Senate hearing - Wednesday

[Kalahard]

I see TWAS has surfaced stating that he can't see ASIC proving that people benefited from the ARU's decision. I have put him in his box.

Yep, just read TWAS's response. He has shifted his position from flat out denial to having $1 on each horse. He discredited himself in that post.

[Bakkies]

I am liking this Gazza poster

[Alison]

I haven't had time to go over the whole report but i have to say well done Senators Reynolds and Siewart. Senator Reynolds statement to the Senate was concise and left no one in doubt as to the digust and anger the charlatans at Rats Arse have caused to WA rugby and its supporters. We now have 3 administrative bodies in Rugby Union referred to ASIC for improper financial dealings, the ARU, Rebels and Brumbies. We now have proof the ARU mislead the rugby public in its charade to run a proper and fair process of evaluation on the franchises to be culled. We now have proof the ARU fudged its supporting information in culling the Force. We now know that a VRU Board member has a pecuniary interest in the unit trust behind Imperium. We now know that Imperium had accumulated losses of $24 million before buying the Rebels despite the ARUs and Coxes public statements about Coxes ability to turn around troubled businesses. We no know that Imperium was technically insolvent when buying the Rebels, $24 million in losses and a web of failed companies does not lie. We now have proof that the ARU was advising and funding the VRU takeover of the Rebels in June, 3 months before Clyne stated that culling the Rebels remained a "real possibility". We now have proof that the ARU is a closed shop to outsiders and has repeatedly made decisions that adversely affect Rugbys ability to grow and remain financially viable. We now have proof the ARU lied the Senate inquiry. We now have proof the ARU showed contempt for the Inquiry by trying to bully the senate into closing it down. We now have proof of the numerous public misrepresentations made by the ARU. We now have proof that the Alliance Agreement was negotiated in bad faith by the ARU. We now have proof that the VRU representatives lied to the Inquiry. We now have proof the ARU lied on its financial reports. And thats only a small summary of what ive read so far.

No doubt there are still some denialists out there trying to rubbish the report, the ARUs lawyers must be working overtime trying to spin a response or a victim statement about how unfair they've been treated. All i can say is, Rugby Australia, ARU, whatever you call yourself is this you've failed the rugby community of Australia. You've robbed the sport of growth, of opportunity and of money. You are fraudsters. Running a sporting organization does not make you above the law and it certainly does not make you invincible. It certainly does not give you the right to waste the sports money, steal the sports money or act in ways that bring the sport into disrepute. It does not give you the right to act in insular, self intersted, protectionist ways. And it most definitely does not give you the right to shit on Rugby people whether they are players, supporters, volunteers or families looking for entertainment and participation. You may think you can bully people, lie to the public and act like the victim but the truth will always win. The truth is now being exposed and confirmed. Its too late to save face now, the rebrand has been a disaster and the public want this administrations failings rectified and structures and checks and balances put in place to ensure future versions of the ARU do not make the same mistakes. Board of the ARU, it is time to resign, to move on. Rugby Union deserves better.

Very well said. Hear hear!!!

[blue]

I have just sent the following letter to Louise Pratt Labour Senator to WA who put her name to the dribble contained in the Labour Senators additional comments document tabled as part of the final report.

Louise,
I am very concerned with the addition of your name to a document that was titled additional comments from Labour Senators re the Future of Rugby Union in Australia tabled as part of the final report.
I am amazed that you would put your name to this document, as it reads, if you had read all the documents submitted as part of this enquiry, especially as you are elected primarily to represent the people of WA.
As has been reported that the Chairman of Rugby Australia tried to stop this enquiry by contacting the Prime Minister, it would not amaze me that The Rugby Australia Chairman also contacted the Labour Senators involved.
This is probably the reason for this document been tabled which is not a good reflection of you and how your Party operates.
I would like you to please respond, by explaining how you came to the conclusions in your tabled document. It was clear in reading all evidence and submissions to this enquiry that Rugby Australia have never clearly explained why and how the Western Force came to be the team to be omitted from Super Rugby.
If you do not want to respond, that is fine but please be aware that I will be posting this letter onto the twf.com website, so that Western Australians can see how you are representing them in Parliament.
To me it seems your philosophy is Labour First WA Second.

Regards,

[Alison]

I would have left off the “Regards” bit!

[shasta]

To me it seems your philosophy is Labour colleagues in Victoria First WA Second.

Regards,

FIXED.

[Bakkies]

Well said. If she gets back to you mention that Sen Reynolds had cross party support to start the Inquiry and the RA have already had a review conducted by a Labor politician Mark Arbib.

I got an email from the committee asking if I would like a paper copy posted to me. If I do say yes it will go straight to the pool room.

[UAUdiver1959]

Well said. If she gets back to you mention that Sen Reynolds had cross party support to start the Inquiry and the RA have already had a review conducted by a Labor politician Mark Arbib.

I got an email from the committee asking if I would like a paper copy posted to me. If I do say yes it will go straight to the pool room.

Try and get a (the) spreadsheet as well!!

[Perth Girl]

Can anyone tell me where to look to get the email addresses of the ARU board members as I want to contact them regarding their position now the Senate inquiry has been tabled. I think someone did put the addresses up a while ago but I cant find the post. In my opinion we still need to be stirring for something to get done otherwise it might just fade away

[TimboL]

Yep, just read TWAS's response. He has shifted his position from flat out denial to having $1 on each horse. He discredited himself in that post.

He's not wrong. But he is using a straw man as usual.
At this state of understanding, The people benefiting are the owners of a dodgy restaurant chain.
It isn't like Clarke, Clyne or Pulver other one, are beneficiaries of Imperium trust web.....That we know of.

They are wholly responsible for the contract that squandered the ARU's riches to that mob of charlatans and should be strung up for that, it isn't an ASIC matter, unfortunately they are not accountable to anyone for that.
The ASIC Involvement will be how a not for profit organization funneled money to their "Consultants", and since most of it happened in NZ it is probably, and intentionally outside ASIC's jurisdiction. Is there an NZ equivalent that we could involve to help out at the other end?

As far as personal benefit is concerned, Clarke is the only one in the crosshairs, he directly benefited, but it could be easily argued that as he was the Victorian rep, he was fighting for what was best for his state. Even if the end result was him ending up with a cherry position in Victorian Rugby. It is no different to regular politics.

[JSJ]

Can anyone tell me where to look to get the email addresses of the ARU board members as I want to contact them regarding their position now the Senate inquiry has been tabled. I think someone did put the addresses up a while ago but I cant find the post. In my opinion we still need to be stirring for something to get done otherwise it might just fade away

John@eales.com.au that ones is correct and he sometimes responds
bill.pulver@rugby.com.au , not sure about that one, He has never responded

[Bakkies]

He's not wrong. But he is using a straw man as usual.
At this state of understanding, The people benefiting are the owners of a dodgy restaurant chain.
It isn't like Clarke, Clyne or Pulver other one, are beneficiaries of Imperium trust web.....That we know of.

They are wholly responsible for the contract that squandered the ARU's riches to that mob of charlatans and should be strung up for that, it isn't an ASIC matter, unfortunately they are not accountable to anyone for that.
The ASIC Involvement will be how a not for profit organization funneled money to their "Consultants", and since most of it happened in NZ it is probably, and intentionally outside ASIC's jurisdiction. Is there an NZ equivalent that we could involve to help out at the other end?

As far as personal benefit is concerned, Clarke is the only one in the crosshairs, he directly benefited, but it could be easily argued that as he was the Victorian rep, he was fighting for what was best for his state. Even if the end result was him ending up with a cherry position in Victorian Rugby. It is no different to regular politics.

Disagree as the report said they had confidential info regarding an individual who is an Imperium trust member and there are various conflicts of interest surrounding certain VRU board members and the shifting around of consultant fees. They will have to investigate the money trail there.

Jurisdiction is funny as Cox registered his Australian address on the NZ company records.

[Bakkies]

Apparently legislation has been changed and agreed to so both countries regulatory authority have access to each other's

http://www.ecrforum.org/wp-content/u...aries_ecrf.pdf

[UAUdiver1959]

[QUOTE=Kalahard;446515][url]https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/aug/06/rebels

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/rugby-union/rebels-1-sale-leaves-aru-on-blind-side/news-story/2431a68488360576690899b98e921ba1


This is article in the Australian that I was referring too. The ARU have sown a field of lies and hidden behind commercial in confidence. They Fu*%ing orchestrated this whole 'Put Option' sale back to the VRU whilst letting everyone in the West know that they were trying to buy the licence back from Cox. They paid the money to stop the MRRU being insolvent and then leveraged Cox to sell back the licence and obviously keep is $6m.

Deceptive and Misleading conduct or what!!

[GIGS20]

I see TWAS has surfaced stating that he can't see ASIC proving that people benefited from the ARU's decision. I have put him in his box.

He also said that ASIC should have investigated first and the referred to senate, shows how much he knows about senate inquiries