Employment Rejection Letters - It's All In The Timing

October 20, 2025 Edward Dever

As a student, some work experience is useful for the resume. Back in 1987, while studying Law and the Securities Institute's Diploma of Applied Finance and Investment, and with an Economics degree under my belt, I applied to numerous businesses for some work experience over the summer break. I adopted the age-old tactic of applying to as many businesses as you can to see who responds.

With an interest in finance, I applied to Rothwells Limited, the merchant bank run by the late Laurie Connell and also Tricontinental Corporation. Students of Australian business history will recall that both these companies were consumed by their losses and bad debts in the aftermath of the 1987 stock market crash. Rothwells collapsed in 1988 following the withdrawal of life support by the WA Government and the late Alan Bond's Bond Corporation. Tricontinental collapsed in 1990 due to its disastrous loan book, including loans to the late Christopher Skase's Qintex Group. Somewhere, I also have a work experience rejection letter from Qintex. (I must have been aiming for the future insolvency trifecta!)

The date of the rejection letters is interesting. Tricontinental's letter is dated 19 October 1987. That night, the US stock market crashed. Rothwells's letter is dated 20 October 1987. Kind of the State Manager to take time out from the Australian stock market imploding around him to sign my rejection letter.

In the end, I spent a couple of weeks in late 1987 doing work experience with the law firm where I later completed Articles of Clerkship before being admitted as a Solicitor.

An amusing anecdote on the 38th anniversary of the 1987 stock market crash.

October 2025

The content of this publication is intended to provide a general overview on matters which may be of interest. It is not intended to be comprehensive. It does not constitute advice in relation to particular circumstances nor does it constitute the provision of legal services, legal advice or financial product advice.

Vale Sister Joan Evans PBVM AO

October 6, 2025 Edward Dever

3 May 1932 - 29 September 2025

I had the privilege of assisting Sister Joan over a period of 15 years. I was one of many volunteers drawn to her kind soul and her desire to help others.

Sister Joan spent 25 years in the Klong Toey slums in Bangkok assisting the underprivileged. Through programs like the Milk Run and the Rice Run, she changed lives.

At the core of Sister's mission was education. Helping children by buying school uniforms, paying transport costs so they could get to school and providing money so they could buy something to eat. Sister ensured that these children could become educated and have better lives. Helping people break free of the poverty cycle she used to say. How right she was.

But her mission work went much further. From providing milk formula to babies, to helping with cost-of-living issues for Klong Toey residents to ferrying the elderly to hospital, Sister Joan never seemed to stop. Taking her for her favourite meal of lamb chops was a good way to ensure a bit of a break for her. Many of her other supporters also looked after Sister in different ways. She felt much loved by her community and her supporters.

Sister Joan worked with steely determination but was modest about her achievements. In 2018, Sister was made an Officer (AO) in the General Division of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to the international community of Thailand through humanitarian assistance programs for the disadvantaged, and to improving the lives of women, children and the elderly.

Rest in Peace, Sister Joan. You will be missed.

October 2025

Flashback to 1988

September 8, 2025 Edward Dever

Expo 88 was a World Expo held in Brisbane with the theme "Leisure in the Age of Technology". The event is considered a significant turning point for Brisbane, spurring subsequent tourism, investment, and the development of the South Bank Parklands.

I recently donated a layout plan of the Expo 88 tenancies to the Queensland State Library. The plan was approved on 2 February 1988, close to the opening on 30 April 1988.

It is similar to the James Maccormick layout plan from 1983 which is held by the State Library as part of the James Mccormick World Expo 88 Collection but shows the proposed tenancies close to the opening date in 1988.

Back story to its acquisition.

Expo 88 ran from 30 April to 30 October 1988 at South Bank in Brisbane. An amazing event, it attracted an average of 100,000 people per day. As a law student at QUT, you would hear the nighttime fireworks on the other side of the Brisbane River at 10pm, around the time the Law Library was closing.

In my law student days, I would buy and sell office furniture, mainly filing cabinets, for extra cash.

At the end of Expo 88, most of the assets, including office furniture, were sold by public tender. I successfully tendered for around 100 used filing cabinets (and whatever contents remained in them).

The layout plan was in one of the filing cabinets.

Stored for many years, the State Library plans to make the layout plan available for viewing by the public.

James Mccormick World Expo 88 Collection

September 2025

Privacy - A Side Order Of Medical Records With Your Crispy Crepe

August 15, 2025 Edward Dever

In a significant privacy breach, an unnamed major private hospital in Thailand has been fined Bt 1.2 million after patient paper records were found to be used as snack packets.

Document disposal was outsourced to a third party which failed to properly dispose of the documents. They were "leaked" from the small business owner's home and used as packets for a popular street food crispy crepe known as khanom Tokyo. It was reported that over 1,000 files were leaked. The disposal company also received a small fine.

The privacy breach is reminiscent of my early days in Bangkok where a similar breach occurred with a major international law firm.

Their draft documents, which presumably should have been shredded or otherwise destroyed, turned up wrapped around takeaway chicken and rice dishes from a small restaurant behind my office building. It was only a page at a time so not particularly revealing but a significant breach of client confidentiality nonetheless.

Hospital fined after patient files used as snack bags

August 2025

Bangkok Protests 15 Years On

May 22, 2025 Edward Dever

This week marks the 15th anniversary of the military crackdown on protests in Bangkok and elsewhere in Thailand.

In 2010, the red shirts blockaded parts of central Bangkok. The crackdown on 19 May saw the military use live fire to quell the protests. The dead included a Japanese journalist. Numerous buildings were set alight, including Central World shopping complex near the centre of the protests.

In the lead up to the crackdown, the protests made travelling through sections of Bangkok such as Rajprasong intersection, parts of Rama IV Road and the streets around Lumphini Park near impossible while life continued as normal in other parts of the city.

With parts of Rama IV Road blocked by tyre barricades and protestors, nearby residents including those over on Sukhumvit were woken each day to the sound of gunfire and grenades.

At the time, I was working on a telecom project and was in the loop on Government requests for shutting down mobile phone cell sites for the Rajprasong grid. So we had some idea of the timing for a possible crackdown.

In the previous month, the CEO of the Government entity we were negotiating with was kidnapped for a few hours. He later laughed it off but when 300 red shirts on motorbikes come looking for you what options do you have? They had mistakenly thought he could reactivate forner PM Thaksin's TV station which had been suspended by the Government.

19 May was probably the only time a colleague would ring me early in the morning to let me know that she wanted to go to work that day but there was a tank outside her home. I told her to stay home.

The linked article from 2010 by the BBC provides a good summary of some of that day's events in Bangkok.

Clashes, fires and fears for future in Bangkok

May 2025

Lithium-ion Battery Fires And More Fatal Blows To Rent Controls

May 13, 2025 Edward Dever

Some interesting claims data for landlords and homeowners on the causes of lithium-ion battery fires.

At the top of the Allianz claims list are power and garden tools (38% of fires) followed by devices with battery cells, like flashlights and torches (31%), mobile phones (12%), e-scooters and e-bikes (11%) and remote-control toys and hobby devices such as drones and kids’ ride-on cars (8%).

Key causes of fires were leaving them plugged in after the batteries were replenished and charging devices with cords and chargers meant for different devices.

One issue raised in the report is that tools are often charged in garages where there are no smoke detectors. "They are just left to charge for not just days, but months. Garages will often have additional fuel lying around like junk or petrol for the mower and it can set alight easily.”

There is currently no requirement in Queensland to add smoke detectors in garages.

Dangerous recharging practices have been the catalyst for a growing number of Aussie house fires

Meanwhile, the Queensland Government has launched an inquiry into e-mobility safety and use in Queensland. This includes "issues associated with e-mobility ownership, such as risk of fire, storage and disposal of lithium batteries."

Submissions are due by 20 June 2025.

Following the NSW approach requiring battery-powered devices to meet a set of internationally accepted product standards, including appropriate tests and certification is hopefully the way forward.

Inquiry into e-mobility safety and use in Queensland

Rent controls

At the 2024 Queensland State Election, the Greens' most outspoken advocate for rent controls, Amy MacMahon, was defeated.

The Federal election on 3 May 2025 saw both the Greens' Federal leader, Adam Bandt, and Queensland Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather, who consistently advocated for rent controls, become electoral roadkill, losing their seats to the ALP.

With a number of Greens MPs still in the Senate (and one in the Lower House), continued advocacy for rent controls remains unclear. However, the main proponents of this policy, particularly Mr Chandler-Mather, are no longer in Parliament.

In June 2024, the Qld Department of Housing, Local Government, Planning and Public Works stated that it believed forms of rent control are generally ineffective.

The Report (on page 20) states:

"the department noted that economic research has identified that rent price controls, such as restricting or limiting the amount rent can be increased by, are generally ineffective at improving rental affordability and can have other negative effects, such as reducing the quality of rental stock and reducing renter mobility. They noted that the best way to address rental affordability is by increasing housing supply..."

Department of Housing, Local Government, Planning and Public Works Report

May 2025

Thailand - Earthquake Provides A Wake Up Call on Safety

March 31, 2025 Edward Dever

The earthquake in Myanmar on 28 March which also rattled Bangkok was a wild ride.

With some exceptions, including the construction site near Chatuchak, Bangkok emerged relatively unscathed. The devastation in Myanmar is a different story.

In the days and weeks ahead, we are likely to see further examples of building damage as inspections are completed.

Bangkok is quite well known for feeling the effects of earthquakes in places such as Myanmar or Indonesia. Normally, the impact is minimal. Friday's quake was the strongest by far for many years. Past earthquakes of similar intensity caused by the Sagaing Fault in Myanmar were recorded in 1839 and 1930.

Post-earthquake, building safety standards and evacuation procedures may come into focus.

On one restructuring a number of years ago, we implemented a rigorous approach to workplace safety, particularly in relation to building evacuations.

For the Head Office on the 35th floor in Bangkok, we looked at examples of companies involved in the collapse of the Twin Towers on 9/11. Some of the companies that had been affected by the 1993 basement bombing of the WTC North Tower subsequently had very strict evacuation procedures in place which assisted evacuations on 9/11. In one case, the company fitted backpacks to the back of employees' chairs containing a face mask, light and bottle of water. Another company made evacuation mandatory if there was an incident involving the other tower.

We implemented a multi-pronged approach to improving employee safety which included:

- a company-specific evacuation drill independent of the annual building drill.

- walking all fire stairs periodically to ensure there were no blockages.

- ensuring office emergency exit signs had working light bulbs so they would illuminate in the event of a power outage.

- educating employees on how many emergency exits there were and splitting the office into zones to ensure the use of all exits on an evacuation.

- placing employee lists at emergency exits so fire wardens could complete headcounts at ground level.

- storing glow sticks at emergency exits to use in case of stairwell lighting failure.

- instructing employees not to listen to anyone on the fire stairs advising them to return to their office. It was compulsory to go to the ground level and wait for an update from the company's fire wardens.

We also conducted reviews of all other offices and implemented procedures to improve safety standards. One could never rule out a fire or other incident occurring but, by improving safety standards, we could improve the chances of all employees being safely evacuated.

In the case of the Head Office, I thought it was more likely that it would be hit by an errant Government helicopter passing through the nearby air traffic corridor than a fire. We planned for a number of possible scenarios.

BBC News - Water spills from rooftop pool as Bangkok building sways

March 2025

NSW Leads The Charge on Lithium-ion Battery Safety

January 13, 2025 Edward Dever

The Coroners Court of NSW recently announced it will hold an inquest to examine deaths and serious fires caused by lithium-ion batteries, amid concerns that the batteries are causing approximately five fires in NSW per week.

This inquest into lithium battery fires will examine if any changes can be made to stop similar deaths, fires or explosions in the future.

NSW Inquest - Lithium-ion battery fires

New South Wales is also cracking down on the sale of certain ebikes and e-scooters in a nationwide first aimed at reducing battery-related fires, while pushing for a nationally coordinated approach to the issue.

Under the rules announced in August 2024, ebikes, e-scooters, hoverboards and e-skateboards will become “declared electric devices”. The battery-powered devices will need to meet a set of internationally accepted product standards, including appropriate tests and certification. Vendors of non-compliant devices will face heavy fines commencing February 2025.

NSW closes loophole to stamp out fires

Many lithium-ion battery fires seem to be the result of the use of incorrect or poor quality chargers or other incorrect charging practices.

This issue is of particular concern to landlords who may not be aware that tenants are charging ebikes and e-scooters in their rental properties. Recommendations from some experts that charging only be done outside is not practical in many circumstances. In addition, fire blankets suitable for lithium-ion battery fires do not seem available so far at an economical price. Some strata buildings have taken the extreme step of banning ebikes and e-scooters altogether.

A nationwide approach to product safety standards may assist in dealing with this issue.

January 2025

Queensland Election Results - Another Nail In The Rent Cap Coffin

November 6, 2024 Edward Dever

The ousting of the Miles ALP government in Qld at the recent State election makes the prospect of residential property rent freezes and caps in Qld more remote.

In the lead up to the State election, Ch 9 News reported that the now former Qld Government was considering ACT style inflation-linked rent controls. Former Premier Miles said he would have more to say on the issue as the election campaign continued. Nothing seemed to come of this.

At the first Leaders’ debate, the LNP ruled out introducing rent caps. The ALP took a similar stance, making former Premier Miles’ other comments somewhat confusing.

Previously, in June 2024, the Qld Department of Housing, Local Government, Planning and Public Works stated that it believed forms of rent control are generally ineffective.

During the 57th Qld Parliament, The Greens twice attempted to introduce rent control legislation, in each case the relevant Committee recommended against its introduction and the Bills were scrapped.

The Greens were apparently initially targeting 10 seats during the State election campaign . The results leave them with one, and possibly, two seats. One of the seats in doubt is South Brisbane held by Greens MP Amy MacMahon. Counting is still underway. Ms MacMahon introduced the two previous Rent Cap Bills and the loss of South Brisbane to the ALP would remove The Greens’ most outspoken rent cap spokesperson in Qld Parliament.

Federally, even The Greens housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather is watering down their demands and is no longer insisting on a national rent freeze:

“We don’t need a freeze on rent increases like we’ve said … we could negotiate on some sort of cap to limit the amount rents go up,” he said.

In the lead up to the 2025 Federal election, it is likely that The Greens will continue to campaign on rent caps. Any rent control legislation would, however, need to be passed by the Qld Parliament and the election of the LNP in Qld indicates that passing any such legislation would be a tough sell.

Report No. 7, 57th Parliament, Housing, Big Build and Manufacturing Committee, May 2024

November 2024

Property Sector in Political Crosshairs Again

September 27, 2024 Edward Dever

Rent controls, National Renters Protection Authority and negative gearing changes.

In the lead up to the 2024 Qld State election, Ch 9 News is reporting that the Qld Government is considering ACT style inflation-linked rent controls.

Sounds like a pre-election thought bubble. Any move towards greater rent controls in Qld runs contrary to the position of the Government's own Department of Housing, Local Government, Planning and Public Works

In May 2024, the Department stated that it believed forms of rent control are generally ineffective.

The ALP risks losing several seats to The Greens at the October election so it is not surprising that they may make election promises that seek to limit voter bleed to The Greens.

Meanwhile, The Greens want to implement a National Renters Protection Authority.

Costing $200m per annum and staffed by 1,000 public servants, the NRPA would investigate rental breaches as well as offering advocacy, advice and education to renters around Australia.

The NRPA would deal with tenancy disputes and enforce the minimum standards the Greens want, including rent freezes, ventilation, heating, cool and insulation standards. The NRPA is part of a wider $2.5b Greens Plan to convince the States to enact rent freezes.

How the NRPA would work in practice is unclear. There seems significant overlap with the role of State Government Departments.

Victoria, as an example, is planning to implement far reaching housing standards to include heating, cooling and insulation.

Qld's latest round of rental changes come into force on 30 September 2024. These include new standards for re-letting costs, methods for paying rent, timelines for utility bill payments, and supporting evidence for bond claims.

NSW is also moving towards tightening the rules for no-default evictions.

And just to top it off, media reports indicate that the Federal Government has asked Treasury to look at the implications of changing negative gearing rules.

Lots of political obfuscation peppered with some denials by Government members.

Similar to the Government's superannuation changes which targeted the higher end of superannuation balances, it wouldn't be surprising to see the Government target negative gearing changes, for example, at the 5% of landlords who own 6 plus properties.

Any uncertainty over rent controls and negative gearing just reinforces nervousness amongst investors at a time when Australia needs greater investment in rental housing.

Ch 9 News - Rent Controls

Report No. 7, 57th Parliament Housing, Big Build and Manufacturing Committee, May 2024

National Renters Protection Authority Plan

Negative Gearing Changes

September 2024