Comments on: If he was just a storeman and Packer, would anyone care?

By: AR

AR — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:14:22 +0000

Is there a more evil money making enterprise than gambling? Not even war or drugs come close. Government should run, and tax, them.

By: Bullmore's Ghost

Bullmore's Ghost — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:24:16 +0000

Tee said: “And if ordinary people inherit money, so what. good luck to them. Lord knows it’s been taxed enough.”

In the case of Packer money, many would disagree with you on that. Kerry Packer prided himself on avoiding tax.

Raymondchruch said: “surely ALL prgrammes screened under the 4 Corners name should be Australian topic.”

The name 4 Corners means the four corners of the globe. For many years, the old 4 Corners theme music played against a revolving globe.

Australian (sob) Story has the Oz franchise.

By: tee

tee — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 08:20:11 +0000

The show did serve as a reminder that the system of inheritance, unrestricted by estate duties, allows deeply ordinary people an extraordinary amount of power.

No it doesn’t. It shows neither. In no part of the show did it suggest that Packer has been using his power to enrich himself in any way. That part was just made up nonsense.

And if ordinary people inherit money, so what. good luck to them. Lord knows it’s been taxed enough.

It is time that we had the courage to take on the rich and redress this deeply unfair state of affairs. I recently heard Bill Gates senior (ie the father of Microsoft’s Bill gates) forcefully advocate estate duties and if it is good enough for the Gates family then it is certainly good enough for the Packers.

What’s exactly courageous about eating the rich?

It really is true… about leftwingers that they suffer from envy. Envy of course is the stunted and deformed sibling of ambition.

By: Michael Mollison

Michael Mollison — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 07:23:06 +0000

Agreed…it was a non-event…and actually a bit boring. Perhaps the Packers really aren’t newsworthy anymore….which is consistent with the subtext of the report….how ironic!

By: warwick fry

warwick fry — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 07:19:16 +0000

ahhh … okay. Ernest Hemingway would have been all over that - kewl ..

Having gone over the transcript … it wasn’t so painful to read, (schadenfreude), but it was an air time waster. Who cares about dinosaurs Yo dude !

By: Michael Butler

Michael Butler — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 07:10:43 +0000

Warwick -
Didn’t you know that to be a journalist these days you just need to be able to write a 140-character Twitter post?

By: warwick fry

warwick fry — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 06:54:57 +0000

Simply another indication of the declining levels of media mastery and junior journalism on the ABC. I’m a ‘Friend of the ABC’ but the decline in standards and values is starting to stretch the Friendship. (Sheez! what do they teach kids in journalist school these days, and who recruits them?!)

By: Christine Johnson

Christine Johnson — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 06:29:16 +0000

A bemusing Four Corners! A cricket coach recounting Kerry’s efforts to discipline an heir-in-waiting with a revved cricket robot pounding balls at a kid in soft pads, Jamie and the bride on a podium presumably in Macau pressing a button to ignite lights, fountains and lazers and the weathered, aged and craggy Paul Barry cobbling together old vision and tales. I guess Barry’s book will be available at all ABC book stores. I can’t think of any other reason for the ABC scheduling it.

By: Robert Garnett

Robert Garnett — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 06:07:49 +0000

The Geoff Cousin’s comment regarding the Casino business can quite equally be applied to horse racing. This is a passtime for the rich to fleece the poor and at the same time provide a nice advertising platform for companies owned by those same rich people. A complete and utter waste of resources.

By: RaymondChurch

RaymondChurch — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 05:46:02 +0000

As was predicted before this 4 Corners non event went to air, it was a great plug for the book, a poor advertisement for 4 Corners, already dwindling, reputation for excellent investigative current affairs journalism. I don’t know what is going on at the ABC but it seems there is no longer the desire to produce programmes on 4 Corners that actually are topical, professional and not bought from the BBC to fill in. Unless there are very good reasons to do otherwise, surely ALL prgrammes screened under the 4 Corners name should be Australian topic. Surely the producers are not running out of ideas for the programme, or is a lack of money involved.

Whatever, the standard of 4 Corners has slipped badly from its once superior height.

By: banginon

banginon — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 04:02:26 +0000

The show did serve as a reminder that the system of inheritance, unrestricted by estate duties, allows deeply ordinary people an extraordinary amount of power. It is time that we had the courage to take on the rich and redress this deeply unfair state of affairs. I recently heard Bill Gates senior (ie the father of Microsoft’s Bill gates) forcefully advocate estate duties and if it is good enough for the Gates family then it is certainly good enough for the Packers.

By: Lesley Gruit

Lesley Gruit — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 03:42:23 +0000

What has happened to Four Corners? Breaking news? Hardly. Nothing more than a promo for the book, as if we hadn’t had enough of those over the past week.