Wednesday March 9, 2005
First published 1831 No. 52,255 $1.20 (inc GST)
HOWARD’S NATIVES
ARE RESTLESS
Peter Jackson’s
wrestle with
King Kong
Coming to a
phone near you:
mobile porn
ROSS GITTINS Page 15
THE CULTURE Page 17
INSIGHT Page 16
BHP trumps
rival in battle
of the giants
James Chessell
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BHP Billiton is poised to consolidate its position as the world’s
largest resources company by
launching a last-minute,
$9.2 billion bid for WMC
Resources – the largest cash
takeover offer in Australian corporate history.
Representatives from both
Melbourne companies spent
most of yesterday locked in talks
and emerged with a friendly deal
that put an end to WMC’s controversial four-month takeover
battle with the Anglo/Swiss mining house Xstrata.
BHP’s bid is pitched at $7.85 a
share – a 5 per cent premium to
WMC’s Monday closing price and
well above Xstrata’s $7.00 a share
offer – although the sharemarket
is tipping rival Rio Tinto may
launch a counter bid.
‘‘It is an excellent opportunity
to build on our existing nickel
and copper businesses and bring
uranium into our suite of energy
products,’’ said BHP’s chief
executive, Chip Goodyear.
‘‘The acquisition provides additional premium long-term options to satisfy continuing
demand growth in China and
other high-growth economies.’’
Since October 28 – the day that
Xstrata boss Mick Davis made his
initial bid – Mr Goodyear has
avoided countless questions
about his company’s plans for
WMC while doing a good job of
acting uninterested.
But flush with cash thanks to a
commodities boom driven by unprecedented Chinese demand for
raw materials, some of the
world’s largest miners are spending their money on acquisitions.
Australian mining companies
COLUMN 8
More – Page 22
Good catch, that! Dorothy
Hanney would like to thank
‘‘the knight in shining armour’’
who caught her as she fell
headlong down the stairs at
Hornsby Station last
Thursday, before
disappearing into the crowd.
WEATHER
Details – Page 20
Sydney city Mostly fine 18°-27°
Tomorrow shower or two 19°-25°
● Liverpool Mostly fine 16°-29°
Tomorrow shower or two 17°-26°
● Penrith Mostly fine 16°-30°
Tomorrow shower or two 17°-27°
● Newcastle Chance shower 16°-28°
Tomorrow shower or two 16°-27°
● Wollongong Mostly fine 15°-26°
Tomorrow shower or two 16°-25°
● Canberra Partly cloudy 9°-25°
Tomorrow dry 10°-26°
●
ISSN 0312-6315
9 770312 631032
‘Analysts must
reconsider their
commodity forecasts
... BHP’s share
price is likely
to rise
significantly.’
ALAN KOHLER
– Page 23
Rio Tinto may enter fray . The
punt that paid off – Page 23
Elizabeth Knight – Page 24
such as BHP, Rio Tinto and WMC
have posted bumper profits this
year as Asian customers pay record prices for the ingredients of
steel such as coking coal, nickel
and iron ore. ‘‘The rise in commodity prices is across the board,
from copper to cocoa,’’ said ABN
Amro analyst Nick Moore.
The record-breaking Australian sharemarket has also fostered takeover activity across
other sectors with BHP joining
the likes of Foster’s Group, which
is bidding for Southcorp, and
grocery concern Metcash Trading, which wants to acquire
Foodland Associated.
WMC is a relatively small bite
for BHP, which boasts a market
value of roughly $US90 billion
($113 billion).
But the acquisition would
make the dual-listed company
once known as the ‘‘Big Australian’’ the world’s second largest
copper producer (at present
fourth) and second-largest nickel
producer (now sixth).
It would also provide Mr
Goodyear with an entree into the
uranium market through WMC’s
flagship project – the massive
Olympic Dam copper and
uranium mine in the South Australian outback.
BHP is already making the
most of growing global demand
for energy through its extensive
coal, oil and gas interests.
But Olympic Dam contains a
third of the world’s known
uranium and is a highly soughtafter project with countries such
as France keen to buy the
greenhouse-friendly nuclear fuel
for its power stations.
BHP yesterday revealed it had
quietly amassed a 4.3 per cent
interest in WMC since Xstrata
showed its hand.
Yesterday’s full bid followed a
botched attempt to grab a larger
10.1 per cent blocking stake from
London fund managers late on
Monday night.
‘‘[There are] some suggestions
that Rio was just about to launch
its own scrip bid and that BHP’s
action has been deliberately
rushed out to combat that move,’’
said Tolhurst Noall’s Marcus
Padley. ‘‘They have had a long
time to structure an approach to
WMC but instead have ended up
bungling an attempt to buy a 10.1
per cent stake – all a bit rushed.’’
The proposed deal is expected
to be approved by the competition
regulator and gain foreign investment approval – BHP’s Londonlisted shares mean it is considered
a foreigner under takeover rules –
from the Federal Government,
which recently allowed Xstrata’s
bid to proceed.
Xstrata confirmed late yesterday it would not engage the much
larger BHP in a bidding war.
Big, bad Ingrid means business
Cooktown
Port Douglas
Cairns
It began as a perfect North Queensland morning with
barely a breeze. By afternoon towns from Port Douglas
to Cooktown were taping up windows and doors as Ingrid,
a Category 5 cyclone capable of ‘‘complete destruction’’,
bore down on them. Tracey, the cyclone that destroyed
Darwin in 1974, was a Category 4. ‘‘It’s not a question
of when it will hit but where it hits and how intense it will
be by the time it gets here,’’ said weather bureau
NASA satellite image
forecaster Jeff Callaghan.
ASIO fed information to my torturers, says Habib
Marian Wilkinson
National Security Editor
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Evidence seized by ASIO officers
from the Sydney home of
Mamdouh Habib was used during his interrogation and torture
sessions in Egypt, according to
new allegations by Mr Habib and
his lawyer.
The freed terrorism suspect
says his Egyptian interrogators
specifically questioned him
about hundreds of phone numbers he believes were contained
within SIM cards in his Sydney
mobile phones before Australian
Security Intelligence Organisation agents raided his home in
September 2001.
‘‘When they interrogated me I
believe they get it from Australia
because they give me . . . about
300 phone numbers,’’ he told the
SBS program Dateline. ‘‘They tell
me you have to give addresses
and who are these people and
how you know them. And they
put me in a room with a few
guards and if my hand stopped
writing I got beaten.’’
In the long interview on
Dateline, which will air tonight, Mr
Habib also says Egyptian intelligence officers asked him in detail
about Muslims living in Australia
who might have attended the
Lakemba mosque. He also alleges
that an Australian and an American were present during one of his
Egyptian interrogations.
The allegations raise questions
about what co-operation, if any,
Australian intelligence offered to
Egypt in Mr Habib’s case, given
Egypt’s long-standing record of
torturing suspected terrorists.
Australian officials, includ-
i ng t he At tor ney -Genera l,
Philip Ruddock, have repeatedly denied knowing about Mr
Habib’s alleged abduction by US
intelligence agents.
Mr Habib alleges he was
taken from Pakistan to Egypt,
where he says intelligence officers tortured him during interrogation sessions between
November 2001 and February
Continued Page 2
Boeing, Boeing, bonk: exit the boss Police sorry for ignoring
David Teather in New York
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The chief executive who vowed to
repair the tarnished reputation of
Boeing fell victim to his own
scandal when he was fired for
conducting an affair with one of
the company’s female executives.
Harry Stonecipher, 68, was
lured out of retirement 15
months ago to help steady the
defence and aircraft company
after it was rocked by revelations
of misconduct in securing Pentagon contracts. Earlier scandals
had cost the jobs of the chief
executive, Phil Condit, and the
finance chief, Mike Sears.
Mr Stonecipher’s relationship
with the unnamed executive
came to light about 10 days ago
after company bosses received an
anonymous tip-off. Mr Stonecipher was tripped up by his own
push to improve ethical standards at the company by making
employees sign a code of conduct.
The affair apparently began in
January. The person who brought
it to Boeing’s attention had learned
Boeing’s Harry
Stonecipher . . .
sacked after
breaking the
ethical code he
set in place.
Photo: AP
of it through correspondence between the two, the firm said.
Boeing said the woman, a longtime employee, did not report directly to Mr Stonecipher and there
was no evidence she had been
given any preferential treatment.
Lew Platt, Boeings’ nonexecutive chairman, said the relationship showed questionable
judgement.
Mr Stonecipher is married
with two children. ‘‘The board
concluded that the facts reflected
poorly on Harry’s judgement and
would impair his ability to lead
the company,’’ Mr Platt said. ‘‘The
chief executive must set the standard for unimpeachable professional and personal behaviour.’’
But the decision to oust Mr
Stonecipher had some in Wall
Street scratching their heads.
Under his leadership, the Boeing
share price had increased by 52
per cent as he rebuilt bridges in
Washington and tackled the slide
in commercial jet market share.
Sears last month was sentenced
to four months’ jail for his role in
the purchasing scandal that came
to light at the end of 2003. It
emerged he had offered a job to a
US Air Force procurement executive, Darleen Druyun, while negotiating a $US23 billion ($29 billion) contract for up to 100 refuelling aircraft tankers. Druyun
is serving nine months in jail.
Mr Platt said Mr Stonecipher
had breached a line in the code
that says staff will not engage in
conduct that ‘‘may raise questions
as to the company’s honesty, impartiality, reputation or otherwise
cause embarrassment’’.
Boeing said the woman involved was still at the company and
her career would be unaffected.
The Guardian
alleged bashing by fugitive
Cosima Marriner
and Justin Norrie
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Police have admitted to a second
bungled opportunity to arrest
fugitive Jesse Kelly and apologised for failing to help a man he
allegedly bashed – two days after
his car crash that sparked the
Macquarie Fields riots.
A police report leaked to the
NSW Opposition revealed
Macquarie Fields police were ordered not to attend the scene of an
alleged assault in which Mr Kelly is
suspected of being involved.
The assault took place on
February 27, two days after a
stolen car Mr Kelly was allegedly
driving crashed during a short
police pursuit. His two passengers died in the accident.
Mr Kelly was part of a group of
10 males who allegedly bashed
Jason Greeks, a Eucalyptus Drive
resident who witnessed the crash
Spoke out on TV ... crash witness
Jason Greeks. Photo: Network Ten
two days earlier. It is alleged the
assault was payback for Mr Greeks
suggesting on TV news that Mr
Kelly ‘‘left his mates for dead’’ and
should hand himself in.
The men allegedly attacked Mr
Greeks with glass in front of his
children. He was so badly injured
that he required a titanium plate
to be inserted into his eye socket
as it had been pushed back behind his nose.
Mr Greeks’s 13-year-old son
and 12-year-old daughter separately rang 000 in tears to report
the assault. But the officer on
duty ordered police not to attend
the scene. Police first spoke to
the victim four hours later when
he was being treated in hospital.
The deputy police commissioner, Dave Madden, publicly
apologised to Mr Greeks yesterday
and said he would review the
police response to the calls. The
Police Minister, Carl Scully, said he
was ‘‘very concerned’’ about the
incident but would wait for the
outcome of Mr Madden’s review
before commenting further.
Mr Madden speculated that
the police had mistaken the 000
calls for a hoax. ‘‘[The police] had
intelligence that there would be
further riots on the Sunday night
Continued Page 7
Ferals at the bottom
of your garden
Gardeners may love the
sweet-smelling murraya,
above, the peppertree and
the colourful gazania, but
CSIRO scientists have
declared them pests and
called for them, and many
other plants, to be banned
from sale nationwide. Page 10
Double locks
Australia’s 8 million internet
banking customers will need
two forms of identification
from later this year as banks
tighten up on fraud which is
costing them more than
$25 million a year. Page 3
M ANUFACTURERS’
W ORLD R ALLY
C HAMPIONS
CITROËN
2003
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