Hope you can sign the below petition which links all these dishonest stockmarket practices to the waves of privatisation that have swept the country.
https://www.change.org/p/fremantle-council-fremantle-council-stop-using-wilson-parking
Many people who use the Fremantle business district for work, shopping and even volunteering are being hit with $65 fines from Wilson Parking. Why are we so willing to hand over our hard earned money just for parking? Has anybody questioned why we are paying for parking when we already pay our taxes?
It hasn't always been the case that we get a fine for overstaying for a few minutes in a car park and it doesn't have to be this way.
Firstly why are we paying for all this parking?
It is because Federal, State and Local governments are not collecting enough tax anymore. ACCC Chief Rod Sims was correct when he said that it is the lowered tax base that has led to governments going down the road of privatization. With privatization comes price gouging from parking companies, from toll road companies, from electricity companies and from airports.
So why the lowered tax base then? Why aren't governments collecting as much revenue from Australian citizens anymore?
This is tightly guarded information within the Australian financial industry which is all explained in this petition here which up until now 4000 mum and dad investors have signed.
9.5% of our paychecks every week go into our own superannuation funds . Billions if not Trillions of dollars of our superannuation have flowed into the Australian Stock Exchange since the last global financial crisis and where has it all gone? Has it helped our economy? Has it given our governments the much needed tax revenue? Nope. This money has flowed into the hands of foreign investment banks, foreign hedge funds, foreign institutions who cleverly game our financial system.
And very few have been any the wiser because nobody is interested in superannuation until they turn 65.
As the ACCC's Rod Sims has pointed out, everything that has been privatised has gone up in price for us.
Secondly, if Fremantle Council or any other council cannot afford to give us free parking why do they use Wilson Parking?
Wilson Parking began its controversy around 2009 with the 'unauthorised' purchase of 25,500 motorists details from the WA Department of Planning and Infrastructure. The details were bought to allow it to pursue people for the non-payment of outstanding fines.
Wilson's next controversy was when the ACCC ordered their security division to refund 320 WA customers over $700,000 for failing to do internal premise security patrols. Instead they did the cheaper and less time consuming external perimeter security patrols. Approximately 48,000 of these missed patrols were charged to customers between 2011 and 2017.
Next of course was Wilson's role in the detention centre human rights abuses. Wilson Security was subcontracted by Transfield to provide security services on Australia's offshore detention centres in Nauru and Manus Island. They made profit out of misery at both these centres. At the time, Wilson car parks in Sydney and Melbourne were blockaded by protestors.
The final controversy which is worst of all is the Panama Papers leak which found out who ultimately controlled Wilson.
Leaked documents revealed that two brothers embroiled in a massive Hong Kong corruption scandal were ultimately in control of this Australian security company that earned roughly half a billion dollars in lucrative government contracts.
Next time you are getting your $65 fine, think about the two Hong Kong based billionaire brothers Thomas and Raymond Kwok who were charged with bribing a Hong Kong government official in July 2012. The leaked documents, obtained by the ABC's Four Corners, show the brothers covertly remained directors of the offshore company that ultimately controls Wilson's operations in Australia.
The revelations came via a massive leak of more than 11 million documents from a little known law firm based in Panama, Mossack Fonseca. It became widely known as the Panama Papers scandal.
The Kwok brothers maintained effective control as directors via a covert manoeuvre facilitated by Mossack Fonseca.
Two weeks after the brothers were charged, both Thomas and Raymond Kwok removed themselves as directors from Wilson Offshore Group Holdings (BVI) Limited but replaced themselves with two mysterious new directors that were companies, Winsome Sky and Harmony Core.
The leaked files show the directors of those mystery companies were in fact the Kwok brothers themselves.
Thomas Kwok signed on as the director of Winsome Sky on July 30, 2012, and on the same day Raymond signed on as the director of Harmony Core.
Forbes estimated in 2016 that the two brothers were worth a combined US $16.2 billion and they were the fifth richest family in Asia.
Wilson always decline to say how much money they make from parking and how much goes to the government. Wilson has said in a statement "All we are asking of our customers is to observe our terms and conditions which are prominently displayed at each car park which includes paying for the parking. Our preference is to collect parking fees rather than issue breach notices".
It is this authors belief, gathered from conversations with Fremantle residents that Wilson receives all the money from the parking fines and the Fremantle Council receives the parking fees. This is why Wilson is so vigilant with their patrolling of the car parks, to collect as many $65 fines as possible.
Conclusion
People do not want to pay for parking but if they must then our parking fees and parking fines should go toward our communities - our money should not be lining the pockets of these Hong Kong Billionaires. Fremantle Council is requested to end all contracts with Wilson and be transparent about all its dealings with Wilson including the reasons why Wilson was not removed even after the Panama Paper revelations.