Billionaire Richard Pratt is, it is reported, to plead guilty to breach of the Trade Practices Act. He will admit that he and his company, Visy Industries, engaged in conduct which probably resulted in all Australians paying more for their packaging.
The fine to be paid is said to be a record-breaking $40 million dollars. One would have thought that Pratt, despite all his money and with his company already having seriously breached the Trade Practices Act once before, would be somewhat on the nose. Oh no! The Australian PM and his Treasurer haven't taken that position at all - evidently if there is a substantial donor ["investor"?] to the Liberal Party - as Mike Carlton puts into context in his weekly column in the SMH:
"A quick trawl through the files of the Australian Electoral Commission reveals that the price-fixing Melbourne cardboard tycoon, Dick Pratt, has donated more than $1.6 million to various bits of the Liberal Party since 1999.
Most of this largesse went to the party's federal headquarters. Some went to the Free Enterprise Foundation, a Liberal Party front outfit, and some to the state divisions. Throw in handouts to the National Party and the figure heads towards $2 million.
No other individual or company has stumped up so much for the conservative cause. And Pratt might well have splashed out even more in this election year; the declarations for 2007 are not in yet.
Perhaps it was this lavish lubricating of the wheels of democracy that prompted the Prime Minister to rush to the crooked old mogul's defence on Tuesday.
Pratt was a generous Australian and a good citizen, he gushed. "My own dealings with him have always been very positive, and I like him."
How very loyal. Yet Pratt's private company, Visy, and its main competitor, Amcor, were engaged in a cartel (for cartel read racket) to rort prices in the cardboard packaging business, an industry turning over some $2 billion a year."
The fine to be paid is said to be a record-breaking $40 million dollars. One would have thought that Pratt, despite all his money and with his company already having seriously breached the Trade Practices Act once before, would be somewhat on the nose. Oh no! The Australian PM and his Treasurer haven't taken that position at all - evidently if there is a substantial donor ["investor"?] to the Liberal Party - as Mike Carlton puts into context in his weekly column in the SMH:
"A quick trawl through the files of the Australian Electoral Commission reveals that the price-fixing Melbourne cardboard tycoon, Dick Pratt, has donated more than $1.6 million to various bits of the Liberal Party since 1999.
Most of this largesse went to the party's federal headquarters. Some went to the Free Enterprise Foundation, a Liberal Party front outfit, and some to the state divisions. Throw in handouts to the National Party and the figure heads towards $2 million.
No other individual or company has stumped up so much for the conservative cause. And Pratt might well have splashed out even more in this election year; the declarations for 2007 are not in yet.
Perhaps it was this lavish lubricating of the wheels of democracy that prompted the Prime Minister to rush to the crooked old mogul's defence on Tuesday.
Pratt was a generous Australian and a good citizen, he gushed. "My own dealings with him have always been very positive, and I like him."
How very loyal. Yet Pratt's private company, Visy, and its main competitor, Amcor, were engaged in a cartel (for cartel read racket) to rort prices in the cardboard packaging business, an industry turning over some $2 billion a year."
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