The burning question about renewable energy
Every time a light is switched on in a farmhouse, or a dairy, or an abattoir, that electricity has arrived via a power line that runs across the paddocks of hundreds of farmers.
It's a truth forgotten by some advocates for rural and regional Australia that we need power in the country, every bit as much as people need power in the cities.
Australia is in the middle of shifting its power system from one fueled primarily by coal to one powered primarily by a mix of clean energy technologies and storage.
Currently, around 40 per cent of our electricity is generated from renewable projects like wind, solar and hydro.
By 2028, the time the next federal election rolls around, this will be closer to 60 per cent. If government plans are successful, by the election after that this number will be above 80 per cent.
That shift is happening because coal plants are reaching the end of their lives and becoming increasingly unreliable. Nexa Advisory has been analysing the performance and reliability of Australia's remaining coal-fired power stations. Their work shows that coal has now become the greatest threat to the reliability of our energy supply.
Yallourn in Victoria had unplanned outages for 32 per cent of the time in 2024, Callide B in Queensland was offline for 42 per cent of 2024 due to unplanned outages and maintenance, and each of Eraring's units in NSW experience an average of about two months of downtime annually - all of which pushes our bills higher.
Throw in extraordinarily high prices for gas stoked by international conflict and supply issues, and we have a growing problem.
To maintain a reliable, affordable power supply for all Australians - across the bush and from the cities to the coast - we urgently need to build infrastructure that replaces the coal and gas plants that have served us well in the past, but no longer can in the future.
This is the plan that the majority of Australians voted for at the recent federal election.
So the burning question now is, how can we do this in a way that works for rural and regional Australia?
READ MORE:
RE-Alliance has been working with regional communities at the centre of the shift to renewables for more than a decade. Our work with leaders across country Australia has shown us there is a real appetite for a seat at the table in shaping legacy benefits like better roads, housing infrastructure and energy discounts for entire postcodes.
They also want to share local knowledge on where projects should be situated to work best for farmers, nature and communities.
There are hundreds of councillors, council staff, leaders of community organisations, farmers and passionate locals who want to come together to get the best outcomes for their communities - we need to listen to them and get on with the job of making this once-in-a-generation change work for rural and regional Australia.
Every time a light is switched on in a farmhouse, or a dairy, or an abattoir, that electricity has arrived via a power line that runs across the paddocks of hundreds of farmers.
It's a truth forgotten by some advocates for rural and regional Australia that we need power in the country, every bit as much as people need power in the cities.
Australia is in the middle of shifting its power system from one fueled primarily by coal to one powered primarily by a mix of clean energy technologies and storage.
Currently, around 40 per cent of our electricity is generated from renewable projects like wind, solar and hydro.
By 2028, the time the next federal election rolls around, this will be closer to 60 per cent. If government plans are successful, by the election after that this number will be above 80 per cent.
That shift is happening because coal plants are reaching the end of their lives and becoming increasingly unreliable. Nexa Advisory has been analysing the performance and reliability of Australia's remaining coal-fired power stations. Their work shows that coal has now become the greatest threat to the reliability of our energy supply.
Yallourn in Victoria had unplanned outages for 32 per cent of the time in 2024, Callide B in Queensland was offline for 42 per cent of 2024 due to unplanned outages and maintenance, and each of Eraring's units in NSW experience an average of about two months of downtime annually - all of which pushes our bills higher.
Throw in extraordinarily high prices for gas stoked by international conflict and supply issues, and we have a growing problem.
To maintain a reliable, affordable power supply for all Australians - across the bush and from the cities to the coast - we urgently need to build infrastructure that replaces the coal and gas plants that have served us well in the past, but no longer can in the future.
This is the plan that the majority of Australians voted for at the recent federal election.
So the burning question now is, how can we do this in a way that works for rural and regional Australia?
READ MORE:
RE-Alliance has been working with regional communities at the centre of the shift to renewables for more than a decade. Our work with leaders across country Australia has shown us there is a real appetite for a seat at the table in shaping legacy benefits like better roads, housing infrastructure and energy discounts for entire postcodes.
They also want to share local knowledge on where projects should be situated to work best for farmers, nature and communities.
There are hundreds of councillors, council staff, leaders of community organisations, farmers and passionate locals who want to come together to get the best outcomes for their communities - we need to listen to them and get on with the job of making this once-in-a-generation change work for rural and regional Australia.
Every time a light is switched on in a farmhouse, or a dairy, or an abattoir, that electricity has arrived via a power line that runs across the paddocks of hundreds of farmers.
It's a truth forgotten by some advocates for rural and regional Australia that we need power in the country, every bit as much as people need power in the cities.
Australia is in the middle of shifting its power system from one fueled primarily by coal to one powered primarily by a mix of clean energy technologies and storage.
Currently, around 40 per cent of our electricity is generated from renewable projects like wind, solar and hydro.
By 2028, the time the next federal election rolls around, this will be closer to 60 per cent. If government plans are successful, by the election after that this number will be above 80 per cent.
That shift is happening because coal plants are reaching the end of their lives and becoming increasingly unreliable. Nexa Advisory has been analysing the performance and reliability of Australia's remaining coal-fired power stations. Their work shows that coal has now become the greatest threat to the reliability of our energy supply.
Yallourn in Victoria had unplanned outages for 32 per cent of the time in 2024, Callide B in Queensland was offline for 42 per cent of 2024 due to unplanned outages and maintenance, and each of Eraring's units in NSW experience an average of about two months of downtime annually - all of which pushes our bills higher.
Throw in extraordinarily high prices for gas stoked by international conflict and supply issues, and we have a growing problem.
To maintain a reliable, affordable power supply for all Australians - across the bush and from the cities to the coast - we urgently need to build infrastructure that replaces the coal and gas plants that have served us well in the past, but no longer can in the future.
This is the plan that the majority of Australians voted for at the recent federal election.
So the burning question now is, how can we do this in a way that works for rural and regional Australia?
READ MORE:
RE-Alliance has been working with regional communities at the centre of the shift to renewables for more than a decade. Our work with leaders across country Australia has shown us there is a real appetite for a seat at the table in shaping legacy benefits like better roads, housing infrastructure and energy discounts for entire postcodes.
They also want to share local knowledge on where projects should be situated to work best for farmers, nature and communities.
There are hundreds of councillors, council staff, leaders of community organisations, farmers and passionate locals who want to come together to get the best outcomes for their communities - we need to listen to them and get on with the job of making this once-in-a-generation change work for rural and regional Australia.
Every time a light is switched on in a farmhouse, or a dairy, or an abattoir, that electricity has arrived via a power line that runs across the paddocks of hundreds of farmers.
It's a truth forgotten by some advocates for rural and regional Australia that we need power in the country, every bit as much as people need power in the cities.
Australia is in the middle of shifting its power system from one fueled primarily by coal to one powered primarily by a mix of clean energy technologies and storage.
Currently, around 40 per cent of our electricity is generated from renewable projects like wind, solar and hydro.
By 2028, the time the next federal election rolls around, this will be closer to 60 per cent. If government plans are successful, by the election after that this number will be above 80 per cent.
That shift is happening because coal plants are reaching the end of their lives and becoming increasingly unreliable. Nexa Advisory has been analysing the performance and reliability of Australia's remaining coal-fired power stations. Their work shows that coal has now become the greatest threat to the reliability of our energy supply.
Yallourn in Victoria had unplanned outages for 32 per cent of the time in 2024, Callide B in Queensland was offline for 42 per cent of 2024 due to unplanned outages and maintenance, and each of Eraring's units in NSW experience an average of about two months of downtime annually - all of which pushes our bills higher.
Throw in extraordinarily high prices for gas stoked by international conflict and supply issues, and we have a growing problem.
To maintain a reliable, affordable power supply for all Australians - across the bush and from the cities to the coast - we urgently need to build infrastructure that replaces the coal and gas plants that have served us well in the past, but no longer can in the future.
This is the plan that the majority of Australians voted for at the recent federal election.
So the burning question now is, how can we do this in a way that works for rural and regional Australia?
READ MORE:
RE-Alliance has been working with regional communities at the centre of the shift to renewables for more than a decade. Our work with leaders across country Australia has shown us there is a real appetite for a seat at the table in shaping legacy benefits like better roads, housing infrastructure and energy discounts for entire postcodes.
They also want to share local knowledge on where projects should be situated to work best for farmers, nature and communities.
There are hundreds of councillors, council staff, leaders of community organisations, farmers and passionate locals who want to come together to get the best outcomes for their communities - we need to listen to them and get on with the job of making this once-in-a-generation change work for rural and regional Australia.
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Sydney Morning Herald
10 minutes ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Why an investment banker with Roos blood in his veins stormed into John Elliott's office with a cheque
Every AFL club has a network of influencers who make things happen through their wealth, fame or political connections. This is our series on the football world's movers and shakers. See all 11 stories. Statues at football clubs are typically erected for champion footballers or the game's greatest coaches. At North Melbourne, the two chairmen who preceded Sonja Hood – James Brayshaw and Ben Buckley – are adamant a white knight who fits neither category deserves one at Arden Street. They will tell you there is no one more important to the Kangaroos' survival than philanthropist and businessman Peter Scanlon, who tipped in more than $10 million during Brayshaw's stint by the time he announced Scanlon's life membership nine years ago. It was no coincidence, then, that Scanlon was seated next to Brayshaw and Buckley on November 19, 2021, when they proudly revealed that North Melbourne were debt-free for the first time since 1987. That milestone day, Brayshaw reminisced with Scanlon and the club's former chief executive, Eugene Arocca, about eyeballing almost $9 million of debt – which threatened to get more out of hand from a crippling interest rate – and their fears about how they would ever wipe it. It was proof the Roos had come a long way since the dark days of 2007, when the AFL wanted them to relocate to the Gold Coast. The league's then-CEO, Andrew Demetriou, and commissioner Colin Carter even took North Melbourne's major shareholder (more on this later), Peter de Rauch, out for breakfast at a Collins Street haunt to extol the virtues of the Kangaroos moving north. De Rauch, like many others at Arden Street, had no interest in relocating. On December 7 that year, North's board voted to remain a Melbourne-based club – and for Brayshaw to be the new chairman. Brayshaw's brother, ex-player Mark, and fellow board member Ron Joseph were instrumental in him becoming president. One of Brayshaw's first pledges was to change their name back to North Melbourne, after they officially became the Kangaroos eight years earlier in an attempt to broaden their appeal. The original name change was targeted at recruiting new Australians, recalled then-CEO Greg Miller. The club even brokered a deal with a removalist company, whereby every time a migrant shifted their furniture to Australia, they got a North Melbourne membership. Reflecting on dodging the Gold Coast threat, Scanlon deflected credit to others, from Brayshaw, Buckley and Arocca to long-time directors de Rauch and Trevor O'Hoy, as well as rank-and-file club members. 'It was clear to James, Ron Joseph, myself and others that although it looked financially attractive, moving to the Gold Coast [would have been] the end of the 'Shinboners',' Scanlon said when the debt was wiped. 'The decision those guys made was we'd rather try and fail to keep that than give up, and I think, on behalf of all the members – if I can be so bold as to represent them – I just want to thank the people who did all the work … I've had so much more back than I've ever put in.' The Scanlon connection extends to Hood, who is the Scanlon Foundation's CEO and had his considerable support to be Buckley's successor as club president three years ago. Scanlon's son, Brady, also served on North Melbourne's board from 2012-21, while the club's community arm at Arden Street, The Huddle, was Scanlon's idea. 'The real truth has always been that without the towering backing of Peter Scanlon,' Brayshaw said at the 2016 Syd Barker Medal function, 'it didn't matter what else occurred or who else was involved – there would have been no option but to relocate.' Scanlon's contributions, including and beyond that torrid period, were not purely financial. He attended critical meetings with AFL heavyweights and provided counsel to Roos officials. 'When we walked in that room with the great Peter Scanlon, the air suddenly went out of the room and the AFL's whole demeanour changed,' Brayshaw said. 'It's very easy to stand out the front of anything with confidence when you have someone like Peter Scanlon standing behind you.' Buckley, a former vice captain who played 74 games for North Melbourne before serving as the club's president for nine years until early 2022, echoed Brayshaw's sentiments, while highlighting Peter Dwyer as another key contributor. 'Peter [Scanlon]'s always there and always giving of his time. He's been hugely influential in supporting the club through some pretty tough periods,' Buckley told The Age. 'I would stress that people like Peter, whether it's North Melbourne or at other clubs; a lot of the public commentary turns to financial support. But a lot of times, you just need that sounding board, to stress-test some of your decisions beyond the boardroom, which can get emotional. 'I always found Peter's counsel to be very objective – but with a great care for the people involved.' Why Carlton bought shares in North, and the buyback North Melbourne have long had to find innovative ways to make a buck, from starting the annual grand final day breakfast in 1967 to Friday night football, which has become the most coveted timeslot every week. They also championed pre-game and half-time entertainment – including one occasion in 1978 where a circus elephant, with a cheer squad member aboard, briefly panicked and threatened to stampede at Arden Street – and invited women to attend the once men-only luncheons. The Kangaroos went into a rebuild after winning two premierships with Ron Barassi as coach in the 1970s, and plunged into about $2.5 million of debt. North Melbourne continued to do things their way under then-chairman Bob Ansett's leadership, issuing three million $1 shares and listing the club on the Hobart Stock Exchange in the late 1980s. Ansett borrowed a significant amount of money from merchant bank Tricontinental to buy the shares, but later went bankrupt in a difficult financial climate. At that stage, a group of investors, including ex-Kangaroos players Kerry Good, Mark Dawson and Robert Smith, Good's business partner Peter Johnstone, ex-South Melbourne footballer Greg Miller, and de Rauch bought a large number of the shares. De Rauch's 10 per cent stake increased to 34 per cent after a deal where he helped a financially stricken fellow North director, which was why Demetriou and Carter wanted to speak to him. 'I got a phone call from Ron Joseph, and he said he wanted to come and talk to me, and he turned up with Mark Dawson,' de Rauch said. 'The club was in trouble. If we didn't buy the shares, Tricontinental might have taken over and sold the club to anybody.' Loading There were class A and B shares, with contrasting voting power, which Ansett did to make sure people with the club's best interests ended up with the biggest say. 'They were interesting times. It was not quite as serious as [having to do it for survival], but we wanted to get rid of a couple of million dollars [in debt],' Ansett told this masthead. 'It wasn't like we were out of business if we didn't do it. The shares were something that looked attractive and provided an opportunity to pay off the debt at the time.' Complications arose a few years later when Dick Pratt purchased a bunch of those shares for Carlton – some say it was 10 per cent, and others 20 – and held onto them for the next decade as part of a potential hostile takeover bid until John Magowan bought them back. Ansett said Magowan, a former CEO of the Australian branch of investment management company Merrill Lynch, could have saved his money, given the Blues had such an 'insignificant' percentage. Loading Miller, who became a long-time Kangaroos recruiter and administrator, is convinced that Ansett's innovative idea 'saved the club'. He also provided insight into Magowan's logic in buying Carlton's shares. 'The whole thing was a 'Jack' Elliott [former Carlton president] ego beat-up that wasn't reality,' Miller said. 'John Magowan went and bought them off Carlton. In the end, he said, 'The shares aren't worth anything, but Elliott carries on as if they are. F--- him, I'll go and pay'. He walked into Elliott's office, wrote him a cheque for $180,000, and got them all back.' The shares again became a major topic during the Gold Coast relocation talks between the league and North. Demetriou wanted the Kangaroos to revert from the shareholder arrangement to being a member-owned club, and Brayshaw and Joseph went to Noosa to meet with Ansett, who subsequently travelled south to the Gold Coast with them to discuss the matter with Demetriou. 'Both Ron [Joseph] and James [Brayshaw] didn't want me to consider selling the shares – and that was the end of it, as far as I was concerned,' Ansett said. 'My support was for North Melbourne, so I just tore them up. Most others did the same, but some with small quantities may have kept them as mementos.' The 22 years of private ownership officially ended in March 2009 and meant all Kangaroos members had an equal vote on club matters, as was the case with Victoria's nine other teams. The 17 people who relinquished their shares became patrons of the club, while de Rauch, Magowan, Dennis Morgan, Johnstone, Good and Andrew Carter received life membership. 'The fact that we were privately owned was a real stone in the AFL's shoe,' Brayshaw said at the time. 'They made no bones of the fact that they wanted us to have the same structure as every other club in Melbourne. 'We were in a position where our relationship with City Hall was compromised … [and] we want to have a great relationship with the AFL. They were of the opinion that we needed to sort this out.' The would-be Fitzroy merger If key North Melbourne people had their way, the Kangaroos rather than Brisbane would have merged with embattled Fitzroy in 1996. Early that year at Leonda By The Yarra in Hawthorn, the AFL presented each club with a package of incentives to convince them to merge with Fitzroy, from extra players to fixture perks and a $6 million bounty to cover the Lions' $2.3 million debt and help the merger succeed. Miller, North's chief executive at the time, went to the club's board with the proposal because the Roos had continued to struggle financially despite being an on-field powerhouse, led by Wayne Carey and coach Denis Pagan. 'Even though we were a very good side, it was an era where equalisation kind of wasn't around, and we still had a lot of financial problems,' Miller said. 'We decided as a board, 'We can do this', and we met with the Fitzroy board, and did all the things you expect behind the scenes … and then, of course, we kept winning, we were on top of the ladder, and the AFL realised, 'Hang on a minute, we're getting pushback here from what we've offered – will you take less?' 'I said, 'No, we're not taking less, we've got it in writing'.' De Rauch, too, worked on the would-be merger with the AFL's then legal adviser and future Collingwood president Jeff Browne. The new club would have been called North Fitzroy Kangaroos, but opposition teams feared they would become a 'super club'. Loading The Roos refused to budge from their stance of not accepting less when clubs met again that year at Punt Road – but by then, the league was negotiating for Fitzroy to instead merge with Brisbane Bears. In de Rauch's words, North Melbourne's rivals 'sabotaged' the concept. The other 14 clubs voted emphatically against the North-Fitzroy merger. 'Brisbane and Sydney were the two teams the AFL needed to work for the expansion of the competition, and I had no issue with that,' Miller said. 'But you can't offer something, then renege on it and blame us, so we were not going to change. The AFL gave the merger to Brisbane, and we won the premiership that year. 'We beat Geelong the next day by 60 points, and then we beat the two AFL sides – Brisbane and Sydney – in the preliminary final and grand final. We had to start looking for alternatives [to solve our financial issues], which was selling games interstate.' The Kangaroos won another premiership, which remains their most recent (at least in the men's competition), in 1999. The celebrity Shinboners There is no higher-profile North Melbourne supporter than former Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting, who was the club's No.1 ticketholder at the height of his legendary career. Loading Ponting was often on international tours throughout football seasons, and watching games was not as accessible then as it is now – but that did not stop him. He would organise to receive match videos before graduating, as technology improved, to friends ringing him then placing their phone against a radio to hear the commentary. That is how Ponting followed the Roos' 1999 grand final triumph. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Ponting has been overseas with coaching and other commitments for most of every football season, but he watches every game on the AFL website. Ponting went into business with North Melbourne premiership stars Glenn Archer and Anthony Stevens, while Ponting Wines became the Kangaroos' official wine partner last year. 'During my playing years, I was very lucky to be in and around our great sides of the '90s. Many of the players became close friends, and we have stayed in regular contact,' Ponting told this masthead. 'I was like a kid in a lolly shop back then.' Ponting has spoken to several iterations of North Melbourne playing groups, and worked with the club on charitable initiatives via the Ponting Foundation, including a Twenty20 game between the Kangaroos and Hawthorn in Launceston in 2017. They raised more than $300,000 for childhood cancer support in Tasmania that day, which is also remembered for a Peter Siddle bouncer that hit Alastair Clarkson on the helmet. Cricket ties run deep at North. Siddle is another passionate supporter, along with the Marsh brothers – Mitch and Shaun – who caught up with the players and coaches during their current trip to Western Australia. The Kangaroos twice asked Ponting to join the club's board, but he reluctantly said no because of his overseas commitments. They also offered him a semi-executive football department role after he retired as a player and relocated from Sydney to Melbourne, but the timing was not right, a 'flattered' Ponting said. North Melbourne's other celebrity supporters include actors Sigrid Thornton and Lisa McCune, singer Tim Rogers, leading horse trainer Lee Freedman, comedians Greg Fleet and Trevor Marmalade, Melbourne Storm star Ryan Papenhuyzen, tennis player Wayne Arthurs and basketballer Chris Goulding. Loading The club's ex-media boss, Heath O'Loughlin, attempted in 2009 to confirm rumours that supermodel Elle Macpherson was a North Melbourne supporter. 'I managed to hunt down Elle's email address through a friend at a talent agency who knew her brother,' O'Loughlin said, laughing. 'I almost fainted when she wrote back. It was something like, 'Oh, bless – thank you for checking. Unfortunately, I am not [a Kangaroos fan]. It's something that's always followed me around, but thank you for checking'.'
The Age
14 minutes ago
- The Age
Why an investment banker with Roos blood in his veins stormed into John Elliott's office with a cheque
Every AFL club has a network of influencers who make things happen through their wealth, fame or political connections. This is our series on the football world's movers and shakers. See all 11 stories. Statues at football clubs are typically erected for champion footballers or the game's greatest coaches. At North Melbourne, the two chairmen who preceded Sonja Hood – James Brayshaw and Ben Buckley – are adamant a white knight who fits neither category deserves one at Arden Street. They will tell you there is no one more important to the Kangaroos' survival than philanthropist and businessman Peter Scanlon, who tipped in more than $10 million during Brayshaw's stint by the time he announced Scanlon's life membership nine years ago. It was no coincidence, then, that Scanlon was seated next to Brayshaw and Buckley on November 19, 2021, when they proudly revealed that North Melbourne were debt-free for the first time since 1987. That milestone day, Brayshaw reminisced with Scanlon and the club's former chief executive, Eugene Arocca, about eyeballing almost $9 million of debt – which threatened to get more out of hand from a crippling interest rate – and their fears about how they would ever wipe it. It was proof the Roos had come a long way since the dark days of 2007, when the AFL wanted them to relocate to the Gold Coast. The league's then-CEO, Andrew Demetriou, and commissioner Colin Carter even took North Melbourne's major shareholder (more on this later), Peter de Rauch, out for breakfast at a Collins Street haunt to extol the virtues of the Kangaroos moving north. De Rauch, like many others at Arden Street, had no interest in relocating. On December 7 that year, North's board voted to remain a Melbourne-based club – and for Brayshaw to be the new chairman. Brayshaw's brother, ex-player Mark, and fellow board member Ron Joseph were instrumental in him becoming president. One of Brayshaw's first pledges was to change their name back to North Melbourne, after they officially became the Kangaroos eight years earlier in an attempt to broaden their appeal. The original name change was targeted at recruiting new Australians, recalled then-CEO Greg Miller. The club even brokered a deal with a removalist company, whereby every time a migrant shifted their furniture to Australia, they got a North Melbourne membership. Reflecting on dodging the Gold Coast threat, Scanlon deflected credit to others, from Brayshaw, Buckley and Arocca to long-time directors de Rauch and Trevor O'Hoy, as well as rank-and-file club members. 'It was clear to James, Ron Joseph, myself and others that although it looked financially attractive, moving to the Gold Coast [would have been] the end of the 'Shinboners',' Scanlon said when the debt was wiped. 'The decision those guys made was we'd rather try and fail to keep that than give up, and I think, on behalf of all the members – if I can be so bold as to represent them – I just want to thank the people who did all the work … I've had so much more back than I've ever put in.' The Scanlon connection extends to Hood, who is the Scanlon Foundation's CEO and had his considerable support to be Buckley's successor as club president three years ago. Scanlon's son, Brady, also served on North Melbourne's board from 2012-21, while the club's community arm at Arden Street, The Huddle, was Scanlon's idea. 'The real truth has always been that without the towering backing of Peter Scanlon,' Brayshaw said at the 2016 Syd Barker Medal function, 'it didn't matter what else occurred or who else was involved – there would have been no option but to relocate.' Scanlon's contributions, including and beyond that torrid period, were not purely financial. He attended critical meetings with AFL heavyweights and provided counsel to Roos officials. 'When we walked in that room with the great Peter Scanlon, the air suddenly went out of the room and the AFL's whole demeanour changed,' Brayshaw said. 'It's very easy to stand out the front of anything with confidence when you have someone like Peter Scanlon standing behind you.' Buckley, a former vice captain who played 74 games for North Melbourne before serving as the club's president for nine years until early 2022, echoed Brayshaw's sentiments, while highlighting Peter Dwyer as another key contributor. 'Peter [Scanlon]'s always there and always giving of his time. He's been hugely influential in supporting the club through some pretty tough periods,' Buckley told The Age. 'I would stress that people like Peter, whether it's North Melbourne or at other clubs; a lot of the public commentary turns to financial support. But a lot of times, you just need that sounding board, to stress-test some of your decisions beyond the boardroom, which can get emotional. 'I always found Peter's counsel to be very objective – but with a great care for the people involved.' Why Carlton bought shares in North, and the buyback North Melbourne have long had to find innovative ways to make a buck, from starting the annual grand final day breakfast in 1967 to Friday night football, which has become the most coveted timeslot every week. They also championed pre-game and half-time entertainment – including one occasion in 1978 where a circus elephant, with a cheer squad member aboard, briefly panicked and threatened to stampede at Arden Street – and invited women to attend the once men-only luncheons. The Kangaroos went into a rebuild after winning two premierships with Ron Barassi as coach in the 1970s, and plunged into about $2.5 million of debt. North Melbourne continued to do things their way under then-chairman Bob Ansett's leadership, issuing three million $1 shares and listing the club on the Hobart Stock Exchange in the late 1980s. Ansett borrowed a significant amount of money from merchant bank Tricontinental to buy the shares, but later went bankrupt in a difficult financial climate. At that stage, a group of investors, including ex-Kangaroos players Kerry Good, Mark Dawson and Robert Smith, Good's business partner Peter Johnstone, ex-South Melbourne footballer Greg Miller, and de Rauch bought a large number of the shares. De Rauch's 10 per cent stake increased to 34 per cent after a deal where he helped a financially stricken fellow North director, which was why Demetriou and Carter wanted to speak to him. 'I got a phone call from Ron Joseph, and he said he wanted to come and talk to me, and he turned up with Mark Dawson,' de Rauch said. 'The club was in trouble. If we didn't buy the shares, Tricontinental might have taken over and sold the club to anybody.' Loading There were class A and B shares, with contrasting voting power, which Ansett did to make sure people with the club's best interests ended up with the biggest say. 'They were interesting times. It was not quite as serious as [having to do it for survival], but we wanted to get rid of a couple of million dollars [in debt],' Ansett told this masthead. 'It wasn't like we were out of business if we didn't do it. The shares were something that looked attractive and provided an opportunity to pay off the debt at the time.' Complications arose a few years later when Dick Pratt purchased a bunch of those shares for Carlton – some say it was 10 per cent, and others 20 – and held onto them for the next decade as part of a potential hostile takeover bid until John Magowan bought them back. Ansett said Magowan, a former CEO of the Australian branch of investment management company Merrill Lynch, could have saved his money, given the Blues had such an 'insignificant' percentage. Loading Miller, who became a long-time Kangaroos recruiter and administrator, is convinced that Ansett's innovative idea 'saved the club'. He also provided insight into Magowan's logic in buying Carlton's shares. 'The whole thing was a 'Jack' Elliott [former Carlton president] ego beat-up that wasn't reality,' Miller said. 'John Magowan went and bought them off Carlton. In the end, he said, 'The shares aren't worth anything, but Elliott carries on as if they are. F--- him, I'll go and pay'. He walked into Elliott's office, wrote him a cheque for $180,000, and got them all back.' The shares again became a major topic during the Gold Coast relocation talks between the league and North. Demetriou wanted the Kangaroos to revert from the shareholder arrangement to being a member-owned club, and Brayshaw and Joseph went to Noosa to meet with Ansett, who subsequently travelled south to the Gold Coast with them to discuss the matter with Demetriou. 'Both Ron [Joseph] and James [Brayshaw] didn't want me to consider selling the shares – and that was the end of it, as far as I was concerned,' Ansett said. 'My support was for North Melbourne, so I just tore them up. Most others did the same, but some with small quantities may have kept them as mementos.' The 22 years of private ownership officially ended in March 2009 and meant all Kangaroos members had an equal vote on club matters, as was the case with Victoria's nine other teams. The 17 people who relinquished their shares became patrons of the club, while de Rauch, Magowan, Dennis Morgan, Johnstone, Good and Andrew Carter received life membership. 'The fact that we were privately owned was a real stone in the AFL's shoe,' Brayshaw said at the time. 'They made no bones of the fact that they wanted us to have the same structure as every other club in Melbourne. 'We were in a position where our relationship with City Hall was compromised … [and] we want to have a great relationship with the AFL. They were of the opinion that we needed to sort this out.' The would-be Fitzroy merger If key North Melbourne people had their way, the Kangaroos rather than Brisbane would have merged with embattled Fitzroy in 1996. Early that year at Leonda By The Yarra in Hawthorn, the AFL presented each club with a package of incentives to convince them to merge with Fitzroy, from extra players to fixture perks and a $6 million bounty to cover the Lions' $2.3 million debt and help the merger succeed. Miller, North's chief executive at the time, went to the club's board with the proposal because the Roos had continued to struggle financially despite being an on-field powerhouse, led by Wayne Carey and coach Denis Pagan. 'Even though we were a very good side, it was an era where equalisation kind of wasn't around, and we still had a lot of financial problems,' Miller said. 'We decided as a board, 'We can do this', and we met with the Fitzroy board, and did all the things you expect behind the scenes … and then, of course, we kept winning, we were on top of the ladder, and the AFL realised, 'Hang on a minute, we're getting pushback here from what we've offered – will you take less?' 'I said, 'No, we're not taking less, we've got it in writing'.' De Rauch, too, worked on the would-be merger with the AFL's then legal adviser and future Collingwood president Jeff Browne. The new club would have been called North Fitzroy Kangaroos, but opposition teams feared they would become a 'super club'. Loading The Roos refused to budge from their stance of not accepting less when clubs met again that year at Punt Road – but by then, the league was negotiating for Fitzroy to instead merge with Brisbane Bears. In de Rauch's words, North Melbourne's rivals 'sabotaged' the concept. The other 14 clubs voted emphatically against the North-Fitzroy merger. 'Brisbane and Sydney were the two teams the AFL needed to work for the expansion of the competition, and I had no issue with that,' Miller said. 'But you can't offer something, then renege on it and blame us, so we were not going to change. The AFL gave the merger to Brisbane, and we won the premiership that year. 'We beat Geelong the next day by 60 points, and then we beat the two AFL sides – Brisbane and Sydney – in the preliminary final and grand final. We had to start looking for alternatives [to solve our financial issues], which was selling games interstate.' The Kangaroos won another premiership, which remains their most recent (at least in the men's competition), in 1999. The celebrity Shinboners There is no higher-profile North Melbourne supporter than former Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting, who was the club's No.1 ticketholder at the height of his legendary career. Loading Ponting was often on international tours throughout football seasons, and watching games was not as accessible then as it is now – but that did not stop him. He would organise to receive match videos before graduating, as technology improved, to friends ringing him then placing their phone against a radio to hear the commentary. That is how Ponting followed the Roos' 1999 grand final triumph. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Ponting has been overseas with coaching and other commitments for most of every football season, but he watches every game on the AFL website. Ponting went into business with North Melbourne premiership stars Glenn Archer and Anthony Stevens, while Ponting Wines became the Kangaroos' official wine partner last year. 'During my playing years, I was very lucky to be in and around our great sides of the '90s. Many of the players became close friends, and we have stayed in regular contact,' Ponting told this masthead. 'I was like a kid in a lolly shop back then.' Ponting has spoken to several iterations of North Melbourne playing groups, and worked with the club on charitable initiatives via the Ponting Foundation, including a Twenty20 game between the Kangaroos and Hawthorn in Launceston in 2017. They raised more than $300,000 for childhood cancer support in Tasmania that day, which is also remembered for a Peter Siddle bouncer that hit Alastair Clarkson on the helmet. Cricket ties run deep at North. Siddle is another passionate supporter, along with the Marsh brothers – Mitch and Shaun – who caught up with the players and coaches during their current trip to Western Australia. The Kangaroos twice asked Ponting to join the club's board, but he reluctantly said no because of his overseas commitments. They also offered him a semi-executive football department role after he retired as a player and relocated from Sydney to Melbourne, but the timing was not right, a 'flattered' Ponting said. North Melbourne's other celebrity supporters include actors Sigrid Thornton and Lisa McCune, singer Tim Rogers, leading horse trainer Lee Freedman, comedians Greg Fleet and Trevor Marmalade, Melbourne Storm star Ryan Papenhuyzen, tennis player Wayne Arthurs and basketballer Chris Goulding. Loading The club's ex-media boss, Heath O'Loughlin, attempted in 2009 to confirm rumours that supermodel Elle Macpherson was a North Melbourne supporter. 'I managed to hunt down Elle's email address through a friend at a talent agency who knew her brother,' O'Loughlin said, laughing. 'I almost fainted when she wrote back. It was something like, 'Oh, bless – thank you for checking. Unfortunately, I am not [a Kangaroos fan]. It's something that's always followed me around, but thank you for checking'.'
Sydney Morning Herald
2 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Trump's AUKUS review gives us a chance to rethink our alliances
Stephen Bartholomeusz' excellent article led me to speculate on our strategic defence strategy (' Has Trump created a path for the Euro to displace the $US?' June 12). As our prime minister prepares to meet US President Donald Trump, he will be well aware of the growing distaste among most Australians for our long-standing alliance with America. Now, Washington is reconsidering AUKUS (' AUKUS in doubt as US starts review ', June 11). It is natural for a state to put its own interests first, but why doesn't Australia do the same? You don't need to be Einstein to work out the AUKUS subs will never materialise. What if Australia got ahead of the game for once and explored a revised strategic alliance with Britain and France, based initially on French nuclear subs? We are at an historic juncture where most of the Western world is looking for a new, more stable order, so let's begin with a plan to not only strengthen our defence capability, but to strengthen our overall relations with Europe. This will also remove the possible perennial sore point that AUKUS threatens to become. Win-win? James Archibald, Enmore Australia's commitment to AUKUS and its multi-billion dollar submarine project is misguided and outdated. It's as if our leaders have ignored everything the war in Ukraine has taught the world about modern warfare. We are investing billions in submarines that will take decades to deliver – vessels designed for a form of warfare that is rapidly becoming obsolete. Meanwhile, we've seen how inexpensive drones and smart technology can disable or destroy equipment worth 100 times more. The battlefield has changed, and we are failing to keep up. On top of that, we're now investing in long-range missile systems. One has to ask: who are these intended for? You don't buy long-range missiles unless you plan to use them – and that points to a dangerous shift in our military posture from defence to offence. What Australia really needs is a smart, modern, defensive capability – one that protects our people and land, not one that provokes arms races or ties us to foreign conflicts. It's time to stop buying Cold War-era hardware. It's time to modernise our defence, focus on protecting our own shores, and make foreign policy decisions based on Australia's best interests, not Washington's. Doug Cliff, Point Clare In 2020, Donald Trump handed Scott Morrison one of America's highest military awards, the Legion of Merit. By 2021, the AUKUS deal between these two self-serving cronies had signed away billions of dollars of Australian taxpayers' money for a deal that gives us nothing but astronomical national debt and the award for being the world's biggest suckers. Anthony Albanese should have taken the opportunity to speak with a comparatively rational leader when Joe Biden was president and make cancelling AUKUS a priority before Trump's return. Instead, desperate to play with the big boys in the playground, he chose to deepen our commitment. We haven't just agreed to being fleeced by, and enslaved to, a dangerous and dishonest America, we have willingly funded it even though it's obvious the submarines will never appear. We expected to be betrayed by a lowlife like Trump, but we have mainly been betrayed by our own politicians, whose cringing weaknesses and pathetic egos have treacherously put our country last. Sally Morris, Leichhardt Cut the rope. Push America off into the Atlantic. Cancel AUKUS. Get back our deposit. Buy our subs from Japan. Strengthen our ties with Japan, China, Indonesia, Europe and India. Let Trump pump his fists in front of his own mirror. Laurie Dicker, Forest Glen If Trump cancels AUKUS, the US will be left with only one ally, Israel. Thinking of it, there's also Russia and North Korea. Ron Brown, Wallsend Democrats blew it With the escalating unrest in America, I am left with increasing anger at the incompetent Democrats, who must now take significant responsibility for the chaos by failing to 'read the room' in the election year (' Los Angeles is at war with Trump's vision of America ', June 12). I was in America for the three months before the election, and all the Democrats did in the media was bang on about a woman's right to an abortion. Fine indeed, but they completely ignored the concerns of the ordinary American people about issues that affected them: jobs, border control, inflation, the economy generally. So as a result of that incompetence, we are left watching America unravel. It is riveting reading each day and I think your US correspondent, Michael Koziol, has the best job in the world – if he can stay safe. Duncan Holmes, Freshwater Q+A's demise began in 2019 It's no surprise that the ABC's Q+A is being canned (' Q+A axed, jobs cut ', June 12). The loss of host Tony Jones in 2019 was arguably the beginning of the end. No subsequent host was a match for his professionalism, innate humour and unbiased adjudication of what were much more interesting, robust and challenging discussions or debates. The later hosts invariably made it about themselves, their opinions, gripes, preferred preselected predictable questions, modifying and asking their own questions, and the twee pursuit of gotcha moments. This self-interested myopia is exactly what Australians have clearly just rejected in their politicians, so no wonder the ratings went south under the keen judgment of discerning ABC audiences. Robyn Dalziell, Kellyville It really is enough to make an old political junkie cry (' Axed show no longer got us talking ', June 12). Panel shows where opposing parties eyeball each other and ideas are passionately contested should be the bread and butter of the ABC, but it seems our increasingly tame public broadcaster has lost its taste for the confrontation and controversy these formats deliver. The Drum disappeared without a whimper or any sign of a replacement. Now Q+A is 'dead, buried and cremated' … words I reckon Tony Abbott might be repeating as they pop the champagne corks over at the IPA. Phil Bradshaw, Naremburn Now that Q+A is gone, I suggest the ABC reinstate The Drum. It was a stimulating and thought- provoking show leading in to the 7pm news and offered a well-balanced set of views from knowledgeable panellists, as well as politicians, on contentious questions. The current time slot is filled with a dreadful show that makes even Antiques Roadshow interesting. Currently Would I Lie to You? is the best option at 6.30pm on the ABC, an ironic choice indeed. Our national broadcaster should and could do better than this. Annie Scrivener, St Ives Let's face it, Q+A is no real loss. Nor was the all-too-PC The Drum. The axing of Lateline was a great mistake, but I guess we can't hope for a return. Let's hope now that the ABC will moderate its chasing of, presumably, younger audiences with the frippery of lightweight reality programs and comedians laughing at their own, usually weak, jokes. So let's have some decent current affairs and news analysis and not of the attack dog sort, or the relentless chasing of 'gotcha' moments to fill tomorrow's headlines, or the repeat of what has been in earlier news broadcasts. Until then, this once rusted-on ABC TV viewer will seek decent analysis somewhere else. Greg Baker, Fitzroy Falls What a shame about Q+A' s axing after I started watching it again this year. Has it really been six years since Tony Jones left the show? I stopped watching when it moved to Thursdays. It had been must-see TV after Media Watch on Mondays. With rotating hosts and internal dramas, Q+A lost its continuity and purpose. There was no need to change the formula and fix what wasn't broken. Robert Yen, Lidcombe Tough stance welcome For too long, Australia has taken its foreign affairs cues from the US, so it was gratifying to see Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong show some independence in sanctioning the right-wing Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich (' Australia imposes Magnitsky-style sanctions on two hardline Israeli ministers ', June 11). Our condemnation of them does not serve as a balm to Hamas, whose crimes against Israel are acknowledged by Australia. The people of Palestine must have a homeland. Only then will there be peace in the Middle East. Genevieve Milton, Dulwich Hill Bradfield blame game The Liberals' Bradfield mansion has burnt to the ground, and rather than accept that it was the result of years of neglect and misreading of the electorate, they are still running around looking for an arsonist (' Why the Liberals should just accept defeat in Bradfield ', June 12). Traducing the excellent and transparent work of the AEC, casting aspersions on the intellect of the electorate, anything other than recognising the result is due to their own political blindness and ineptitude. Let's hope the Trumpian refusal to accept the loss ends soon and some political insight results in the rebuilding of a relevant opposition. Mind you, pigs might also fly. Elisabeth Goodsall, Wahroonga Liberal makeover Finally, some common sense from Sussan Ley as she and her small band of survivors pick through the still smouldering ruins of their once powerful broad church, searching for any usable foundations on which to rebuild (' Ley to order radical Liberal review ', June 12). But perhaps even the big, old cornerstones of small government and lower taxes are no longer fit for purpose. To help in her deliberations she needs only to look to the experiment tearing America apart (' Trump: Dumb, dishonest and dangerous say Australians ', June 12). Voters recognise there is a growing need for government services – health, NDIS, welfare, unemployment, defence etc – not to mention lowering the confrontational brand that the Liberals seem wedded to. Their new manifesto could then also include actually doing our bit to save the planet and being generous towards less fortunate nations and individuals escaping persecution. If Labor ever dropped the ball, voters might even consider a party believing in the above values as a viable alternative. Peter Thomson, Brunswick (Vic) Sussan Ley doesn't need to arrange a major review of the Liberal Party and the reasons for its failures. The Liberals just need to stop denying climate change/global warming, accept and embrace the march towards renewable energy and totally forget nuclear power. If the Nationals don't like it, then it will be time for Ley and the Liberals to say goodbye to them. Ken Butler, Mount Colah Home truth It is a no-brainer that the cost of building a new residence will soar if there is a shortage of materials and skilled labour (' Home building costs soar ', June 12). However, if one tours the more affluent suburbs, as I often do on my bicycle, the number of major renovations being carried out, usually on large houses for apparently well-off residents, is extraordinary. These renovations are consuming materials and labour, and one wonders if they should take precedence over desperately needed new housing. Perhaps councils could limit the number of approved renovations at any time in the interests of freeing up labour and materials, and thus reduce pressure on costs of new residences. Geoff Harding, Chatswood Reality bites We all know that climate change-worsened heatwaves, bushfires and floods are detrimental to our collective health. But climate change is also driving up incidences of horrible vector-borne diseases like dengue fever (' Mosquito disease cases on the rise', June 12). Mosquitos are already the most deadly creature on the planet, killing more than a million people a year. Our warmer climate is creating the conditions for these pests to spread more readily than ever – just another sting to add to the long list of reasons why climate action matters. Amy Hiller, Kew (Vic) Tax gas giants Ken Henry once said that he did not understand why young people weren't out on the streets rioting about the unfairness of the tax system. I wonder when we will charge sensible levies on the gas exporters who sell the nation's non-renewable gas resources and pay little to nothing for it, and use tax shelters to minimise corporate tax. Australian gas exporters pay an average of 14 per cent tax while similar companies in Scandinavia pay 73 per cent, and they have a massive wealth fund to pay for education and health, plus other important areas of good for the community. The new government now has the political strength to fix this outrage. Will they do it? I suppose not. Maybe I am just dreaming. Max Press, North Sydney Sail on, sailor The passing of the Beach Boys legend Brian Wilson brings memories flooding back from my early days of longboard surfing in Australia (' Brian Wilson dies at 82 ', June 12). Cars with boards on top and radios blasting out Wilson's songs like Surfin' Safari, Surfer Girl, Girls on the Beach along the beachfront. Later, as the Beatles grew in strength, even Paul McCartney praised Wilson for iconic titles like Good Vibrations, God Only Knows and Wouldn't it Be Nice, as the Beach Boys developed and matured. In Australia, those times will be remembered as the start of the great Australian surfing period, with heroes like Midget Farrelly and Manly's Glenn Ritchie and Robbie Lane, while in the car park Wilson's music dominated the airwaves. Many of us will be feeling sadness and nostalgia as we farewell Brian Wilson's musical genius. William Tuck, Mosman Cheeky shortcut Stories about the AMP building reminded me of when I was about 17 or 18 working as a cleaner there. Part of my job involved sweeping the roof. Instead of picking up the litter I would simply sweep it over the edge. As it was about 5.30am, I assumed it wouldn't land on anyone. At least I hope it didn't. Patrick McMahon, Paddington
