Citibank chief Pandit should tell us something new

Cartoon: Peter Nicholson

Great to see former Citigroup chief executive Vikram Pandit dial in by batphone to lecture us antipodean numbknuckles about trust and how banks have lost it at ASIC’s annual talkfest in Sydney yesterday.

Pandit knows plenty about loss of trust — the board of Citi’s loss of faith in him prompted his exit in 2012.

On the other hand, he did take pay of just $1 a year to fix Citi after the GFC. But on the other other hand, the bank bought his hedge fund for $US165 million in 2007. (Citi have shut it down.)

When asked if more convictions of US executives that blew up banks in the GFC would help improve confidence, Pandit unsurprisingly dodged the question.

Ferguson cops it

Views are clear in union-land on former ACTU president Martin Ferguson, who yesterday again trumpeted his support for bringing the Australian Building and Construction Commission back from the dead.

“Martin Ferguson: grub”, tweeted Unions ACT secretary Alexander White.

And John Setka, the Victorian secretary of the construction division of Marn’s least fave union, the CFMEU, said Ferguson’s statements were “cheap coming from a man who opposed the banning of asbestos!”

So what chance Marn gets kicked out of the ALP or United Voice, the union where he was national secretary back when it was called the LHMU?

A United Voice spokeswoman said Ferguson was given life membership in 1995 but it was “no secret that the union has had some policy differences with Mr Ferguson over the last two decades”.

If there is a move to boot Ferguson from the ALP, it wouldn’t be the first time — a bid by WA Labor to defenestrate him failed last year.

Marn says his position has been consistent, pointing to similar statements in 2009 — when he was a cabinet minister. He also says he’s also always been pro-privatisation, a stance which is being used in election ads run by NSW’s Liberal premier, Mike Baird.

“I’m as Labor as anyone but I’m going to argue what I think is good for Labor and good for the nation,” he said.

And in an intriguing twist, he says he refused life membership of United Voice.

“Every July I go into the union office in Melbourne and pay my fees,” he said. “I’m not interested in life membership. I want to pay my fees and maintain my independence.”

Uber farce

Uber has been given at least another three months to step up its battle with Victorian taxi networks after a court hearing in Melbourne descended into farce yesterday morning.

Uber driver Nathan Brenner’s trial was adjourned after magistrate Peter Power realised it was going to take longer than the two days set aside. This follows a postponement in February after Uber made a late request for additional documents from the regulator, the Taxi Services Commission.

After a sting operation, the TSC, headed by former competition tsar Graeme Samuel, is prosecuting Brenner for driving a taxi without a proper licence. In defence, Brenner’s barrister Peter Haag told the court TSC officers lacked proper authority and illegally gathered evidence.

Lawyers, witnesses, journalists and onlookers packed a tiny hearing room at the Melbourne Magistrates Court from 9.30 yesterday morning, when the hearing was supposed to kick off.

But things didn’t get started until a quarter past 10, and soon got bogged down after Haag sought a voir dire — a mini trial — on each of the two issues.

At 10.30, prosecutor Morgan McLay told Power the trial was unlikely to fit inside two days.

“How could that be?” Power asked, pointing out that just six days before the court received a letter saying the opposite.

McLay said that looking at the brief, he would normally have thought the charge would take half an hour to resolve.

“It’s really the defence that has more control over how long it takes than I do,” he said.

Power adjourned again, returning at 10.45 to say the next available date to start a four-day hearing was June 16. But that was no good either, as the TSC’s informant is going on an overseas holiday and won’t be back until June 20.

The case has been adjourned to a date to be fixed. Meanwhile, having ignored a cease-and-desist letter sent by Samuel, Uber’s unregulated cars continue to ply their trade — and the TSC continues to issue on-the-spot fines.

[e-mail]