Federal Senator Santo Santoro, whom I gather is a very near neighbour of ours, has had a 'seniors moment' regarding his share portfolio. Now as Minister For the Ageing he may well be in total empathy with his political portfolio as far as politics and ailments are concerned. I'm prone to these too, but he somehow 'inadvertently' failed to declare shares in over 70 companies. In this country politicians are required to declare special interests that they have in order for them to appear to act impartially in their dealings with lobby groups etc.
Santo last October discovered he had some shares in a bio chemical research company researching, amongst other things, remedies for arthritis (a common ailment of Seniors). Once it was drawn to his attention by his share broker in a casual conversation, he immediately divested himself of the shares, plus donated the $6000 profit to a 'charity'. Now, he doesn't have to worry about claiming a tax benefit for this donation to this charity because the so-called charity is in fact a lobby group in itself. It doesn't have a charity status. The PM defended the oversight last October but yesterday couldn't overlook this embarrassment.
Yesterday he fell on his sword after announcing a further load of shares not declared to the Pecuniary Interest Register. Prime Minister Howard accepted his resignation and declared his anger at this oversight and cautioned his Government Members to carefully review their interests.
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