True crime writer Peter Hoysted, aka ‘Jack the Insider’ returns with the story of one of Australia’s most elaborate criminal enterprises.
From the early 1950s, Melbourne’s Federated Ship Painters and Dockers Union was much more than an affiliation of dock workers.
It became a thriving criminal enterprise, and a front for crimes including murder, theft, extortion and prostitution.
The Union held sway for five decades, and had members who had never done a day’s work on the Docks, but had plenty of experience with killing.
Eventually a Royal Commission was called into their activities, which led to the downfall of a Federal Government.
Text supplied by ABC.
Let’s hope empire building by the rural fire service and the protection of ‘turf’, no pun intended, hasn’t lead to more property damage in Tathra.
First rule of Command. You leave your ego at the door. Second rule is you take help where you can get it.
Someone needs to resign over this. They spent $1million trying to cover it up!
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/victoria-labor-rortsforvotes-probe-to-be-released-today/news-story/2071d974377ae7a038d125c4189f4ee4
Dan didn’t even apologize until a reporter dragged it out of him. They’re going to dig in–and get away with it.
Appalling isn’t it, Dwight.
Bit more involved than a bottle of Grange.
They’ve got an election coming up. I wonder what Victorians will think of this latest spendathon of Andrews…….
I don’t know what’s going on but Labor is still ahead in the polls in Victoria even after this fiasco….must be the Matthew Guy factor. Victoria has always been a slightly left leaning state Federally, but when I was growing up we always had a Liberal government until John Cain. Lot’s of other things will happen between now and November that will make this issue disappear, but as far as I can see most people are sick to death of politicians from both sides
Victoria is the “California” of Australia Penny – logic no longer applies.
Coming a close second are the good citizens of Canberra.
No sane person would put up with or could put up with the treatment the media dishes out to the politicians.
Until they clean up their act and start to give balanced reporting – ie the pros and cons of a piece of legislation rather than spouting out their ideological stances – nothing will change.
The Parties need to clean up their pre-selection processes and actually put up people who have been a success in life rather than the hacks that normally get nominated.
I do not know what you can do with the apathy of the average voter.
Excellent points JS. I think k the apathy of the normal voter (particularly the young ones) is that the politicians are all cut from the same cloth and are all totally interested in themselves. This is a global phenomenon I think, you should read what my students from around the world think about politicians. There are times when I really do have to steer the discussions back onto safer ground.
” …. put up people who have been a success in life …..”
On its own, “success” seems such a nebulous word. There’s too many successful procrastinators.
After listening to the interview I did some further “surfing” and read that Russell “Mad Dog” Cox is suspected of being one of the shooters of Brian Kane. I can’t recall reading that before, though I think Bennett and Cox’s wives may have been sisters. There’s a lot of six degrees of separation in the Melbourne underworld; perhaps only natural.
He was interviewed and discharged by VicPol in or around 2012.
Milt,
Send me your email. I’ll give you a surprise but it’ll cost you a beer!
Cheers mate, but I rarely answer the phone these days. And some times the surprise’s are the worst kept secrets! ‘
and you should stop fishing…
“report in Inside Story rubbishing Treasurer Scott Morrison’s “deeply misleading” claim”
“Finally, Grattan notes that Australia’s superannuation and tax system remains absurdly generous to older Australians, with older Australians paying less in tax today than they did 20 years ago, despite higher workforce participation and incomes, and the proportion of seniors paying tax almost halving in 20 years, from 27% in 1995 to 16% in 2014:”
“It’s good policy and deserves support.”
https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2018/03/scott-morrison-deeply-misleading-labors-dividend-imputation-policy/
For those who wish to read something other than opinion pieces for the right whinges and self interest corporate spruikers. Warning if facts offend or you find facts to be personally abusive do not open.
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/
potato dutton longs for the QLD racist past pure and simple. this is just one of several articles over the last week by learned people further exposing duttons bigotry. No Surprises.
https://theconversation.com/peter-duttons-fast-track-for-white-south-african-farmers-is-a-throwback-to-a-long-racist-history-93476
I’m not a fan of Dutton’s but nowhere have I heard him say white SA applicants would be sent to the front of the queue. The interesting point is this brouhaha has at least obliged some to acknowledge for the first time that there is a queue.
potato head dutton “white farmers were being persecuted and should receive fast-tracked humanitarian visas from a “civilised country”. ” Dutton said the farmers deserved “special attention”. “I do think, on the information that I’ve seen, people do need help and they need help from a civilised country like ours,” Dutton said. Fast tracked? “special attention”civilised country? this dolt just cant hide his bigotry. The “queue” has been spoken about for years. the coalition have used it as part of their demonization of those lawfully seeking asylum. I don’t disagree with you. I find it very sad and embarrassing someone like Dutton can rise to such a position in Australia.
JTI – I’ll bet that, deep in the bowels of Canberra sits someone who costs the economic viability of immigrants depending on their nationality. How much support will be needed, welfare etc etc.
In this regard I would say that South African migrants would be close to the front of the queue, if such a queue exists.
South Africans were raised with no concept of welfare, sickies and the like. Don’t work, don’t eat. One had annual leave and if sick called in and stayed home. And one was sick – not taking a day off to go fishing. Sick days were not counted.
They would arrive in this country rarin’ to go, to seek employment and not to take off the government. And they speak our language – in every sense of the word. They would be an asset.
Speaking from experience, we never took a cent off the government from the day we stepped off the plane to this day. Worked hard, regrouped and regathered and thanked God we were here.
And I tell you what, I think the medical care (Medicare) in this country is fantastic. I was speaking to a SAfrican visitor here yesterday and the stories of the public hospital system over there are horrendous. Because anyone with decent qualifications leaves if they can.
Not sure South Africans should live in the Nothern Territory then Boa….everyone takes a sick day to go fishing.
We never, ever scheduled classes on Fridays at the University because no one would turn up, including the Professors. We had one South African academic who lasted only one year, he just could not cope with it…..he thought we were all slackers and he was probably right
Yep – I remember when I had my first job in Australia. I could not believe the ”sickie” thing! I was astounded that someone could blatantly take a Monday off and everyone knew it was to go fishing. They all just laughed at me!
Probably?
I only say that Lou, because I never took a day off to go fishing
Where is this ‘queue’?
I will bet my last whatever they would not be sent to Manus and Nauru
I am still trying to find out where those delegates from Africa went to when they decided to stay and plea refugee status…they too never went to Manus and Nauru
The cons will not be happy until there is nothing left.
“There has never been a step backwards in conservation area as large as this from any country on earth,” “the plans have also opened up a recreational fishing zone to commercial operators.“The worst area affected is the Coral Sea,” Burke said. “Purse seine, longlining and mid-water trawling, which is the same method used by the super trawler”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/20/labor-vows-to-block-largest-removal-of-marine-area-from-conservation-ever
I say Dismayed, your new exciting Liberal Premier, Stephen Marshall, has been described by Amanda Vanstone as having “balls of steel”. Strewth looks like you SA chappies in for a wild ride. Cheers
HB. Marshall is a puppet for C. Pyne. He has already said he will not go ahead with the worlds largest Virtual power plant by Tesla at no cost to the poorest people it was going to cost the government $2 million seed money instead Marshall will use $100 Million of taxpayer money to subsidise those that can already afford solar panels. He is taking away a 30% Power cost reduction for the poorest plus cost reductions for everyone due to the power generated to put subsidised batteries in the homes of the well off. He and his treasure R. Lucas have already stated further debt reduction is not a priority. SA will stagnate and get even less infrastructure funding which is already very low on a per capita basis. The SA Lib. government is just an extension of the worst Federal Government this Nation has seen.
You already posted that Henry, do keep up….
He might be in serious trouble Henry – not for nothing is South Australia called the Rust Belt!
One always has options Wiss.
https://wiki.bme.com/index.php?title=Scrotal_Implant
This is what happens when the Fibs put greed above long-term survival.
Environmental terrorist Frydenberg’s Drill, Mine, Blast, Log & Kill Any Species that gets in our way, is failing Australians bigtime on land AND in the oceans. What’s actually left to wreck? The GAB.
There will be nothing left when these idiots are finally booted out.
Barnaby’s malfeasance has cost this nation $ billions. “A series of water buybacks in 2017 undertaken by the former water minister Barnaby Joyce have come under intense scrutiny because they were undertaken without tender. In some cases there are doubts about the reliability of the water; in others there are questions about the sums paid by the commonwealth”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/21/australian-governments-water-buyback-displayed-pythonesque-haggling-skills
Would you recommend the band at all?
Still applies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By0AOWGE89U
Not really. They opened for John Cooper Clarke, when I saw them.
Lots of energy, but little talent.
Just started listening to the piece, Jack and it’s already immensely entertaining, but one comment that caught my attention was the observation that since containerisation, the opportunities for theft on the docks had been reduced.
I don’t know about that. When I started in Customs in 1991 it was a running joke that the whole stevedoring operation at Webb Dock would do their Christmas shopping by selecting which containers full of tellys and scotch would go missing around the middle of December. From what I can gather, even with technological advances, the situation persists today.
So maybe the number of individual thefts went down but the scale of the thefts became industrialised, along with the methods for moving goods.
OK. Back to listening.
Knew some P&D’s in the 80s. One had a 54 Studebaker knocked off the wharf for his birthday. Was year he was born. Another story re containers a, container of Johnny Walker black was under a container of red for protection. Still disappeared. Speaking of unions what about Gillies’ Painters and Doctors? Speaking of Gillies and the Painters and Dockers its Goanna time https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3CQwm2_a7Y
There were stories way back that New York was built using the bricks exported from Scotland in lieu of the whiskey bottles