Fair dinkum, Noah's Ark could sail into Townsville and begin loading animals two by two and nobody in the media would notice . With all the revelations about massive tax dodging revealed by the Panama Papers , you might think the local scribes would go for a local angle for a story attracting so much attention globally. No . Nobody asked if Clive Palmer, whose Townsville nickel refinery has sunk with all hands , the cabin boy and the skipper's perpetually seasick pet dinosaur , has any money stashed in a tax haven .
Hang on a second, that giant vehicle carrier Miraculous Ace , seen here in Townsville , is registered in the Cayman Islands , now a place of great embarrassment for the British government and its PM , our own PM having a kosher nest egg in the Caymans.
One wonders if Miraculous Ace was in port to take back all those Mercs Palmer gave staff in palmier days so that he can flog them off to a Japanese scrapmetal dealer .
Many ships sailing under flags of convenience , including that of Panama , come into Townsville ; Singapore , a country which helpfully onpasses millions of dollars for multinational corporations plundering Australia , also appears tattooed on the stern of vessels passing in and out of Townsville , with hardly a mention as to what they are doing , shipping reporters being as dead as dodos , it has been pointed out previously by this blog .
The local media has not yet caught up with the event which saw a phantom vessel, possibly the good ship Lollipop, strike a channel marker off Magnetic Island , a warning buoy now bobbing about the tilted post. Could be a local story here . Tips for questions to ask : Who , when , what and how ? Then follow ups re cost , etc.
