Kitchenslut Rationalist Economics is highly disposed to open borders and migration however the externality of migration impacts has become interesting as the Copenhagen driven ETS climate hype intensifies!
Australia has now achieved numero uno per capita carbon emmitter status! Aussie aussie aussie oi oi oi oi!
So! What happens for each low emitting Tamil or Afghan imported into a high carbon lifestyle? Have you noticed that with recent upgrades to currently record immigration and population numbers that policymakers have been dead keen to fully inform us on this, NOT? Yes, for every migrant our carbon targets get harder!
The laws of unintended consequences remain immutable .....
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
geography of a daylight saving stimulus
The Compost has published an article on the proposition that daylight saving could be an economic stimulus and report the notion has been rejected by local industry leaders. The basis of the research does seem to yet again be based on temperate rather than tropical zones.
A simple explanation of some of the latitudinal geographic differences relevant to daylight saving cam a few years ago now at olineopinion.com.au
A simple explanation of some of the latitudinal geographic differences relevant to daylight saving cam a few years ago now at olineopinion.com.au
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Vote AGAINST Kern
Here I was all set to post on the upcoming HLG, Hedley Leisure & Gaming, AGM when I flipped through today's Compost Business Week to find a headline 'Kern to stay on board' (no link available).The Compost has reported in typical journalistic style full of naivety, ignorance and error, but more on that later......
For those who haven't kept up, when Tom's house of cards collapsed his 52.72% holding held within TWH (Qld) Pty Ltd ended up in the hands of the receivers where it remains. HLG was structured on the now discredited external manager model with Tom's private interests providing management services to the public entity for a fee. That arrangement was ended when Hedley collpased and management internalised and the office moved to Melbourne.
HLG announced last week that their AGM will be held this year in Melbourne on November 26. That's the same day as the BHP and Woolies AGM, and also the CEC AGM will be held here in Cairns that day. This will almost certainly ensure that any reporting gets buried. I had hoped to get prominent Melbourne based shareholder activist (and Crikey founder) Stephen Mayne along this year but given the clashes he will be in Sydney for the Woolies AGM. He has however indicated that he should be able to get a proxy along to maybe ask some questions.
There are three motions on the agenda for this years AGM the biggest being to re-elect Greg Kern as a director. Kern is his own 'mini-mini-mac' prominent local Cairns business identity. The theme of the Compost story today is just more of the typical sycophancy and spin surrounding Hedley that we always see from the Compost. Kern is among the most failed directors of ASX listed public companies going around. He has presided on the boards of three ASX listed companies in recent years and all have lost around 90% of value. Apart from HLG these are ELY where is is a substantial holder and founder who flogged shares to the public at $1 before they collapsed to around 10 cents. He was also a director of CEC before submitting his 'resignation' during the year. Most notably ALL of these companies languish and have not participated in the market recovery.
There are also questions surrounding his role on the audit committee. This years accounts revealed that HLG has written off a previously undisclosed $4million sunk in the collapse of Hedley Private. This was revealed in related party transaction in this years annual report. Last years accounts have been retstated because of an accounting change for gaming and liquor licenses as intangible assets They simply restated last years status in this years report to backdate its inclusion. There also remain questions re the unauthorised transaction between the public and private entities revealed in the half yearly report apparently discoved and reversed some months later. The unexplained departure of CFO Donnelly followed. I strongly advocates a vote against Kern as the only reasonable vote on any sane objective judgement.
As part of the separation from Hedley the company has to remove his name. The proposed new name is 'Redcape' which needs to be approved at the AGM. Redcape sounds more like a uranium explorer to me? Am I just too cynical but is this an appropriate name for a pub fund seeking investors or is it designed to ensure obscurity and distance itself as far as possible from the past? The remaining motion is to approve the remuneration report where I also have some queries and objections which I will publish prior to the AGM along with a scroll of questions.
There is no doubt all three motions will be approved as is the norm for company meetings, especially with interests such as the receiver, Hedley, and his partner Jeanine holding more than 60%. Given the support for Tom Hedley in the local mania of the initial float and a share scheme for Hedley employees I would guess the smaller shareholding remain heavily weighted to the Cairns region. Kitchenslut has a modest holding recently acquired principally to agitate the board and entertainment value, and will be voting against all three!
This year online voting is enabled making a vote from small shareholders easier. This is worthwhile as an objection vote, even if the result is almost certain, and should be encouraged. Alternatively I will be ticking the boxes against all motions and returning the proxy to Stephen Mayne if and when he lines up a proxy attendee.
There are too many issues surrounding this group that require answers and at present I have a scroll to be formulated into a formal ASIC complaint. Still it goes on with this week with an apparent failure by some parties in HLG to submit formal statutory change of substantial holder notices as required by Corporations Law and ASX listing rules?
Appendix: Compost Corrections.
1) "The board will also ask directors to approve a name change, dropping the "Hedley" tag in favour of "Redspace Property Fund Ltd"
Umm, the board IS the directors! The board of directors will be asking the SHAREHOLDERS to approve the name change!
The proposed name is "Redcape" not "Redspace". Perhaps "Redspace" has something to do with reporter David Sexton's nocturnal habits?
2) "Mr Hedley ... the major shareholder ..... had his shares in the listed entity seized by creditors after the collapse of his private empire last June"
It collpased and receivers were called in July but thats a quibble. Hedley has not had ALL his shares placed with the receivers and remains with holdings through the HLG management company subsequently removed as manager. This was 4.18% at June 30 and he has since received a further payment of approximately 3% of the group as a final management fee payment. More on that also with objections to the remuneration report.
3) " ... the fund has announced it will vote to re-elect Cairns businessman Greg Kern as a director"
It has announced no such thing. It has announced that Kern has nominated to stand again subject to a vote from the shareholders to approve this. Most of this story from Sexton is cut & paste filler of standard statements from any company AGM documents. Much is made of Kern's recommendation by other board members. This is always the case and also part of the unfortunate corporate governance problem .....
We deserve better!
For those who haven't kept up, when Tom's house of cards collapsed his 52.72% holding held within TWH (Qld) Pty Ltd ended up in the hands of the receivers where it remains. HLG was structured on the now discredited external manager model with Tom's private interests providing management services to the public entity for a fee. That arrangement was ended when Hedley collpased and management internalised and the office moved to Melbourne.
HLG announced last week that their AGM will be held this year in Melbourne on November 26. That's the same day as the BHP and Woolies AGM, and also the CEC AGM will be held here in Cairns that day. This will almost certainly ensure that any reporting gets buried. I had hoped to get prominent Melbourne based shareholder activist (and Crikey founder) Stephen Mayne along this year but given the clashes he will be in Sydney for the Woolies AGM. He has however indicated that he should be able to get a proxy along to maybe ask some questions.
There are three motions on the agenda for this years AGM the biggest being to re-elect Greg Kern as a director. Kern is his own 'mini-mini-mac' prominent local Cairns business identity. The theme of the Compost story today is just more of the typical sycophancy and spin surrounding Hedley that we always see from the Compost. Kern is among the most failed directors of ASX listed public companies going around. He has presided on the boards of three ASX listed companies in recent years and all have lost around 90% of value. Apart from HLG these are ELY where is is a substantial holder and founder who flogged shares to the public at $1 before they collapsed to around 10 cents. He was also a director of CEC before submitting his 'resignation' during the year. Most notably ALL of these companies languish and have not participated in the market recovery.
There are also questions surrounding his role on the audit committee. This years accounts revealed that HLG has written off a previously undisclosed $4million sunk in the collapse of Hedley Private. This was revealed in related party transaction in this years annual report. Last years accounts have been retstated because of an accounting change for gaming and liquor licenses as intangible assets They simply restated last years status in this years report to backdate its inclusion. There also remain questions re the unauthorised transaction between the public and private entities revealed in the half yearly report apparently discoved and reversed some months later. The unexplained departure of CFO Donnelly followed. I strongly advocates a vote against Kern as the only reasonable vote on any sane objective judgement.
As part of the separation from Hedley the company has to remove his name. The proposed new name is 'Redcape' which needs to be approved at the AGM. Redcape sounds more like a uranium explorer to me? Am I just too cynical but is this an appropriate name for a pub fund seeking investors or is it designed to ensure obscurity and distance itself as far as possible from the past? The remaining motion is to approve the remuneration report where I also have some queries and objections which I will publish prior to the AGM along with a scroll of questions.
There is no doubt all three motions will be approved as is the norm for company meetings, especially with interests such as the receiver, Hedley, and his partner Jeanine holding more than 60%. Given the support for Tom Hedley in the local mania of the initial float and a share scheme for Hedley employees I would guess the smaller shareholding remain heavily weighted to the Cairns region. Kitchenslut has a modest holding recently acquired principally to agitate the board and entertainment value, and will be voting against all three!
This year online voting is enabled making a vote from small shareholders easier. This is worthwhile as an objection vote, even if the result is almost certain, and should be encouraged. Alternatively I will be ticking the boxes against all motions and returning the proxy to Stephen Mayne if and when he lines up a proxy attendee.
There are too many issues surrounding this group that require answers and at present I have a scroll to be formulated into a formal ASIC complaint. Still it goes on with this week with an apparent failure by some parties in HLG to submit formal statutory change of substantial holder notices as required by Corporations Law and ASX listing rules?
Appendix: Compost Corrections.
1) "The board will also ask directors to approve a name change, dropping the "Hedley" tag in favour of "Redspace Property Fund Ltd"
Umm, the board IS the directors! The board of directors will be asking the SHAREHOLDERS to approve the name change!
The proposed name is "Redcape" not "Redspace". Perhaps "Redspace" has something to do with reporter David Sexton's nocturnal habits?
2) "Mr Hedley ... the major shareholder ..... had his shares in the listed entity seized by creditors after the collapse of his private empire last June"
It collpased and receivers were called in July but thats a quibble. Hedley has not had ALL his shares placed with the receivers and remains with holdings through the HLG management company subsequently removed as manager. This was 4.18% at June 30 and he has since received a further payment of approximately 3% of the group as a final management fee payment. More on that also with objections to the remuneration report.
3) " ... the fund has announced it will vote to re-elect Cairns businessman Greg Kern as a director"
It has announced no such thing. It has announced that Kern has nominated to stand again subject to a vote from the shareholders to approve this. Most of this story from Sexton is cut & paste filler of standard statements from any company AGM documents. Much is made of Kern's recommendation by other board members. This is always the case and also part of the unfortunate corporate governance problem .....
We deserve better!
Monday, October 19, 2009
KitchenSlut Global Markets
The muscular Australian dollar has grown as a topic of conversation almost to the extent of almost becoming the proverbial BBQ stopper. The conversation used to be property values and now it's currency and potential international travel destinations. While the $AUD is not back to pre-crisis levels against many major currencies it is well above where could have been expected and closing in on previous highs.
So, just on currency which are the countries we most strongly resemble. There has been some comment on the comparison with Canada which as a fellow 'developed nation' has a substantial commodity based economy also, but with a higher manufacturing exposure and a large exposure to the USA. Even there though as against the anything from the $US, the impoverished pound sterling, the euro and on to the Indian Rupee and the Chinese Renmimbi / Yuan, the hegemony of the $AUD has been complete!
But no, the countries we have most strongly tracked over the last year are ....
Brazil, where the stock market is a global best performer and back to 2007 levels.
and South Africa
Yes there were some volatile moves a year ago when the shit hit the fan but otherwise these are the two we track most closely in recent months! So Carnivale, in Rio not Port Douglas, is off the travel agenda for next year anyway with Europe, UK and most others cheap as chips. It was a year ago now that economics nobel laureate Paul Krugman coined the phrase "we are all brazillians now" in a different context.
Well KS Global Markets may not seem to have a local theme, but with currency the theme du jour we noted extensive advertising on Sea FM promoting get rich schemes from an obscure currency trading promoter with the prestigious web address www.makegreatmoney.com.au/
Oh dear, does this still work or has not the average Sea FM punter out there not worked out that what will be most heavily promoted will be the current themes and headlines? We may look into and post further on this.
Update: No sooner do we post than Brazil whacks a surprise 2% tax on all capital inflows to try and stem the rising real with consequences for markets and exchange rates. This Bloomberg report with comments on consquences of a 'currency bubble' in Brazil as the exodus from $US assets continues is also interesting. Meanwhile, The Australian has reported on currency related impacts on overseas student numbers .....
Saturday, October 17, 2009
"I murdered the state"?
As a consequence of not owning a television KitchenSlut missed the entire first series of Masterchef as well as the celibrity version this week featuring Anna Bligh. Apparently Bligh's contribution to the Far North was, in tune with KS, an attempt to highlight our magnificent local vanilla beans! Although it would seem the vanilla bean featured in a less than cameo role being tossed in whole in a blink with scant regard and no theatrical slicing to arromatically excite the senses!?
But did Anna really mumble the line "I murdered the state" ...... errrr or was that steak(?) as she presented her downfall meat dish? Was the detraction of a flawed main from a "cracking" fnq vanilla enhanced dessert an ironic metaphor for the state's political economy?
But did Anna really mumble the line "I murdered the state" ...... errrr or was that steak(?) as she presented her downfall meat dish? Was the detraction of a flawed main from a "cracking" fnq vanilla enhanced dessert an ironic metaphor for the state's political economy?
Friday, October 16, 2009
Far North Unemployment Debacle
Kitchenslut is struggling somewhat here with his google docs embeddedment into blogger but will persist and, perhaps, one day triumph! Although a retreat into the culinary uses of vanilla beans may also be an option?
Whatever! These are the percentage unemployment percentages from the ABS for the Far North statistical region since the series commenced in 2007. Total numbers of unemplyed have risen to around 20,000. The participation rate, the percentage of working age people actually seeking work, has been quite stable generally throughout this period. I will try to update and improve the table and add graphics if possible!
These numbers are still little reported even in Cairns, let alone beyond, but should be regarded as unacceptable. When i stop dabbling with techie issues will try to update with further comment .....
Whatever! These are the percentage unemployment percentages from the ABS for the Far North statistical region since the series commenced in 2007. Total numbers of unemplyed have risen to around 20,000. The participation rate, the percentage of working age people actually seeking work, has been quite stable generally throughout this period. I will try to update and improve the table and add graphics if possible!
These numbers are still little reported even in Cairns, let alone beyond, but should be regarded as unacceptable. When i stop dabbling with techie issues will try to update with further comment .....
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