A Brisbane couple hope to claw back $2m from NAB after the bank ‘sank’ their business

A Brisbane couple is fighting back in court almost 10 years after one of the big banks appointed receivers to their business.

They ran one of the biggest providers of aged care training in Queensland before one of the big banks sent the business into a death spiral.

Now, years later, the owners are finally fighting back.

Launched in the late 1990s, Brisbane-based Delcon Training grew to become a highly-profitable “registered training organisation’’ generating about $500,000 in annual turnover.

But, for reasons that remain unclear, NAB appointed receivers to the business with virtually no notice in late 2011 and the operators, Kim and Tony Raineri, were subsequently declared personally bankrupt early the following year.

The bank’s move to bring in receivers triggered an automatic default by Delcon of all their government contracts, which were then passed on to rival RTOs.

In a flash, all the income vanished from the company, which Kim had started after a well-regarded career as an aged care nurse at the PA Hospital.

“As far I’m concerned, it was bastardry what they did to us,’’ Tony told City Beat.

What followed was years of flawed legal advice from at least three law firms which resulted in a statute of limitations running out on the time allowed for the couple to file a lawsuit.

Jakob Mignone, a lawyer with Brisbane law firm Creevey Russell.

Then the damning findings from the Banking Royal Commission in 2019 gave them a fresh window to seek justice.

In a last ditch bid for compensation, the Raineris have now retained law firm Creevey Russell to help them claw back more than $2m from NAB via an action filed with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.

Yet, incredibly, the regulator has thrown up a bunch of hurdles which threaten to derail the case.

The couple’s new lawyer, Jakob Mignone, said a battle is under way with AFCA to even get the matter heard.

“AFCA have taken the position that since Delcon Training was deregistered, no complaint is able to be made in relation to the appointment of the receivers,” he said.

“But we claim that, as Mrs Raineri is a former director/shareholder of Delcon Training, she is an eligible person to bring the complaint. No information has been found to suggest that the deregistration of a company results in shareholders losing their rights to prosecute complaints.”

We sought a response from NAB but they were predictably tight-lipped. “We cannot comment on individual customer cases for privacy reasons,’’ a bank spin doctor told us.

GOING GREEN

Their fluid might be amber but the gang at brewing giant Lion are going even more green.

The makers of Queensland’s beloved XXXX beer plan to announce Thursday that they will eliminate all plastic shrink wrap from their packaging over the next two years.

XXXX cans will be available in cardboard cartons by the end of 2021, while stubbies and long necks will transition from the plastic shrink wrap to cardboard at the end of 2023.

The XXXX beer production line at the Castlemaine Perkins brewery in Brisbane

The eco-friendly move comes just over a year after the iconic Castlemaine Perkins Brewery at Milton went completely carbon neutral. It has also pledged to source all its power from renewables by 2025.

Sales director Patrick Donohue said Lion was the first major Australian brewer more than a decade ago to stop using plastic six pack rings, which became notorious as a danger to wildlife.

“As Australia’s first large-scale carbon neutral brewer, Lion has positioned itself as a leader in sustainability in the brewing industry,” Donohue said.

“We’ve been conscious of the environmental impact of our packaging for many years now.’’

The plant was able to go carbon neutral through a combination of installing solar panels, using biogas obtained from the brewing process and investing in carbon offset projects.

Until the plastic is ditched, consumers will be able to recycle the shrink wrap at bins in major supermarkets.