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I have no doubt that Australia has significant higher levels of fraud and corruption than what is usually perceived by society. The problem is that the press he

I have no doubt that Australia has significant higher levels of fraud and corruption than what is usually perceived by society. The problem is that the press here reports virtually nothing, probably as a consequence of the strange defamation and libel laws that we have. As an example, I have witness of two significant cases of fraud in the last 5 years. In the first, a lawyer stole more than $2 million from trust accounts. The second was a professor from a major university who misused close to $100K from grants. In both cases, the matters were dealt with internally (returning money, compensating victims, etc.) and no single piece of information about this went to the press.

Istof 12y ago
you were directly involved in both cases?
- cma 12y ago
  He said he witnessed both. If you see a mugging, are you directly involved?
  - Chronic29 12y ago
    You don't know. That is why you ask.
sjy 12y ago
Those sound like pretty serious crimes. Are you saying that the police and media were informed and nothing was done about it?
- eng_monkey 12y ago
  The Australian Federal Police was informed of the lawyer fraud and showed a complete lack of interest. Actually, it was quite shocking. This matter was never resolved criminally, just professionally. The Law Society simply disbarred the lawyer and put the law firm in administration. The Fidelity Fund (responsible for dealing with trust account fraud, which apparently is something quite normal in spite of public perception) returned lost money to clients.
  - Intermernet 12y ago
    Unfortunately, this seems to also apply to high level sports stars in Australia. Various "Judiciaries" punish players for criminal behaviour with penalties of missed matches, or bans, when they should be dealt with in front of a proper court.
  - cylinder 12y ago
    This is how most trust fraud seems to be handled by the bar here in the US. I don't really hear of prosecutors getting involved.
RoryH 12y ago
Might the lack of reporting also be Rupert Murdoch related?
- Tloewald 12y ago
  Murdoch is perhaps less powerful in Australia than in the US. In the early days, Murdoch went for the world, while Kerry Packer (now dead) went for the Australian market. AFAIK major Australian papers and news outlets are largely independent of Murdoch.
  - satori99 12y ago
    This is not true at all. News Corp owns 7 of the 12 major daily papers and sells close to 70% of all the newspapers sold in Australia. Murdoch is known to keep a close editorial eye on the Australian market, paticularly The Australian, his pet loss-making broadsheet.
    - Tloewald 12y ago
      Thanks for the info (I've been out of Australia for ten years). The fact remains that Australia still has quite a few solid independent papers (the SMH and Age) and two real public broadcasters (ABC and SBS). Even though Murdoch doesn't own as large a proportion of the US market, I think his effect on the media here is actually worse than I ever found it to be in Australia (mainly owing to Fox News and the awfulness of its alternatives).
      - satori99 12y ago
        Fairfax isn't too bad here, but it's getting worse. They are shedding journalists and photographers at an alarming rate. Their online offereings are becoming more click-baity every week. The ABC and SBS have both had their funding slashed and are in the middle of a poltical ideology shitstorm, with many serious people (MP's & senators from the coalition) calling for a complete governace overhaul or even selling off both of them. Recently the ABC won a coveted license to be able to provide an english langauge news service inside China. The incoming goverment scrapped it completely because they don't like it's perceived anti-conservative bias.
twobits 12y ago
I have no doubt that corruption is universal. Dismiss me as a pessimist or a conspiracy theorist, but, for example, my working definition of (high level) "politician", is: "professional thief and lier". (For example, defamation and libel laws are not "strange". They work as intended.)
- Tloewald 12y ago
  Australia's libel and defamation laws are worse than, for example, the US's — truth is not an adequate defense, and fiction is not immune.
  - jjh42 12y ago
    Truth is a defense in Australia. one thing I like about Australian law is that large companies cannot sue for defamation. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defamation#Australia http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defamation#Australia

Istof 12y ago

you were directly involved in both cases?

cma 12y ago
He said he witnessed both. If you see a mugging, are you directly involved?
- Chronic29 12y ago
  You don't know. That is why you ask.

sjy 12y ago

Those sound like pretty serious crimes. Are you saying that the police and media were informed and nothing was done about it?

eng_monkey 12y ago
The Australian Federal Police was informed of the lawyer fraud and showed a complete lack of interest. Actually, it was quite shocking. This matter was never resolved criminally, just professionally. The Law Society simply disbarred the lawyer and put the law firm in administration. The Fidelity Fund (responsible for dealing with trust account fraud, which apparently is something quite normal in spite of public perception) returned lost money to clients.
- Intermernet 12y ago
  Unfortunately, this seems to also apply to high level sports stars in Australia. Various "Judiciaries" punish players for criminal behaviour with penalties of missed matches, or bans, when they should be dealt with in front of a proper court.
- cylinder 12y ago
  This is how most trust fraud seems to be handled by the bar here in the US. I don't really hear of prosecutors getting involved.

RoryH 12y ago

Might the lack of reporting also be Rupert Murdoch related?

Tloewald 12y ago
Murdoch is perhaps less powerful in Australia than in the US. In the early days, Murdoch went for the world, while Kerry Packer (now dead) went for the Australian market. AFAIK major Australian papers and news outlets are largely independent of Murdoch.
- satori99 12y ago
  This is not true at all. News Corp owns 7 of the 12 major daily papers and sells close to 70% of all the newspapers sold in Australia. Murdoch is known to keep a close editorial eye on the Australian market, paticularly The Australian, his pet loss-making broadsheet.
  - Tloewald 12y ago
    Thanks for the info (I've been out of Australia for ten years). The fact remains that Australia still has quite a few solid independent papers (the SMH and Age) and two real public broadcasters (ABC and SBS). Even though Murdoch doesn't own as large a proportion of the US market, I think his effect on the media here is actually worse than I ever found it to be in Australia (mainly owing to Fox News and the awfulness of its alternatives).
    - satori99 12y ago
      Fairfax isn't too bad here, but it's getting worse. They are shedding journalists and photographers at an alarming rate. Their online offereings are becoming more click-baity every week. The ABC and SBS have both had their funding slashed and are in the middle of a poltical ideology shitstorm, with many serious people (MP's & senators from the coalition) calling for a complete governace overhaul or even selling off both of them. Recently the ABC won a coveted license to be able to provide an english langauge news service inside China. The incoming goverment scrapped it completely because they don't like it's perceived anti-conservative bias.

twobits 12y ago

I have no doubt that corruption is universal. Dismiss me as a pessimist or a conspiracy theorist, but, for example, my working definition of (high level) "politician", is: "professional thief and lier". (For example, defamation and libel laws are not "strange". They work as intended.)

Tloewald 12y ago
Australia's libel and defamation laws are worse than, for example, the US's — truth is not an adequate defense, and fiction is not immune.
- jjh42 12y ago
  Truth is a defense in Australia. one thing I like about Australian law is that large companies cannot sue for defamation. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defamation#Australia http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defamation#Australia