The forgotten women of the Australian public service

June 2 2016

Noel Towell

Thousands of women doing much of the heavy lifting in the Australian public service are at risk of being left behind in the bureaucracy’s push for gender diversity, a leading workplace academic has warned.

The push for more women in the elite Senior Executive Service is great, but more needs to be done for the great bulk of female public servants in middle management and rank-and-file jobs. Photo: Michelle Smith

Nearly 19,000 women work in the service at the middle management EL1 and 2 levels and are doing it as tough as anyone, toiling long hours under family-unfriendly conditions, says Sue Williamson of the University of NSW.

The push for more women in the elite Senior Executive Service is great, Dr Williamson says, but more needs to be done for the great bulk of female public servants in middle management and rank-and-file jobs.

The Canberra Times reported on Thursday on the success  of the Australian Bureau of Statistics in more than doubling its proportion of female executives through “blind” hiring drives simply talking to women in its workplaces around the country

Dr Williamson, who is leading research on public service departments tackling gender equality, says the work done by the  bureau  in getting more women into SES ranks, should be applauded and emulated across the service.

The workplace academic fears that women lower down the food chain might be forgotten if gender diversity efforts were too focused on top jobs.

Women make up just 42 per cent of senior executives despite being nearly 60  per cent of the service.

At the EL levels, men outnumber women by just a few hundred and it is within this cohort, Dr Williamson fears, that employees of both genders are toiling under some of the toughest conditions.

“Middle managers work such long hours, they have pressure from above, from their senior managers, pressure from below from the APS employees, so trying to get work-life balance for EL employees is a really difficult task,” she said.

“The focus on leadership is a way of selling gender equality and that’s the hook at the moment but I’d also like to see a focus on APS and EL employees.

“There’s a big push on to get women into the SES and achieve a 50-50 ration which I think is fabulous, leadership is the flavour of the month and getting women into those SES positions

“But that kind of ignores what is happening with APS employees and EL employees. Not everyone wants to become SES.

“So it’s all very fine to have lots of women in leadership, but how do you make workplaces flexible for EL men and women who are doing those really long hours.”

Dr Williamson acknowledges the argument that more women in leadership roles will lead to more female and family workplaces, but says things are not that simple.

“I’m not sure that argument holds,” she said.

“I think it could take quite a long time for that trickle-down effect to happen, so I think you’ve got to have an approach where, yes, you get women into management but you look after your APS and EL women at the same time.”

Dr Williamson said her research would seek to answer why gender equality has not been achieved already in the public service.

“Trying to get equality for women has been a goal in the public service for a really long time and it makes me wonder, why aren’t we there yet?” she said.

 

Source : The Canberra Times

‘Kept in the dark’: Public servants face long wait with hundreds of job tippe

June 3 2016

Henry Belot

Rank-and-file public servants at Canberra-based Airservices Australia will have to wait until at least November to learn the full scale of job cuts.

Union officials fear the loss of up to 60 positions by June 30 could be followed by hundreds of job cuts with reports staff are being “kept in the dark”.

The scale of job losses at Airservices Australia is expected to be known by November.  

Photo: Jamila Toderas

The government-owned corporation has not confirmed the scale of job losses but has warned there is “no magic number”. Close to half of the middle management cohort are expected to depart on June 30.

Chief executive Jason Harfield has written to staff insisting he would not know the full impact of job losses until a wholesale review of operations progressed.

“Be assured that we are working as quickly as possible to resolve uncertainty in a fair, responsible and considerate way,” he said.

The restructure has been prompted by a dramatic fall in revenue and increasing costs and hopes – with the assistance of PricewaterhouseCoopers – to slash $100 million from its cost base in coming years.

Profitability has plummeted by 90 per cent from $45.5 million in 2013 to $4.5 million in 2015. The group is expected to post its first financial loss of $13.6 million this year

Internal briefings, obtained by Fairfax Media, reveal the group’s corporate section is likely to be hardest hit with job losses to progress “as rapidly as possible”.

“Our corporate centre is now too large to be the efficient and agile business that we’ll need to be in the future,” the briefing said.

“As our corporate centre has grown, costs have increased and we’ve added layers of administration beyond what we need to support the frontlines that serve our customers.

The briefing sent to the agency’s 4400 staff said the scale of job losses would be determined by November at the latest.

“We need to make sure we are doing it right. It is important to note that there is no magic number,” the briefing said.

“This is not just a cost-cutting exercise as we can’t continue to operate this way and any inefficiencies need to be corrected.”

Management has promised to supply transparent updates during “a difficult time of uncertainty for many staff”. A spokesman said consultations with staff were ongoing and officials met unions as recently as Wednesday.

But Professional Australia campaign director Matt Harris, whose union represents public servants at Airservices Australia, said staff were being “kept in the dark” about the scale of cuts.

“Airservices is keeping the number of jobs in plans to cut a secret, we just don’t know the full extent of their plans,” he said.

“It’s putting a huge strain on employees. Without any clarity around the numbers, there is a real sense that no one is immune from these cuts.”

Some union officials have also raised concerns about the timing of the restructure in the midst of caretaker period and an election campaign.

“It would appear that Airservices has not briefed either the government or opposition on its proposed cuts,” Mr Harris said.

“This is worrying, especially when you consider Airservices is wholly owned by the government and the impact these cuts could have on service delivery.”

A new leadership team will be announced on July 1 and tasked with deciding how many staff are required for each section of the workforce.

The restructure comes before the implementation of the $1.5 billion OneSKY program, which will combine civilian and military navigation systems by 2021.

Airservices Australia employs more than 4400 staff and manages 11 per cent of the world’s airspace. It has 29 towers and 1000 air traffic controllers around the country. Last year it managed the movement of 4.5 million flights carrying 90 million passengers.

 

Source : The Canberra Times

Bill clears up state borrowing issue

June 3, 2016 11:00am

MATT SMITH

State Political Editor

The Mercury

CONCERNS: Member of the Legislative Council Tony Mulder.

LEGISLATION  has been introduced to Parliament in response to concerns state treasurers may have overseen budgets that have been unlawfully approved.

Responding to Upper House MLC Tony Mulder, Treasurer Peter Gutwein has introduced the Treasury (Borrowing) Bill 2016 aimed at protecting future and past governments.

Mr Mulder has compared the gravity of the situation to the “Khemlani loans affair” — when the Whitlam government was accused of unconstitutionally borrowing money.

He has argued that successive state governments have unwittingly been borrowing money without the proper authority — and consent — of ­Parliament.

“Ever since the 1980s, governments of all persuasions have added a clause to the ­annual appropriation bill to allow them to borrow money,” Mr Mulder said.

However, he said the Constitution stated the appropriation bill could only be used for drawing down and allo­cating money for the functions of government, not for ­borrowing.

Mr Gutwein’s office did not respond to questions about the issue, but provided a link to the legislation.

The fact sheet acknowl­edges the concerns raised by Mr Mulder.

“Legal advice has been ­obtained from the Solicitor-General of Tasmania in relation to the concerns raised,” the fact sheet reads.

“It is the Government’s view that the law is not clear but that, in order to comply with the general principles set out in the Constitution Act, it is sensible for any borrowing powers to be included in a separate enactment.

“It is the Government’s view any uncertainty in relation to the validity of past borrowings should also be removed.

“This Bill includes a clause to remove doubts and validate any affected past borrowings.”

Mr Mulder said the issue highlighted the need for a constitutional court, which existed in about 50 countries, including China, Germany and Greece.

Source : The Mercury

Going it alone on police bash claim

June 3, 2016

11:00am

DUNCAN ABEY

The Mercury

Adrian Lacroix outside the Supreme Court in Hobart. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

A TASMANIAN man who alleges he was assaulted by multiple officers in the Hobart police station last year has taken the unusual step of launching a private prosecution over the alleged attack.

Adrian Lacroix, of Howrah, yesterday fronted the Magistrates Court in Hobart to bring assault charges against four constables over his alleged physical mistreatment in October 2015.

Despite Director of Public Prosecutions Daryl Coates, SC, appearing in court to take over the prosecution and then electing to discontinue it, Mr Lacroix remains undeterred and yesterday afternoon filed a motion to review the decision in the Supreme Court.

While acknowledging that a private prosecution was not the typical path to justice, Mr Lacroix said he was determined to take a stand.

“It’s unusual, but I think it’s a public interest situation where every Tasmanian citizen has the right to safety, and the right to be treated respectfully,” he said.

“The DPP told the magistrate that he didn’t see the case succeeding, but that should be for a court to determine.

“That’s the whole idea of having a private prosecution — that the court decides.

“I feel very much like justice has been delayed,” he said.

Law Society of Tasmania president Matthew Verney said private prosecutions — where a private citizen rather than a police officer or director of public prosecutions launches a prosecution — were “very uncommon”.

Mr Lacroix is no stranger to launching court action. In 2013, as a witness in the coronial inquest into the downing death of his mother-in-law, Elizabeth Ann Higgins, Mr Lacroix lodged an ultimately unsuccessful application with the Supreme Court seeking a ruling to have coroner Glenn Hay removed from the case.

Mr Lacroix said that during the alleged incident at the police station, he was dragged along the ground inside the police garage, struck to the ribs with a baton while lying face down on the ground, and left lying naked on a concrete floor.

Mr Lacroix said his subsequent injuries were serious enough to visit the emergency department of Royal Hobart Hospital. He said photos taken by police had not been released to him despite his repeated requests.

Source : The Mercury

Brazen Boronia robbery by man clad in Collingwood scarf and cap

June 4, 2016 – 9:41AM

Benjamin Millar

A man who hid his face behind a Collingwood football club scarf has pulled off a brazen daylight robbery on a money lending store in Melbourne’s east.

Detectives are searching for the man, who was also wearing a Collingwood cap, after he demanded cash from the store in Boronia about 10.45am on Friday morning.

The thief masked by a Collingwood scarf. Photo: Victoria Police

The bandit jumped the counter of the Boronia Road store and stole an amount of cash from the safe in a rear office.

He fled the scene on foot and was last seen heading west down Boronia Road.

Detectives have released CCTV footage and images of the man, who is described as Caucasian in appearance, with a solid build, about 180cm tall with an Australian accent.

He was wearing dark-coloured pants, a dark short-sleeved polo shirt and sandy coloured boots with black soles, a Collingwood cap and scarf  and dark glasses.

Anyone with any information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential crime report at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au

Source : The Age

Malka Leifer: Former Australian principal accused of 74 child sex charges walks free in Israel

June 3, 2016 – 4:27PM

Malka Leifer remains in Israel, where she will be assessed by psychiatrists.

The former principal fled to Israel with her family in the middle of the night, allegedly with the help of senior members of Melbourne’s secretive Adass community, after accusations of sexual abuse were first raised against her in 2008.

In 2014, she was arrested by Israeli police at the request of Australian authorities. Since then, she has been living under house arrest in the ultra-orthodox enclave of Bnei Brak in central Israel.

However, she has managed to evade 10 extradition proceedings, with her lawyers consistently arguing she is unwell and unfit to face court. Her lawyers have said she experiences panic attacks and bouts of depression as each court hearing approaches.

Adass Israel Girls School in Elsternwick, where Malka Leifer was principal from 2003 to 2008. Photo: Pat Scala PDS

Earlier this year, the Jerusalem court suspended all legal proceedings against the former principal until Ms Leifer received psychiatric treatment.

On Thursday, a long-awaited report from the district psychiatrist found Ms Leifer was mentally unwell.

Judge Cohen subsequently ruled Ms Leifer was mentally unfit to face extradition, lifted her home detention and ordered she receive outpatient treatment in a Jerusalem clinic.

The court heard Ms Leifer’s treatment was due to begin next week and was expected to last initially for six months.

She would receive up to five treatments during that time, the court heard, until a committee reassessed whether she was fit to stand trial.

The court ruled that process could go on for up to 10 years.

If the committee continually finds she is unfit to stand, she may evade her extradition trial indefinitely.

Since the request for extradition first reached court on August 2014, Ms Leifer has had five different psychiatric assessments.

Solicitor Nick Mazzeo, who has acted for abuse victims at the Adass Israel School, said they were “devastated” about the news.

“The decision has further exacerbated the trauma these victims have gone through and are still going through,” said Mr Mazzeo, of Lennon Mazzeo law firm.

“I’m hopeful that there will be an appeal of the decision, if the prosecutor believes that that is possible.”

Michelle Meyer, the chief executive of Jewish victims support group Tzedek, said Ms Leifer had “manipulated the system” and was doing everything to avoid extradition.

“She has been well enough all this time to continue living, raising her family and possibly working, that doesn’t suggest to me that she is unable to be extradited.”

She said the alleged victims were angry and despondent.

“They were pinning their hopes on getting some closures, but there is still no closure,” Ms Meyer said.

“For a lot of them, the healing process will be put on hold. They have been left in the lurch.”

A spokeswoman for the Attorney-General’s Department said Australian authorities were working with Israeli authorities regarding the next steps in the extradition process.

“Australia retains a strong extradition interest in Ms Leifer who is wanted to face prosecution in Victoria for serious criminal conduct relating to 74 sexual assault offences,” she said.

They said it would be inappropriate to comment further.

Manny Waks, who heads an organisation aiming to prevent sexual abuse in Jewish communities, said Ms Leifer’s alleged victims “feel outraged, devastated and completely let down by Israel’s legal system”.

Several of Ms Leifer’s victims are living in Israel.

“They are also fearful of bumping into her on the street,” Mr Waks said.

Another victim of abuse in the Jewish community, who did not want to be named, said the judge’s decision was “disgraceful”.

“That the judge gave more weight to the psychological status of the perpetrator than the turmoil and disruption to the lives of those affected only deepens sense of injustice.

“At the end of the Second World War, people like Eichmann were extradited to Israel to face trials for their crimes, yet Israel is standing in the way of the extradition of a person who is wanted under the most serious of charges. I find this hypocritical at the highest level.”

Jennifer Huppert, president of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, said the community was overwhelmingly disappointed by the decision.

“The victims themselves have said in court proceedings and at the royal commission that they feel they need to have had this matter heard in a court in Australia, and we are concerned about the victims and we sympathise with their point of view.

“We are extremely disappointed by the decision, we think it’s important for the victims that they feel they can have their day in court, and they have the right to have their day in court.”

Jewish Community Watch representative Shana Aaronson was shocked by the judge’s ruling.

“Disappointed isn’t really a strong enough word. For the [alleged] victims in Australia this has dragged on and on for them and it’s horrible,” she said.

The Israeli prosecutor’s office has been given 72 hours to appeal the lifting of the house arrest, which it is understood it will do.

AAP, with staff reporters

 Source : The Age

Pro-life supporter fined for breaching abortion clinic exclusion zone

June 3 2016 – 11:30PM

Alexandra Back

Police have fined a pro-life supporter for the second time for breaching the protest-free zone around Canberra’s abortion clinic in Civic.

Kerry Mellor, 75, received his first fine in April for breaching the zone about a month after the laws banning protest were introduced.

The protest-free zone in front of the ACT health building on Moore Street, Civic. 

But police withdrew that fine last month.

A delegate of the chief police officer told Mr Mellor police had decided to withdraw the fine notice due to “ambiguity” around the “boundaries of what comprises a ‘protected area'”.

Days after the fine was withdrawn, the ACT government announced it had expanded the exclusion zone, to include Rudd Street, West Row, the alleyway of Odgers Lane, and surrounding roads, footpaths, gutters, outdoor areas, and underneath a “building’s facade”.

But last Friday Mr Mellor received a second fine.

He said that when he and other pro-life supporters went to the Moore Street clinic at 8am, there were already six police officers there.

The rest of his group dispersed, he said, but he remained in place outside PJ O’Reilly pub and was again fined $750.

“The moment that I produced my rosary and made a sign of the cross, they were on to me right away,” he said.

Mr Mellor argues that praying does not amount to either protest or prohibited behaviour under the exclusion zone laws.

He said he intended to challenge the fine in court.

 

Source : The Canberra Times

Charnwood, Kambah shops to be upgraded, more money for city cleaning

June 3 2016 – 11:30PM

Christopher Knaus

The Tuggeranong town centre and local shops at Charnwood, Kambah and Spence will share in upgrades worth $1 million in next week’s budget.

A further $1 million will be added to boost city cleaning and maintenance programs, providing for extra “graffiti prevention measures”, such as targeted removal and security cameras.

General services officer Jody Friend at work with a a leaf blower at the Charnwood shops. The 2016 ACT budget will include a further $1 million for city maintenance. Photo: Rohan Thomson

The funding for shopping centre renewal and city services was announced on Saturday by Territory and Municipal Services Minister Meegan Fitzharris.

Ms Fitzharris said new money will also be provided to maintain roads, streetlights, paths, stormwater systems, shops, parks, and playgrounds in Canberra’s new suburbs in Gungahlin and Molonglo.

Those services to the new suburbs would cost $8.1 million over four years.

The Spence shops and Kambah shopping centre on Marconi Street will each be upgraded with new paving, street furniture, street trees, and improved accessibility.

Charnwood shops will get upgrades to its paving.

Designs to upgrade lighting, walking paths, and local landscaping at another four local shopping centres will be funded with $475,000.

“We all love living in Canberra, and this budget will ensure the bush capital continues to look its very best,” Ms Fitzharris said.

She said the $1 million for city cleaning – including weeding, mowing, rubbish removal, and maintenance of toilets and street furniture – would take the overall maintenance budget to $25.5 million.

She said that money would also go towards tackling illegal graffiti, a problem Liberal MLA Giulia Jones set in her sights in an online video this week.

“When it comes to graffiti, this funding will allow us to implement more graffiti prevention measures, including targeted removal on public assets and working alongside the AFP to use security cameras to catch offenders,” Ms Fitzharris said.

“It will also allow for an expansion of programs currently in place to reduce graffiti, including the creation of murals in the CBD, particularly in Braddon, and the continuation of the recently appointed Graffiti Coordinator position.”

 

Source : The Canberra Times

Mike Baird offers mea culpa on WestConnex consultation

June 3, 2016 – 8:19PM

Jacob Saulwick

City Editor

Mike Baird says the government has not handled the consultation and property acquisition for the WestConnex motorway as well as it should, and been insensitive in some of the areas affected.

But the Premier says he will continue to make controversial decisions, because otherwise he would not be doing his job.

Mr Baird was speaking at a lunch event at Luna Park on Friday, where he addressed the criticism of those angered by the sacking of councils and contentious infrastructure projects.

Premier Mike Baird at Luna Park for the 2016 Corporate Club Australia Business Lunch in Sydney where he addressed concerns about WestConnex. Photo: Janie Barrett

Asked if there were areas where the government needed to adjust in response to the criticism, Mr Baird said: “I think there are some.”

“I think look at the WestConnex process, the community consultation process hasn’t been perfect,” the Premier said.

He cited Sydney’s inner west, where resistance to the 33 kilometre motorway has been strongest, as an area that would ultimately benefit from the project.

Mike Baird was interviewed by Leigh Sales about how he responded to criticism. Photo: Janie Barrett

But he added: “There are personal individual cases where people’s homes have been acquired and I think the way we’ve gone about it hasn’t been as careful as it should have been.

“And that can be someone giving an off-the-hand comment if they might have had a bad day themselves… you have to be so vigilant on that.

“Because there are hundreds of people that are losing their homes – no one wants to lose their homes. And yes there’s massive community benefit that comes from it but that doesn’t mean that every one of those homes and those families and those circumstances aren’t real people.

Opposition to WestConnex drew thousands to the city in protest on Sunday, May 29. Photo: James Alcock

“We haven’t done that as well as we should.”

The comments represent an unusual mea culpa from the government, and a thinly veiled criticism of the approach of the Roads Minister, Duncan Gay. Mr Gay has derided motorway protesters as latte-sipping anti-road zealots.

Nevertheless Mr Baird said that attracting controversy was an inevitable part of attempting to implement change.

Attendants at a Stop WestConnex meeting at the Balmain Town Hall demonstrate the local opposition to the project. Photo: Dominic Lorrimer

“I strongly believe that unless you are taking decisions that in some sense will be controversial, because you will have resistance … I think you are not doing your job,” the Premier said at the event, at which he was questioned on stage by ABC journalist Leigh Sales.

Referencing a recent protest against the Premier, Sales asked how he differentiated between the sort of criticism levelled at any government, and that to which he needed to pay attention.

“That’s really the question,” he said.

“The moment a government stops listening you’re in trouble. But you also need to be mindful that any change will be resisted. People don’t like it at all.”

Labor’s transport spokeswoman and Member for Strathfield, Jodi McKay, said the government’s insensitivity to those affected by the motorway had been a major issue in the area.

“And nobody has listened to them, the minister has dismissed them out of hand,” Ms McKay said. “It’s just ‘We are building this motorway, we are ramming it through.

“I’m pleased the Premier has acknowledged how badly it has to date but the question is what is he going to do about it now.”

About 330 properties are being or have been acquired for the first two stages of the motorway. Many families have lamented receiving offers from the government well below the market rate.

Source : Sydney Morning Herald

Dare to do as much as you can: how Hartman and Curtis turned motto into a motza

June 3, 2016 – 7:28PM

Michaela Whitbourn and Michael Evans

As the final act of one of Australia’s biggest insider trading scandals came to a climax in the NSW Supreme Court this week, the school motto of St Ignatius’ College, Riverview, offered an ironic reminder of fortunes strived for, gained – and spectacularly lost.

Quantum potes, tantum aude – Dare to do as much as you can.

Oliver Curtis leaving St James Supreme Court after being found guilty of insider trading. Photo: Dominic Lorrimer

Oliver Curtis and John Hartman, young bankers and childhood best friends who met at the exclusive north shore high school, were risk-takers whose daring would change the course of their lives.

They took a gamble when only “just adults”, in the words of Crown prosecutor David Staehli, SC. The result, as Curtis’s defence counsel had it, was a “Greek tragedy” of sorts, as friendships were torn apart.

At the height of their scam Hartman and Curtis were making hundreds of thousands of dollars using risky financial products known as contracts for difference to bet on shifts in share prices.

Oliver Curtis and his wife Roxy Jacenko arriving at his trial in the Supreme Court in Sydney. Photo: Daniel Munoz

Less risky, of course, when you are exploiting inside information to bet on a sure thing. But the duo knew, in the words of Hartman, they would be “in a lot of shit” if their dealings were detected. It had become “almost a bit of a game, in a sense”.

For a time, the game and the lure of profits was irresistible. “Slam any bid,” Curtis urged his broker in taped telephone calls recording the trades at the centre of the trial.

“Be aggressive?” his broker queried in another call.

“Yeah, just keep grabbing,” Curtis replied.

The adrenaline was palpable. “Thank Jesus,” Curtis said after he had trouble reaching his broker. “You were scaring me. I don’t have anyone else’s number, I can’t bloody – it fell through the roof.”

The plan, hatched in 2007, was for Hartman to pass on confidential tips from his job as an equities dealer at boutique firm Orion Asset Management. Curtis, then at Transocean Group, would place the trades and the men would split the profits, which totalled $1.43 million in a year.

The pair would ramp up their trading before splurging on luxury expenses, including a year’s upfront rent on a $3000-a-week Bondi pad and a luxury holiday to Whistler and Las Vegas.

But on Thursday the game was over. Curtis, a 30-year-old father of two and husband of Sydney publicist Roxy Jacenko, was found guilty of insider trading by a jury and faces up to five years in prison. Hartman, also 30, has already served 15 months behind bars after pleading guilty to a string of insider trading offences that made him millions.

Theirs is a simple morality play of privilege, greed and wasted opportunity as two young men from wealthy families acted with seeming impunity as they profited from inside information.

But it’s also a story of two families, brought together through childhood friendship, and pulled apart as their crimes were exposed. John would become the prosecution’s star witness against his former best friend.

When John tearfully confessed to his father, Keith, a prominent north shore obstetrician, it was the latest in a series of dramas for the family.

Dr Hartman has been an obstetrics institution on the lower north shore for decades where he runs a successful practice at the Mater Hospital in Crows Nest.

He was little known outside the medical fraternity until Sarah Murdoch, the supermodel wife of media scion Lachlan, was linked to his care. The tag “obstetrician to the stars” quickly stuck when Erica Packer, then wife of billionaire James, and Hollywood actress Nicole Kidman also frequented his waiting room.

Those forays into the public eye hid two decades of family drama marked with achievement and tragedy for the father of six and wife Kerry-Anne.

One son, Luke, has achieved enormous success in business, setting up property company Metro Property Development and is estimated to be worth nearly $100 million in the BRW Young Rich List.

Another son, Alex was a prodigious teen technology talent who made front page news in 1997 when signed a million dollar deal with Telstra to sell them his internet software.

Alex, who would trade emails with the likes of Bill Gates, would become a Young Australian of the Year for career achievement. But after a bipolar diagnosis, his father revealed he was scheduled for his own safety after terrifying incidents in the family home. Alex, whose LinkedIn account shows him with foreign minister Julie Bishop beneath the Eiffel Tower, has since rebuilt his business career and now runs ASX-listed technology publishing company Newzulu.

Another son, Edward, resigned from investment bank UBS after Curtis’ committal hearing. The court heard he and John considered rigging a horse race using an innocent friend’s name in exchange for a few lap dances.

For his part, John has acknowledged his career in financial markets is almost certainly over. These days, he lives and works in Perth with his wife and now a young child. He works for mining magnate Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest’s philanthropic organisation, Minderoo.

Ironically, Hartman snr and Curtis’s father, the businessman Nick Curtis, were linked through the Mater Hospital in 2009 just as a desperate John Hartman began spilling the beans to corporate regulators about his trading after being caught out by his broker.

Nick Curtis, a founding partner of Riverstone Advisory and the executive chairman of rare earths miner Lynas Corp, was chairing the hospital board. Dr Hartman has also been chairman of the hospital’s foundation for 16 years and its most recent annual report pictures him with former patient Sarah Murdoch.

A grim-faced Curtis snr, who gave his son a job after the insider trading charges emerged, appeared in court for much of his son’s 12-day trial. But his presence was overshadowed by his fashion- and publicity-conscious daughter-in-law Jacenko, the founder of public relations firm Sweaty Betty.

When the guilty verdict was read out on Thursday Nick Curtis, accompanied by wife Angela, flinched and bowed his head in the historic St James Supreme Court.

He embraced a tearful Jacenko. Having arrived together every morning of the trial hand in hand, Oliver, who was released on bail pending sentencing , departed the court in the opposite direction to his wife.

The verdict against Curtis marks the culmination of the most significant insider trading case since fallen stockbroker Rene Rivkin who was sentenced in the same court almost 13 years ago to the day.

Authorities have clawed back some of the money the pair made from their trades.

The Federal Police secured an order in 2015 stopping Curtis from spending his share of the proceeds of the sale of a family home.

The corporate regulator froze $1.59 million that was left in Hartman’s account when his own insider trading was discovered – but it was only a fraction of the $5.8 million he made in total.

As for the Hartman and Curtis families, the court heard the two men were “not so friendly now”.

It is a far cry from school days, with the teenaged duo were inseparable. In the light-hearted manner of school year books, one companion wrote of Curtis in his final year that he “will long be remembered for introducing the ‘mullet’ to Riverview”.

But the irony of what another wrote of Hartman is stark: “John has an unusual relationship with his teachers, as he often assumes total power and at times the teachers ended up in more trouble than John did.”

Source : Sydney Morning Herald