New firm operating from mansion of failed company’s director
A new company is operating from a million-dollar Gold Coast canal home owned by the director of a firm which went bust owing creditors more than $600,000.
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END OF THE RAINBOW
A new blind company is operating from a million-dollar Gold Coast canal home owned by the director of failed Rainbow Blinds and Shutters.
Rainbow Blinds, which formerly operated from a premises at Capalaba, has gone into liquidation owing creditors in excess of $600,000.
ASIC records show that the Hope Island home of Rainbow Blinds director Anthony Driene is the principal place of business of a company called Oz Shades Qld, selling shades, blinds and shutters to customers across southeast Queensland.
The director of Oz Shades Qld, which was registered in July this year, is Driene’s partner Michelle Colligan, who is also listed as the sole shareholder of the company. Colligan also was a shareholder in Rainbow Blinds.
People clicking on Rainbow Blinds’ website are now directed to the Oz Shades site, which operates from the residential address in one of the Gold Coast’s ritziest suburbs.
Several customers of Rainbow Blinds have lodged reviews at productreview.com.au in the last six months stating that they have complained to the Office of Fair Trading that the company accepted deposits but had not delivered the promised services. The Office of Fair Trading declined to comment.
Liquidator Travis Pullen, of B&T Advisory, says any creditors of Rainbow Blinds who have information about its affairs are asked to contact him. Pullen says the company only had $198 in the bank. Neither Driene or Colligan returned phone calls requesting comment.
SUPER IDEAS
QSuper boss Michael Pennisi has weighed into the long awaited review into Australia’s superannuation system. Pennisi says he hopes the review would be a platform for long-term stability in how the government taxed and regulated the sector.
“Our members tell us that one of their great concerns about superannuation is the prospect of the rules changing,” says Pennisi. “They want stability in a system they believe operates for the long term.”
The government is paving the way to scrap a legislated super rise after the retirement income review found current policy settings were “effective, sound and … broadly sustainable” It instead emphasises “voluntary saving” and home ownership as key to long-term financial security. Pennisi says one of the issues identified in the review was a reluctance of retirees to fully use their assets to generate income to improve their lives. Pennisi told members at the fund’s annual meeting last week that QSuper is working on a new product that would add to their confidence of a stable income stream in retirement.
QSuper meanwhile has emerged as the best value superannuation fund for young people, according to a benchmarking port released by Rainmaker Information.
The analysis considered the investment performance to 30 June 2020 that members aged in their 20s would have received after applying their age-based fees.
UNION DEAL
ONE of Australia’s biggest — and most active unions — has been busy buying up properties in an inner city urban renewal precinct during the COVID lockdown.
The Queensland branch of the CFMEU has settled on the purchase of seven lots across the road from its headquarters on Campbell Street, Bowen Hills, which it bought and moved into about a decade ago. CityBeat approached the union to see what they were up to but we received a very firm “no comment” for our efforts.
According to CoreLogic between April and August the union paid just over $10.2m for the acquisition of the lots totalling an amalgamated land area of 3276sq m on Campbell, Edgar and Hazlemount streets in Bowen Hills.
Smart unions invest their members’ funds wisely and with a variety of tenants operating out of what is a mixture of showrooms and light industrial buildings the CFMEU’s Queensland branch currently has a nice little earner.
However, with a 3000sq m plus site in a looming development hot spot the union can expect a nice windfall for its members if they decide to sell it as a residential/retail site in the future.
Who knows — it’s pure speculation mind you — but could the union one day jump into bed with a builder or developer and develop it themselves? Talk about strange bedfellows.
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