problem. Don’t know about the water thing, apparently there’s some pipeline in the area.
Whoa! That you, Dolan? One of your wet dream specials, mate.
Allow The ‘Pie a couple of points. Your judicious use of the word ‘potential’ doesn’t sit well with a development being masterminded by the council itself. It is accepted wisdom that councils should never be developers, but under the grasping aegis of the Hallam’s LGAQ, that seems to be out the window.(And won’t change with his departure … he’s been replaced by a former gambling industry executive, how very apt.)
As The ‘Pie has previously stated, this is all upside down … serious tenants should have been locked in BEFORE madam strutted her puffery and election campaign of utter flapdoodle. And even those more solid looking tenants are both still seeking investment and funding from the market … their optimism should be the mayor’s apprehension … and ours, FFS.
And what do you consider to be a suitable figure to earn your description of ‘serious infrastructure investment funding’? Pick a number but do let us know your back of the envelope calculations.
And then this: The mayor, despite or because of all her faults, appears willing to hold her nose and see what happens with Magnis – what else can she do – or what else do you think she should do?
What else can she do? You’re kidding. After reading the latest in The Australian and re-posted here a short time ago, what the mayor could and should do, if she is as responsible as she would have us think, is cut all ties with Magnis/Imperium3, even if just from, as the judges say, an abundance of caution. She should walk back and distance Townsville from Magnis and any inference linking this city to drug smuggling, saying she tried but there was no way she could’ve known what Poullas and co were up to (despite warnings both here and on ASX postings). BTW The ‘Pie accepts that Jenny Hill would not have knowingly had any part in any nefarious scheme … she’s neither game enough or smart enough.
And by the way, just why have you got the hots for Lansdown and our mayor’s woeful performance in creating this schmozzle? Part of your remit?
Addled , if you dont know the costs of Civil works , environmental compliance , water ,on Lansdown how do you justify your statement ” the Feds + States have committed serious funds ” ? . Based on the past years record of T.C.C. not being able to build a demountable coffee shop for $2.5 mil , couldnt construct $9 mil in rainforest lights , political games on Haughton stage 2 costing the ratepayers $79 mil the current structure managing a big project ? . Your not concerned that your Council will be half billion + in debt ? .
Up there as a contender of comment of the Week … no, make that the year.
Indeed, and The Magpie is in no way opposed on any environmental or O’Callaghan grounds to Lansdown, the question has been how it suddenly bobbed up out of nowehere just before an LG election.Always grounds anywhere vat any level of government for closer inspection. It looked like, and was, a cobbled together effort at progress, done back to front. You daffy assertion that two tenants (who’s the third, Magnis?) have signed up NOW, about four years down the track, as fulfilling The ‘Pie’s argument for ‘a quiet campaign of approaching suitable corporations with comprehensive plans, visuals and technical details’, is just a biased view of what has happened. And both btenants are yet tio secure investment funding from the market … although they bappear on very solid ground to do so.
It is this incessant ‘selling the dream’ campaign of often wishful thinking (looking at you, too, Townsville Bulletin)that most irks, and gives the (perhaps false) impression that the more serious issues like crime are being neglected. And please don’t reply that crime isn’t the council’s remit … Mayor Mullet wouldn’t agree because she grandiosely promised a few months ago to come up with a plan to combat the freewheeling juvenile crime wave, but so far, zilch.
Addled, Where the fuck did you ‘google’ all that shit?
I hope your boss is not monitoring your internet usage.
Adele-D ( what a clever pun ) is a well connected little Labour troll isn’t it. Magpie, you should be sending invoices to Wanker Street for the advertising space this shit is taking up. No matter how hard they spin this the shit just gets thicker and thicker regarding Landumb.
Craig Kelly,
Someone seems to think this ass has media skills.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/dec/03/craig-kelly-mp-banned-from-facebook-appointed-to-parliaments-social-media-inquiry
Gives Yellow Belly a whole new perspective.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/dec/03/clive-palmer-to-give-evidence-at-defamation-trial-despite-being-unvaccinated
Aza, it looks like his boss (I suspect Scott, Les or Aaron) is actually happily paying for its internet usage. I did sensitivity training last seek so I know not to assume it is male – perhaps not even human.
The ‘Pie will eagerly wait to see the fruits of your ‘training'; in the tenor of your future comments here.
I wouldn’t hold your breath