Friday, 22 June 2001
Lawyer says HIH failure will savage builders, The Australian, 22 June, 2001.
Lawyer says HIH failure will savage builders: [1 Edition]
Stapleton, John. The Australian; Canberra, A.C.T. [Canberra, A.C.T] 22 June 2001: 41.
Abstract
A PROMINENT building lawyer has lashed out at insurers forcing builders to put their personal assets on the line in the wake of the HIH collapse.
Building solicitor Kim Lovegrove said "diabolically onerous conditions" were being placed on builders seeking replacement residential indemnity coverage.
Mr Lovegrove, principal of Sydney-Melbourne law firm Lovegrove Solicitors, said the plight of home builders, as they desperately scrimmaged around for replacement residential indemnity cover, was another tragedy from the HIH collapse.
A PROMINENT building lawyer has lashed out at insurers forcing builders to put their personal assets on the line in the wake of the HIH collapse.
Building solicitor Kim Lovegrove said "diabolically onerous conditions" were being placed on builders seeking replacement residential indemnity coverage.
Mr Lovegrove, principal of Sydney-Melbourne law firm Lovegrove Solicitors, said the plight of home builders, as they desperately scrimmaged around for replacement residential indemnity cover, was another tragedy from the HIH collapse.
"The typical profile is a small law-abiding builder, who paid for the cover prior to the insolvency," he said.
"Our hapless stereotype now finds himself in no-man's land because he can't build without replacement cover.
"Many of these poor buggers are told by some insurers that unless they provide personal guarantees they won't get cover. I read one such guarantee the other day and it could only be described as diabolically onerous."
Mr Lovegrove said that if an owner made a claim on the policy, regardless of merit, the builder had to indemnify the insurer against any payout or expenses incurred by the insurer.
Mr Lovegrove said it would be tantamount to negligence to advise a builder to sign such documents.
"It is like placing one's neck into a hangman's noose ... and the most sinister spin is that the builder doesn't know when the hangman cometh."
Even more disturbing, builders were being asked to secure all assets, including those in joint names such as family homes, and spouses were likewise being asked to provide personal guarantees.
"Some of these draconian guarantees or back-to-back indemnities state that one should seek legal advice before signing up," Mr Lovegrove said.
"The problem for the lawyer is that this type of document is an anathema. All the lawyer can say is you're dammed if you do and dammed if you don't.
"Either put everything on the line, which I can't advise you to do, but understand that if you don't do that you don't get cover, which means you can't build."
Mr Lovegrove said the law requiring builders to pay for homeowners' insurance cover added insult to injury.
"A lot of builders don't quite understand this," he said. "They think they are the ones who are insured, when in actual fact they're not.
"Compare this with lawyers, doctors and accountants, or even other building practitioners such as engineers or building surveyors.
"They pay for their cover and are indemnified for claims and legal fees associated with defending those claims."
Friday, 15 June 2001
Developers fall to some pier pressure - COMMERCIAL, The Australian, 15 June, 2001.
Developers fall to some pier pressure - COMMERCIAL: [1 Edition]
Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 15 June 2001: 40.
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Abstract
Once an outpost for sealers and smugglers, Piers 8 and 9 at Walsh Bay have unparalleled views up and down Sydney's famous harbour; with the bridge looming in the distance, it's plumb in the middle of the harbour's busy commercial life.
Piers 8 and 9 were jointly developed by Multiplex and Matt Handbury of Murdoch Magazines in 1999.
Mr Handbury owns 70 per cent of the development, now valed at $70 million. John David of David's Holding, which has substantial wholesale grocery interests, owns 11 per cent, or 1250sqm, bought recently at a confidential price. Multiplex owns the rest, consisting of the harbour end of the first two floors of thewharf.
THERE could hardly be a more desirable piece of commercial real estate on Sydney Harbour.
And it's for sale.
Once an outpost for sealers and smugglers, Piers 8 and 9 at Walsh Bay have unparalleled views up and down Sydney's famous harbour; with the bridge looming in the distance, it's plumb in the middle of the harbour's busy commercial life.
Prime Sydney Harbour commercial real estate has been selling for between $6000 and $10,000sqm in recent times. That makes the value of the 2146m site on offer at up to $21 million for a 99-year strata leasehold.
Piers 8 and 9 were jointly developed by Multiplex and Matt Handbury of Murdoch Magazines in 1999.
Mr Handbury owns 70 per cent of the development, now valed at $70 million. John David of David's Holding, which has substantial wholesale grocery interests, owns 11 per cent, or 1250sqm, bought recently at a confidential price. Multiplex owns the rest, consisting of the harbour end of the first two floors of thewharf.
Mr Handbury has his office on the top level.
"I've got the best office in the world," he said, looking across the passing cargo ships to the bridge. It's hard to disagree with him.
The piers, some of the last great wooden finger wharfs in the world, were built in 1910 as a response to the bubonic plague that had wreaked havoc through the local community in the 1800s. With high concrete ramparts, the wharves were specifically designed to stop rats coming ashore.
The piers remained derelict since containerisation made them obsolete in the early 1970s.
The fate of the famous wharves along Hickson Road at Millers Point in Sydney has long been one of the great architectural debating points of the city.
Any tourist wandering around from Circular Quay would soon find themselves in a deserted and often dangerous area.
In recent years fire brigades have been regularly called down to Hickson Road to extinguish fires started by squatters who made the wharves their makeshift home.
Attempts to develop the precinct have been dogged by controversy.
As Sydney City Council's historian Shirley Fitzgerald wrote in her book Millers Point The Urban Village: "The future of the Walsh Bay wharves was a complex issue."
By the 1980s "gone were the great ships and the vast cargoes of wool. The pandemonium of comings and goings on Hickson Road had given way to long silences in the now wide spaces of the waterfront".
Now the pandemonium is back and the squatters gone, as much of the precinct is being redeveloped.
The neighbouring wharf, demolished amid much opposition and now being rebuilt as luxury apartments, sold in little more than a week for around $400 million all-up last year.
Piers 8 and 9 are regarded as a heritage triumph, as an excellent example of a recycled historical building.
The floor was lifted piece by piece and replaced in its original spot so that the marks and scratches align exactly. The original corrugated iron has been restored.
A rare 1950s poster peeling from the wall declares "Less Cargo Less Jobs", reflecting the strong union history of the site.
Many of the original pulleys and mechanical features have been preserved.
Heritage architect for the site John Tropman said there was a "lot of hard work and negotiation with developers, owners, contractors and the authorities".
"In the end everyone has come out of the process feeling they have achieved something quite special."
Mr Handbury said getting the development over the line was not easy.
"There were so many different government authorities involved," he said. "It is a calming and enriching environment away from the humdrum, intensity and stress of our publishing life."
Multiplex director Denis O'Regan, the driving force behind the restoration, said: "This is a unique site. It is not for everybody. The person who buys this will be someone who has the money, walks in and falls in love with it."
Illustration
Caption: Driving force: Picture: Bob Finlayson; Photo: Photo
Infamous stockpile baled out, The Australian, 15 June, 2001
Infamous stockpile baled out: [1 Edition]
Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 15 June 2001: 40.
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Abstract
There are now only 184,000 bales left in the stockpile, representing about three weeks' worth of overall Australian sales. All the stockpile is expected to be gone well before the end of the year.
At its peak, the stockpile hit almost five million bales. The stockpile was amassed as a result of the reserve price scheme introduced in 1970. The trouble began when the world price started falling in the late 1980s, but the reserve price remained high.
The conflict between the industry and managers of the stockpile disappeared after privatisation. "Growers will be pleased to see the end of the stockpile in sight," Mr [Peter Myers] said.
THE wool stockpile, which has cast a dark shadow over the Australian wool industry for more than a decade, is finally disappearing.
In the last decade sheep numbers have contracted by more than 60 million and production by 40 per cent.
There are now only 184,000 bales left in the stockpile, representing about three weeks' worth of overall Australian sales. All the stockpile is expected to be gone well before the end of the year.
At its peak, the stockpile hit almost five million bales. The stockpile was amassed as a result of the reserve price scheme introduced in 1970. The trouble began when the world price started falling in the late 1980s, but the reserve price remained high.
Critics say the demise of the stockpile marks the sorry end of three decades of government interference which created havoc in the wool industry and destroyed the operations of many traditional properties.
This week Woolstock Australia's chairman Donald McGauchie said no matter what pressure woolgrowers put on governments of any persuasion in the future, politicians should stay away.
"Very obviously there is a clear lesson that intervention in the marketplace invariably leads to tears," he said. "The cost of this mistake has been absolutely enormous."
Mr McGauchie said the government had been dragged into the reserve price scheme against its better judgment in 1970 under pressure from the politically powerful farm lobby, but it had all proved to be at a high cost to the industry.
"It has taken 10 years now to clean up the stockpile, and it has been at huge expense," he said. "This is a consequence of a reserve price scheme which ultimately failed, as most of them do.
"The impact has been very very substantial. People have been reeling under the impact. People have gone into cattle, sheep meat and grain; in some instances they were forced to leave their properties."
Peter Myers, managing director of Woolstock Australia, said they were well ahead of their selling schedule.
The exact date when the stockpile disappears forever will depend on market conditions, the Australian dollar and, in particular, demand from China.
Woolstock Australia is a private company listed on the stockmarket and largely owned by woolgrowers. It took over from the highly controversial government body Wool International in mid- 1999.
Wool International was disliked by many in the industry. It had a legislative obligation to sell more than 600,000 bales a year and was criticised for damaging thefresh wool market by injudicious selling.
The conflict between the industry and managers of the stockpile disappeared after privatisation. "Growers will be pleased to see the end of the stockpile in sight," Mr Myers said.
Once all the wool is sold Woolstock Australia will be placed into official liquidation and wound up.
Tony Wilson of Itochu Wool, Australia's largest woolbuyers for the past 35 years, said the end of the stockpile marked the end of a period of "greed, stupidity and ignorance".
"It had a savage effect on a lot of people. The reserve price was meant to provide a subsistence level for the woolgrower, but unfortunately certain forces pushed the reserve price up. The industry at the time was powerful and had much political influence. We paid a price for that influence.
"The stockpile was a liability around everyone's neck. The lesson is that government intervention has made life for growers a misery for the past 30 years.
"Australia was telling the world they must pay what we want them to pay. In a free market you can't tell the rest of the world what to pay for wool."
Wool Council president David Wolfenden, who represents growers, said the disposal of the stockpile has meant 10 years of constant pain for woolgrowers.
"It has meant a great many bankruptcies and great hardship for woolgrowers generally," he said. "A ballpark figure, we've lost 20,000 woolgrowers. We welcome seeing supply and demand being back in balance."
Harvey Norman is out headhunting, The Australian, 15 June, 2001.
Harvey Norman is out headhunting: [1 Edition]
Stapleton, John. The Australian; Canberra, A.C.T. [Canberra, A.C.T] 15 June 2001: 42.
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Abstract
The holdings consists mainly of the 140 [Harvey Norman] sites, mostly in Australia, and more than 380 leaseholds.
Richard Champion, general manager of Harvey Norman's property portfolio, said the company's policy of buying rather than renting had proved very successful. The holdings act as an ancillary to the main business of retailing.
AUSTRALIA'S biggest white goods, computer and furniture retailer Harvey Norman is looking for a new manager to drive its $500 million worth of property holdings.
The appointment is tied to aggressive plans to open 10 new stores around Australia.
The holdings consists mainly of the 140 Harvey Norman sites, mostly in Australia, and more than 380 leaseholds.
However there are five stores in New Zealand, three under construction and 10 on the drawing board. There are 15 in Singapore and building is starting in Slovenia, the company's first venture in Europe.
Richard Champion, general manager of Harvey Norman's property portfolio, said the company's policy of buying rather than renting had proved very successful. The holdings act as an ancillary to the main business of retailing.
"We spend a great deal more than any developer would on landscaping and presentation of the facade. It makes the shops far more attractive to customers," Mr Champion said.
Ownership "also enables us to refurbish and extend stores without being at the mercy of landlords".
Monday, 11 June 2001
No snow for skiers, The Australian, 11 June, 2001.
No snow for skiers: [1 Edition]
Stapleton, John. The Australian; Canberra, A.C.T. [Canberra, A.C.T] 11 June 2001: 3.
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Abstract
THE snow season began without snow this year but that didn't stop the celebrations at Thredbo.
THE snow season began without snow this year but that didn't stop the celebrations at Thredbo.
More than 2500 people travelled to the village for fireworks, entertainment and Moulin Rouge theme nights in local restaurants.
A cold change from the Southern Ocean is expected to bring widespread snow to the Snowy Mountains late Wednesday or Thursday.
After last year's bumper start to the season -- hailed as the best since 1968 -- yesterday there was no skiable snow in either the NSW or Victorian ski fields.
A spokesman for the consultancy firm Weatherwatch said the season began with snow only every four or five years.
And another thing -- Page 12
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