Jottings from the edge

From Supreme Court to Mental Health Tribunal - Greg James turns up trumps … Cole Board's funny side … AWB's kind offer to get witnesses "inside the tent" ... Spiggsy and Bubba lunge for the sandwiches … The Blake prize for arty comments ... From Justinian's archive February 2006 

Year of the handicapped

Greg James: reader required

NSW’s Mental Health Review Tribunal is in need of a new president and former Supreme Court judge Greg James QC is the hot tip to get the gig.

Gregory James, aka “Wet Cement”, was invalided out of the court on May 1 last year because of eyesight problems.

Soon afterwards he conducted a Royal Commission in South Australia into the justice system’s handling of a case involving a well-lunched lawyer who fled the scene after running down and killing a cyclist.

The lawyer, Eugene McGee, had been fined $3,000 and lost his driving licence for 12 months.

Because of the incoming MHRT president’s poor eyes he is to be provided with the services a reader - likely to be a former deputy president of the tribunal Michael Sterry.

The president’s job at the tribunal comes with a pay cheque of $225,830 a year.

As an invalided former Supreme Court judge, even though he didn’t serve 10 years, James QC is also entitled to a judicial pension, which is 60 percent of a serving judge’s salary. A serving judge gets $294,055 a year, so the pension is $176,433.

In the event of collecting both his pension and the pay packet at the Mental Health Review Tribunal the former judge would be drawing down over $400,000 a year - more than Smiler Gleeson, Spiggsy Spigelman or Little Johnnie Howard.

Not that I’m upset or anything.

Maaate

Sheahan (centre): special pay arrangement

I also see in the latest determination of the NSW Statutory and Other Officers Remuneration Tribunal that, incredible as it may seem, the President of the Workers Compensation Commission is on the same salary as the President of the NSW Court of Appeal - $308,110.

It must have been decided that an equal amount of intellectual rigour was required for both positions.

However, a note to the determination tells us that this rate of pay for the workers comp job is applicable “only while the Hon Justice Terry Sheahan holds the office”.

What a hoot

Morrow: cheque for Shady Jordanian Trucking Company

The Chaser Boys return to the telly tonight (February 17, 9:45pm ABC) with a new show.

One of the pre-recorded stunts involves long-time Chaser lad Julian Morrow (ex-Blakes, ex-Jones Staff & Co)- pic - turning up outside Terry Cole’s inquiry into the wheeties payola with an enormous cheque made out to “Shady Jordanian Trucking Company” and asking a witness, AWB executive Charles Stott, to sign it.

Stott’s lawyer Paul Lacava was terribly unamused, telling Cole:

“My client is completely shaken by it ... In 33 years of going to court I thought I’d seen everything.”

That may be explained by the fact that Lacava hails from the Melbourne Bar n’ Grill.

He said that the person who confronted his client was “best described as a person with a cause, probably more accurately described as a complete lunatic”.

He wanted “some measure of protection” for the AWB fellow.

Cole momentarily cast aside his ravishing sense of humour to declare that he too was unamused by a witness being “threatened”.

Even when he discovered it was a TV stunt Cole said, “That does not reduce the seriousness of the matter and I intend to have it further investigated”.

The whole episode has ended up in the hands of Mick Kelpie’s wallopers, so terrible misadventure is heading young Julian’s way.

For his part Charles Stott has been an amusing witness.

Belatedly he remembered seeing a document that can’t be found in which, apparently, the UN gave its seal of approval to AWB’s payola; he believes that a loan can be a donation; that diary entries saying he chaired meetings didn’t mean that he actually chaired them; and that he replied to an email he insisted he hadn’t read. 

Meantime, people who know Terence tell me that he loves to dig away at these inquiries and find out all that needs to be found out, but that his personal attitudes are a tiny bit on the conservative side.

However, the evidence is such that he’d have to be to the right of Attila to ignore the shady way in which some of Little Johnnie’s scrofulous ministers have behaved.

Come into my tent

What about that little “coaching” exercise that briefly emerged before the Cole Board?

Wheeties whistleblower Dominic Hogan said that in-house lawyer at AWB, Jim Cooper (ex-Arthur Robs), made overtures about coaching witnesses when investigators were trying to sniff out the company’s backhanders to Saddam.

The allegation was that when the UN was looking at the oil-for-food-for-payola shenanigans Jimmy Boy urged Hogan to speak to AWB before talking to the UN. Hogan’s statement to Cole said:

“The substance of what I was told was ‘the UN personnel are ex-federal investigators. You will need some coaching on how to answer their questions’.”

Hogan said he declined the generous offer, but heard again from Cooper in November when the Cole inquiry was set-up.

Hogan said he transcribed a phone message from the helpful lawyer, which said in fetching corporatese:

“I’m just calling to coordinate some talks about the new Australian inquiry into the oil-for-food deal. We are basically walking through all the documents with [former employees] and making sure they are comfortable with everything and they understand the process going forward. We are bringing everyone together inside the tent.”

That statement is open to a variety of interpretations, although “coordinate” and “inside the tent” do suggest that he wanted everyone singing from the same song sheet.

Cooper’s earlier offer of assistance, allegedly relating to the UN investigations, also could be problematic.

“You will need coaching on how to answer their questions,” might only mean instruction about what clothes should be worn to the inquiry, how to keep answers meaningful, and not to scratch your nose when telling a lie.

AWB’s website says: “To respond to allegations or the evidence prior to the completion of the Inquiry would be inappropriate.”

And we know what store the company places in appropriate behaviour.

Cooper’s full title at AWB is general manager risk, general counsel and company secretary.

Keep yourself nice

Spiggsy Spigelman traversed some disparate themes in his annual chief justice’s spiel at the opening of the law term dinner, hosted by the Bore Society of NSW.

He started at 1856 with the first sitting of the bicameral legislature in NSW, then on to the late 1960s when he himself first entered the law and observed the division of the profession into Catholic and Protestant, then on to the beauty of the adversary system and the civility that is the pride of the law trade but, sadly, is lacking out there in unwashed land.

Funny that, for there are some who remember a time when Spiggsy himself was a mite curt with those he thought intellectually inferior.

Indeed, the unhappiness that infects some of the souls who labour in his justice temple is testimony to the thought that insufficient “respect” flows down from the top.

Furthermore, who was sighted scoffing most of the sandwiches at Steven (Vlad) Rares Federal Court swearing in?

Why, Spiggsy and Bubba Bennett!

Art beat

What is it in the water down at the House of Blakes?

A devoted subscriber points out two separate but connected items of flatulence from partners of the firm.

Last year BDW partner Paul Mallam had a photographic exhibition called Photographs of the New Aqua Couture. The Financial Review Magazine quoted him as saying:

“Because fish are such beautiful, tactile things, I saw a lot of compatibility [between] fish and fashion.”

Back in 1996 partner Adrian Morris appeared in the Qantas Club magazine giving his thoughts about items in the firm’s art collection:

“The physicality of this medium [paper] reflects the touch of the artist more sensitively than paint on canvas, while at the same time not being as confronting as paintings ... The works encourage you to look carefully at them.”

Stop it - or you’ll go blind.