By Ross Cameron
October 26, 2009 — 12.00am
Sydney Morning Herald
Alan Bond got into sailing because a creditor couldn't pay a bill. Rather than bankrupt him, Bond swapped the debt for a boat, the prize of the fleet at the Royal Perth Yacht Club. Bond applied for membership and was blackballed. That was the beginning. To win the America's Cup you must first beat all challengers, then win a best-of-seven finals series against the previous winner. Bond's first challenge on Southern Cross in 1974 lost 4-0. His second with Australia also lost 4-0. It takes character to mount a third challenge, but he persevered to lose 4-1 in 1980. As the dejected crew pulled into the jetty, Bond leapt aboard beaming, and announced the 1983 bid: "We'll have the budget and the boat and we're going to win the America's Cup!" The final challenge in 1983 started badly, with Australia II down 3-1, but three races later, on September 25, Australians woke to the collective realisation that we can do anything. Victory in World War II was euphoric for all the Allies. For uniquely Australian exuberance, the Sydney Olympics and the Bicentenary rate highly but neither can touch Australia II passing Liberty to win Bond's last-ditch attempt. It made the front of The New York Times, The Washington Post, Le Monde and The Times. This paper's 175th-anniversary edition said it "received top billing as the clear cut No.1 sporting event for Herald readers".
One of Bond's worst moments took place after stepping off another boat - Drumbeat - after winning the Sydney to Hobart race in 1989, to learn Bond Brewing had been placed in receivership. He presided over the country's then greatest financial collapse as corporate interest rates hit 20 per cent. He wasn't Robinson Crusoe. When the world has a recession today, Australia has a mild one. When the world had a recession in 1990, Australia had a shocker. Rates were set too high, too early, for too long. Rupert Murdoch went within a breath of insolvency, Westpac nearly slipped into the abyss and John Symond watched his credit card be cut up (but paid back every cent and bounced back to revolutionise home lending). The ancient Greeks put debtors into slavery. In England, bankruptcy was once punishable by death. Western jurisprudence, however, realised the untold community benefit that flows from people taking commercial risk. We reformed. It is no longer a crime to go broke. Insolvency is never pretty. Bond was guilty of raising too much debt and not enough equity - as were the directors of Allco and Babcock & Brown last year and we haven't sent them to jail. Bond was criticised for paying too much for assets, like the Nine Network for $1 billion. In 2006, half of PBL was sold for $4.5 billion. Bond's view on future value of media assets was ahead of the market's. Bond Corp was a high-growth, high-risk stock. Investors were happy to take the ride up the curve. But when so many have lost money, regulators feel intense pressure to produce a villain. Bond became the lightning rod to earth a million grievances. The Sulan inquiry went for six years. He was wrongfully convicted over the Rothwell's matter, and after he was released from 90 days' in prison, he immediately faced the next round of proceedings. He spent four years in prison over a painting, and while inside, accepted a statement of facts admitting the fraud in relation to Bell Resources.
But to understand the Bond legacy we ought to look at the rest of it. When he began his first development east of Perth aged 20, its real estate was competing with Hobart for "worst performing capital city". Today median prices in Perth beat Sydney. He saw the wealth in the Cooper Basin and bought Santos for $27 million in 1975. It is now the main source of natural gas, valued at $12.6 billion and employs 2000. It would be worthless if Bond had not built a 1200-kilometre pipeline. He probably would have survived 1990 if the South Australian Government had not despicably abused his right to retain ownership of the asset he created. There is no Kalgoorlie super-pit without Bond. A hole in the ground now visible from space was once a ramshackle collection of small mining tenements. He established Australia's first satellite television network - Sky Racing. Bond's signature is visible on the Sydney skyline in one of its tallest, and arguably most beautiful, structures, Chifley Tower, sold for a record $1.2 billion. He built Australia's first private, not-for-profit university. Bond University received top marks in 10 categories of the Good Universities Guide 2008 - the highest ranking Australian institution. Perhaps the most extraordinary feat of his amazing life has been to make it back into the BRW Rich 200 today. The Statesman's headline last year read: "The return of a legend … the name's Bond, Alan Bond." He moved silently, knowing every article bearing his name would begin with the sentence "Convicted criminal and former bankrupt …" Rupert Murdoch wept on the Newport wharf in 1983, saying, "I think it's absolutely fantastic. What Alan has achieved from his humble beginnings should be an inspiration to all Australians.'' I suspect Bond is enjoying his obscurity, but a more accurate and balanced opening to future profiles would read "Alan Bond, visionary and national hero …''
Ross Cameron, the former member for Parramatta, is chairman of Towncars.
Great!