Biggest Losers for 2010
CRICKET: Lost the T20 to England, lost the One Day Series to England, lost the Test Series to England, lost the ashes for a third time to England. Biggest Loser Gold Medal.
Honorable Efforts
KEVIN RUDD: Toppled as prime minister in his first term by his deputy Julia Gillard. Rudd stepped down without even going to a party room vote, but licked his wounds and returned as Foreign Minister in the new Gillard government. LABOR failed to win the required 76 seats for an outright majority at ensuing elections, governing only with the support of a Green and three independents. Labor’s MAXINE McKEW, who toppled PM John Howard in 2007, lost the seat of Bennelong in turn to former tennis champ John Alexander. Big names on both sides of politics slipped out of the limelight. Labor Senator JOHN FAULKNER stepped down as defence minister and former Howard minister NICK MINCHIN announced he would retire from the senate in 2011.
JOHN BRUMBY: Defeated in a cliffhanger Victorian election which ended 11 years of Labor rule that started with Steve Bracks, then announced he was quitting politics.
MELBOURNE STORM: Lost just about everything for systematically cheating the salary cap for years – two NRL premierships, $1.6 million in fines and every point they “won” all season. The only thing they were guaranteed was the wooden spoon.
CARL WILLIAMS: Lost his life behind the supposedly high security bars of Victoria’s Barwon prison. The underworld killer, serving 35 years, was bashed to death with the stem of an exercise bike by a fellow inmate.
JOHN HOWARD: The former prime minister was out stumped when his candidacy for president of the International Cricket Council (ICC) was dismissed by African and Asian blocs. His book Lazarus Rising also provoked criticism from his former treasurer Peter Costello, who said: “This Lazarus is not rising. This Lazarus was terminated by the voters of Bennelong in 2007.”
TROY BUSWELL: The WA Treasurer resigned after admitting misusing a ministerial car and hotel entitlements during an affair with then Greens MP Adele Carles. He was later cleared of any wrongdoing and returned to the ministry. In 2008 Mr Buswell made international headlines and lost his job as party leader after revelations he had sniffed the chair of a female Liberal Party staffer.
NSW LABOR: The scandal-plagued state government will lose over 20 MPs who all announced they would retire at what looms as a horror election next March. They include former Transport Minister DAVID CAMPBELL, who was filmed leaving a gay sex club, and former Ports Minister PAUL MCLEAY, who admitting using a parliamentary computer to visit gambling and adult websites. KARYN PALUZZANO and IAN MACDONALD quit parliament over claims of misusing public funds, and JOHN DELLA BOSCA walked away from politics after admitting to an affair.
ROBERT FARQUHARSON: Jailed for a minimum 33 years for the murders of his sons Jai, 10, Tyler, 7 and Bailey, 2, by driving his car into a dam on Father’s Day 2005.
STERN HU: The former Rio Tinto executive, an Australian citizen, was sentenced to 10 years’ jail by a Chinese court for accepting bribes and stealing trade secrets.
KELI LANE: The former waterpolo champion was convicted of murdering her newborn baby Tegan in 1996 and is waiting sentence.
QANTAS: The airline hit plenty of turbulence in 2010. A volcano in Iceland spewed ash over Europe, throwing many airline schedules into chaos. As Qantas celebrated its 90th anniversary, its flagship A380 fleet was grounded due to engine concerns. And the European Commission fined Qantas 8.9 million euros ($A12.2 million) for its part in a cargo price-fixing cartel. The airline also reported a 4.3 per cent decline in annual net profit to $112 million.
DAVID JONES: The retailer and its former boss MARK McINNES settled a sexual harassment case brought by a former publicist, resulting in an $850,000 settlement.
HOME OWNERS: Hit by four interest rate rises totalling one percentage point, then additionally slugged when the big four banks increased rates above and beyond the Reserve Bank’s cash rate rise in November.
JOEL MONAGHAN: The Canberra Raiders and Australian rugby league star quit the club in disgrace after a photograph of him in a compromising position with a dog was posted on the internet. The incident reportedly happened during the Raiders’ Mad Monday celebrations.
AUSTRALIAN SOCCER: Secured just one vote out of 22 and was eliminated in the first round of FIFA voting in Zurich after its two-year, $45 million bid to host the 2022 World Cup.
PIM VERBEEK: His Socceroos crashed out of the World Cup in South Africa on the back of perplexing team selections in a 4-0 drubbing by Germany. Not even a gutsy draw with Ghana and a fighting victory over Serbia could spare Verbeek’s blushes.
KANGAROOS: Lost to arch rivals New Zealand in the Four Nations rugby league final, their third loss to the Kiwis in the past four finals between the two teams. They needed extra time for their only win, too.
