November 1999: former AWB CEO Andrew Lindberg removed as WorkCover
CEO after new Bracks government announces $176m operating loss for
1998-99 in what many regarded as a political stitch-up.
Ref: http://www.maynereport.com/articles/2008/07/14-1223-3924.html
Lindberg Joined the AWB in 2000 and this is his bio.
Mr Lindberg was appointed Chief Executive of AWB on 3 April 2000.
He has broad senior executive experience in the private and public sectors,
having worked in the manufacturing and insurance industries, industry policy
and health and safety.
Mr Lindberg has led landmark public sector financial reforms, including
significant privatisation, outsourcing and restructuring.
Before joining AWB, Mr Lindberg was Chief Executive at the Victorian
WorkCover Authority for seven years.
Ref: http://www.awb.com.au/NR/rdonlyres/A30FE417-F781-42EA-925B-6C4773230F6A/0/section4.pdf
WCV's: They should also have stated that he was sacked from worksafe after 7
years and left it in debt to the tune of $176 million!
Showing posts with label Lindberg. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lindberg. Show all posts
Monday, 23 February 2009
Andrew Lindberg - The High-Flyer, as long as Worksafe is picking up the tab!
Andrew Lindberg ran up huge debts on his taxpayer-funded
credit card when WorkCover chief. Ewin Hannan and Richard
Baker report.
WHEN Jeff Kennett was forced from power in 1999, Andrew Lindberg wasn't
far behind, well aware that incoming premier Steve Bracks wanted the
WorkCover Authority chief out.
Unhappy with the scheme's performance and the authority's assault on the
common law rights of injured workers, Labor also went after Mr Lindberg
for charging tens of thousands of dollars on a taxpayer-funded credit card.
According to the then Attorney-General, Rob Hulls Lindberg's card was used
for meals costing $950 at Rogalsky's Restaurant in South Melbourne, $800 at
Marchetti's Latin Restaurant; $400 at Florentino's; $300 at the Flower Drum
and $300 at Fringe Benefits in Canberra.
Mr Lindberg's favourite restaurant appeared to be Slattery's, where he spent
$2945 over 20 visits. Documents show he pulled the card out in Paris, Chicago,
London, Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, New Jersey, San Francisco,
New Zealand and Vancouver.
His hotel stays included the Athenaeum in London, the Hilton in Chicago, the
Hyatt Regency in Chicago, the Lafayette Hotel in Boston, the Hyde Park Hotel
in New York and the Sunset Marquis Hotel in Los Angeles.
In 1998, Mr Hulls said, Mr Lindberg earned $330,000, including a $100,000
bonus. While the Edinburgh-born Mr Lindberg had been appointed by the
former Kirner Labor government, he had been the WorkCover head for the
duration of the Kennett government.
Mr Bracks pulled no punches on winning office, and lambasted the
"mismanagement" of WorkCover.
Mr Lindberg went, re-emerging months later as AWB managing director on an
eventual annual salary of $800,000.
But he didn't walk alone from WorkCover, taking three senior employees with
him. "We used to call it WheatCover because so many went over," a former
WorkCover executive said yesterday.
The trio joining Mr Lindberg at AWB were WorkCover's long-serving director
of public affairs, Eileen McMahon, group general manager (operations) Jill
Gillingham, and the former manager of insurance operations, Richard Fuller.
Mr Fuller was also WorkCover's company secretary, a position he assumed at
AWB under Mr Lindberg. It was what he did in this role that has resulted in
Mr Fuller being named in the Federal Government's inquiry into AWB's
activities in Iraq.
Mr Fuller's signature was on documents tabled to the boards of AWB and AWB
International in late 2004, documents described by commissioner Terence Cole
this week as a "sham".
WCV's has a few questions:
WHEN Jeff Kennett was forced from power in 1999, Andrew Lindberg wasn't
far behind, well aware that incoming premier Steve Bracks wanted the
WorkCover Authority chief out.
Unhappy with the scheme's performance and the authority's assault on the
common law rights of injured workers, Labor also went after Mr Lindberg
for charging tens of thousands of dollars on a taxpayer-funded credit card.
According to the then Attorney-General, Rob Hulls Lindberg's card was used
for meals costing $950 at Rogalsky's Restaurant in South Melbourne, $800 at
Marchetti's Latin Restaurant; $400 at Florentino's; $300 at the Flower Drum
and $300 at Fringe Benefits in Canberra.
Mr Lindberg's favourite restaurant appeared to be Slattery's, where he spent
$2945 over 20 visits. Documents show he pulled the card out in Paris, Chicago,
London, Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, New Jersey, San Francisco,
New Zealand and Vancouver.
His hotel stays included the Athenaeum in London, the Hilton in Chicago, the
Hyatt Regency in Chicago, the Lafayette Hotel in Boston, the Hyde Park Hotel
in New York and the Sunset Marquis Hotel in Los Angeles.
In 1998, Mr Hulls said, Mr Lindberg earned $330,000, including a $100,000
bonus. While the Edinburgh-born Mr Lindberg had been appointed by the
former Kirner Labor government, he had been the WorkCover head for the
duration of the Kennett government.
Mr Bracks pulled no punches on winning office, and lambasted the
"mismanagement" of WorkCover.
Mr Lindberg went, re-emerging months later as AWB managing director on an
eventual annual salary of $800,000.
But he didn't walk alone from WorkCover, taking three senior employees with
him. "We used to call it WheatCover because so many went over," a former
WorkCover executive said yesterday.
The trio joining Mr Lindberg at AWB were WorkCover's long-serving director
of public affairs, Eileen McMahon, group general manager (operations) Jill
Gillingham, and the former manager of insurance operations, Richard Fuller.
Mr Fuller was also WorkCover's company secretary, a position he assumed at
AWB under Mr Lindberg. It was what he did in this role that has resulted in
Mr Fuller being named in the Federal Government's inquiry into AWB's
activities in Iraq.
Mr Fuller's signature was on documents tabled to the boards of AWB and AWB
International in late 2004, documents described by commissioner Terence Cole
this week as a "sham".
WCV's has a few questions:
- If Mr Bracks knew about the mismanagement of Worksafe by Lindberg and Kennett then why didn't he include all injured workers in the changes he made?
- Why did he (Mr Bracks) clearly discriminate against some and not others?
- Was Mr Lindberg made to repay all of these extravagant costs?
If you can answer any of these questions then send in your reply.
Ref: The Age Newspaper.
Monday, 10 November 2008
Lindberg's rocky road at WorkCover
Photo: AWB managing director Andrew Lindberg was a controversial head of
the Victorian WorkCover Authority during the 1990s.
AWB supremo Andrew Lindberg quit as WorkCover chief when Steve Bracks
was elected Premier.In 1999 the then Labor state opposition accused Mr
Lindberg in Parliament of spending large amounts of the authority's money
on entertainment and travel.
Rob Hulls, then shadow WorkCover minister and now Attorney-General,
produced documents showing Mr Lindberg spent $34,646 on entertainment,
transport and accommodation, locally and overseas, while heading WorkCover
from 1992 until 1998.
It was also reported at the time that Mr Lindberg had spent more than
$100,000 on overseas and interstate trips over five years while with the
authority.
Mr Hulls told The Age at the time that Mr Lindberg lived "a
lifestyle that would make Australia's richest 200 people blush."
WCV's: Mr Hulls did nothing to make Lindberg held accountable for this?
Why Not? If this was an injured worker who had defrauded the system
they would be in court as quick as lightning! So what makes Lindberg
any different?
The besieged WorkCover chief resigned in November 1999, a
month after Steve Bracks was sworn in as Premier, citing an
inability to work with the new Government.
That was not surprising: as opposition leader, Mr Bracks had
gone after Mr Lindberg, calling for his head in July that year.
WCV's So what happened here, did Mr bracks get Mr Lindberg held
accountable for worksafes losses?, I dont think so? It all gets blown under
a big rug and forgotten!
Mr Bracks attacked Mr Lindberg for "arrogantly and quickly" dismissing a
key recommendation by a royal commission into the 1998 Longford gas
blast that a major hazards unit should be established separate to WorkCover.
Trade union leaders also condemned Mr Lindberg, saying WorkCover had
fallen apart while he was at the helm.
Leigh Hubbard, who was Victorian Trades Hall secretary at the time, was
among the chorus who welcomed his resignation.
Yesterday, Mr Hubbard described Mr Lindberg as a "divisive and dogmatic
" WorkCover leader who had failed to consult others. "Andrew was quite
schizophrenic in the way that he was quite personable on one hand then was
wanting to drive through an agenda without talking to anyone," he said.
"Granted, that that was under (Jeff) Kennett."
"He appears to have inherited this new problem with AWB and run with
it," Mr Hubbard said.
Mr Lindberg's 1999 resignation from WorkCover came a week
after the authority announced a budget blow-out of $176 million
for the previous year.
WCV's: Why wasnt Lindberg held partly responsible for this blow out?
Mr Lindberg joined AWB in 2000, taking with him a number of his
WorkCover colleagues, including director of public affairs Eileen McMahon.
Taken from: The Age
Written By: Mathew Murphy
January 20, 2006
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)