Reeves Takes Stoush With Anz To Ballot Box

The Age

Tuesday December 18, 2007

Mark Hawthorne

THERE are some big names standing for election to the ANZ board in Perth today.

David Meiklejohn is listed, who is retiring as per the bank's constitution and offering himself for re-election.

It's a similar story with board members Ian Macfarlane, Greg Clark and John Morschel, who are all standing for re-election at the annual meeting and, unless the counting is being done by some of Vladimir Putin's staff, should all breeze back into power. But there is one much more obscure name on the notice of meeting - one R. J. Reeves of Melbourne.

Robert Reeves, 57, is a former "middle manager" at the bank, and has provided a few headaches for his old employer since his departure from ANZ in 2003.

Reeves' statement of nomination, which can be found in the notice of election, reads thus: "Following the successful settlement of a legal action against ANZ (in which I alleged misleading and deceptive conduct, breach of contract and defamation), I offer my services to ANZ shareholders to assist in overcoming a recurrence of the related costly events."

He continues: "Based on my employment experiences with ANZ I believe ANZ's governance practices and accountabilities need to be improved."

Them's fighting words, and the 57-year-old seems to revel in a good stoush - he's been battling ANZ since 2005, when he claimed he had been forced out of his job with the bank.

With the help of a confidential whistleblower statement - which Reeves has posted on his website anzvalues.com.au - he managed to extract a settlement of $375,471.56 plus costs, and a written apology from Tim L'Estrange, ANZ's general counsel.

But now he wants a seat on the board.

Unfortunately for Reeves, only four positions are available at today's election, and ousting one of the incumbents may prove harder than beating Putin in a poll.

The ANZ board has made it clear it does not endorse Reeves' election, and bank chairman Charles Goode intends to vote all undirected proxies against him.

Sorry, Wii've run out

IT WAS once pummelled into near-extinction - Nintendo, the Japanese video-game giant, was swept aside by rival Sony's PlayStation franchise during the 1990s.

Now, around the world, the Nintendo Wii is the hot-ticket item for this Christmas, and the Japanese electronics maker is fast running out of stock. In Australia, the Wii is now officially the fastest-selling console in history - it reached 200,000 in just 50 weeks, since its launch just before Christmas last year. The sales data, compiled by GfK, takes into account all consoles, including popular hand-held units.

In the US, queues are forming outside retail outlets as soon as new stock arrives. Indeed, analysts say that Nintendo could lose as much as a $US1 billion this festive season by not having enough consoles to meet demand.

Such is the demand that Nintendo of America's president and chief executive, Reggie Fils-Aime, held a press conference regarding the continuing shortage of the Wii and apologised to consumers. Fils-Aime said Nintendo hadn't anticipated the demand. Since its launch, Nintendo has almost doubled its global production from 1 million to 1.8 million Wiis per month, and tripled its US workforce.

"There was no ability for us to stockpile systems in the summer for the holiday rush," Fils-Aime said. "Enough systems would make everyone, including me, much happier."

NPD Group, an American research company, reported that Nintendo's November sales of the Wii totalled 981,000 consoles in the US. That put Nintendo ahead of Microsoft, which sold 770,000 Xbox 360 consoles. And Sony? It sold just 460,000 PlayStation 3 units, less than half Nintendo's figure.

Inflation rhetoric

JUST about everyone has a view on inflation these days.

Back in March, Pius Ncube, then the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo, hit out at Zimbabwe's inflation rate. Mind you, it had hit an estimated 4000% a year.

"It's very disastrous," he told ABC radio. "Professionals like teachers and nurses, the salary they get, they can live on it for three or four days. I mean, I'm telling the truth."

But it has taken a much lower rate to spark a group of Saudi Arabia's religious leaders into action.

While the 400% rise in oil prices over the past five years has helped swell the nation's coffers, the Saudi riyal is pegged to the US dollar, which has led to a surge in the prices of imported food and basic items.

The inflation rate in Saudi Arabia hit 5.35% in October, its highest level in 10 years.

"We direct this message to the rulers and officials: we remind you of Prophet Muhammad's words that you are shepherds who are responsible for your flock," the group of 19 elders, including the high-profile Sheikh Nasser al-Omar, said in a statement.

"This crisis will have a negative impact on all levels, causing theft, cheating, armed robbery, and resentment between rich and poor."

In response, the Saudi Government lifted its subsidies on imported rice and milk formula.

© 2007 The Age

Back to News Index | Back to Home