Kerry packer renee rivkin photo scandal

There is something incurably Australian about Australian financial scandals. They are not like their US counterparts, where executives help themselves through accounting sleight of hand, only to be found out later by gaping holes in the audits. Aussies seem to be more openly brazen, sharing the spoils with their mates, and everybody who knows anybody gets in on the act.

So too does the latest scandal over Offset Alpine, a little known printing company which has fingered prominent personalities from all walks of life. When celebrity stockbroker Rene Rivkin addressed shareholders of the company in he had some good news and some bad news. Bad news was the printing press, which had struggled to make a profit, had burned down.

Kerry packer renee rivkin photo scandal: Rivkin, who rose to

And here we go. Good for Rivkin, good for FAI and good for all their mates. The amazing thing is that this hitherto unknown printing plant had enriched shareholders from the State and Federal Labour party including former minister Graham Richardson, and the Packer-connected businessman, Trevor Kennedy. Even a day-time show host, Ray Martin had shares, as did the former governor general, Bill Hayden.

Richardson is at the centre of most of the activity — he was once a chauffer to former prime minister Bob Hawke and rose to become state secretary and a federal cabinet minister.