News Corp and… Crikey among readers’ picks for worst company

You didn’t think we’d leave the Alan Bond Award for Corporate Misconduct without hearing from him. cricket subscribers, right? While our first winner, Qantas, was the company most mentioned by readers, you also made arguments for other corporate miscreants that were too good to ignore.

While I stand behind Bernard Keane’s rankings (no democracy here!), cricket We’ve counted every email and comment received since we announced this series and we’re delighted to announce that News Corp is the Readers’ Choice winner, with Optus coming in a close second.

Beyond that, here’s the most thought-provoking, well-argued “it should have been higher!” Honorable mentions for the Alan Bond Award:

BHP

Ann Moir writes: BHP, with its jingoistic, harsh-voiced personality, presents itself to Australians as our beer-drinking, true-blue, beautiful, beautiful dinkum, blue-chip corporate mate toiling away in the sun on our behalf.

However, its record of wanton environmental destruction in Australia and around the world belies the public image it cynically seeks to promote. BHP was found to be involved in all the usual corporate crimes, including sexual harassment, wage theft, destruction of Aboriginal cultural sites, tax avoidance, promoting climate change and environmental pollution. Out of greed, he betrays the standards he wants us to believe are the foundation on which he is built.

James Hardie

Alan F writes: Not a new case, but what about James Hardie, who denied asbestos and refused to pay compensation to his dying employees?

JBS Foods

Chris Wilson writes: I’m surprised JBS isn’t on the list. Its total revenue isn’t far behind Qantas ($19.7 billion), but as far as I know it pays no taxes [Editor’s note: you are correct, Chris]. The parasitic company that bought Tassal has a terrible international record as a global meat company, and the fish farm it leased was the epicenter of fish kills in Southern Tasmania last summer.

Microsoft

FunkyJ writes: I know you don’t cover much about the gaming industry Because you’re lame and out of touch [Editor’s note: rude]But Microsoft’s Xbox has thrown its hat into the mix of international companies behaving badly lately. Despite making its highest profits ever in the past five years, the industry has managed to lay off workers (which, to be fair, is an industry-wide phenomenon) and reduce its competitive advantage by increasing the price of the Game Pass subscription service by 50%. The impact was felt immediately; As millions of people went online to unsubscribe, their account’s website crashed.

News Company

Tony Phillips writes: News Corp certainly wins, though probably not in terms of your criteria for an actively bad operator, but in terms of being very successful at its core activities of lying, disinformation, malicious distortion and outright propaganda.

If there’s one category for business that’s causing deep and long-lasting damage to Australia, it’s News by a mile.

Robin Hilson writes: The winner will most likely be News Corp.

Environmental damage: News Corp defends and enables climate denialism.

Tax avoidance: News Corp pays no tax in Australia.

Undermining social cohesion: News Corp sows division and fuels hatred.

Without Murdoch’s support for more than 20 years, Trump and the US far right would never have been effective.

But for the more informed and discriminating younger citizens in Australia who do not engage with compulsory voting and mainly Sky After Dark and other propaganda broadcasts from the LNP (and now Sussan Ley’s opponents), Dutton may be our prime minister.

Dorian John writes: News Corp’s skepticism has endeared Donald Trump to the world, and his tireless crusade against renewable energy is one of the main reasons why Australia is struggling to transition to clean energy. This motley crew never paid company tax, by the way. Finally, his cynical disdain for facts, his war on reputable science, and his general indifference to truth are at the heart of the right-wing attack on democracy in the English-speaking world.

optus

Mr D writes: I propose a new criterion: “The apparent inability to perform designated functions leads to multiple incidents that cause serious inconvenience to a large segment of our population (well beyond the immediate customer base and even up to multiple deaths in one of the more recent breaches).”

If this were included, Optus would be well above the (still confusing) 30th place on the list. Some of his behavior on this front was beyond reproach.

Jon K writes: The main story in the sidebar these days is almost always about Optus’ failure to provide basic maintenance. It’s hard to think of another company that would hold a press conference and announce to the world: “We may have contributed to the killing of people in the last 24 hours.”

PwC

Martin Carey: As a former chartered accountant, I have a penchant for fair, legal, ethical and equitable taxation, and so my vote goes to the world-renowned PwC: they went behind the Australian government’s back to receive a government contract to advise on international corporate tax increases and tax avoidance schemes, before gaining a second source of income for the same business by selling advice to large international corporate clients on how to avoid the same potential new tax increases.

This behavior by PwC must surely have been considered corrupt, in breach of contract or illegal, but it had little impact on PwC partners. He had his partners act like the proverbial three-card trick or a magician’s “smoke sound,” then went back to work with no punishment or prison time for the perpetrators. Of course, the government postponed awarding new consultancy contracts for a while.

The behavior of other companies is criminal by comparison. Stronger laws, tougher financial penalties, prosecution of directors and CEOs, and stronger consumer rights are all we need to ensure companies behave ethically.

Rio Tinto

David Hardie writes: Rio Tinto for bribing the Mongolian government and some questionable management practices in terms of informing its shareholders.

forest side

Mandy writes: Woodside seems to tick all the boxes: exporting our oil and paying very little in taxes, bargaining with the government for the privilege of expanding its operations, lying about the damage it does to the environment, and ultimately giving away more. His misdeeds are further compounded by failing to respect the rock art at Murujuga, now a World Heritage site (but who cares?) and threatening the ecosystems at spectacular Scott Reef.

But wait, there’s more! “Through our partners, we develop awareness and understanding of the environment, climate change, energy and cultural heritage.” So, just add a little hypocrisy to the mix. Purely contributing to taxes, money that should be invested in Aussies who really need it (education, healthcare, housing, aged care etc) and at the same time destroying the planet with toxic products. Who could ask for more from a company?

cricket

Victor A writes: Look in the mirror, Keane. Your Fabian team continues to sell sheep that are about to go bankrupt due to global warming due to climate change. This nonsense is seriously damaging Australia. Yes the worst cricket.