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From the author of the influential The Australian Merino comes the shocking true story of the decline and fall of the Australian wool empire – a tale that features a brace of Australian characters, political skulduggery and betrayal on a massive scale.
Breaking the Sheep's Back is the untold story of Australia's biggest business disaster. It involves government complicity, and it is a political scandal that reaches into the offices of Cabinet ministers and prime ministers across six federal governments.
In only twenty years, from 1989 to the present, the Australian wool industry – once the nation-building iconic representation of the country – has been cut to only a third of its size, due in large part to this disaster. When the Australian Wool Corporation's Reserve Price Scheme collapsed in January 1991, there was a 4.8-million-bale stockpile of unwanted wool, and its bankers were left owing $3 billion in government-guaranteed debt. During the years leading up to the crash, the Wool Corporation and its affiliates recklessly spent a further $5 billion of woolgrower and government funds. With the crash, the international wool trade lost billions of dollars – all due to Australian government-sanctioned statutory intervention. The combined losses of at least $10 billion constitute Australia's largest business disaster by far, and the social costs are ongoing.
By comparison, the AWB scandal involved funds one-thirty-thousandth the size. Yet, despite this politically sanctioned wool disaster, including the close involvement of successive federal governments and its agencies throughout, there has never been a royal commission.
Breaking the Sheep's Back is a private royal commission – over eight years in the writing, and involving a colourful and intriguing cast of characters. It is written by someone who was intimately involved in the industry at many levels; who was appointed by a federal minister to statutory boards after the disaster; who has spoken to most of the key players involved, and to those who were inside the Cabinet offices and Corporation and other board rooms; and who has had access to the key documents (such as board papers, government papers, private correspondence). It is a must-read account of Australia's worst business disaster.
About The Author
Charles Massy is the author of the influential The Australian Merino.
| Foreword | p. vii |
| Acronyms and Glossary | p. xi |
| Introduction | p. xxi |
| The Rise of Statutory Intervention-1840 to 1987 | p. 1 |
| 'An inexorable current': The political antecedents of disaster-1840 to 1951 | p. 3 |
| Of patriots, government princes and wool emperors | p. 10 |
| The binary choice-1950s to 1958 | p. 17 |
| 'If the play gets rough, I can mix it': Bill Gunn, wool warrior-1958 to 1965 | p. 27 |
| 'Marketing mesmerism'-1966 to 1969 | p. 40 |
| 'All your danger is in discord!'-McEwenism to late 1960s | p. 51 |
| 'The spontaneous uprising of the unwashed peasantry'-the great wool coup of 1970 | p. 58 |
| 'Without ever admitting to having done so': The Wool Commission-up to December 1972 | p. 73 |
| 'Requiring the wisdom of Solomon': The Wool Corporation-1973 to 1975 | p. 84 |
| 'No retreat' in a fool's paradise-1976 to 1981 | p. 95 |
| With the cylinders all loaded-1982 to 1987 | p. 102 |
| Setting the Floor-1986 to June 1988 | p. 117 |
| 'A contagion': The wool boom-up to 1988 | p. 119 |
| The start of the great bull run-late 1987 to January 1988 | p. 128 |
| Hubris-early 1988 | p. 135 |
| 'On a collision course with the AWC board'-February to May 1988 | p. 144 |
| The folie de grandeur: The Wool Corporation board-1988 | p. 155 |
| 'The price that could floor the wool industry'-May to 24 June 1988 | p. 162 |
| Into the Rapids-July 1988 to April 1990 | p. 177 |
| 'In so deep it must keep going'-July 1988 to December 1989 | p. 179 |
| 'A nightmare in the making'-late 1989 to February 1990 | p. 195 |
| 'No time for hard hats'-February to April 1990 | p. 209 |
| 'Flying blind without radar': IWS shenanigans-from late 1989 | p. 223 |
| Into the Bunker | p. 233 |
| 'Encouraged into bad cul-de-sacs'-Autumn 1990 | p. 235 |
| 'Let them eat mobile phones'-April to May 1990 | p. 244 |
| 'More to do with egos than economics'-17 to 21 May 1990 | p. 260 |
| Last stand at Roma-21 to 27 May 1990 | p. 267 |
| The fatal cut-28 May to 6 June 1990 | p. 282 |
| Denouement | p. 291 |
| 'No better than incompetent gamblers'-June to September 1990 | p. 293 |
| 'Nothing short of insanity'-September to November 1990 | p. 305 |
| The insurgency-October 1990 to January 1991 | p. 318 |
| The crash-mid January to 11 February 1991 | p. 330 |
| The Aftermath | p. 351 |
| 'Death by ten thousand cuts'-February 1991 to today | p. 353 |
| Counting the costs | p. 367 |
| Afterword | p. 395 |
| Acknowledgements | p. 403 |
| Notes | p. 407 |
| Select Bibliography | p. 417 |
| Index | p. 423 |
| Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved. |
ISBN: 9780702238857
ISBN-10: 0702238856
Audience:
Professional
Format:
Paperback
Language:
English
Number Of Pages: 464
Published: 1st August 2011
Publisher: UNIV OF QUEENSLAND
Dimensions (cm): 22.86 x 15.24
x 3.556
Weight (kg): 0.567
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