Mediation to resolve Ansett super row
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Mediation to resolve Ansett super row
Sat "Melbourne Age"
Mediation to resolve Ansett super row
By Leonie Wood
November 15, 2003
The protracted dispute that has blocked distribution of $415 million to Ansett employees may be close to a breakthrough after a Federal Court judge yesterday urged the parties to pursue a mediation on Tuesday.
Simon Whelan, QC, told Justice Alan Goldberg in the Federal Court that the airline's administrators and their adversary - the trustees of the Ansett Ground Staff superannuation fund - supported the mediation, and they would try to get the Commonwealth and ACTU to attend.
If a settlement is reached next week, Ansett's employees may receive a portion of their outstanding redundancy payments within the next few months.
But resolution appears to hinge on the Commonwealth. It lent Ansett's administrators $335 million in October 2001 to pay workers' entitlements and, to insure against any shortfalls in getting the loan back, it raised $280 million through a $10-a-seat ticket tax. The tax has raised about $135 million more than the Government needs for full repayment.
The trustees have lodged a claim with the administrators for as much as $180 million to meet payments, which the fund says represents the amount it has to pay workers who were retrenched and covered by the Ground Staff plan.
The claim has already been pursued by the trustee through the Victorian Supreme Court and its Court of Appeal, but this is the first time it has gone to mediation.
Justice Alan Goldberg expressed concern about the huge legal expenses involved in the case and the frustrations for workers as it dragged through the courts.
"How much money has gone out of circulation with the 20 days it was in the Supreme Court, and the Appeal court, and here?" Justice Goldberg asked.
"Millions, your honour," Mr Whelan replied.
Justice Goldberg noted that the participation of the Commonwealth and the ACTU in mediation could be "critical" to a breakthrough.
"It's very important for those parties to be present in order to resolve this dispute," he said.
The trustees have argued that a deed of company arrangement promoted by the administrators and ACTU, and approved by Ansett's creditors in March 2002, unfairly relegated the Ground Staff fund's claim to the ranks of unsecured creditors.
Mr Whelan rejected the trustees' allegations earlier this week that the administrators misled Ansett's workers or that they failed to provide crucial information about the ramifications of relegating the fund's claim.
He said information provided by the unions at the time made it "as clear as blazing daylights" that the deed meant a choice between receiving redundancy payments early or preserving the amounts in a super fund.
Ansett administrator Mark Korda, of insolvency specialists KordaMentha, yesterday said he was hopeful of a resolution surfacing next week.
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Mediation to resolve Ansett super row
By Leonie Wood
November 15, 2003
The protracted dispute that has blocked distribution of $415 million to Ansett employees may be close to a breakthrough after a Federal Court judge yesterday urged the parties to pursue a mediation on Tuesday.
Simon Whelan, QC, told Justice Alan Goldberg in the Federal Court that the airline's administrators and their adversary - the trustees of the Ansett Ground Staff superannuation fund - supported the mediation, and they would try to get the Commonwealth and ACTU to attend.
If a settlement is reached next week, Ansett's employees may receive a portion of their outstanding redundancy payments within the next few months.
But resolution appears to hinge on the Commonwealth. It lent Ansett's administrators $335 million in October 2001 to pay workers' entitlements and, to insure against any shortfalls in getting the loan back, it raised $280 million through a $10-a-seat ticket tax. The tax has raised about $135 million more than the Government needs for full repayment.
The trustees have lodged a claim with the administrators for as much as $180 million to meet payments, which the fund says represents the amount it has to pay workers who were retrenched and covered by the Ground Staff plan.
The claim has already been pursued by the trustee through the Victorian Supreme Court and its Court of Appeal, but this is the first time it has gone to mediation.
Justice Alan Goldberg expressed concern about the huge legal expenses involved in the case and the frustrations for workers as it dragged through the courts.
"How much money has gone out of circulation with the 20 days it was in the Supreme Court, and the Appeal court, and here?" Justice Goldberg asked.
"Millions, your honour," Mr Whelan replied.
Justice Goldberg noted that the participation of the Commonwealth and the ACTU in mediation could be "critical" to a breakthrough.
"It's very important for those parties to be present in order to resolve this dispute," he said.
The trustees have argued that a deed of company arrangement promoted by the administrators and ACTU, and approved by Ansett's creditors in March 2002, unfairly relegated the Ground Staff fund's claim to the ranks of unsecured creditors.
Mr Whelan rejected the trustees' allegations earlier this week that the administrators misled Ansett's workers or that they failed to provide crucial information about the ramifications of relegating the fund's claim.
He said information provided by the unions at the time made it "as clear as blazing daylights" that the deed meant a choice between receiving redundancy payments early or preserving the amounts in a super fund.
Ansett administrator Mark Korda, of insolvency specialists KordaMentha, yesterday said he was hopeful of a resolution surfacing next week.
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"Millions, Your Honour"..................
Of course they support mediation now. Never in the beginning, before the sharks have become so bloated, you could shove Britney Spears before them and they wouldn't eat!!!!
Another couple of months........ the Double M's will be happy about that.
Every day earns them around $50k.
Of course they support mediation now. Never in the beginning, before the sharks have become so bloated, you could shove Britney Spears before them and they wouldn't eat!!!!
Another couple of months........ the Double M's will be happy about that.
Every day earns them around $50k.
Evertonian
Mediation? More like Medication needed here!
Out of curiosity, how many cents in the dollar will the administrators & lawyers reap from this, in comparison to the creditors?
Out of curiosity, how many cents in the dollar will the administrators & lawyers reap from this, in comparison to the creditors?
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ABC News Online
Sunday, November 16, 2003. 11:48am (AEDT)
Ansett continues to bug ASIC head
Outgoing Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) chairman David Knott says the collapse of Ansett is his greatest disappointment in his time in the job.
Mr Knott has held the position at the ASIC for 10 years but leaves shortly, planning to return to the commercial sector.
He has told ABC TV's Inside Business program that his hands were tied when it came to Ansett.
"It's not that it slipped through our fingers, it's simply that we couldn't do anything about it," Mr Knott said.
"We went through a very extensive investigation you might recall.
"Our own view was that Air New Zealand's conduct was unacceptable, and I do not believe to this day that it was acceptable.
"But in the end, the law was against us and we simply had nowhere to go."
==========================================
Sunday, November 16, 2003. 11:48am (AEDT)
Ansett continues to bug ASIC head
Outgoing Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) chairman David Knott says the collapse of Ansett is his greatest disappointment in his time in the job.
Mr Knott has held the position at the ASIC for 10 years but leaves shortly, planning to return to the commercial sector.
He has told ABC TV's Inside Business program that his hands were tied when it came to Ansett.
"It's not that it slipped through our fingers, it's simply that we couldn't do anything about it," Mr Knott said.
"We went through a very extensive investigation you might recall.
"Our own view was that Air New Zealand's conduct was unacceptable, and I do not believe to this day that it was acceptable.
"But in the end, the law was against us and we simply had nowhere to go."
==========================================
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AAP
Commonwealth 'should join Ansett mediation'
By Leonie Wood
November 18, 2003
The Federal Government is under pressure from the Federal Court to take part in talks that could release $415 million owed to former Ansett Airlines workers and creditors.
Justice Alan Goldberg yesterday said the Commonwealth, Ansett's single biggest creditor, was a "relevant, significant and important" player in a mediation that might resolve a two-year-old dispute between the airline's administrators and trustees of a superannuation fund.
Justice Goldberg said he could not order the Commonwealth to attend the mediation, as it was not a party in the legal dispute. But if mediation were pursued, "I would expect the interested parties, such as the unions . . . and the Commonwealth, to be willing participants".
"It's self-evident . . . that the participation of the Commonwealth is highly desirable, important and significant," he said. "The Commonwealth in this particular matter, I would have thought, would have had a right to attend a mediation and would have wanted to attend such mediation."
The trustees have demanded the administrators pay $180 million to the Ansett Ground Staff Superannuation Plan to help meet the fund's liability to about 9000 workers made jobless when the airline collapsed in 2001.
The trustees say their claim was unfairly relegated to the ranks of unsecured creditors when creditors approved a deed of arrangement in March 2002.
The administrators, Mark Korda and Mark Mentha, of KordaMentha, have $415 million of cash in the bank. But the administrators claim that if they lose the case workers would not receive any retrenchment payments for several years, if at all.
While the administrators and trustees have spent millions tussling in the Victorian Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court, this is the first time the case has been to mediation. Justice Goldberg said he wanted to "break this cycle, if I can".
He described the case as "curious" because the people who would benefit from the trustees' claim - the Ansett workers - were to a large extent the same people who would lose.
"It's a very unusual position because . . . millions of dollars have gone into legal costs, which
are no longer available for the unsecured creditors," he said. "And we are in this curious situation of having representatives of a substantial body of people on each side of the table. I find that quite bizarre. There must be a better way than just spending legal costs to get to a result."
The Commonwealth in late 2001 advanced $335 million to help the administrators pay Ansett workers some of their entitlements. About $360 million is still owed to long-time workers entitled to more than eight weeks' salary for redundancy.
The Government imposed a $10-a-seat ticket tax soon after Ansett collapsed to cover its exposure if the administrators could not repay the advance. But the tax raised about $135 million more than the Government needed to be repaid in full.
==========================================
Commonwealth 'should join Ansett mediation'
By Leonie Wood
November 18, 2003
The Federal Government is under pressure from the Federal Court to take part in talks that could release $415 million owed to former Ansett Airlines workers and creditors.
Justice Alan Goldberg yesterday said the Commonwealth, Ansett's single biggest creditor, was a "relevant, significant and important" player in a mediation that might resolve a two-year-old dispute between the airline's administrators and trustees of a superannuation fund.
Justice Goldberg said he could not order the Commonwealth to attend the mediation, as it was not a party in the legal dispute. But if mediation were pursued, "I would expect the interested parties, such as the unions . . . and the Commonwealth, to be willing participants".
"It's self-evident . . . that the participation of the Commonwealth is highly desirable, important and significant," he said. "The Commonwealth in this particular matter, I would have thought, would have had a right to attend a mediation and would have wanted to attend such mediation."
The trustees have demanded the administrators pay $180 million to the Ansett Ground Staff Superannuation Plan to help meet the fund's liability to about 9000 workers made jobless when the airline collapsed in 2001.
The trustees say their claim was unfairly relegated to the ranks of unsecured creditors when creditors approved a deed of arrangement in March 2002.
The administrators, Mark Korda and Mark Mentha, of KordaMentha, have $415 million of cash in the bank. But the administrators claim that if they lose the case workers would not receive any retrenchment payments for several years, if at all.
While the administrators and trustees have spent millions tussling in the Victorian Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court, this is the first time the case has been to mediation. Justice Goldberg said he wanted to "break this cycle, if I can".
He described the case as "curious" because the people who would benefit from the trustees' claim - the Ansett workers - were to a large extent the same people who would lose.
"It's a very unusual position because . . . millions of dollars have gone into legal costs, which
are no longer available for the unsecured creditors," he said. "And we are in this curious situation of having representatives of a substantial body of people on each side of the table. I find that quite bizarre. There must be a better way than just spending legal costs to get to a result."
The Commonwealth in late 2001 advanced $335 million to help the administrators pay Ansett workers some of their entitlements. About $360 million is still owed to long-time workers entitled to more than eight weeks' salary for redundancy.
The Government imposed a $10-a-seat ticket tax soon after Ansett collapsed to cover its exposure if the administrators could not repay the advance. But the tax raised about $135 million more than the Government needed to be repaid in full.
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It does seem obvious that all of the money collected from the ticket tax should be spent for the purpose it was allegedly collected for.Why would the govt need to make a $135 mil profit from the misery that they helped cause.This govt is truly despicable.
