Fed: A tall poppy who stayed that way, despite everything

AAP General News (Australia)
04-30-2009
Fed: A tall poppy who stayed that way, despite everything

Correcting date in third par



By Mike Hedge, Senior Correspondent

MELBOURNE, April 30 AAP - What should a nation make of a man like Richard Pratt?

For the past couple of weeks it has heard at length of the many virtues possessed by
a man described as the "quintessential Australian success story" and a "giant among men".

It has been reminded that Mr Pratt, who died on Tuesday, had arrived in Australia in
1938 with nothing and rose on a large stack of cardboard boxes to become one of its wealthiest
citizens.

He has been lauded as Australia's greatest philanthropist and one of its greatest environmentalists.

Mr Pratt's kindness, compassion and generosity have been extolled by leaders of the
community and the business world.

The adulation he attracted has few precedents.

John Elliott said he had cried when he heard of Mr Pratt's death and went on to describe
him as the greatest person he had known.

At his funeral, journalist, commentator and CEO of the Pratt Foundation, Sam Lipski,
eulogised him lovingly and loyally.

"We loved him because of who he was and sometimes despite who he was," Mr Lipski said.

"A great man and yet every man, a great Australian, wealthy and powerful, he knew how
to use his wealth and his power and yet he was every Australian."

Mr Lipski also touched, less than lightly, on one of the aspects of Mr Pratt's life
that is troubling to many in the community - and certainly to one Federal Court judge.

"Richard, we know, played many, many parts," Mr Lipski told mourners.

"The recent dramas in court, unfolding as he was near death and then continuing yesterday
after his passing, tells us what those who knew him and worked with him already knew.

"In this last act, Richard was cast in a play that should never have been produced,
a mean drama that was unjustly conceived and unjustly produced.

"We all know the mills of history grind slowly but I'm certain history will vindicate
Richard, his achievements, his generosity and his honour."

Mr Lipski was talking about the criminal trial that was abandoned as Mr Pratt lay on
his death bed.

The trial stemmed from the civil case resolved last year in which Mr Pratt agreed to
plead guilty and pay a $36 million fine - the largest in Australian history - for fixing
the price of cardboard.

In the civil case, Mr Pratt made certain admissions regarding the price fixing which
involved rival packaging company Amcor in the belief they couldn't be used against him
in any other proceedings.

Despite that arrangement having allegedly been agreed to by the Australian Consumer
and Competition Commission (ACCC), the same organisation used it to pursue Mr Pratt on
criminal charges.

On the face of it, the ACCC has behaved questionably.

Mr Pratt, according to his friend John Elliott, was innocent and only made the admissions
in the civil case in order to "clear the decks" and get the case out of the way.

"It could have cost him $150 million in legal fees and everything else if he'd fought
it," Mr Elliott said.

On the other hand, trial judge Justice Peter Heerey took to Mr Pratt in his judgment,
declaring the nation's then third-richest man had entered into a cartel arrangement for
his personal benefit.

Mr Pratt, the judge said, had robbed "every man, woman and child in Australia" over
the five years the cartel operated.

As a result, Mr Pratt handed back his two Order of Australia awards.

The other issue that history might have a problem with is the one concerning his mistress,
Shari-Lea Hitchcock.

Mr Pratt and Ms Hitchcock have an 11-year-old daughter, a situation which might sit
at an odd angle for anyone listening to the praise recently heaped on a man said to be
devoted to his family.

It is debatable whether the court verdict that said Australia's biggest giver was also
ripping off just about every member of the community, or the revelation that the philanthropist
was also a philanderer, will affect how history ultimately views Mr Pratt.

His name would appear out of place alongside the likes of Alan Bond, Christopher Skase,
Steve Vizard, Larry Adler or HIH's Ray Williams, men whose redeeming features were less
obvious.

Or would it?

AAP mh/it/jlw

KEYWORD: PRATT (AAP NEWSFEATURE) (REISSUING)

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