‘It's a no-go': Giants captain busted in apparent dirty act
Greene has already been hit with a one-match suspension for striking Swans star Isaac Heeney during the spiteful Sydney derby and the 31-year-old could now face further attention from the AFL.
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New vision of an apparent second striking act was first shared on Channel 9's Footy Classified on Monday night with the mercurial small forward appearing to kick Swans defender Dane Rampe in the groin region.
The new vision shows Greene lashed out kicking directly behind him between Rampe's legs during a heated confrontation before the start of the game.
Vision from behind the goals showed Rampe giving Greene some special attention with multiple attempts to push and shove his opponent behind play.
As the ball was bounced to start the game, Greene then kicked out behind him.
According to Channel 9, the AFL was not aware of the incident before Monday night.
Greene's elbow to the side of Isaac Heeney's head was the only charge handed down following the AFL Match Review Officer's review of the game with the league stating 'there were no incidents requiring a detailed explanation'.
You can watch the incident in the video player above.
Essendon legend Matthew Lloyd on Monday night told the AFL and new general manager of football performance Greg Swann the league needs to come out and make a public statement about Greene's uncovered act.
'I feel that the AFL will look at this,' Lloyd said.
'I'm not sure what they do after the event or if this is the first time they've heard about or known about the vision.
'The groin region and an intentional kick going to that region, it certainly must be re-looked at by the AFL. I'd expect a statement from them in the next 24 hours.'
Former GWS board member Jimmy Bartel said 'kicking is a no-go' in football and pointed to Greene's poor discipline in important matches, with seven incidents cited from finals or so called 'big' games.
'It's still pretty average,' the Brownlow medallist said.
'Kicking is a no-go and then kicking to the groin region and throwing your legs back like that.
'This is the issue with Toby Greene, especially in big games he sees the red mist worse than most. That's the problem.'
Greene's suspension for striking Heeney comes ahead of a crucial finals-shaping Thursday night fixture for the Giants against the Western Bulldogs.
With the Giants and Bulldogs both winning on Friday night, eight premiership points still separates the clubs, with the Dogs in a must-win position ahead of the clash at Marvel Stadium in Round 21.
Brisbane Lions legend Jonathan Brown put Greene's 'undisciplined' act down to being 'too amped up' to start the match.
'Yeah, it is late. So, you can understand some sort of fine,' he said on Fox Footy on Friday night.
'He was just a bit fired up, he was a bit hot under the collar — maybe a bit amped up too much in the first half, and that just showed out in some of the undisciplined nature of the acts in the first half.'
Fellow Lions great Alastair Lynch added: 'I think that's where Adam Kingsley's coming from — he didn't make the right impact in that first half and (needed) a bit of a reset. I don't think the Isaac Heeney one's a good look.'
Fox Footy's Ben Dixon said he had close eyes on Greene during the first quarter watching from the sideline.
'No shots fired during the week, very quiet leading into Derby 31 and Toby Greene might've been saving his rounds because the first quarter he was firing shots left, right and centre,' he said from the boundary line.
'Isaac Heeney's 'don't argue' on Toby Greene, he said 'I'm not having that', comes in with a forearm to the head, reverse free kick. That was holding the ball.
'And then off the ball with Aaron Francis, just one to the chest, throwing his weight around.
'He's not going to miss many tonight the way the captain's going about it.'
Greene also showed his contempt towards fellow agitator Tom Papley heading to the halftime break, telling Fox Footy 'he's looking overweight, see how he goes second half'.

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ABC News
28 minutes ago
- ABC News
Illegal tobacco is a deadly $10 billion industry wiping out legitimate businesses
Australia's illegal tobacco problem has made the proverbial transition from tragedy to farce. Illicit, excise-evading cigarettes now comprise half of the cancer-inducing products sold to Australia's 2.7 million smokers. A study published by FTI Consulting put it at 39.4 per cent in 2024, up from 14 per cent six years ago, but an update for the month of June puts it at 50 per cent. And, according to studies of wastewater, nicotine consumption in Australia, including vaping, is at an all-time high. We can now conclude that the strategy of taxing and banning nicotine addiction out of existence is a complete failure. The result is that organised crime is making about $10 billion a year in revenue. Who needs narcotics? With them, you risk lengthy jail time; with smokes and vapes, it's a fine, but only if you're very unlucky. It means Australia's criminals are better paid than they have ever been, and the result of that is showing up in an explosion in both the amount of crime and its brazenness. And because the people engaged in this "industry" are gangsters, competition is not met by price wars and the ACCC, but by burning your competitor's business to the ground, or, as happened last week, by allegedly murdering your competitor's staff. Athan Boursinos, 21, an alleged employee of "tobacco kingpin" Kazem "Kaz" Hamad and his cousin, Ahmed Al Hamza, both of whom live overseas, was shot dead in a laneway behind his home in broad daylight on Thursday morning. In the past couple of years, there have been 125 fire-bombings of tobacco shops in Victoria, and another 50 or so in other states — the most recent last week in Corrimal, NSW. Victoria's coat of arms bears the phrase "Peace and Prosperity", but there's a lot more of the latter in that state these days than the former, and that's not saying much. Violent robberies in Victoria have grown by more than 150 per cent since February 2024 due to tobacco-related crime. This is much worse than an unintended consequence of the effort to reduce smoking; it is a complete stuff-up. A window into what's happened was provided last week by Viva Energy, which operates Australia's largest network of petrol stations with convenience stores attached. In its six-monthly results, the company reported that tobacco sales are down 27 per cent — in one year! — because of the growth in the illicit tobacco trade. The problem for Viva is more than money: its petrol stations and other convenience stores are now being regularly robbed by gangs of balaclava-wearing teenagers waving handguns and machetes, traumatising the staff. Serious, well-resourced gangs are only after cigarettes — the entire stock — because at $57.89 a pack, the stock can be worth $100,000. Do five or six of those in a night, and you're making very good money. The till is small beer. The Albanese government is having a similar financial problem to that of Viva. This year's federal budget contained an estimate of $7.4 billion from tobacco excise for the current financial year, down from $8.75 billion just six months ago in MYEFO. The CEO of the Australian Association of Convenience Stores, Theo Foukkares, says the tipping point happened in 2019 when the excise increased 55 per cent over three years to $1.10 per cigarette stick. As a direct result, illicit smoking took off and tobacco excise revenue to the government collapsed, from a peak of $16 billion in 2019 to this year's $7.4 billion. And it's not just the price that's driving people towards the much cheaper illegal alternatives, although that's the main thing, especially in a cost-of-living crisis. For a start, the packs look nicer without pictures of horrible mouth tumours. 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The real danger now is that the stores selling legitimate tobacco will give up and leave the industry to the crooks. Coles' Liquorland has already stopped selling cigarettes, and both Coles and Woolworths are reported to be considering dropping them from behind the service counters of their supermarkets. It's harder for petrol stations to do that, since tobacco represents 25-30 per cent of store revenues; if they didn't sell cigarettes, many petrol stations would close. But eventually, with more and more staff suffering PTSD, they'll have to do it if the problem is not resolved. At which point, Australia would have managed to hand over an entire industry to gangsters. The basic problem seems to be that the excise is collected by the federal government, but the enforcement is done by under-funded state police forces. 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That's a new total of $86.3 million a year, of which $10 million will find its way to the states. Most of it goes into the welcoming arms of Border Force. But they're bringing millions to a game of billions; a knife to a gunfight. It may be that the criminals are now too rich, well-organised and violent to be shut down, but Australia's governments can hardly give up. Confronting crime and large-scale tax avoidance is not an optional activity for the government. The only state that is coming to grips with the problem is South Australia. The Malinauskas government has set up a special tobacco enforcement squad of 45 officers and given them warrant-free search and seizure powers. Members of the squad can enter a shop selling illicit tobacco or vaping products, confiscate the stock, and shut the store for three months. With an order from a magistrate, the closure can be extended to 12 months. Theo Foukkares reports that nearby legal tobacconists experience an instant uplift in sales when that happens. The Queensland government has now copied South Australia, but the other states are slow to do it. What's needed is a meeting of state and federal attorneys general and health ministers to agree on a uniform national approach that mirrors the SA laws. Everyone knows where the shops are that are selling the illicit cigarettes — this is not an industry shrouded in mystery; it operates in plain sight. The other thing the federal government could do is reduce the tobacco excise back to what it was before 2019, which would lead to a huge increase in revenue. Alan Kohler is a finance presenter and columnist on ABC News, and he also writes for Intelligent Investor.

ABC News
28 minutes ago
- ABC News
Law firms and investors making millions from class actions while victims get just thousands
For Minnie McDonald, the class action represented hope — justice after decades of unpaid work. The lawsuit was supposed to right a wrong, provide compensation for thousands of Aboriginal workers who received little or no money for their labour. Instead, some Aboriginal workers and their families will end up with payouts as little as $10,000, while the law firm and its financial backers have pocketed tens of millions. Minnie agreed to be the lead plaintiff in a Northern Territory class action, meaning she represented the group, instructed the lawyers, reviewed costs, and signed legal documents on behalf of the group. But Minnie can't read or write. For help, she relied partly on her granddaughter, who has no legal experience, alongside Shine's lawyers. Shine told Four Corners that Minnie was given independent legal advice. One document Minnie signed was a proposed $11 million increase to Shine's costs. At least one class action is launched every week on average in Australia against banks, governments, and big corporations. But the stolen wages case raises questions about whether class actions are delivering justice for ordinary Australians or are simply a money-making exercise for lawyers and investors. Minnie was just 14 years old when she started working on an outback station near the Queensland-Northern Territory border. Her family was paid in rations of flour, sugar, and tea. Now aged in her 90s, Minnie still remembers life on the station. "It was hard work," she says. Living in a tent and working alongside her family, they would occasionally receive the bones of a bullock killed by the station owner and cook it over an open fire. "My mother used to cook it. Backbone, leg bone, everything," she says. In Western Australia, Mervyn Street and his family lived and worked on another station and were also paid in rations. 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The chairman of the Association of Litigation Funders of Australia, John Walker, says they don't see it as gambling. This business model is how legal firm Shine Lawyers was able to launch class actions in NT and WA to recoup stolen wages, after securing the backing of Litigation Lending Services, a company chaired by billionaire businessman Shaun Bonett. It took four years, but both class actions eventually reached a settlement. In WA, the state government agreed to pay $180 million, and the federal government paid about $200 million for the NT. But first, the law firm and investors have to take their cut. Shine Lawyers will receive more than $41 million in approved costs for its work in both cases, while Litigation Lending Services will take a commission of up to $57 million. The exact amount that Aboriginal workers will receive is unclear because the final number of eligible recipients is not known. Based on court documents, Four Corners estimates the workers will get between $10,000 and $14,000. If those workers have died, the amount will be divided among their families. Although it was Minnie who had to approve the proposed settlement, she said it wasn't enough. She had hoped there would be enough to buy a car so that her children "could take me for a picnic somewhere, you know, have a feed, cook kangaroo tail or whatever, but I didn't get enough". When Four Corners spoke to Mervyn, he was unaware of the final payout individuals would receive until it was spelt out to him. "What you're telling me is not good enough," he says. Shine Lawyers did not want to do an interview with Four Corners. It said in a statement that governments had ignored "the stories of indigenous workers who were denied fair wages. Shine Lawyers gave Aboriginal workers "the chance to tell their stories, receive compensation and be acknowledged … for the historical injustices they suffered". When asked about Minnie and Mervyn's inability to read and write and their capacity to understand legal and financial issues, Shine said: "We are confused that the ABC would suggest that illiteracy implies a lack of intelligence". "This is an unacceptable proposition." Shine said it was not appropriate to comment on "the way in which we provided advice … as these are privileged communications". "We can confirm, however, that both clients received independent legal advice" and that "Shine Lawyers used Aboriginal barristers to bridge communication and cultural barriers." Former Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Burney questioned how much people understood about the class action. "If you are illiterate, if you're innumerate, and your first language is not English, how on Earth are people supposed to understand anything?" she says. "It is very exploitative because you are seeing such a disparity in the outcomes for the legal teams financially, and the outcomes for those that have joined the class action." The stolen wages cases have highlighted concerns about the business model underpinning class actions in Australia and the amounts being taken away by funders and lawyers. The judges who oversaw the WA and NT class actions flagged their concerns about the high legal costs when delivering their judgements, but ultimately approved the settlement amounts as "fair and reasonable". In the NT, Chief Justice Elizabeth Mortimer was scathing in her judgement, saying "the pursuit of the business model" had, at times, overshadowed the good intentions of the lawyers. She said "it would not be surprising" if Aboriginal workers who were part of the class action thought that "the proceeding was little more than a money-making exercise for others". "It seems to me a not inconsiderable number of people … would be frustrated, and likely mystified about how city-based non-indigenous participants in this proceeding come out with so much money compared to their family and friends," Justice Mortimer said. In WA, Justice Bernard Murphy remarked on the "enormous costs" Shine racked up travelling around the state signing people up to the class action. Part of those costs included law clerks who were billed out at a rate of $375 an hour, even though many of them were undergraduate law students. Describing the charges as "excessive" and "seriously overblown", Justice Murphy deducted $4 million from the firm's claims. Shine said "the costs were incurred over the course of six years" and that "a significant portion … came as a result of a "court-ordered outreach and registration process". The breakdown of what lawyers are charging is rarely disclosed, even to members of a class action other than the lead plaintiff, although class members can usually request access. But a confidential report of Shine's costs was released to Four Corners after an application through the courts, revealing in granular detail what the law firm charged while working on the WA class action. It shows Shine had at least a dozen barristers – one charging almost $5,000 an hour — who billed the class action almost $3.5 million. But there were bills that were rejected by a costs expert appointed by the court. Shine tried to charge almost $35,000 for booking and credit card fees from its clients, but the expert rejected it because they were "usually considered to be an overhead of the business rather than a cost reasonably borne by the applicant". Thousands of dollars for Uber and taxi fares were also rejected. Shine also tried to claim tens of thousands of dollars for "grocery items, meals purchased whilst travelling to various communities, and meals and alcohol purchased in hotels and restaurants". The expert rejected these, saying these "should form part of the firm's internal overheads in running a matter such as this". The funder of the stolen wages cases, Litigation Lending Services, bankrolled another action in Queensland. They are set to make up to $95 million in commission from all three cases, which equates to a 250 per cent return on their investment. The funder, Litigation Lending Services said "the real injustice" is how "government fought these claims fiercely, with considerable public resources over many years". "Without LLS's financial support and commitment to taking on all the risk, these claims would not have been brought and group members would have received nothing," it said in a statement. They told Four Corners they were proud of their role and their commission was lower than market rates "to reflect the social justice nature of the claims". George Dann, a member of the WA class action who started work at age 14, was appalled by the amount going to Shine and Litigation Lending Services. He says the amount being taken in fees and commissions is disgraceful. "They get that in an hour, what our family would get in a year," he says. His cousin, Sharon Todd, who put in claims for both her parents, was shocked to learn of the sums. "It's a real insult. It just makes me feel that we are an industry that is being used over and over again to make money for other people," she says. "How are these people sleeping at night?" Although the settlement was approved by the Federal Court almost a year ago, none of the people who joined the WA class action have received any money. The administrators, Grant Thornton, who is being paid up to $3 million to administer the funds, says it's been unable to distribute the funds because it's been dealing with the Australian Taxation Office over a tax issue, which has now been resolved. Shine Lawyers has been paid its share. "It's a farce," George Dann says. "A lot of people worked all their life, and for this to happen, it's a terrible thing." In Canberra, there has been a political battle over the lack of regulation for law firms and litigation funders in the current class action system. Most of the litigation funders operating in Australia come from overseas, with some of them based in tax havens. They are not required to hold a financial licence with ASIC, the corporate regulator. "We have a system where litigation funders who were taking sometimes 30, 40 per cent of the settlement away from victims operate in a largely unregulated environment," says David Hughes of the Liberal-aligned Menzies Research Centre. "In many instances, you could argue that they have less regulation than real estate agents or mortgage brokers." The Morrison government tried to crack down on lawyers and funders in 2021 by capping legal fees and funder commissions at 30 per cent of the settlement. Labor opposed the proposal, and the legislation never went through parliament. Mr Hughes believes the reason for Labor's opposition was because the party is connected to the law firms. "The Labor Party has had strong links with what we call these plaintiff law firms, so think of the Slater and Gordons and the Maurice Blackburns … they're often seen as a training ground for future Labor politicians," he says. "Labor was sympathetic to the cause of these plaintiff law firms, but ultimately these plaintiff law firms just knew that their profit share was at risk if these reforms went through." Maurice Blackburn said it "actively engaged with decision-makers … to make sure everyday Australians were better represented by the law". A statement from Attorney-General Michelle Rowland said that class actions provide an important pathway for Australians who might otherwise be denied justice. John Walker, the head of the Litigation Funders Association of Australia, says the Coalition and the Liberal-aligned Menzies Research Centre have their own agenda in wanting to protect "the big end of town" from shareholder class actions against big business. He says litigation funders are necessary to pay the legal bills so that ordinary people can get justice. "We're a for-profit industry and we seek to maximise profit as much as we can, but at the same time seek to focus on creating value," he says. Mr Walker also disputes suggestions that litigation funders are not regulated. "We are regulated daily. The system has a capacity to do the best it can. It has checks and balances," he says. "We need to submit to the court and say, 'you tell us what we are going to get paid'. Barrister Peter Cashman, who was at the forefront of class actions in the 1990s, believes the system needs to change to ensure group members get a fair share of the settlement. "Transaction costs are high, the legal costs are high, the funding commissions are high, and the ultimate people who pay the price are the consumers or the class members," he says. "Australia has become a honey pot for commercial investors in litigation. They're not in it for love, and they're not in it to further the interests of access to justice. They're in it for the money. Mr Cashman wants to see the federal government establish an alternative model to fund class actions and prevent them from becoming money-making machines. "You need a publicly funded not-for-profit entity to fill the void that was filled by commercial funders that would do the cases without seeking to make a profit out of it … where the transaction costs are lower, and where the funder is interested in funding … public interest cases." Watch Four Corners' full investigation, The Price of Justice, tonight at 8.30pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.


West Australian
an hour ago
- West Australian
AFL Watch: West Coast ruckman puts hand up for recall as youngsters struggle in the wet
West Coast's WAFL side continues to struggle, losing by 69 points to an in-form East Perth outfit in wet conditions on Saturday. Here's how the 11 AFL-listed Eagles went. Harry Barnett: Kicked an early goal and battled hard up forward as he continues to develop in several roles. Sandy Brock: Didn't touch the footy until after half-time but had plenty to do as East Perth surged ahead after quarter-time. Malakai Champion: Went into the midfield where he thrived, finishing with a career-high 20 touches. Matt Flynn: The ruckman responded to his axing with 24 touches, 30 hit-outs and five clearances against Scott Jones to be his side's best. Lucca Grego: Had a quiet game across half- back in the wet conditions. Looks to be tiring in his first season. Jayden Hunt: Showed leadership and skill in defence with 22 touches as he looks to break back into the AFL side. Jack Hutchinson: Had a strong first half with 15 touches and three clearances but didn't play after half-time because of a hamstring injury. Harvey Johnston: Is still learning his role at half-back but was good in the contest in tough conditions. Coen Livingstone: Kicked a pair of goals as a lead-up forward and competed hard against plenty of experienced Royals. Noah Long: Struggled for impact. Didn't register his first disposal until after half-time and finished with just 10 and five tackles as he was moved into the midfield. Jack Williams: A poor game from the experienced forward who had just the six touches and one mark. He didn't hit the scoreboard.