By: imcrookonit
5/11/2009
7:58 pm Yahoo! Profile:
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Leighton Holdings' veteran boss, Wal King, has castigated Americans parachuted into top jobs at Australian companies and blamed them for ratcheting up his own large salary.
Mr King, 65, made the comments today after revealing that Leighton was more likely to favour appointing an internal candidate to replace him when he eventually leaves.
ââAll I can say to you is that it wonât be any high-flying American parachuted in at outrageous salaries that make mine look like chicken feed and stay for two years and fill up the jumbo jet and leave. I mean that is not going to happen,ââ he told reporters. ââYou name me one American chief executive who has stayed in Australia.
ââI think all they have done is ratcheted up salaries for guys like me. They have parachuted in ... they have told us what a crappy country we have and how we are also dopey and donât know what we are doing.ââ
Mr King would not comment on whether he was referring to Telstraâs former boss Sol Trujillo.
Mr Trujillo described Australia as a backward nation of racists shortly after stepping down from Telstra in May to return to the US. The American also said at the time that Australia was like ââstepping back in timeââ and the country had restrictive immigration policies.
Woodsideâs chief executive, Don Voelte, is one of the highest profile American executives still at an Australian company. Others include Austalâs managing director, Bob Browning.
However, Leighton also employed a Texan as its chief financial officer until last month. Scott Charlton, a former Deutsche banker, exited the company suddenly after six years.
Mr Kingâs comments today came shortly after shareholders in Leighton delivered a small protest vote against the companyâs remuneration report. |
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By: imcrookonit
5/11/2009
9:18 pm Yahoo! Profile:
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| They parachuted in at outrageous salaries, stay for two years, and fill up the jumbo jet and leave. |
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By: andreihicks
5/11/2009
10:37 pm Yahoo! Profile:
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There isn't anything wrong with parachuting people into roles in Australia.
Overseas qualified people often bring a wealth of experience and come for usually around 2-3 year contracts. They can pass on knowledge not available looking just locally. |
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By: thy.nemesis
5/11/2009
10:37 pm Yahoo! Profile:
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| Alien henchmen with moral vacuums for hire! |
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By: mckackie
5/11/2009
11:07 pm Yahoo! Profile:
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| its quite a sad indictment on our education system then.... |
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By: thelastnail1
5/11/2009
11:23 pm Yahoo! Profile:
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By: andreihicks
There isn't anything wrong with parachuting people into roles in Australia.
Overseas qualified people often bring a wealth of experience and come for usually around 2-3 year contracts. They can pass on knowledge not available looking just locally.
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Like the Mexican bandit. What did he do for Telstra ?? Can you see any bargains from Telstra as a result of his visit and golden handshakes. I'm still using a 1.5 megabit ADSL connection that costs me $55 per month and hangs off Telstra's crap network. Usually when technology advances things get cheaper but not here in Australia :( |
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By: andreihicks
5/11/2009
11:24 pm Yahoo! Profile:
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It is more an example of the success of globalisation.
I came to Australia into a role where they could have filled it with a local person but the purpose of the task would not have been achieved as well as it was.
Simple fact is, sometimes, you need outside people to come in to do a job. |
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By: monoman911
5/11/2009
11:31 pm |
Message deleted. Reason: Breach of terms of service |
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