CBD
CBD's Canberra spies say Swan - who fancies Bruce Springsteen over the Sex Pistols - together with his staff and Treasury officials, were tinkering with the figures right up to the last possible moment. Apparently that last possible moment was 5.15am on Tuesday, when the document was sent off, whipped through the printing presses and back to Parliament House in time to be devoured by the lock-up's waiting press pack that afternoon.
The reason the documents can't be sent any later: glue. If the budget had gone to the printer any later than 6am, the glue holding the pages together would not have had time to set ... making Swannie's figures even more rubbery than they already are.
Heated Icehouse
One man who knows that rock'n'roll can be a little rough is Icehouse manager Keith Welsh.
"So many of the disputes wind up with that term, when somebody says, 'F--- you'," he told CBD. "That's kind of like the turning point."
A trained mediator, the music industry veteran reckons creative types have difficulty talking to each other about who owns what when they're making art.
"You're talking about band members who leave the band - people who thought they were entitled to something, the drummer who doesn't understand that his drum part on the record doesn't, under the general scheme of things, constitute part of the songwriting."
He says disputes often blow up over issues that could have been fixed much earlier if people had actually talked to each other.
Creative types can wrangle over as little as 5 per cent of a song that earns only a few hundred dollars, leading to embittered band mates who "become very boring around the dinner table", or over millions of dollars in design work.
"It's far better to have the conversation now and work it out than it is later on," Welsh said.
He pointed out that the dispute over whether Men at Work's Down Under pillaged a riff from children's tune Kookaburra cost a fortune when it went to court. "No one won except the lawyers," he said.
Welsh, Hoodoo Gurus manager Michael McMartin and lawyer Adrian McGruther will be talking through the nuances, subtleties and tantrums of creative industry disputes on Saturday in Sydney as part of the Vivid festival. The event, titled "Two managers and a lawyer say f--- you", is at the Museum of Contemporary Art at the distinctly un-rock'n'roll time of 10am.
Conference crazy
It's set to be a week of record low productivity in the resources sector, with countless talkfests getting under way. Scores of junior miners will arrive in Broken Hill on Monday for the conference some punters are dubbing "the new diggers and dealers".
At the same time, a more politically correct affair kicks off in Sydney, where AusAid will host its Mining for Development conference featuring Mozambique's Resources Minister, Esperanca Bias - whose profile has soared since Rio Tinto took $3 billion worth of write-downs in her country. On Tuesday the Austmine Conference gets under way in Perth, and the Australia-China Minerals Investment Summit opens in Darwin. Both will be finished in time for exhausted execs to catch a red-eye to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Conference in Sydney on Thursday, where big miners will debate new European laws that force them to reveal more about their spending.
There will be no respite once the weekend comes around, with the four-day Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association Conference starting in Brisbane. All of which proves that if there's one sector that's ripe for some M&A activity, it's the resources conference industry.
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bbutler@fairfaxmedia.com.au
Frequently Asked Questions about this Article…
According to the article, Treasurer Wayne Swan and his team were still tweaking figures up to the final hour. The budget documents were sent to the printers at about 5:15am and had to be dispatched before 6am because the glue binding the pages needed time to set — any later and the printing process would have been delayed.
Last-minute budget changes can create uncertainty because policy details, tax measures or spending figures may shift right up to publication. The article notes the figures were being adjusted until the final moments, which is a reminder for investors to watch for late announcements and read the full budget documents before making investment decisions.
The article highlights a busy week of industry events — junior miners in Broken Hill, Austmine in Perth, the Australia-China Minerals Investment Summit in Darwin and the APPEA conference in Brisbane. These gatherings are where companies network, showcase projects and can drum up deal interest, so they often provide insights into sector sentiment, potential M&A activity and emerging investment opportunities.
The piece mentions Rio Tinto taking about $3 billion of write-downs in Mozambique and that the country's resources minister gained profile as a result. For investors, large write-downs signal operational, political or project risks in a country and underline the importance of monitoring company asset valuations and country risk when assessing mining investments.
The article says big miners will debate new European laws at the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative conference that push companies to reveal more about their spending. Greater transparency can affect regulatory compliance, reputational risk and how investors evaluate a miner's governance and use of project funds.
The column suggests the resources 'conference industry' is ripe for M&A activity because so many deal-focused events bring buyers and sellers together. Investors should watch conference chatter, company presentations and announcements for potential deals and consider how consolidation could change competitive dynamics and valuations.
The article discusses how disputes over songwriting credits and riffs can become expensive — citing the Men at Work 'Down Under' vs 'Kookaburra' case, where going to court cost a fortune and 'no one won except the lawyers.' For investors in music rights or creative businesses, unclear ownership and litigation risk can reduce returns and should be checked before investing.
The article lists a contact email for tips: bbutler@fairfaxmedia.com.au. If you have a tip related to the topics covered — budget timing, resources conferences or industry disputes — you can reach out to that address as noted in the piece.
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