Off the Record: The home of SA political, legal, business gossip
TIM Marcus Clark was the villain who almost bankrupted this state and then ran away. He declared bankruptcy and said in 1996 that he had only $47 in the bank.
TIM Marcus Clark was the villain who almost bankrupted this state and then ran away. He declared bankruptcy and said in 1996 that he had only $47 in the bank.
But Off the Record has unearthed the disgraced businessman’s final will and testament, showing he died last year owning interests in multimillion-dollar luxury apartments on Sydney’s northern beaches, which he left to his family.
There were few tears in SA when Marcus Clark, 83, passed away on December 11, just two days before the death of former premier John Bannon, whose political career the hopeless banker ended.
Marcus Clarke was managing director of the State Bank for seven years until 1991, driving it to a $3.1 billion collapse and leaving a permanent stain on our state’s economic history.
A copy of his will, released by the NSW Supreme Court, shows that when he died, Marcus Clark and his widow Micaele owned properties worth millions of dollars. He left his interest in an apartment in Sydney’ northern beaches suburb of Mona Vale to her.
The couple also owned an adjoining apartment and the two properties are valued collectively at $2 million. Marcus Clark (above) left the rest of his estate to his children and grandchildren. His daughters are Samanda Bonomoand Melanie Marcus Clark. His son Dominic died a week after his father on December 18. When Marcus Clark signed the will in 2010, he was living in a house that Micaele had bought in 2004 for $1.6 million in the Sydney beachside suburb of Bilgola Plateau. The suburb is also the home of television celebrity chef “Fast Ed” Halmagyi.
ABC TV Rake star Richard Roxburgh and TV chef Silvia Colloca last year sold their Bilgola Plateau home for $1.9 million.
Marcus Clark declared bankruptcy in 1996 and paid a $1.5 million court settlement for his role in the demise of the bank.
According to court documents, he was living in a Mona Vale nursing home before his death.
A slap-up night as pollies get their kicks
AS a member of a German dance troupe, state Liberal MP Stephan Knoll can’t promise there won’t be some thigh slapping on the 1920s-themed DCNS Mid Winter Charity Ball dancefloor but he promises to leave his lederhosen at home.
“It’s the one night of the year where my staff aren’t allowed to disparage my dance moves,” says the member for Schubert.
But Labor’s Katrine Hildyard says she’s the one who’ll carve it up at the event, which marks halftime on the parliamentary year. “Stephan can slap his thighs all he wants but nothing will compare to the high-kicking Charleston I have planned.”
Premier Jay Weatherill, Opposition Leader Steven Marshall, Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis and a swag of ministers are also heading to Adelaide Oval for Friday’s event.
Among corporate high-flyers will be French shipbuilder DCNS Australian chief Sean Costello, chairman of everything Bruce Carter, Beach Energy’s Matt Kay and OZ Mineral’s Andrew Cole.
RAU OVER NAMING
IT seems the Chairman Rau moniker bestowed on our Attorney-General John Rau for marching South Australia into a state of secrecy has stuck fast.
And it’s already resulted in some confusion with his namesake, China’s new Consul-General to South Australia,Hongwei Rao.
In Parliament this week, Premier Jay Weatherill trumpeted Rao’s fine support for China Southern’s direct flights to Adelaide.
“Chairman Rau?” interjected one honourable member. “No, not Chairman Rau, Consul-General Rao,” the Premier helpfully explained.
Chairman Rau is believed to be a grudging admirer of the digitally altered image (above), although he’s yet to offer advice to his Communist namesake on secrecy and suppression.
BIGGLES’ JACKPOT
IT’S happy birthday to Tourism and Sport Minister Leon Bignell, who turns the big 5-0 tomorrow. Naturally, the well-travelled Biggles will be overseas for the big event, taking part in a trade delegation in South East Asia. Perhaps that’s why he has not returned any of Off the Record’s many attempts to contact him this week to check the veracity of another Biggles-related rumour flying around town.
Did the minister really win $37,000 on a $10 bet? The story goes that each weekend he bets $10 on both Adelaide and Port Adelaide winning by 28 points. Those numbers came up in round 17 when Port beat North Melbourne and Adelaide defeated Collingwood, both by that magic margin. Off the Record assumes he has by now spent the cash on a birthday present to himself.
INSIDE A POWER LUNCH
FORMER deputy prime minister John Anderson’s twin passions for cattle grazing and overseas aid have forged his backing of a blind South Australian author.
The one-time Nationals leader was lunching at Georges this week with former cattle breeder Grant Lock, who directed Afghanistan’s largest eye care program until he lost his sight.
Lock approached Anderson and convinced him to endorse his book, I’d Rather Be Blind, which tells the story of corruption and disadvantage in Afghanistan and Pakistan and Australia’s “myopic attitudes to Islam”.
Anderson, who also gave a dinner address at the Adelaide Club, pronounced the book, launched today, a fine read.
TV WARS
HIGH-PROFILE workplace lawyer John Laxon is representing former Channel 7 journo Amy Taeuber in an adverse action claim lodged yesterday.
Taeuber was sacked this month after an investigation by the station, which has declined further comment.
Laxon was hired in May by former 60 Minutes producer Stephen Rice to fight his sacking by Nine Entertainment Co. Rice was publicly named as the main person responsible for the program’s disastrous Beirut child kidnapping story involving Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner.
ON THE MOVE
VETERAN public servant Lois Boswell will become deputy chief executive of the new-look Department of Communities and Social Inclusion under Tony Harrison. Boswell was running the Lifetime Support Authority, a disability support provider spun out of MAC. Boswell was a long-time confidant of Premier Jay Weatherill and had a stint as his deputy chief of staff.
FOOTY CARDS
THE big names keep rolling in for next week’s RecLink charity game between local media types and musicians at Norwood Oval. Police Minister Peter Malinauskas will pull on the boots for the musos, despite listing his musical talents as “singing in the shower”.
At least he will be coached by a genuine musical talent with You Am I frontman Tim Rogers in town for the big game.
Banned on the run
IT turns out high-profile lobbyist Ian Smith isn’t the only patron banned from Joe’s Kiosk at Henley Beach.
Last week Off the Recordrevealed Smith and kiosk owner Joe Weber had a falling-out about the length of time Smith was taking to decide whether he wanted to buy the cafe, which was up for sale at the time.
However, Off the Record has now been contacted by surrealist artist Andrew Baines who has been banned three times by Weber after “disagreements over seemingly insignificant issues”. Baines, though, struck back, removing his artwork hanging in the cafe.
“I actually counter-banned Joe from his portrait and dragged the large canvas 3km along the beach, back to my home at Grange,” he said
Baines had painted a portrait of Weber called The Coffee Nazi, in tribute to the famous Seinfeld episode “The Soup Nazi”.
The artist also has a tip for customers who are worried they could be banned.
“The best time to get banned is at 6am when Joe is sweeping up the sand around the kiosk.”
For his part, Weber remains firm friends with Baines and has not banned him again over his note to Off the Record, saying he recognises it is a lighthearted revelation.