Have other MPs been involved in the sort of behaviour Karyn Paluzzano has been nabbed over? Of course they have. You don’t think she got the idea to do this on her own? When I was working in Federal politics in the 1990s, this sort of rorting was rife on both sides to help fund election campaigns. Poor Karyn has been the ‘fall guy’ for a system that has gone on forever.
There is apparently a growing push from forces aligned to Victorian ALP kingmaker Bill Shorten to parachute Committee for Melbourne CEO Andrew MacLeod into a safe ALP seat for the forthcoming state election. MacLeod ran in the federal seat of McEwen in 2001, losing narrowly to Fran Bailey, but recently failed in his bid to be preselected again — with 2007 candidate Rob Mitchell again fingered by federal power-brokers. It’s unclear which safe state seat might accommodate MacLeod, with senior party sources muttering “which one?” when told of the feverish speculation this morning.
I notice recent announcements that a number of senior executives are leaving UniSuper, the Universities Superannuation Fund, as the fund overhauls its management team (in the words of their press release). Is there any connection between this and the ‘comprehensive review’ that UniSuper is conducting across its administration system and processes (this wording from their website)?
As a result of this review, a proportion of members have been unable to access information about their accounts online, since at least early in April. No clear information is forthcoming from UniSuper: the website (and the rather garbled letter that they have sent to members) says only that they have “identified a number of issues relating to how we collect and process the information required to accurately administer our members’ accounts” and that online access to account information has been removed “while UniSuper confirms the details and accuracy of your account”.
No information is available on what the issues are that relate to how information is collected and processed; no information is available on what it is about individual accounts that has triggered an investigation into those accounts; and no information is available on why it is taking so long for these issues to be resolved. What is going on inside UniSuper that members are not being told? And why have no financial journalists picked up on these problems?
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