The Goanna is dead: long live the Goanna

Elizabeth Krantz - 31 December 2005

How wealth and power corrupt. Since the death of Kerry Packer the Australian public has been treated to the unedifying spectacle of hordes of sycophantic journalists and politicians sucking up to the mighty Packer empire and eulogising one of Australia's most ruthless and brutal business operators.

To put it into some perspective, Kerry Packer was a ruthless robber baron who used his enormous wealth and power to intimidate and bully politicians, staff and rivals into submission, in order to further the wealth of his tribe.

The whimpering lapdogs are calling him a great Australian. Well, what has he done for Australia? Nothing much, but he has amassed an obscene fortune for himself and his family.

The Packer toadys are saying he revolutionised the game of cricket. Maybe he did, but only because he started a rival to the traditional game when the Australian Cricket Board refused his application to broadcast cricket games on his Channel Nine.

How can anyone say he has interests of Australian families at heart when his company has just bid $780 for the rights to broadcast AFL football. If it wins the bid, the result will be struggling families paying even more to watch their favourite game while further enriching himself together with a bunch of young sportsmen, many of whom are unprepared to deal with their sudden wealth.

Packer admits he is the Goanna

The biggest question mark over his ethics and his character arises from the Royal Commission into the Painters and Dockers Union in 1984. Headed by Frank Costigan QC, the focus of the commission gradually switched from the union to the activities of a hugely powerful figure, code named the Goanna, alleged to be the untouchable godfather of Australian crime, involved in tax evasion, corporate fraud, pornography, drug importation, money laundering and even murder. 

Costigan spent four months preparing summaries of the activities of the Goanna, which were handed to the National Crime Authority.

Packer eventually made a public admission that he was the Goanna. He then used his lawyer Malcolm Turnbull to issue a long public statement denying the allegations and viciously attacking the commission.

Mr Packer's mate and supporter, Prime Minister Bob Hawke eventually wound up the Royal Commission. Hawke coerced his attorney-general, Lionel Bowen into making a statement in Parliament that Packer had been cleared of any wrongdoing.

Costigan's allegations about tax evasion certainly had a ring of truth to them.  While most corporations in the 1980s paid around 30 per cent tax on their profits, the Packer companies typically paid less than 10 per cent. Packer moved ownership of his corporate empire to the Bahamas and in 1992 his company Consolidated Press Holdings paid just $6 million in tax on $600 million profits.

It is ironic then that taxpayers will foot the bill for a state memorial service for Mr Packer, courtesy of Prime Minister Howard.

The Packer legacy

Kerry Packer famously stated after his first heart attack that there is no heaven and no devil, but he certainly left behind a hell on earth for the hundreds of  thousands of problem gamblers and their families. His gaming companies extract $1.7 billion annually from gamblers, including over $500 million from problem gamblers, according to Productivity Commission research. That legacy of  "a great Australian" will remain long after the journalists' servile utterances have been forgotten.